Latest news – Page 621
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News
Takeover fever lifts fast-rising DWF
A spate of acquisitions - including that of defunct Cobbetts - boosted income at business law firm DWF by 84% in the latest financial year, while profit per equity partner rose by a comparatively modest 4%. For the year to 30 April, the firm today ...
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Maclays to axe up to 30 jobs
Anglo-Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens has announced a redundancy consultation which will lead to up to 30 job losses. About half of the jobs at risk are fee-earning roles, with the firm's corporate and property practices likely to be most affected. All of MMS’s four ...
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Claims management ‘list of shame’ to go online
Claims management companies that are under investigation will be named online, the Ministry of Justice said today. The list, which goes live next Thursday, will include details of what action is being taken and the reason for it. The MoJ, which runs ...
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Treasury counsel condemn reforms to judicial review
Treasury counsel have joined the wave of concern over the government’s legal aid reforms, warning they will ‘undermine the accountability of public bodies’ and create an ‘underclass’ who will be denied access to the courts. In a letter to the attorney general Dominic Grieve QC, 145 ...
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Client spending squeeze forcing firms to merge
Large commercial law firms face a squeeze in client legal spending in the next 12 months, as virtually all corporate clients who have not yet reviewed instructions and spend plan to do so. The result will be massive consolidation among firms. That is the conclusion ...
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Growth rate plummets at top 100 firms
Fee income growth achieved by the top 100 UK law firms more than halved in 2012/13, according to financial consultant Deloitte. The country’s leading firms managed a 2.6% increase in revenue for the last financial year, compared with a 6.6% increase in 2011/12. The year was capped off by a ...
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Don’t bad-mouth the profession, Hudson tells Co-op
Co-operative Legal Services has sought to distance itself from comments reportedly made by its sales and marketing director suggesting that putting the customer first is ‘an alien approach’ for solicitors. Reporting the launch of the Co-op Legal Services’s multi-million-pound TV and radio advertising campaign, Marketing Week ...
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London Legal Walk 2013
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Law firms: information overload?
Firms will soon be obliged to publish diversity data – perhaps on their website or in reception if they have no website. I find it hard to see how, in a firm which consists of one person only (such as mine), it can be consistent with the Data Protection Act ...
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A sad day for the legal profession
Until this afternoon I had sympathy with colleagues who specialise in claimant personal injury work; that was until I received an unsolicited call from a north-west firm. About 18 months ago, my vehicle was involved in a collision where a car collided with my driver’s door, causing damage. I was ...
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Barmy PCT model
You report the excellent news that of the 25 highest-earning criminal legal aid firms, only a tiny minority will sign the new contract. This shows that, at long last, our branch of the profession has found its spine. Governments have respect only for those who fight hard, as our medical ...
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Welsh office
The National Assembly for Wales was delighted to feature in the Gazette (interview with Elisabeth Jones). However, we would like to point out a small, but important, slip in the first paragraph of the hard copy edition, in which Ms Jones is described as leading ...
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Pilot aims to limit clinical negligence solicitors’ fees
Solicitors could receive as little as £500 for clinical negligence cases worth up to £25,000 in a proposed fixed costs pilot scheme drawn up by the NHS Litigation Authority. In a document prepared by the authority and seen by the Gazette, the terms of the fixed ...
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Will-writing could still be regulated
Will-writing could eventually be brought within the scope of regulation, despite the government’s spurning of the profession’s call to make it a reserved activity. Justice secretary Chris Grayling last week responded to the Legal Services Board’s recommendation for regulation by saying there was insufficient evidence ...
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Appeal Court applies Russian law in dispute
The Court of Appeal has applied Russian law to dismiss an appeal by a wealthy Russian businessman who sought a half-share of the family’s £40m London home. The dispute concerned the beneficial ownership of a family home bought by Vladimir and Olga Slutsker using an offshore ...
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Insurers to revamp third-party code
Insurers are to rewrite a code of conduct on the practice of third-party capture of claimants, the Gazette can reveal. James Dalton, head of motor and liability at the Association of British Insurers (ABI), said he wanted the voluntary code to be more robust and ensure ...
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Court interpreters reject new contract deal
Courts are being disrupted on a ‘daily basis’ as interpreters continue to boycott the private sector contract for translation services, despite a peace move by the Ministry of Justice, an interpreters group claimed this week. The ministry last month revealed that it would foot ...
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European data plan labelled ‘demented’
European Commission data protection plans are the biggest threat currently facing the UK economy, a senior Downing Street figure said this week. Rohan Silva, the senior policy adviser behind the government’s Tech City initiative, described the draft European data protection plan as ‘a completely demented ...
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Grayling asks for quality standard for PCT firms
The justice secretary has asked the Law Society and Bar Council to develop a quality standard for firms bidding for criminal legal aid contracts under controversial plans for price-competitive tendering (PCT). In an exclusive interview with the Gazette, Chris Grayling said: ‘I have invited both the ...
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Saudi Arabia accepts registration of female lawyer
Arwa Al-Hujaili has become Saudi Arabia’s first female lawyer – but only after spending three years post-graduation petitioning the kingdom’s Ministry of Justice to register her as a trainee. However, Al-Hujaili’s problems may have only just begun: any Saudi judge who disapproves of women speaking in ...