Latest news – Page 588
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News
Lloyds counsels calm on credit
High street firms should not fear a ‘kneejerk’ reaction from banks restricting lending in the wake of high-profile firm failures, according to a big-four bank. The collapse of Manchester firm Cobbetts in January, which followed the demise in 2010 of regional giant Halliwells, has led ...
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Nine out of 10 oppose criminal tendering plan
Nearly 90% of solicitors are opposed to price-competitive tendering (PCT) for criminal defence work, a Law Society survey has revealed, after the government announced accelerated plans for its introduction. The online poll of 200 solicitors showed overwhelming opposition to tendering – 89% strongly disagreed or disagreed ...
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Drug and Alcohol Court pioneers drink monitors
The judge leading London’s pioneering Family Drug and Alcohol Court has voiced concern that lack of money will stop families in care cases getting adequate support to turn their lives around. Judge Nicholas Crichton (pictured) spoke to the Gazette following the end of a three-month pilot ...
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No ‘stay of execution’ from banks for PI firms
Personal injury firms will struggle to convince banks that they are viable when fees are slashed next month, an insolvency expert has warned. Practices across the country have begun making redundancies ahead of fixed recoverable costs being cut by 60% at the end of April, the ...
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Mid Staffs negligence ‘explosion’ predicted
NHS hospitals must brace themselves for an ‘explosion’ in medical negligence claims in the aftermath of the report into the Mid Staffordshire scandal, a leading lawyer in the sector has said. Tim Gorman, partner at clinical negligence firm Axiclaim, said last month’s publication of the Francis ...
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Call to suspend Sri Lanka from Commonwealth
A report for the Bar Human Rights Committee has called for Sri Lanka to be suspended from the Commonwealth over the impeachment of the country’s chief justice. Barrister and report author Geoffrey Robertson QC said Dr Shirani Bandaranayake (pictured), Sri Lanka’s first woman judge and chief ...
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Businesses cite human rights act in disputes
Businesses are increasingly using human rights arguments in commercial disputes, with the number of such cases increasing from 10 to 45 in four years, new research has revealed. A study by legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell reports cases in 2012 that included a radio station ...
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National firm takes up higher apprenticeship scheme
National firm Weightmans says it is the first to offer entry into the legal profession via the new higher apprenticeship in legal services. The undergraduate level qualification, which launches today, is part of a government initiative to create more higher level vocational qualifications, increasing access to ...
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Fears grow for Saudi lawyers
Concern is mounting for two lawyers, including the winner of the 2012 Olof Palme Prize for human rights, who have been targeted by the Saudi Arabian security forces. Human rights lawyer and former judge Sheikh Sulaiman Al-Rashudi, who is president of Saudi Arabia’s Civil and Political ...
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250 jobs go as Lawyers2you becomes latest PI casualty
All 250 solicitors and employees of Midlands firm Blakemores, owner of the consumer brand Lawyers2you, were today told to clear their desks and go home after an intervention by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The innovative and fast-growing firm appears to be the latest casualty of a ...
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Ending crime bosses’ ‘free ride’ on legal aid
Amendments to the Crime and Courts Bill announced today ‘will put an end to millionaire criminals refusing to reimburse the taxpayer’ for free legal advice, the government said. The move follows a long campaign by the legal profession. Under the current system, wealthy defendants can ...
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SRA brings 650 actions for COLP and COFA failures
Enforcement action has started against almost 650 solicitors or firms that failed to complete their compliance officer nominations properly, the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed today. Antony Townsend, chief executive of the SRA, said action was necessary after a ‘concerning and disappointing’ level of non-co-operation and ...
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Independent review of ‘pre-pack’ deals
The government has announced an independent review of the controversial insolvency vehicle through which DWF recently acquired the collapsed Cobbetts while leaving creditors likely to recoup little or nothing of what they are owed. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the review into ...
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Blakemores intervention will cost up to £3m, managing partner says
The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) intervention into Midlands firm Blakemores is likely to cost the profession ‘£2-3m’, the firm’s managing partner told the Gazette the day after all 250 members of staff were told to clear their desks. Guy Barnett said that £2-3m was his estimated ...
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ATE rush prompts another ‘emergency’ cover product
An after-the-event insurer has introduced a new emergency insurance product to cope with the surge in demand from solicitors in the run-up to 1 April. Keystone Legal said the product would enable it to issue policies ahead of the April deadline, when the Jackson reforms ...
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SRA commits millions to interventions
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has already used 10% of its entire annual budget intervening in failed firms in 2013, the organisation revealed today.
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Grieve backs greater police role in prosecutions
Police should take over the prosecution of more ‘routine non-contested cases ’, the attorney general suggested last night. Dominic Grieve QC said ...
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Virtual firm takes ABS total past 100
A virtual law firm founded by the president of the Law Society has today been granted a licence to become an alternative business structure. Scott-Moncrieff & Associates (SCOMO), run by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, was added to the list of more than 100 ABSs licensed by the Solicitors ...
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Unbundling may be the key to legal aid survival, president says
Offering pay-as-you-go legal advice could enable solicitors to help clients denied legal aid after 1 April and may help firms generate more work, the Law Society president suggested today. Lucy Scott-Moncrieff told the Society’s legal aid conference: ‘The reality is that for many clients who are ...
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New rules for employment tribunals
Employment tribunals are to become the ‘last resort, not the first port of call’ after the government’s announcement today that it has accepted proposals in a fundamental review of procedure for tribunals. The proposals accepted by the government include new strike-out powers for employment tribunal judges, ...