Latest news – Page 583
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News
MoJ unveils tendering plans for criminal defence
Defendants will lose the right to choose their lawyer and instead be allocated a representative, under government plans to introduce price-competitive tendering (PCT) for criminal defence services. Details of the proposed PCT model were published for consultation today, together with a raft of other measures designed ...
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SRA Handbook in force
The seventh version of the Solicitors Regulation Authority Handbook comes in to force this week. Changes include outcomes dealing with the ban on referral fees in personal injury cases, and the removal of rules put forward in the first phase of the SRA’s Red Tape Initiative. ...
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Judiciary urges caution on contempt
Proceedings against publishers and jury members should be the very ‘last measure’ taken where contempt of court is alleged, the judiciary has said in its response to a law commission consultation. The response’s authors, Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Tugendhat, said that any measure likely ...
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Expert witness ruling a blow to children, Society warns
Children involved in family law cases will face extra uncertainty following a High Court ruling on the funding of expert witnesses, the Law Society has warned. The Society reacted with disappointment to the ruling that the Legal Aid Agency, formerly the Legal Services Commission (LSC), is ...
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CoA backs Law Society on disbursement liability
Solicitors who help their clients by funding the cost of disbursements should not be liable for costs if a case fails, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling came after an intervention by the Law Society in the case of Flatman v Germany published today ...
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Osborne Clarke ups law school rivalry with BPP switch
South-west firm Osborne Clarke has taken the unusual step of announcing that it is moving the training of its future lawyers from the University of Law (formerly the College of Law) to BPP from autumn 2013. The announcement will add to the considerable rivalry between the ...
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Barrister loses DIY tax scheme case
A former London tax barrister who designed his own tax avoidance scheme has lost his tribunal appeal against HM Revenue & Customs. He was attempting to avoid paying £190,000 in tax. Rex Bretten QC designed a complex scheme which entailed setting up trusts and investing £500,000 ...
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Lord Sugar’s court victory cue for campaign against employment laws
Business leader Lord Sugar has vowed to fight in the House of Lords against a ‘new wave of claim culture’ after seeing off a claim from a former winner of The Apprentice. Stella English lost her claim for constructive dismissal after a tribunal rejected her argument ...
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TUPE changes set to increase disputes
The Law Society has dismissed government plans to repeal the 2006 Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations on the transfer of ‘service provision’ from one employer to another, arguing that the change would lead to commercial and legal uncertainty and more tribunal disputes. The ...
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MoJ cuts driven by Treasury demands
The Treasury played a key role in cajoling justice ministers to push ahead with civil litigation reforms, an influential House of Commons committee report has suggested. A public accounts committee report into the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), which groups together departmental financial statements for the ...
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Family law scheme aims to limit conflict
Family lawyers have set up a scheme to help separating parents who do not qualify for legal aid to work together to minimise conflict and put their children first after the breakdown of their relationship. Resolution has been given more than £650,000 by the Department for ...
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Fall in solicitor prosecutions
The number of prosecutions opened against solicitors fell dramatically in the first quarter of 2013. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Legal & Enforcement division issued just 17 Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal cases in the first three months of this year, compared ...
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Court interpreter service getting worse, new figures show
The company contracted to provide court interpreters has failed to reach its performance target after a year, new statistics have revealed, leading to delay in thousands of court cases. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice show that the performance got worse in the first month ...
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Bar steps in to legal aid void with guide for litigants in person
The Bar Council has published a jargon-busting guide to help litigants in person in the wake of the legal aid cuts that came into force yesterday. The 74-page guide, put together by specialist bar associations, offers advice on finding free or affordable legal help, putting a ...
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Quindell acquires costs recovery firm in £14m deal
Listed legal entity Quindell Portfolio has announced the acquisition of costs firm Compass Costs in a deal with a paper value of £14m. The takeover was announced to the AIM stock exchange this morning and was secured through the issue of 80m Quindell shares – around ...
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Legal aid chief promises smooth transition to new agency
The chief executive of the new Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has promised practitioners that they will experience ‘minimal’ impact from the change in machinery. In a statement following the Legal Services Commission’s transition to the LAA, which was completed on 1 April, Matthew Coats pledged ...
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Bird & Bird leads shareholders in record £4bn RBS suit
Shareholders of the Royal Bank of Scotland today issued legal proceedings against the bank and four former directors in a claim that could be worth as much as £4bn. The RBOS Shareholder Action Group, represented by international firm Bird & Bird, claims that the bank’s directors ...
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Unchastened LSB defends business plan
The Legal Services Board today pledged to go ahead with its programme for the year ahead despite the battering its draft business plan received in consultation. However its research programme has been ‘rescoped significantly in light of feedback’, according to the plan published today.
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Motor insurer partners with law firm as referral ban bites
The UK’s fourth biggest motor insurer has become the first to announce a partnership with a law firm in the aftermath of the ban on referral fees. Ageas UK has agreed a five-year partnership with Cardiff firm NewLaw to provide services for customers making non-fault personal ...
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Grayling sets sights on prisoners’ legal aid
Prisoners will no longer get legal aid to bring ‘unnecessary’ cases about their treatment in prison under plans announced by the justice secretary this morning. ...