Latest news – Page 683
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News
Review of super-regulators calls for more openness
The Legal Services Board and the Office for Legal Complaints should open their board meetings to the public and publish all items of spending over £500, a Ministry of Justice Review has recommended. The report of the first triennial review of bodies established under the 2007 ...
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Wills and probate company goes ABS
Birmingham wills and probate company Northwood Banks & Co has become the second company licensed as an alternative business structure (ABS) by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). The firm, which since 1987 has provided will writing and probate services, has now been licensed to ...
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PC fee up 5%, Law Society council agrees
The Law Society council today approved a practising certificate fee increase of £16 for 2012/13. The fee for each solicitor will rise from £328 to £344. Individual Compensation Fund contributions rise from £60 to £92. The contribution for firms will increase from £722 to £1,340. ...
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Society advice on SRA diversity data
The Law Society has published a practice note to help firms and sole practitioners comply with regulatory new requirements to collect data on the diversity of their workforce. Data to be reported include job status and role as well as age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion ...
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NHS reveals £1bn litigation bill
Spending by the NHS Litigation Authority on negligence claims has passed the £1bn mark for the first time. Annual accounts for the 2011/12 financial year show that £1.095bn was spent on clinical claims by NHS trusts, foundation trusts and primary care trusts in England. A further ...
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Solicitor shooting: man charged
A man appeared in court today charged with attempting to kill a Wiltshire solicitor. Michael Chudley, 62, from Rowde, Wiltshire, was also charged with threats to kill, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and carrying a firearm with criminal intent. At ...
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Merger mania continues as 22% of firms report tie-ups
Merger activity has remained strong among small and medium-sized firms, with nearly a quarter completing a merger in the past six months, research has revealed. The fifth in a series of six-monthly surveys of 50 law firms has shown that 22% had completed a merger in ...
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Simmons and Ashurst report higher profits
Simmons & Simmons and Ashurst have today become the latest top-100 firms to post robust trading results.
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A&O profits steady
More than 400 partners at Allen & Overy will earn at least £640,000 this year, the firm revealed as it kicked off the magic circle reporting season today. Allen & Overy’s results for the year ending 30 April show profits up by 7% to £486m on ...
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Man shot in solicitors’ office
A man is in a life-threatening condition after a shooting at a solicitors’ office in Wiltshire. The victim suffered serious head injuries after a single shot was fired at Morris, Goddard and Ward in Devizes on Monday afternoon, a police statement said. He was airlifted to ...
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Profits leap at Clifford Chance
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance says it has defied market uncertainty to post a ‘strong performance’ for the last financial year. The firm today said that its 2011/12 profits leaped by 13% to £431m while revenues rose by 7% to £1.3bn. Profit per equity partner was ...
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High court slams means-test delays
The High Court has condemned the current system of means testing in magistrates’ court and called on the Ministry of Justice to take urgent action to cut ‘unacceptable’ delays. In a strongly worded judgment in relation to two European Arrest Warrant (EAW) cases, the president of ...
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Three-way split for European patent court
A long battle over the jurisdiction and location of Europe’s new patent court appears to have been settled with a decision to split the court’s operations in three and separate it from the European Court of Justice. Ministers at last week’s Brussels summit agreed that the seat of the Unified ...
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In-house growing in appeal, says survey
Nearly two-thirds of private practice lawyers would consider moving in-house, according to research published today. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Law Department Study, responded to by 114 legal departments at companies in 17 countries, found that 53% had recruited lawyers during the first quarter ...
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Prisoners to be liable for victim surcharge
The government has outlined plans to fine all convicted criminals, including those jailed, to raise funds to help victims. It is already owed almost £600m in unpaid fines. The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, today announced plans to increase the amount paid by offenders to victims through ...
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Steer clear of CMCs, financial watchdog warns bank litigants
City regulator the Financial Services Authority has cautioned small business owners against using claims management companies (CMCs). The warning comes at the end of a damning report on the mis-selling of interest rate hedging products which highlighted banks’ ‘poor sales practices across a number of products’.
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20 sign up to composite form as PII renewal gets under way
The Law Society has published a list of brokers and insurers accepting its composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance as brokers warned solicitors to start sorting out cover early. So far brokers Aon, Bar Professions, Brunel, Giles Insurance, Hera Indemnity, Howden, Marsh, Prime Professions, QPI ...
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Land Registry promises fee cut after taking axe to costs
Land Registry fees will fall by an average of 10% next year thanks to savings made over the past five years, according to the agency’s latest annual report. However the registry said it could not say exactly which fees will be cut and by how much until a fees order ...
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A retrograde step: scrapping trainee minimum
Charles Plant, chair of the board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, says that the trainee solicitors’ minimum salary was introduced by the Law Society in 1982 ‘to prevent exploitation and attract high-calibre entrants. However, there is little evidence that it meets these aims effectively’ (By the Book).