Latest news – Page 649
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News
Consumers ‘in the dark’ on CMC practices
A quarter of consumers are not aware that claims management companies (CMCs) take a cut of their mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI) claim, a survey has revealed. The joint survey by consumer watchdog Which? and MoneySavingExpert.com found that claimants were unaware of their rights and the ...
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Brighton: we never sought seismic change, says Grieve
The UK government’s Brighton declaration on the future of Europe’s human rights court never set out to achieve ‘seismic’ change, but was more than mere political window-dressing, attorney general Dominic Grieve told the Gazette this morning. He said that ‘seismic’ change was not required because the ...
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Society proposes five-yearly check on criminal practitioners
The Law Society is seeking views on a plan to bolster its criminal litigation quality standard by reaccrediting solicitors every five years. It has proposed that members of the Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme (CLAS) should undergo a regulatory check every five years involving six hours ...
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Concern over police use of interview loophole
The Law Society has raised concerns with the Home Office about police officers denying suspects their right to consult a solicitor. Richard Atkinson, chair of the Society’s criminal law committee, told the Gazette that police are circumventing the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) by ...
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Government plans 'could undermine human rights court'
Inflexible government proposals to tackle the backlog of 150,000 cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) could undermine the court’s credibility and deny access to justice, the Law Society has warned as an international conference on the court’s future begins today. The proposals, in ...
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Interpreter 'bite' mistake causes trial collapse
A four-day burglary trial at a London Crown court collapsed last week after an interpreter made a mistake translating the defendant’s evidence. The trial at Snaresbrook (pictured) was halted on Friday afternoon after the Romanian language interpreter admitted mistakenly telling the court that the defendant had allegedly been ‘bitten’ rather ...
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Court of Appeal rules in favour of age discrimination claim
The Court of Appeal (CoA) has ruled that a solicitor may bring an age discrimination claim against the firm that dismissed him just 10 days before it appointed a younger and less well-paid solicitor to do a similar job.
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Wotton urges US to accept ABSs
Law Society president John Wotton will today urge the US to embrace the era of alternative business structures.In a speech to the American Bar Association (ABA) in New York, Wotton is expected to speak of the opportunities for solicitors through non-lawyer ownership of firms.
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Solicitors 'refuse to give journalists their names'
A leading court reporting agency says increasing numbers of solicitors are refusing to give their full name to journalists when appearing in court. Guy Toyn, news editor at Central News, told the Gazette that up to one in every 20 solicitors his reporters comes across asks ...
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Care crisis looms without more funds, Society says
The Law Society has warned that greater resources are needed to prevent a crisis in the care system as the number of applications soars to record levels. Annual figures released by the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) show that for the ...
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Why self-help makes business sense
District Judge Richard Chapman asks us for help with problems for the judge and the parties when litigants have to represent themselves. For many years, my firm’s Law Shop service has been giving advice to clients who have to self-represent in the Small Claims Court, in exactly the way that ...
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‘Impossible’ practice
Richard Chapman writes persuasively about the role of solicitors giving assistance to self-represented litigants. I am sure that if it were just a matter of helping a professional colleague, many would be happy to oblige. The matter is, however, deeper than that. These problems are arising ...
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Taxing issues
I refer to Robert Forman’s piece about the political stance taken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority over Stamp Duty Land Tax schemes.
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Fees and LDPs
I write in response to the letter ‘Raw deal for LDPs?’, concerning the process of passporting to an alternative business structure. To clarify, there is no fee for a non-lawyer manager LDP which elects to transition to the ABS regime ahead of the transition period (which the author is correct ...
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Solicitor advocates dragging standards down, says BSB research
Low rates for criminal legal aid and the growing share of work taken by solicitor advocates are contributing to a decline in advocacy standards that is harming the administration of justice, according to a survey by the Bar Standards Board. The report, Perceptions of Criminal Advocacy, ...
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SRA sets timetable for compliance roles
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has laid out its plans for nominating and appointing compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs) and compliance officers for finance and administration (COFAs). In a speech today, SRA executive director Samantha Barrass announced that firms will be able to nominate COLPs and ...
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Reservations as Clarke wins Strasbourg court reform deal
Forty-seven European states have adopted the final draft of the UK government’s proposed reforms of the Strasbourg human rights court, despite reservations expressed by some of the court’s top officials. These reservations include fears that national parliaments might attempt to compromise the independence of the court ...
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Insurance industry ‘deluded’ says PI chief
The incoming president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has launched a stinging attack on the prime minister and insurance industry. Speaking at the APIL conference in Newport today, Karl Tonks accused insurers of creating a ‘dysfunctional’ system through third-party capture of people who would never otherwise make a ...
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Society offers compliance officer help
The Law Society has announced a pilot scheme to provide firms with advice on problems with new compliance requirements. A new compliance reference group (CRG) will deal with enquiries from compliance officers for legal practices (COLPs) and provide advice on major problems.
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Firms going direct for PII coverage, Law Society poll shows
Increasing numbers of law firms are seeking out their own quotes for professional indemnity insurance, according to a Law Society survey. The poll of 600 firms found almost one-fifth of firms approached insurers directly to get 2011/12 cover - nearly double the proportion who did so ...