Last 3 months headlines – Page 1755
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Solicitors are doing their duty
I’m pleased to inform Philip Miles that from 14 July the number of duty solicitors working on our schemes will actually rise from 6,161 to 6,206 – an increase of 45 nationally (see [2008] Gazette, 19 June, 11). Some new solicitors clearly wish to join the profession.
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Preparing for partnership
I read with sympathy Tony Guise’s plea for more support for those about to enter into partnership (see [2008] Gazette, 26 June, 11). This is a crucial time, when lawyers are making the leap from fee-earning employees to employers with wide management responsibilities. Some of us ...
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Doom and gloom
Having just read my Gazette (26 June) I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. I read that our insurance is going to go up by 25% (if we can get insurance at all); we have to raise our professional standards but reduce our fee expectations; we have to ...
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Citi brokers law firm private equity talks
Citi, the world’s largest bank, has brokered meetings between the UK’s biggest private equity houses and major law firms in a bid to strike investment deals before the Legal Services Act is fully implemented, the Gazette has learned. Citi’s specialist legal group has sent its private ...
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Aussie class action drive
One of Australia’s leading class action law firms has joined forces with a top Australian litigation funder to mount on assault on the class action market in the UK and Europe, the Gazette can reveal. One of the most significant entries to the nascent third-party funding ...
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Client account reform
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has backed controversial proposals to allow non-solicitors in law firms to handle client money – despite opposition from members of a profession labelled ‘historically obsessed with status’, the Gazette has learned. The SRA board decided at last week’s meeting to recommend ...
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JAC targets top firms for recruits
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is targeting major law firms in its campaign to persuade more solicitors to become judges, a senior commissioner said this week. Frances Kirkham, JAC commissioner in charge of the current selection exercise for recorders, said that firms, as well as ...
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CJC makes class actions call
An opt-out class action procedure is needed to provide access to justice for consumers wanting to bring collective or multi-party claims, the government is to be told. The Gazette can reveal that, following an 18-month process of consultation and research which found ‘overwhelming evidence’ that meritorious ...
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Watchdog may hear grievances
Citizens with grievances against public bodies will have easier access to ombudsmen under reforms to the laws governing redress proposed by the Law Commission this week. If adopted, the proposals would allow citizens to approach the Parliamentary Ombudsman on their own account instead of via ...
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CFAs under scrutiny
The government has commissioned a review of ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements, despite failing to publish the findings of its much-delayed consultation on the personal injury claims process – originally launched in April last year. The academic study, announced last week, will examine whether such arrangements ...
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'Angry' Anwar escapes jail
A Scottish solicitor has escaped a possible jail sentence after judges at Edinburgh’s High Court ruled that comments he made following a terror trial at Glasgow’s High Court were not in contempt of court. If prosecuted, it is believed Aamer Anwar would have been the first ...
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Whistle-blow code defence
A new code of practice on whistle-blowing could provide a defence for companies facing legal or regulatory penalties, one of its authors said this week. Guy Dehn, head of the charity Public Concern at Work, said that implementing the first British Standards code on arrangements ...
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Aim higher
Looking back to the performance of the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in complaint-handling for the year ended 31 March 2008, I announced that, while complaints were not handled in accordance with the Law Society’s plan, I would not levy a penalty. In reaching this decision ...
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Getting better
Two recent announcements about the LCS have once again placed the spotlight on the effectiveness of the organisation. What has been revealed is not the failing picture that some would choose to paint but that of a confident organisation making impressive strides year on year, whose ...
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City firms eye Malaysia market
City law firms are sizing up the Malaysian legal sector as a potential area for development, after the government there signalled its intention to lift curbs on foreign firms operating in the country. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Malaysia’s law minister, told reporters at a press conference last ...
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PI reform delay leaves solicitors ‘in limbo’
Defendant and claimant lawyers have condemned the government’s delay in publishing its plans to reform the personal injury claims process, saying it leaves them and clients ‘in limbo’. Recommendations which were due to be implemented by early 2008, according to Lord Falconer, the then Lord Chancellor, ...
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Net-surfing lawyers warned of compliance risk
Solicitors risk breaching conduct rules and could face insurance claims if they use non-specialist online sources for legal research, a leading QC solicitor has warned. Evidence has emerged that increasing numbers of solicitors, from trainees to senior partners, are putting clients and their own practices at ...
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Making amends
Restorative justice keeps people out of prison and saves money, but has struggled to become established in the face of a widespread misconception that it is a ‘soft option’. Last month the prison population of England and Wales reached an all-time high of over 82,000 ...