Latest news – Page 698
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News
Expert witnesses elusive as pay falls
Reduced legal aid fees for expert witnesses are making it ‘almost impossible’ to find experts and in some cases leaving law firms out of pocket by thousands of pounds, a leading family lawyer has warned. Christina Blacklaws, Law Society Council member for child care, said the ...
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'Maturity' is key when sentencing young people
Courts should pay more attention to a young person’s ‘maturity’ and less to their age when making sentencing decisions, a report by two criminal justice groups has recommended. A research paper by the Transition to Adulthood (T2A) Alliance and the Criminal Justice Alliance has called on ...
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Weak link between firms' growth and profits shown
Law firms with a turnover of more than £5m often struggle to turn further growth into greater profitability, according to benchmarking research seen by the ...
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Firm denies claim of caste discrimination
A solicitor and her practice manager husband have brought the first employment tribunal case attempting to claim for wrongful dismissal on the grounds of caste discrimination. Amardeep Begraj, 33, and her husband Vijay, 32, who are of Indian descent, met while working at Coventry firm Heer ...
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Law Society to hold superinjunction debate
A Law Society debate will this month consider how superinjunctions can survive in an era of social media. The free discussion, entitled Privacy, Free Press and the Public Interest, will look at how anonymity orders can be enforced when information is so readily available through sites ...
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Irrelevant data
I agree with the comments of Messrs Cohen and Emmerson regarding the Legal Services Board and the Equality Act. The Legal Services Board is straying into politics and its analysis is wrong. The major barrier to becoming a lawyer is financial deprivation rather than sex or ethnicity.
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False economy
As a life-long family practitioner, I cannot praise District Judge Glover’s comments highly enough. Politically correct or not, he has hit the nail squarely on the head.
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Dire warning on courts
District Judge Peter Glover’s article should be required reading for Kenneth Clarke, Jonathan Djanogly, David Cameron and indeed all MPs. It should also be copied to every member of the Family Justice Review.
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Put something in place of Solicitors from Hell
I write in response to your story ‘Society sends letter of claim to Solicitors from Hell owner’.
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‘Self-employed’ solicitor sues law firm
A solicitor who unlawfully worked full-time for a law firm on a self-employed basis is entitled to the same legal protections as a salaried employee, the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has ruled. The ruling overturned an earlier employment tribunal (ET) judgment that, because the contract between ...
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TV Edwards reveals two new mergers
London firm TV Edwards has announced mergers with two other London firms, further consolidating its position as one of the capital’s largest legal aid firms. Today the firm completes a merger with Hammersmith firm Mark & Co, which has a reputation for serious criminal law work. ...
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New criminal bar chair pledges to fight cuts
The new chairman of the Criminal Bar Association has warned that legal aid cuts could ‘cripple’ the criminal bar, and urged his colleagues to remain united in the face of the challenges that lie ahead. Max Hill QC (pictured), from London’s 18 Red Lion Court, gave ...
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Campaign against eviction of rioters
Some 2,000 people including a prominent human rights solicitor have joined a campaign to protest against the eviction of convicted rioters and their families from council housing, the Gazette has learned. The campaign’s supporters argue that evicting a rioter’s family is an unlawful collective punishment in ...
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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 ...