Latest news – Page 692
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News
Rioters given tough sentences, MoJ figures show
The Ministry of Justice has today released statistics on the outcomes of suspects involved in the recent riots, showing that a much higher percentage of defendants were remanded in custody than usual. The figures show that 1,566 suspects have had initial hearings at magistrates’ courts. ...
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Clyde & Co commences Canadian merger
City firm Clyde & Co has continued its expansion with the formal takeover of Canadian insurance specialist Nicholl Paskell-Mede. The London-based firm recently announced a merger with Barlow Lyde & Gilbert and has now crossed the Atlantic for a further tie-up. As ...
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Law Society runs SafetyNet PII scheme
The Law Society has revealed that it will again offer help for firms having difficulty in securing professional indemnity insurance. The SafetyNet scheme will assist law firms trying to avoid entering the assigned risks pool or help those who want to leave it. ...
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HMRC and mortgage lenders launch verification scheme
A new mortgage verification scheme to help combat mortgage fraud will be launched on 1 September. HM Revenue & Customs, the Council of Mortgage Lenders and the Building Societies Association have worked together on the scheme, which was announced in the March 2010 budget. ...
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LSC transfers all Immigration Advisory Service cases
All cases on the books of the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) have been transferred to alternative providers, the Legal Services Commission has said. The commission is also continuing the process of reallocating IAS’s unused new matter starts, carrying out a ‘mini tender’ in some ...
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Court clerk first to be prosecuted under Bribery Act
A London magistrates’ court employee has become the first person to be prosecuted under the new Bribery Act, the Crown Prosecution Service said today. Munir Yakub Patel, an administrative clerk at Redbridge Magistrates’ Court in Ilford, London, faces a charge under Section 2 of the 2010 ...
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Court of Appeal judge admits motoring offence
A Court of Appeal Judge has lost his licence for 56 days after speeding through a red light - his fourth motoring offence in eighteen months. Sir Mathew Thorpe (pictured), 73, could have been disqualified for six months, but convinced District Judge Daphne Wickham that this ...
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Insurance lawyers urge government to implement cost reforms in full
Insurance lawyers have urged ministers not to water down civil litigation reform in the face of vocal opposition. The government has faced repeated criticism over the summer from claimant representatives over changes proposed in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. ...
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International criminals targeting law firms, warns Soca
International criminals have launched a new fraud offensive on law firms’ client accounts, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has warned. Soca issued a ‘red alert’ to the profession to warn of a trend in ‘advanced fee fraud’ targeting solicitors’ firms. It ...
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Co-operative Legal Services' profits rise
The Co-operative Legal Services has seen its revenues increase by 22% and its profits rise by 3% during the first half of the year, the group’s interim financial results have revealed.
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Will-writing fraudster jailed
An unregulated will-writer has been jailed for 14 months after fraudulently charging 130 clients between £30 and £60 to fix a non-existent problem with their wills. Berkshire resident Walter Ventriglia, 47, was running a will-writing firm called Legacy & Law. He wrote to the clients, under ...
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LSB gives go ahead for barristers to manage ABSs
The Legal Services Board has approved the Bar Standards Board’s application for changes to the bar’s code of conduct to allow barristers to be managers or employees of alternative business structures. In April this year, the bar’s regulator took the decision that barristers should be permitted to work in the ...
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Non-trial advocates to be excluded from court work
Non-trial advocates will be excluded from higher court work by the quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA), a leading solicitor advocate has warned. Following publication of a second consultation on the controversial accreditation scheme, president of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates Jo Cooper said ...
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Irish firm achieves Lexcel status
An Irish law firm has become only the third outside England and Wales to secure the Law Society’s Lexcel practice management accreditation. Dublin firm O’Rourke Reid joins Polish firm TGC Corporate Lawyers and Scottish firm McClure Naismith among those to have passed the assessment process required ...
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Pro-bono project takes foothold in India
Former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmith has moderated a roundtable for eleven of India’s leading law firms to discuss how to develop a pro bono culture. The roundtable, the first of its kind in India, was co-hosted by UK-based i-Probono, a non-profit organisation that connects ...
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Barristers seek to extend public access rights
Public access barristers could be allowed to accept direct instructions from clients eligible for legal aid, under proposals being considered by the Bar Standards Board. Currently Rule 3(1) of the Public Access Rules prohibits barristers from accepting direct instructions from a lay client who may be eligible for public funding ...
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Record number of care cases puts courts under strain
Record numbers of care cases are putting ‘intense’ pressure on the family justice system, according to the head of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass). Figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service show that the number of care and supervision cases before ...
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500th law firm secures Conveyancing Quality Scheme status
Five hundred law firms have now secured accreditation to the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), the Society said today. Essex firm Todmans SRE was the latest to receive the CQS mark of excellence in residential conveyancing practice. Since CQS launched ...
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Bankruptcy petition filed against Solicitors from Hell owner
A solicitor who won libel damages from the owner of the Solicitors from Hell website has filed a bankruptcy petition against him after he failed to pay damages ordered by the court. The solicitor, from London firm Hickman & Rose, is seeking £31,105.44 from website owner ...
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Riots: glut of appeals anticipated
Crown courts could face a glut of appeals in response to the speed at which defendants were dealt with last week, when some magistrates’ courts worked through the night to process defendants. Criminal defence lawyers told the Gazette that the swift dispatch with which cases were ...