Latest news – Page 650
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News
Six more firms win ABS status
Personal injury firms from both the defendant and claimant sectors are among a glut of new alternative business structures announced today. The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed the identities of six new licences to take the total it has granted up to 74. Six more are due ...
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MPs consider extradition forum bar
Government plans to amend extradition laws will be included in a wide-ranging justice reform bill, the home secretary told the House of Commons last night. During the second reading of the Crime and Courts Bill, Theresa May said the bill would propose amending the Extradition ...
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High street super-survey paints upbeat picture
Business has increased or remained unchanged for nearly 60% of law firms over the past three years, despite the challenging economy and changing legal market, results of a unique joint survey reveal today. However nearly one-third of the 31% of participating firms undertaking legal aid said ...
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Call for criminal sanctions against care home owners
A former health minister today called for legislation to hold corporations criminally accountable for abuse and neglect in care homes. In a 10-minute rule motion, Lib Dem MP Paul Burstow proposed a new offence of corporate neglect where senior management allowed abuse to occur. ...
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Society warns against Euro justice opt-out
Opting out of European Union law-and-order measures could jeopardise the UK’s ability to fight cross-border crime, the Law Society has warned. Its warning comes as a House of Lords Committee began taking evidence on the opt-out, which is likely to be announced by the government ...
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Betfair founder backs new ABS Brilliant Law
A team of non-solicitors with financial support from the founder of betting exchange website Betfair has announced its arrival into the legal market. Former Minster Law chief executive Matthew Briggs (pictured) and one-time BSkyB director Jeremy Fenn will be joint managers of Leeds-based Brilliant Law. ...
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Society critical of employee shareholder contracts
The government’s proposals for employee shareholder contracts will only add to red tape for small businesses and create confusion about workers’ rights, the Law Society has warned. The plans, contained in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, are currently before the House of Lords having been passed ...
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Compensation fund review to take two years
A full-scale review of the compensation fund will take two years to complete, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. Regulators want to weigh up whether existing arrangements provide effective protection for consumers of legal services, as well as address any solicitors’ concerns about the scheme. ...
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Law firms make gay-friendly top 100
Eight law firms feature in campaigning charity Stonewall’s list of the top-100 gay-friendly workplaces, published today. City firm Simmons & Simmons (pictured) leads the way, in ninth place. Baker & McKenzie is 19th, followed by Pinsent Masons, Herbert Smith Freehills and Hogan Lovells, which all have ...
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LSB backs call for simpler complaints regime
A call by the competition watchdog for simpler complaints procedures in the legal profession has received the support of the Legal Services Board. The Office of Fair Trading’s recommendation followed the publication of research today showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on ...
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DWF expands national presence with new merger
In the latest sign of consolidation in the legal sector, business firm DWF today announced a merger with insurance firm Fishburns.
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News
Regulator ponders guillotine on PPI complaints
The Financial Services Authority has opened talks on introducing a time limit for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. In a statement released this afternoon, the FSA admitted there had been ‘initial discussions’ to consider the merits of a limit. The talks followed an approach by the ...
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Cherie Booth’s consultancy among latest ABS approvals
An international legal consultancy chaired by Cherie Booth QC and a franchise for individual lawyers are among a glut of new year alternative business structure (ABS) announcements. In the space of 24 hours, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed seven new ABSs to bring the total ...
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Nicklinson posthumous right-to-die appeal
A widow has been granted leave to continue her late husband’s challenge to the existing law on murder and assisted suicide. The Court of Appeal has made an order that Jane Nicklinson (pictured, left), as the administrator of her late husband Tony’s estate, may take forward ...
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Co-op fined for PPI complaints-handling
The Co-operative Bank has been fined £113,000 for failing to handle payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints fairly. The bank had put a ‘significant proportion’ of its 1,629 complaints on hold in 2011 whilst the British Bankers Association’s ultimately unsuccessful High Court challenge to new Financial Services ...
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Society calls for freeze on civil justice reform
The government must postpone all further civil justice reforms until lawyers have had sufficient time to prepare for change, the Law Society said today. Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff welcomed justice secretary Chris Grayling’s decision to halt April’s expansion of the RTA Portal – confirmed over ...
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Ombudsman sets out new fees plan
A tougher approach to ‘free’ investigations will allow the Legal Ombudsman to raise an extra £1.6m through case fees in 2013/14, the ombudsman’s office revealed today. In the coming financial year the ombudsman will charge firms for their first case rather than allow two free ...
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Minister signals weekend courts U-turn
The government has indicated that it will drop plans to open courts at weekends, instead introducing longer weekday sittings. It also plans to achieve ‘colossal savings’ by expanding the use of video links between courts, police stations and prisons, and to continue its restorative justice and ...
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11% of firms still lack compliance officers
Nominated staff at more than 8,800 firms this week took up their new roles as compliance officers. The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed that individuals at 89% of firms were approved to start work as watchdogs for legal practice, and finance and administration, known as COLPs and ...
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RTA Portal: no plan B as government postpones expansion
The government has refused to reveal an alternative date for extending the RTA Portal scheme after announcing a postponement of its 1 April target today. As the Gazette reported before Christmas, the plan to extend the scheme to handle claims up to £25,000, as well ...