Latest news – Page 623
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Divorce advice
Many years ago at a local meeting of either Relate or the former Solicitors Family Law Association (now Resolution), I proposed to an eminent judge that government health warnings appeared on divorce petitions. The learned judge basically concurred. Many problems arise or are exacerbated by the ...
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Civil strife
With the proposed strike action in respect of criminal legal aid reforms seemingly an agreed and positive form of protest, it saddens me that similar steps were not taken in advance of the cuts made to civil legal aid.
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Family arbitration: award show
I have reviewed with interest Lucinda Ferguson’s letter ‘"Final and binding" awards’. Lucinda refers to my ‘Family law arbitration wins’ article as ‘misleading in one respect, namely that "awards" made under the Scheme are "final and binding"’. I never stated that an award in arbitration usurps ...
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Job centred
This week I was talking to a solicitor friend in another practice whose senior partner retired. On his departure, my friend’s colleague said: ‘On qualifying as a solicitor I joined a profession; on retiring as a solicitor I am leaving a job.’ Says it all doesn’t it? ...
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Tendering: grim precedent
So the Ministry of Justice is having to dip into its – that is to say ‘our’ – pocket to bail out a cack-handed scheme for interpreter provision wished upon the criminal justice system supposedly to save money. Who would have thought it? Well, anyone ...
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Law Society Yacht Club
The Law Society Yacht Club has been inactive for a number of years. However, some members are hoping to revive it and to that end we are holding a general meeting on 5 June at El Vinos, 47 Fleet Street, London. The meeting starts at 6.45pm. If any members require ...
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Wragge & Co takes axe to legal support jobs
Top-30 firm Wragge & Co has confirmed that up to 30 jobs could go after a review of its legal support services. The announcement was made after the firm’s board proposed a new structure for back-office functions. The new structure includes a ...
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Call for solicitors to use British Sign Language
Research has highlighted the need for solicitors to learn British Sign Language (BSL) so that deaf people have the same access to legal advice as their hearing counterparts. The research, published last week to coincide with Deaf Awareness Week, found that 85% of deaf people prefer ...
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Foreign case influx at commercial court
Foreign litigants are increasingly dominating the Commercial Court of England and Wales, research on cases over the past five years has found. The study Who uses the Commercial Court?, by the Portland communications firm, reviewed all 705 judgments from the court between March 2008 and ...
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Legal education move by embattled Co-op
The Co-operative Group’s legal services arm is to set up a ‘learning academy’ later this year to give legal training to aspiring lawyers who cannot afford university.
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Government red tape reverse
The government’s pledge to cut red tape was called into question by research showing it introduced around six new laws every working day last year, an 8% rise on 2011. The government has said it will scrap two existing regulations for every new regulation it brings ...
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Sri Lanka relents on visit
The Sri Lanka government has lifted its ban on fact-finding visits by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). The institute is welcome to make an ‘objective and impartial analysis of the reality of contemporary Sri Lanka’, it said. In February, an IBAHRI delegation ...
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Government ‘ignoring’ calls for further RTA review
The government’s adviser on RTA claims has warned that ministers’ failure to heed his advice could lead to bad behaviour being incentivised. Professor Paul Fenn said today that the government had not acted on three key recommendations from last year’s review of the RTA Portal. ...
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30 to meet Grayling in legal aid crisis talks
The Law Society has published the list of the 30 criminal lawyers who will represent the profession at the first of two head-to-head meetings with the justice secretary in crunch talks over the government’s planned criminal legal aid reforms. The first meeting will take place at ...
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Shadow minister hints at ‘unwind’ of Jackson reforms
Labour’s shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter has given the biggest hint yet that his party might seek to undo some civil justice reforms if returned to power. Slaughter (pictured) told today’s Westminster Legal Policy Forum that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of Jackson ...
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Bar Council picks a former mandarin
The Bar Council has appointed former education civil servant Stephen Crowne as its chief executive to fill a post that has been vacant for two years. Crowne (pictured), 55, joins the Bar Council from IT company Cisco, where he was responsible for developing a ...
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100 jobs at risk as BLP seeks 15% salary cost cut
City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner has confirmed it has put more than 100 London-based staff at risk of redundancy. The firm today announced it will consult on a redundancy programme affecting 58 legal staff and 44 secretarial workers. The firm aims to reduce salary costs by ...
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Society and bar join hands against criminal justice plans
The legal profession has united in its opposition to the government’s proposals for fee cuts and reforms which lawyers say will ‘sabotage’ the criminal justice system. The Law Society and Bar Council today issued a statement on the four key planks of changes set out in ...
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Grayling says no to regulating will-writing
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has today rebuffed a recommendation from super-regulator the Legal Services Board that will-writing should be regulated. In a Ministry of Justice statement, he said that an LSB report claiming that there is ‘consumer detriment’ in the will-writing market did not adequately ...
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Jurors ‘confused’ on new media contempt
Groundbreaking research on juries has revealed that most jurors feel they are not given enough guidance on conducting deliberations, while almost a quarter misunderstand the rules on internet use during trials. Among jurors who misunderstand the contempt rules, 16% believe they cannot use the internet at ...