Latest news – Page 615
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News
‘No question’ of leaving ECHR - Grieve
Attorney general Dominic Grieve (pictured) has categorically stated the government has no intention of withdrawing from the European convention on human rights. Grieve told the House of Commons yesterday there is ‘no question’ of leaving the convention, despite justice secretary Chris Grayling last week hinting that ...
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Pro bono group expands to Wales
The solicitors’ pro bono group LawWorks has been awarded £180,000 of lottery funding to expand its service across Britain and set up LawWorks Cymru in Wales. The charity heard last week that the Big Lottery Fund will provide the funding over the next three years enabling ...
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Gladstone Brookes TV ad falls foul of watchdog
The advertising watchdog has ordered a claims management company (CMC) to stop showing a TV advertisement which exaggerated how long a PPI claim would take. Gladstone Brookes, which instructed almost 71,000 clients in the first eight months of 2012, ran the advertisement stating that ‘reclaiming ...
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Officials ignored experts’ warning on interpreting contract
Senior procurement officials at the Ministry of Justice did not read a consultants’ report warning of the risks in a £42m contract to provide courtroom interpreters, it emerged at a parliamentary hearing yesterday. The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee was taking evidence on the procurement ...
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‘Forum bar’ pledge as May blocks McKinnon extradition
Members on all sides of the House of Commons today cheered home secretary Theresa May’s announcement that she would block the extradition of ‘Pentagon hacker’ Gary McKinnon (pictured). She said she had examined medical evidence, and concluded that if extradited to the US there was a high risk that McKinnon ...
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May to announce opt-out of EU justice measures
The home secretary Theresa May will confirm today that government plans to exercise its right to opt out of 130 EU cross-border measures on law and order. She is expected to tell MPs that under an opt-out agreed by the last government when negotiating the ...
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Quindell snaps up second law firm
One of the biggest new entrants to the legal services market has added to its growing stable with the acquisition of personal injury firm Pinto Potts. AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio announced the takeover this morning to the stock exchange and confirmed it has bought the firm for ...
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Survey tells tale of bullying, harassment and discrimination
One in six solicitors has been bullied in the workplace, according to research by the Law Society. Preliminary findings of the Society’s 2012 omnibus survey of the profession reveal that 17% of solicitors say they have been bullied at work. The percentage is higher for ...
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Bar says no to plea-only advocates
The Bar Council has strongly opposed the creation of a category of ‘non-trial’ advocates in the planned advocacy accreditation scheme. The ‘plea-only’ category – originally proposed by solicitor advocates – would put the public at risk and undermine public confidence in the profession and criminal justice system, the council says ...
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Claims manager jailed for insurance fraud
The manager of a claims management company who processed fraudulent insurance claims has been jailed for 21 months. Asif Mallu, 38, organised 10 claims between May and December 2005, making more than £12,000 through solicitors’ referral fees, courtesy car hire and the recovery of vehicles involved. ...
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PI firm buys debt recovery service
National firm Irwin Mitchell has announced it is to acquire a debt recovery company and to apply to license it as an alternative business structure. Oxfordshire-based PDP Management Services will operate as a subsidiary of Ascent, which is in turn a subsidiary of personal injury ...
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Let’s move on from LASPO, McNally urges legal aid lawyers
Wealthy defendants in criminal cases may be allowed to fund their defences with money released from seized assets, the new legal aid minister Lord McNally said today. McNally told the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group annual conference that Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, had asked him ...
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Berezovsky gets £35m costs bill
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky (pictured) has been ordered to pay £35m to cover the defence costs of his failed claim against Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
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Help ease the burden
In her article ‘Should pro bono be compulsory?’, Lia Moses refers to the New York State Bar requirement for all lawyers to carry out 50 hours of pro bono work before qualifying. Maybe even qualified solicitors should do 50 hours per annum? She urges us to fill in the questionnaire. ...
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SRA doublespeak
I note from your pages that the SRA has a ‘director of inclusion’ (for which post we in the profession presumably pay). It is difficult to imagine a more Orwellian title. I await to hear that we also have a ‘director of truth’ and a ‘director of love’, that doublespeak ...
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Arresting solution
By 2014 the UK must decide how far to be involved in EU crime co-operation measures, most notably the European arrest warrant (see ‘Nationwide alarm at EAW opt-out plan’). Whether the UK should continue to operate the arrest warrant system is not an easy decision and not one to be ...
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Centre caught out
I was concerned to read that the new County Court Money Claims Centre has complained that law firms are delaying the processing of thousands of claims at the new centralised facility in Salford, as reported in the Gazette on 27 September.
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Grayling dishes out tough justice
Repeat violent or sexual offenders will receive mandatory life sentences under a party conference-pleasing set of measures announced by the new justice secretary, Chris Grayling, on Tuesday. Grayling (pictured) also said the Conservatives would go into the next election with ‘a clear plan for change ...
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Solicitors cool on Conservatives' employee share scheme
Chancellor George Osborne’s plan for employees to exchange legal rights for tax-free shares in their workplaces has received a cool reception from employment lawyers. In his speech to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Osborne said that under the ‘voluntary three-way deal’ employees would ‘replace ...
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Online legal comparison pioneer to unveil site revamp
Legal services comparison site Wigster is planning a high-profile relaunch following the appointment last week of entrepreneur Matthew Briggs (pictured) as a director. Briggs, who is chief executive of the online claims management business Claims.com, was previously the non-lawyer chief executive of personal injury firm ...