Latest news – Page 607
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News
Merger threat to Whitehall lawyers
Government lawyers fear cost-cutting consolidation plans will lead to big job losses and attacks on their employment conditions. The merger of legal functions appears set to incorporate cuts deeper than envisaged in the 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. Correspondence seen by the ...
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‘Traditional’ law firm numbers plummet
The number of sole practitioners and traditional partnerships has fallen dramatically over the past three years, according to new figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Providing an insight into a profession in the midst of unprecedented change, the figures show that since October 2009, the ...
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High Court judge to visit law firms
The only solicitor High Court judge is to visit legal firms to find out why the number of solicitors applying for judicial appointment is so ‘disappointingly low’, in a bid to improve diversity. Mr Justice Hickinbottom, who is also joint senior liaison judge for diversity, will ...
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Care parents tested for alcohol
Parents with alcohol problems involved in care proceedings may be fitted with ankle bracelets that continuously monitor their drinking following a trial that began this week at a London family court. The SCRAMx continuous alcohol monitoring device tests for alcohol secretions on the skin ...
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Judges’ pension cut threat to City's dispute resolution status
Reform of the judicial pension scheme will threaten the UK’s position as a centre for high-quality dispute resolution, a City lobby group warned this week. TheCityUK, which promotes London around the world, said including the judiciary in a one-size-fits-all plan for civil service pensions would have ...
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Chancery Lane signs Korea concord
Closer links between the jurisdictions of Korea, and England and Wales will follow the signing of a memorandum of understanding by the Law Society’s president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff and the president of the Korean Bar Association Dr Young-Moo Shin in Seoul last week. The move follows ...
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The Legal Services Commission should not punish all expert witnesses
As a delegate to the recent Bond Solon Expert Witness Conference, I was concerned to hear Lord Justice Goldring use the device of the ‘very concerning rumour’ he had heard, to warn expert witnesses of ‘fee padding’. Put bluntly, apparently some expert witnesses are fraudulently increasing the hours worked per ...
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Overdue merger
The merger of Solicitors in Local Government and the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors is long overdue and enables local government’s top legal talent to come together in one organisation and speak with one voice. This is a positive development many years in the making and bodes well for ...
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Private contribution
Another article in the Gazette about the reduction in pro bono work by solicitors. It is a sad indictment of the profession that, at a time when legal aid and funding for voluntary sector advice agencies are being slashed, denying access to justice to vast numbers, some firms feel justified ...
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Working for nothing
I read the Gazette front page of 8 November, ‘Pro bono hours dip as funding cuts loom’, with interest and, as an old-fashioned professional, a degree of concern. I do some pro bono even in my tiny firm but it did provoke a question. In the modern competitive world where ...
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Plane fury
I sit at my desk reading the latest Gazette with my blood pressure at boiling point due to the article about the former aviation director suggesting the legal profession does more to help self-represented people.
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Pilot fright
So Peter Elliott, former aviation director, was ‘utterly frightened’ when appearing in person in the High Court. We must sympathise. How would a lawyer feel if, on arriving at the airport, he was told that without any training he must fly the aeroplane himself with only ...
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The right judgment call
I do not agree that the judgment in Petrodel v Prest is a ‘cheat’s charter’. The judgment, although by a majority, is a refreshing example of the application of the rule of law and the correct statutory interpretation of section 24(1)(a) of MCA 1973. May it long continue.
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Silverbeck to double workforce following acquisition
National firm Silverbeck Rymer has announced plans to more than double its size over the next year. The personal injury firm, bought by listed brand extension company Quindell Portfolio for £19.3m in January, will recruit 300 people to add to its current staff of 250. Around ...
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Existing sanctions sufficient for disclosure failures, judges rule
Senior judges today rejected the creation of additional sanctions for disclosure failures against either the prosecution or defence in criminal cases. A review of sanctions, requested by former lord chancellor Kenneth Clarke and carried out by Lord Justice Gross and Lord Justice Treacy, instead advocates updates ...
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Grayling ponders legal aid ban over prisoner votes
Prisoners may be refused legal aid to sue the government if parliament decides to defy the European Court of Human Rights over voting rights, the justice secretary said today. In a debate following a statement announcing a draft bill on the issue, Chris Grayling said ...
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Firms named for ‘grave failures’ in immigration disclosure
Immigration solicitors will face disciplinary action if they fail to reveal ‘all material facts’ when applying to prevent removals, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division warned, naming three firms who had not to complied with disclosure duties.
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Lord chief justice to step down
Lord Judge, lord chief justice, announced today that he will retire at the end of September 2013. A Judicial Office statement said that the process to appoint his successor as senior judge of England and Wales will begin in early 2013. Igor ...
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Legal Aid Agency names new faces
Irwin Mitchell partner Andrew Lockley is among three non-executive board members appointed to the Legal Aid Agency, which replaces the Legal Services Commission from next April. Lockley (pictured) heads the public law team at Irwin Mitchell, where he has worked for the past 16 years. Lockley, ...
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Solicitors urged to ‘beat the rush’ on PC renewals
Solicitors are being encouraged not to leave practising certificate renewals to the last minute if they want them to be processed as quickly as possible. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has today written to local law societies pointing out that the volume of users presently ...