Latest news – Page 645
-
News
Hitting gender targets
I write in connection with the report that says we should work more flexibly and get more women in. Here, at solicitor level, we are more than 50% women and they all work flexibly. Unfortunately we did not attend a conference, or write out a plan for any of this. ...
-
News
Degrees of learning
Of a cohort of 2,174 who sat the Part II Qualifying Examination in February 1967, 48 passed all seven heads, in one sitting, with distinction in two or more subjects. The group comprised 25 ‘five-year men’ (they were all men!) and 23 graduates, mainly from ...
-
News
Mediator fee cost anomaly rankles
There is a striking anomaly caused by the omission of a mediator’s fee from the list of recoverable disbursements in Civil Procedure Rule 45.10 (fixed-costs cases). It means that a receiving party must bear the costs of the mediator’s fee, which creates a disincentive for mediating. ...
-
News
Brilliant Law heralds new era
I read that Brilliant Law ‘is founded by non-lawyers, which is a radically different scenario to other law firms'. It is indeed. I read on: ‘That brings with it innovation and a commercial appreciation but also mechanisms to market ourselves differently.’ But ...
-
News
Defendants and principles of fairness
I would like to share my recent experience of the Criminal Procedure Rules (CrimPR) danced to the tune of Ministry of Justice training. Acting for a defendant who had no recollection of the incident, or what he had said in interview, I was faced with a single statement and a ...
-
News
Defending strict liability for workplace safety
I write with reference to the government’s latest move in its overhaul of health and safety legislation. At the last minute, the proposal to remove strict liability in respect of duties imposed on employers under health and safety legislation has been slipped into the Enterprise Regulatory ...
-
News
Judicial review limits attacked
Government plans to limit the number of judicial reviews have been condemned by lawyers and campaign groups. A six-week consultation on the proposals, which the justice secretary says would stop ‘weak or ill-founded’ claims clogging the courts, ended last week apparently without a single response in favour. ...
-
News
MoJ reveals £600m in court fines are unpaid
The government failed to make any significant impression on the £600m of outstanding debt from court fines during the latest financial year. Helen Grant, justice minister, told parliament this month that outstanding impositions stood at £1.8bn at the end of April 2012. A Ministry of ...
-
News
Dubai legal links strengthened
Legal links between the courts of England, Wales and Dubai have been strengthened by the signing of a memorandum of guidance between Dubai’s International Centre (DIFC) Courts, the leading English-language commercial court in the Middle East, and the Commercial Court of England and Wales. The memorandum, designed to assist investors, ...
-
News
Texas considers plan to open borders to foreigners
The US state of Texas is considering a plan to open its borders to foreign lawyers and compete with New York for the best international talent.
-
News
Simplify complaints procedures, OFT tells profession
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has urged the legal profession to simplify its complaints procedures, following the publication of research showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on to make a formal complaint. Responding, the Legal Services Board (LSB) said it was making ...
-
News
1,000 firms face Santander panel exit over CQS
Up to 1,000 firms risk being removed from Santander’s conveyancing panel at the end of March unless they obtain the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme accreditation, the Society will warn this week. In September last year, the bank changed the terms of its residential conveyancing panel ...
-
News
Legal professional privilege fight goes on
The fight to defend legal professional privilege looks set to continue, despite last week’s landmark victory for the profession in the Supreme Court. Parliament was urged to consider extending the scope of LPP in the wake of the judgment by the 140,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales. ...
-
News
Solicitors face sanction threat over COLP/COFA forms
Solicitors who failed to disclose relevant information about their past on compliance officer applications could have their licences removed, regulators have warned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority plans to pursue hundreds of applicants who failed to declare facts such as criminal convictions or a previous ...
-
News
China arbitration fight rocks foreign firms
Fears are growing that arbitration decisions made in two of China’s economic powerhouses may be impossible to enforce as a result of a feud between rival arbitration centres. The dispute began with the release of new arbitration rules by the Beijing-based China International Economic and ...
-
News
SRA calms referral fee fears
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will try to appease firms worried about the lack of ‘safe harbour’ advice on coping with the ban on referral fees by publishing genuine case studies of acceptable business models. The regulator last week repeated it will not pre-approve models that ...
-
News
DBA caps set by government
Damages based agreements (DBAs) are to be capped at 25% for personal injury and 50% for any other claim, the government confirmed in a statutory instrument setting out how the civil litigation reforms will work when they come into force on 1 April. As expected, DBAs ...
-
News
Jackson reforms ‘undermined’ by landmark costs ruling
A judgment on costs today by the Court of Appeal will have significant ramifications for litigators preparing for the Jackson reforms. The court found there was ‘good reason’ for a claimant’s original costs estimate to go over budget by more than £268,000. The appeal, in Henry ...
-
News
Lyons rebuts Admiral takeover reports
Personal injury firm Lyons Davidson has flatly denied press reports that it is in takeover talks with insurance giant Admiral. An article in the Mail on Sunday claimed that British insurer Admiral planned to buy the national firm, which last year became an alternative business structure, ...
-
News
More firms ask for help to fund tax bills
The number of law firms that need funding to help pay their January tax bill has jumped by almost 60% since last year, according to a business providing independent finance. Syscap reports that so far this year it has received 410 requests from law firms for ...