Latest news – Page 614
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Super regulator goes shopping for legal panel
The Legal Services Board today opened the application process to join its panel of legal advisers. The super regulator says it requires support for public and private law, legislative drafting and litigation support. Most pieces of work are typically valued below £5,000 but more complex and ...
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No place for private equity in law firms, say finance chiefs
More than three-quarters of finance directors at leading commercial law firms believe private equity investment is inappropriate. In a survey of directors at 25 of the top 100 firms, 77% were unhappy with law firms attracting capital through private equity investors. An even greater number - ...
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Cameron’s rehab scheme ‘empty rhetoric’ says Labour
David Cameron has outlined what he called the coalition’s ‘tough but intelligent’ approach to crime, with payment by results for companies and charities providing rehabilitation services. In a well-trailed speech at the Centre for Social Justice thinktank in London, the prime minister said ‘retribution’ and tough ...
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Brace yourself for unprecedented change, says master of rolls
Implementing the Jackson costs reforms will inevitably lead to satellite litigation, the master of the rolls has warned. He urged courts and lawyers to ‘do what they can’ to minimise it. In a wide-ranging speech at the Law Society yesterday, Lord Dyson (pictured) said that the ...
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McKinnon solicitor is Legal Personality of the Year
Karen Todner, the London solicitor who represented ‘Pentagon hacker’ Gary McKinnon, received a standing ovation as she collected the Law Society Gazette’s Legal Personality of the Year award at last night’s Law Society Excellence awards ceremony. Todner (pictured) has been at the forefront of high-profile extradition ...
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Poor nations need help now over climate change
Former Ireland president Mary Robinson is right to advocate helping those in need due to the very real effects of climate change.
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Do we need more law students?
Further to the article of 24 September at Gazette Online by Ian Wimbush, I write to express my astonishment at the writer’s statement in his final paragraph: ‘That, with the recent consolidation and the increase in law students, tends to paint a rather more optimistic picture for the future of ...
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Reality check
Do we have any sympathy with the comments of the solicitor judge whose name was withheld on request, bemoaning the changes to the pension regime for the judiciary? I think not.
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Just business
Once again the profession is tying itself in knots over pro bono work, in effect fiddling while Rome burns (‘Should pro bono be compulsory?’).
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Lost generation fears of Labour's Sadiq Khan
Criminal legal aid solicitors will be such an endangered species by 2015 that Labour would not need to take forward plans for price-competitive tendering in the sector. That is the startlingly frank opinion of shadow justice secretary Sadiq Khan MP, who has given the Gazette ...
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Top firms risk collapse, US economist warns
The very largest corporate law firms are wedded to an unsustainable business model designed around support for their own massive overheads, one of the US’s leading general counsel has warned, predicting more collapses like that of US firm Dewey LeBoeuf. Michael Trotter, now with US firm ...
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Study recommends shift in CPD provision
The annual requirement for 16 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) should not be extended and could even be lowered, according to a report commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The Nottingham Law School study also says law firms should have to contribute to the ...
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Fund will assume risks of ABSs, says MoJ
The solicitors’ compensation fund will take on the risks of alternative business structures indefinitely following the shelving of plans for a separate fund, the ...
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Litigant in person ‘not entitled to indulgence’
The Court of Appeal has told a self-represented litigant that his lack of legal understanding does not entitle him to ‘extra indulgence’. The finding will comfort solicitors facing a soaring number of self-represented opponents. Peter Elliott, who claims to be ...
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Hudson warning over failure to modernise conveyancing
Failure to computerise the conveyancing process could damage the UK economy, the chief executive of the Law Society has told a United Nations conference. Speaking at a UN Economic Commission for Europe event on the role of land registration in economic recovery, Desmond Hudson (pictured) ...
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Eversheds pioneers ‘big data’ for clients
National firm Eversheds says it is the first law firm to offer its clients ‘big data’ techniques to help them understand competitors’ business strategies and avoid major risks. Big data is an IT industry buzz phrase for the analysis of very large sets of data ...
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War tribunal ‘politically motivated’
A barrister representing a prominent Muslim figure in Britain has criticised a tribunal seeking his extradition to Bangladesh on war crimes charges.
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Interpreter firm still missing target, official statistics reveal
The company contracted to provide court interpreters has failed to reach its performance target after six months, statistics released today reveal. The overall success rate for jobs completed by Applied Language Solutions between 30 January and 31 August was 89%. The contract’s performance target is ...
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Townsend admits light touch for new ABSs
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has made a conscious decision not to place too many conditions on new alternative business structures (ABSs), its leader has revealed. Chief executive Antony Townsend said the terms of the licence had deliberately been kept simple for the 33 entities that have ...
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Comparison site attacks online document market
Online price comparison website Compare Legal Costs has partnered with East Midlands firm Nelsons to offer fixed-fee online legal documents to businesses and consumers. Nelsons provides more than 200 online documents suitable for personal or business use, covering building work to prenuptial agreements, divorce, motoring, power ...