Latest news – Page 585
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News
Quindell adds a software company to its portfolio
Fast-expanding alternative business structure Quindell Portfolio today announced the acquisition of a supplier of a case-management system. Quindell, which over the past year has acquired three law firms, announced the takeover of iSaaS Technology Ltd to the AIM stock exchange this morning. The company markets ...
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Society sticks to joint representation for homebuyers
Joint representation provides the best value for money for clients, the Law Society of England and Wales said today following a vote by its Scottish counterpart in favour of separate representation. Jonathan Smithers, chair of the Law Society’s conveyancing and land law committee said: ‘The regulatory ...
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Bar publishes plan for quicker civil justice
Better case management with all cases docketed and dealt with by a single judge are among the Bar Council’s recommendations to make civil justice quicker and more cost effective. A working party chaired by the immediate past chairman of the bar, Michael Todd QC, published its ...
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Compensation culture is ‘media-created’ myth - Dyson
Master of the rolls Lord Dyson has urged the government, courts and legal profession to educate the public to address some of the media-created myths of the compensation culture. Giving the Holdsworth Club lecture earlier this month, Dyson (pictured) said there had been no developments ...
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Referral fee ban: no period of grace, says SRA
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned firms there will be ‘no transitional period’ after the referral fee ban comes into force next Monday. The regulator today published guidance and support for personal injury firms trying to adapt their business models to get work without paying for ...
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Legal executives apply for independent practice rights
Chartered legal executives will be able to provide services in probate, conveyancing, litigation and immigration if a joint application by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) and its regulator ILEX Professional Standards is successful. The two bodies today applied to the Legal Services Board ...
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Interpreter company wins costs order appeal
The company contracted by the Ministry of Justice to provide court interpreters has won an appeal against a decision to award a third-party costs order after a sentencing hearing was adjourned due an interpreter’s non-appearance. In the Court of Appeal yesterday, the president of the Queen’ ...
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International private client firms in merger talks
International firms Speechly Bircham and Withers, whose joint headcount includes more than 600 lawyers, are discussing a merger. A joint statement said that the firms are in ‘preliminary discussions’ and both see ‘exciting opportunities for growth in such a merger’. ...
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Grayling looks to boost revenue from litigation
Justice secretary Chris Grayling will consult on plans to raise more money from those who litigate in courts in England and Wales. Grayling today announced he had asked his department to look at reform of the resourcing and administration of HM Courts & Tribunals Service. ...
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Zimbabwe’s Mtetwa released unharmed
Zimbabwean human rights lawyer Beatrice Mtetwa has been freed on bail after more than a week in prison and a decade spent campaigning for the rule of law. She was accused of shouting at police officers and demanding to see a search warrant when police ...
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Court of Appeal dismisses first ‘loss of control’ challenges
The Court of Appeal today provided its first interpretation of the new partial defence to murder, ‘loss of control’ in cases where fear of violence was claimed. Loss of control replaces the previous defence of provocation which could reduce murder to voluntary manslaughter. Following Law Commission ...
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Blow to criminal bar as QCs kept in accreditation scheme
QCs will have their own discrete level of accreditation in the controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), the Joint Advocacy Group (JAG) announced today. The move will be welcomed by the Law Society, which was adamant that QCs be included in the scheme, but disappoint ...
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NHS will benefit from legal duty of candour, says lawyer
A legal duty of candour will save the NHS money in the long term through more transparent clinical negligence claims, a leading specialist lawyer has predicted. Health secretary Jeremy Hunt yesterday confirmed that the NHS will have a legal duty to be honest about mistakes, following ...
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Bar chiefs line up to defend cab rank rule
The Bar Council and Bar Standards Board have published separate reports staunchly defending the cab rank rule. They both respond to a January report by the Legal Services Board in which professors John Flood and Morten Hviid suggested the rule is ‘redundant’ and should be abolished. ...
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Secret hearings in civil courts to be introduced in weeks
Secretive closed material procedure (CMP) hearings are to be extended into the country’s main civil courts following the House of Lords’ narrow rejection of an amendment to the controversial Justice and Security Bill. Peers yesterday voted by 174 to 158 to reject a Labour amendment to ...
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Clegg urges lawyers to help employee ownership drive
The deputy prime minister today called on the legal profession to gain an understanding of employee ownership of businesses to help clients set up John-Lewis style enterprises. Delivering the first Robert Oakeshott Memorial Lecture at the Law Society this morning, Clegg backed a target ...
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SFO doubling Libor investigation team
‘Significant developments’ in the Libor investigation are expected over the next few months, the director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) indicated last night. Addressing the inaugural meeting of the Fraud Lawyers Association (FLA), David Green (pictured) said the SFO is doubling the team working on ...
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Society intervenes in Nepal 'anti-Maoist' human rights case
The Law Society has intervened in the case of a Nepalese human rights lawyer facing prosecution as an ‘anti-Maoist dollar mongerer’. The Society has called on Nepal’s prime minister Khil Raj Regmi to protect lawyer Mandira Sharma from threats of death and violence. ...
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‘Whitehall farce’ border agency to be abolished
The Law Society’s immigration law committee has cautiously welcomed the announcement that the UK Border Agency (UKBA) is to be abolished and brought back within the Home Office under the direct control of ministers. In an unscheduled House of Commons statement yesterday, home secretary Theresa ...
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Appeal judge makes blistering attack on ‘emasculating’ legal aid cuts
A retired judge has used one of his final cases to launch an attack on the government’s ‘emasculation’ of legal aid. Sir Alan Ward said judges of all levels were facing increasing difficulties with litigants in person – a problem which will only get worse when ...