Latest news – Page 597
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News
Defendants and principles of fairness
I would like to share my recent experience of the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR) danced to the tune of Ministry of Justice training. Acting for a defendant who had no recollection of the incident, or what he had said in interview, I was faced with a single statement and a ...
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Defending strict liability for workplace safety
I write with reference to the government’s latest move in its overhaul of health and safety legislation. At the last minute, the proposal to remove strict liability in respect of duties imposed on employers under health and safety legislation has been slipped into the Enterprise Regulatory ...
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Judicial review limits attacked
Government plans to limit the number of judicial reviews have been condemned by lawyers and campaign groups. A six-week consultation on the proposals, which the justice secretary says would stop ‘weak or ill-founded’ claims clogging the courts, ended last week apparently without a single response in favour. ...
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MoJ reveals £600m in court fines are unpaid
The government failed to make any significant impression on the £600m of outstanding debt from court fines during the latest financial year. Helen Grant, justice minister, told parliament this month that outstanding impositions stood at £1.8bn at the end of April 2012. A Ministry of ...
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Dubai legal links strengthened
Legal links between the courts of England, Wales and Dubai have been strengthened by the signing of a memorandum of guidance between Dubai’s International Centre (DIFC) Courts, the leading English-language commercial court in the Middle East, and the Commercial Court of England and Wales. The memorandum, designed to assist investors, ...
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Texas considers plan to open borders to foreigners
The US state of Texas is considering a plan to open its borders to foreign lawyers and compete with New York for the best international talent.
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Simplify complaints procedures, OFT tells profession
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has urged the legal profession to simplify its complaints procedures, following the publication of research showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on to make a formal complaint. Responding, the Legal Services Board (LSB) said it was making ...
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1,000 firms face Santander panel exit over CQS
Up to 1,000 firms risk being removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel at the end of March unless they obtain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation, the Society will warn this week. In September last year, the bank changed the terms of its residential conveyancing panel ...
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Legal professional privilege fight goes on
The fight to defend legal professional privilege looks set to continue, despite last week’s landmark victory for the profession in the Supreme Court. Parliament was urged to consider extending the scope of LPP in the wake of the judgment by the 140,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. ...
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Solicitors face sanction threat over COLP/COFA forms
Solicitors who failed to disclose relevant information about their past on compliance officer applications could have their licences removed, regulators have warned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to pursue hundreds of applicants who failed to declare facts such as criminal convictions or a previous ...
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China arbitration fight rocks foreign firms
Fears are growing that arbitration decisions made in two of China’s economic powerhouses may be impossible to enforce as a result of a feud between rival arbitration centres. The dispute began with the release of new arbitration rules by the Beijing-based China International Economic and ...
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SRA calms referral fee fears
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will try to appease firms worried about the lack of ‘safe harbour’ advice on coping with the ban on referral fees by publishing genuine case studies of acceptable business models. The regulator last week repeated it will not pre-approve models that ...
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DBA caps set by government
Damages based agreements (DBAs) are to be capped at 25% for personal injury and 50% for any other claim, the government confirmed in a statutory instrument setting out how the civil litigation reforms will work when they come into force on 1 April. As expected, DBAs ...
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Jackson reforms ‘undermined’ by landmark costs ruling
A judgment on costs today by the Court of Appeal will have significant ramifications for litigators preparing for the Jackson reforms. The court found there was ‘good reason’ for a claimant’s original costs estimate to go over budget by more than £268,000. The appeal, in Henry ...
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Lyons rebuts Admiral takeover reports
Personal injury firm Lyons Davidson has flatly denied press reports that it is in takeover talks with insurance giant Admiral. An article in the Mail on Sunday claimed that British insurer Admiral planned to buy the national firm, which last year became an alternative business structure, ...
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More firms ask for help to fund tax bills
The number of law firms that need funding to help pay their January tax bill has jumped by almost 60% since last year, according to a business providing independent finance. Syscap reports that so far this year it has received 410 requests from law firms for ...
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Business lobby condemns ‘opt-out’ regime in competition actions
Government plans to simplify procedures for taking collective legal action against price fixing and other anti-competitive behaviour have received a mixed reception. The measures, announced today, include making the Competition Appeal Tribunal the main court for competition actions and introducing a new opt-out regime for ...
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Pinsent Masons boosts outsourcing trend with Krakow deal
City firm Pinsent Masons has become the latest law practice to outsource key services by sending documents to be reviewed in Poland. The firm used Capita’s outsourced legal services operation in Krakow to review aspects of a large dispute. Both parties had ...
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Labour warns of Grayling’s ‘Trojan horse’ attacks
Government policies to cut legal aid, and to curtail judicial review and no-win, no-fee arrangements amount to an ‘assault on the critical checks and balances that any healthy democracy needs’, the shadow justice secretary has warned. Sadiq Khan MP told an event to celebrate pro bono ...
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Cobbetts set to go into administration
National firm Cobbetts has announced it is seeking protection from creditors as a buyer is sought for the business.