Latest news – Page 679
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'Upsurge' in Scottish firms interested in ABS status
The Law Society of Scotland has reported an upsurge in law firms north of the border expressing interest in becoming alternative business structures, though it says new regulations enabling them to convert remain ‘some way off’. Today the Society has submitted a proposed regulatory ...
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Children in custody at five-year low
The number of children in custody has hit a record low five years after the start of a programme designed to limit the use of prison, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Justice today.
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Lawyers may face regulation as MPs reject lobbyist register
Lawyers who lobby professionally for their clients should be subject to regulation, according to a Commons committee report out today. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee says the government should scrap current plans for a statutory register of third-party lobbyists as not ‘fit for purpose’. Instead, ...
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‘Swift’ justice to become ‘norm’ in criminal cases
Dealing with criminal cases in 'hours and days' could become 'the norm' under government plans announced today. Policing and criminal justice minister Nick Herbert published a white paper detailing proposals designed to speed up cases in the criminal justice system. Extended court sittings, increased use of ...
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Look closer to home
I welcome the news that the Welsh government is launching a strategy to attract new legal jobs to the country and urging international London-based law firms to consider Wales as the ‘business location of choice’ for expansion and investment.
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Odious legislation
I am a Legal Executive and in a month’s time I will ‘celebrate’ having worked for 25 years in the legal profession, handling mainly legal aid cases.
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Salford proceedings
In response to Alexandra Adam's letter, I spoke to someone at Salford Business Centre about limitation on the day that the new procedure came into force. I was advised that if you are up against limitation, then you need to prepare proceedings to issue out of the Northampton County Court ...
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Default system
I read the views of Nicholas Cusworth QC. I support his advocacy of an accrual type of matrimonial property regime, but would add two extra aspects.
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Olympics cases to be fast-tracked
Measures to speed up criminal cases with night and weekend courts will be outlined in a white paper due to be published tomorrow by the Ministry of Justice. The changes build on measures adopted to cope with the high number of people arrested during last ...
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Law applicants unfazed by tuition fee rise
The number of students applying to read law at university appears to have held up well this year, despite a near 9% fall in applications across all degree subjects in the UK. Statistics released earlier this week by UCAS reveal that 50,000 fewer UK applicants have ...
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LinkedIn 'can help profession innovate'
‘Crowd-sourced’ innovations can help lawyers temper the worst excesses of government cuts to access to justice, incoming Law Society president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff said this week.
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Support for shot solicitor
Wiltshire solicitor James Ward (pictured) remains in a serious condition after being shot in his office last week. The principal partner at Morris Goddard & Ward began breathing on his own on Tuesday for the first time since the attack but remained in a coma, local colleagues said. ...
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Court pioneer retains funding despite 'failure'
England’s first ‘community’ court has failed to cut reoffending rates, a Ministry of Justice report has revealed - but it will continue to receive funding for the next two years. The report on North Liverpool Community Justice Centre (NLCJC), which opened in September 2005, combining courts ...
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CILEx president in new rights plea
Newly qualified legal executives are more experienced and knowledgeable than their solicitor counterparts, the new president of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) claimed in his inaugural speech last week. Nick Hanning said legal executives are ‘the equal of any other type of lawyer’ and ...
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Law firm bids for TV licence
A Birmingham law firm behind a consortium bidding to run a new TV station in the city plans to broadcast a regular legal programme. DBS Law is part of Bham TV, which plans to launch in October if it wins approval from Ofcom for a ...
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Hope over asbestos claims fund
Time is running out for the government to meet its self-imposed deadline to create a contingency fund for asbestos-related disease claims. Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly told the House of Commons last week he hoped to make an announcement before the summer recess, which begins next Wednesday. ...
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Rights bill commission seeks second opinion
A right to administrative justice and trial by jury are among measures that may be proposed for a future UK Bill of Rights, the body set up to investigate the need for a bill has suggested. In its second consultation, which opened yesterday, the Commission on ...
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Judicial applications up 17%
A record number of candidates applied for judicial appointments last year, the Judicial Appointment Commission’s latest annual report reveals. There were 5,490 applications in 2011-12, of which 746 resulted in the appointment of tribunal chairs, recorders, district judges, deputy district judges, circuit judges and high court ...
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Neuberger gets top job at Supreme Court
Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury will become the second president of the Supreme Court, Downing Street announced today. Currently master of the rolls, Neuberger will succeed Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, who steps down from his post as the UK’s most senior judge on 30 September. ...
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Final consultation launched on advocacy accreditation
A fourth - and ‘final’ - consultation on the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) published today contains a number of ‘significant’ changes that solicitors’ representative groups have welcomed.