Latest news – Page 642
-
News
Interpreters contract: inept and dangerous
I write with regard to the court interpreter contract. Catherine Baksi is quite right still to be pursuing this particularly inept – and dangerous – example of outsourcing. Inept, since the terms of this monopolistic contract are holding the criminal justice system and we service providers to ransom.
-
News
Lions led by donkeys
Those of your readers with a historical interest have no doubt heeded the conduct of the first world war generals. Strategy was decided ‘on high’. Little heed was paid to the men in the trenches. Policy came from an elite talking to itself. The verdict of history? Lions led by ...
-
News
Air ambulance confusion
In the past few months the air ambulance community has discovered a problem where wills are being written listing the ‘Air Ambulance Service’ as a beneficiary. While the name ‘Air Ambulance Service’ has been used as a general phrase to describe services across the ...
-
News
LSC drops legal aid contract changes
The Legal Services Commission has agreed to drop controversial changes to ongoing legal aid contracts following talks with the Law Society. The commission is tendering for new contracts in the runup to legal aid reforms coming into effect on 1 April and had sought to ...
-
News
City firms eye China scheme
An initiative to promote business and legal ties between China and the UK has attracted leading City firms, its backers said this week. The UK-China Legal Partnership Initiative (LPI), to be formally launched this month, will run annual seminars, to be held alternately at China’s ...
-
News
European AML directive ‘unlikely to be effective’
The fourth European money laundering directive, published last week, is likely to impose significant but ineffective burdens on solicitors over the ‘vexing issue’ of identifying beneficial owners, the Law Society has warned.
-
News
Fraud hotline set up for homeowners
A fraud hotline has been opened by the Land Registry for homeowners who fear their property might be subject to a fraudulent sale or mortgage. It will allow owners who believe they may be victims to alert specially trained Registry staff. The Law Society said ...
-
News
Cobbetts creditors must wait and hope
Further details have emerged of defunct firm Cobbetts’ financial troubles as administrators begin talks with creditors.
-
News
Majority against IFA referral move
A decision to lift restrictions on referrals to independent financial advisers was made despite the majority of consultation respondents opposing the move, the Gazette has learned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority decided last November to allow solicitors to refer clients to any financial adviser regardless of ...
-
News
Keystone offers £1 top-up insurance cover
Top-up legal expenses insurance cover with premiums that can be recovered after 1 April are being sold for just £1, the Gazette can reveal. After-the-event (ATE) insurer Keystone Legal is offering a product for cases insured by other legal expenses insurers that run out of cover, ...
-
News
Sri Lanka bars lawyers
The Sri Lankan government has refused to allow an international delegation of lawyers to visit the country to assess the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. One delegate, former Supreme Court of India chief justice J. S. Verma, said he had his entry ...
-
News
Unsuitable assessment
I wonder how many COLPs and COFAs answered the ‘suitability test’ correctly? The form on page two asks the question ‘have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence not falling within section 1.1?’ The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed to me that any speeding conviction ...
-
News
Cause for complaint
I note that one of the changes to the Legal Ombudsman scheme rules is to accept complaints from prospective clients who could reasonably have expected to receive a service. This appears to be inconsistent with the principles of risk management in Lexcel, whereby the risk manager ...
-
News
SRA revokes PC authorisations
The Solicitors Regulation Authority last week began revoking authorisations of firms that failed to complete their practising certificate renewals. As the Gazette went to press, 11% of expected applications had either been created and not finalised or not submitted at all. The figure is similar ...
-
News
US seeks to join Venice Commission
The US has applied for membership of the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe-affiliated body that advises governments on legal and constitutional reform. The commission, formed to advise European countries undergoing the transition to democracy, has since extended its focus to include Africa and Latin America. ...
-
News
QC faces jail after pocketing VAT for 12 years
A London silk faces jail after being convicted of a £600,000 VAT fraud. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practised from Thirty Nine Essex Street, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court (pictured) today of one count of cheating the public revenue, between 1 June 1999 and 24 ...
-
News
‘Rolled-up’ hearing for RTA Portal challenges
A legal challenge to halt cuts to personal injury fees will be fast-tracked through the High Court, it was revealed today. The judicial review application by two claimant groups in opposition to new recoverable fixed costs in the RTA Portal has been listed for a ...
-
News
Damages discounts may rise following new evidence - MoJ
Justice minister Helen Grant today said initial evidence may support a rise in the discount rate used to calculate deductions from compensation awards. The government has opened a second part to a consultation with the legal and insurance professions that began last year. It will run ...
-
News
Charter firms improve their diversity profile
The partnerships of the firms that have signed up to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter are overwhelmingly white, heterosexual, male and able-bodied, new research has revealed. However, 70% of the firms that in 2012 completed the charter survey for the second successive year achieved ...
-
News
Regulate will-writing but not estate administration, LSB recommends
The Legal Services Board will today recommend to the lord chancellor that will-writing activities, but not estate administration, should be regulated. It is the first time that the board has recommended bringing new activities under the scope of the Legal Services Act. The Law Society ...