Latest news – Page 574
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News
Pannone turns to fixed-price mediation post-Jackson
Four out of five commercial disputes are capable of being resolved through fixed-priced mediation, according to a firm unveiling a two-tier service today. Manchester firm Pannone says it has responded to the Jackson reforms and the possibility of compulsory mediation with a service that settles ...
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Mass meeting of barristers takes a stand on QASA
The largest of the six bar circuits has voted to boycott the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) – which the circuit leader vowed ‘will be defeated’. At a ‘unique’ meeting attended by some 400 barristers in London on Saturday, Sarah Forshaw QC, leader of the ...
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Overwhelming public backing for legal aid: poll
Government claims that the legal aid system has lost credibility with the public are rebutted by a survey published today showing that seven out of 10 adults fear that criminal legal aid cuts could lead to innocent people being convicted of crimes they did not commit.
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Fight PI changes, says MASS chair
A figurehead for the claimant personal injury sector has urged solicitors not to give up opposing further changes to the system. Craig Budsworth, chairman of the Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS), told today’s Manchester Law Society conference that the fight against increases to the small-claims limit ...
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‘Google’ asylum refusals
Home Office officials are resorting to searching the internet for reasons to refuse asylum, entry clearance and leave to remain applications – and copying and pasting the resulting text into refusals, the Gazette has been told. Philip Trott, head of immigration at Bates, Wells Braithwaite, ...
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Poor will suffer from court fee changes, MoJ warned
Government plans to means-test waivers for civil court or tribunal fees could impact the most deprived and vulnerable sections of society, the Civil Justice Council has warned. The advisory group of judges, academics and lawyers, chaired by the master of the rolls (pictured), said there were ...
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PCT will mean the death of Welsh justice, lawyers warn
The government’s plans for price-competitive tendering (PCT) will have a ‘devastating’ impact on firms and chambers in Wales, leaving clients represented by English firms and without Welsh language provision, lawyers have warned. Their concerns come as solicitors and barristers unite today staging a demonstration in Westminster ...
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Small business spurning legal services – LSB research
Just one in eight small businesses will turn to a solicitor to solve a legal problem despite many suffering financial loss as a result. Research published today by the Legal Services Board found only 12% of legal problems resulted in demand for advice from solicitors’ firms. ...
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HMRC proposes crackdown on LLP ‘disguised employment’
Some members of limited liability partnership (LLP) firms could face higher tax and national insurance deductions under government proposals for tackling ‘disguised employment’ published this week. The consultation follows an announcement in the budget that the government would examine removing the presumption of self employment ...
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Hundreds attend legal aid protest rally
Over 500 lawyers attended a mass rally at parliament today to protest over criminal legal aid reforms which ‘strike a dagger through the British justice system’. Gerry Conlon, one of the Guildford Four and Breeda Power, daughter of one of the Birmingham Six, were also ...
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Unanimous: profession votes for ‘training days’ action in protest over cuts
In an unprecedented show of unity by the legal profession hundreds of barristers and solicitors came together yesterday to oppose the government’s proposed criminal legal aid cuts which they said would ‘destroy the fabric of the criminal justice system’. Over 1,000 attended a London meeting dubbed ...
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International firms call off merger
International firms Speechly Bircham and Withers today announced that they had dropped merger plans following almost two months of talks. The firms said in March they had entered ‘preliminary discussions’ over creating a joint practice with more than 600 lawyers. But in ...
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UK turns back on EU justice project
The UK will decline to take part in a European Commission (EC) initiative to launch a ‘European justice scoreboard’ that aims to improve justice systems across the continent, justice secretary Chris Grayling told the House of Commons earlier this week.
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Legal reforms: call for consistency
I listened with particular interest to justice secretary Chris Grayling’s interview on the Today programme about the new reforms of judicial review, which are aimed at making sure only genuine cases receive a hearing. The interviewer John Humphrys quite rightly compared the new changes to a ‘no win, no fee’ ...
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Malaysian abuses
As a native-born Malaysian living in the UK, I was ashamed and distressed to learn about the reported treatment of defendants and assaults on lawyers trying to assist them after the April 2012 protest incident. In the 21st century this human rights abuse by a UN member state must not ...
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Dog-eat-dog profession
Am I alone in thinking, after qualifying 40 years ago, that what was then a profession which justified and duly received public respect has degenerated into a dog-eat-dog environment? We already know that larger firms and conveyancing factories sell their souls to estate agents, developers and ...
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Divorce advice
Many years ago at a local meeting of either Relate or the former Solicitors Family Law Association (now Resolution), I proposed to an eminent judge that government health warnings appeared on divorce petitions. The learned judge basically concurred. Many problems arise or are exacerbated by the ...
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Civil strife
With the proposed strike action in respect of criminal legal aid reforms seemingly an agreed and positive form of protest, it saddens me that similar steps were not taken in advance of the cuts made to civil legal aid.
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Family arbitration: award show
I have reviewed with interest Lucinda Ferguson’s letter ‘"Final and binding" awards’. Lucinda refers to my ‘Family law arbitration wins’ article as ‘misleading in one respect, namely that "awards" made under the Scheme are "final and binding"’. I never stated that an award in arbitration usurps ...
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Job centred
This week I was talking to a solicitor friend in another practice whose senior partner retired. On his departure, my friend’s colleague said: ‘On qualifying as a solicitor I joined a profession; on retiring as a solicitor I am leaving a job.’ Says it all doesn’t it? ...