Latest news – Page 678
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News
Trainee redundancies ‘unlawful’
The Law Society is investigating claims that trainee solicitors whose contracts are terminated are being made redundant unlawfully. David Taylor, a partner at London firm Hanne & Co, said the number of redundant trainees seeking advice has risen this year for the first time since 2008. ...
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Welsh separation of legal powers ‘inevitable’
Further separation of legal powers between Wales and England is inevitable, leading Welsh academics have told the Gazette, as the Welsh Assembly prepares to launch a year-long consultation on creating a separate legal jurisdiction. They say the devolution process, accelerated by this year’s referendum vote in ...
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Board shakeup at Chancery Lane
The Law Society has announced plans to streamline its executive leadership structure to ‘enable the organisation to strengthen its service provision’. Chancery Lane is creating three new senior roles that will be accountable for its representation work, professional services and internal operations. ...
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Whiplash compensation system 'open to fraud'
Three-quarters of healthcare professionals believe the current system of compensation for whiplash is open to fraud. A survey of more than 500 GPs, physiotherapists and consultants found widespread scepticism about the process of claiming after accidents. Almost 90% believe some whiplash ...
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Bar Conference 2011: barristers 'ready to strike' over tendering plan
Criminal barristers will take ‘direct action’ - including withdrawing their services - if the government presses ahead with its plans for price-competitive tendering, the chair of the Criminal Bar Association has warned. Max Hill QC (pictured) said that the proposal to introduce best value tendering for the provision of publicly ...
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Bar Conference 2011: chambers eye direct service offers
A growing number of barristers are looking to offer services directly to the public, which could help them gain legal aid contracts, the head of the bar told delegates. Peter Lodder QC (pictured) said hundreds of barristers had already completed the public access training courses that ...
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Bar Conference 2011: regulator anxious to maintain independence
Bar regulators are determined to avert an ‘Enron-style loss of independence’ in the profession, as the liberalisation of legal services gathers momentum, Bar Conference 2011 heard. Patricia Robertson QC (pictured), a member of the Bar Standards Board (BSB), said the body has no desire to ...
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Bar Conference 2011: women lawyers need ‘change of attitude’
More must be done to encourage women to stay at the bar and apply for silk and judicial office, according to a panel of eminent women in the profession. The panel, comprising Family Division judge Mrs Justice Theis, Bar Standards Board chair Lady Deech and barristers ...
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Service provision change rule could lead to employment law uncertainty and costly challenges
Reading the recent article ‘Clarke confirms legal aid tender move’, I wonder whether the potential implications of Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) have been considered by Kenneth Clarke. It is possible that if a small number of firms are successful there may be a ...
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Domestic harmony
Laura Hodgson's article about the problems women and some other groups have in achieving senior roles quoted Baroness Hale, our only female Supreme Court judge. About 10-19% of City equity partners are female; not too different from the statistic for female membership of the cabinet. ...
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Quality conscious
We write from a firm which, according to Mr Craig Holt, the chief executive of QualitySolicitors, is clearly less profitable, less efficient and about to be squeezed out of the market by his company. We have no doubt that Mr Holt knows his own business, but ...
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Land bank offence
Some solicitors will have become aware of ‘land banking’ operations over recent years. For those who are not aware, these involve a company buying a plot of agricultural land, setting up a scheme to make it look as though it has development potential, and then selling ‘plots’ at a huge ...
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Support legal aid
I urge readers to help legal aid practitioners by writing to Lord Bach along the lines of my own recent letter to him, which followed a Gazettenews item on 20 October: ‘We are a "high street legal aid practice" whose very existence is seriously threatened by the 10% cuts in ...
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Extradition debate
Joshua Rozenberg’s analysis of the findings of the extradition review fails to mention one of the key grievances campaigners have against it - it found that there is no need to introduce the ‘forum bar’ to extradition into law.
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Cause for complaint
So far, my experience - as designated ‘complaints partner’ for my firm - of the role of the Legal Ombudsman in complaints-handling has been a positive one. However, I am now mystified as to how we should operate our future complaints-handling process.
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Secret police?
I have just attended a fine lecture by Professor Peter Camp on the new SRA Handbook. It was a sobering experience. Some of the book’s new elements should give rise to alarm. As we already know, unqualified employees are subject to disciplinary proceedings before the SRA. None of the employees ...
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In-Deed set to buy high street firms
A property legal company has revealed its intention to buy up high street firms. In-Deed, launched this year by Rightmove founder Harry Hill (pictured), will use the £4.5m secured through an Alternative Investment Market flotation in June to secure ownership of high street firms, build its ...
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Double-digit growth for A&O but tougher times ahead
Magic circle outfit Allen & Overy has been rewarded for rapid worldwide expansion with a jump in income - but has warned there are difficult times ahead. The firm, headquartered in London, today announced half-year turnover of £582m, up 11% on this time last year. ...
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Four firms secure half of PII market, says SRA
Four insurance firms secured more than half the market share of professional indemnity insurance in 2011, according to figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. More than 18% of law firms took out initial PII with XL Insurance, the leader in the market, for 2011/12. ...
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Regulate all legal services says SRA
All legal services should come under a regulatory umbrella, the Solicitors Regulation Authority says today. In a response to the Legal Services Board’s consultation on reserved activities it calls for a fundamental review of regulation in England and Wales. The response says the LSB’s current approach ...