Latest news – Page 703
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News
LSC cuts off phone advice agency
The Legal Services Commission has suspended The Shaftesbury Group’s contract to provide telephone advice for people detained in police stations for less serious offences. As reported earlier this month, the LSC transferred a contract to provide the Criminal Defence Service (Direct) service from Bostalls to the ...
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Bar Council stands firm on Bellfield trial backlash
The Bar Council has warned that defence lawyers may feel inhibited about taking on high-profile trials that could potentially see them vilified by the media, following coverage of the trial of Levi Bellfield last week. Jeffrey Samuels QC was subjected to a torrent of abuse on ...
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Student debt mountain a powerful deterrent to university
A survey of qualified lawyers has found that under half would have gone to university today, when aspiring solicitors can expect to wrack up massive debts. Legal recruitment firm Laurence Simons found that the majority of 224 respondents would have baulked at the total cost of ...
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Gazette is media partner for high-profile Law Society debates
The Gazette is pleased to be official media partner for a series of cutting-edge lectures and debates examining key law reform issues in the UK. The Law Society 2011 debate series will initially focus on marriage, privacy laws, super-injunctions and social care. ...
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News focus: our analysis of the legal aid and sentencing bill
A close reading of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has left many lawyers, campaign groups and politicians who support the legal aid system more worried than ever about future provision. Even though the government decided to rush to a second reading ...
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Law firms ally with chambers to bid for criminal contract
Fifteen law firms in south Wales are to form an alliance with a set of chambers to bid for a criminal legal aid contract from the Legal Services Commission in the next contract round. In what is believed to be the first initiative of its kind, ...
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Most courts operating ‘as normal’
Government officials insist that most courts are operating as normal today despite mass industrial action by public sector workers. Thousands of PCS members have staged a one-day walkout which the union claims is the ‘best supported strike we’ve ever had’. The tranquility ...
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Government to provide £20m for not-for-profit centres
The government will provide £20m to help support not-for-profit advice centres hit by planned legal aid cuts, Justice Minister Kenneth Clarke announced yesterday. During the second reading debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, the justice secretary also indicated the he may ...
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Disability charity mounts court challenge to Jackson reforms
A disability charity has mounted a High Court challenge to oppose government plans to reform ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements. The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) says ministers have failed to consider properly the impact its proposals will have on the most vulnerable people in society. ...
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Irwin Mitchell in financial advice tie-up
National firm Irwin Mitchell has linked up with a financial advice group to offer legal services directly to its customers. The law firm will offer a range of services for clients using the Guardian Wealth Management (GWM) group. Irwin Mitchell has already ...
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District judge wins top legal aid award
The district judge behind the groundbreaking Family Drug and Alcohol Court was honoured at the ninth annual Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards this week. Nicholas Crichton (pictured, left) received the top award for outstanding achievement for his work in establishing the pilot of the ...
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Transport Committee re-opens insurance premiums inquiry
The transport committee has re-opened its inquiry into cost of motor insurance and has called on former justice minister Jack Straw to give oral evidence. Committee chair Louise Ellman, a Labour/Co-operative MP, said Straw’s recently published report on the rising cost of premiums would make a ...
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Clyde & Co enters Canadian market with merger
City firm Clyde & Co has become the latest UK practice to move into the Canadian marketplace. The firm, which has 24 offices around the world, has confirmed a merger with Canadian insurance firm Nicholl Paskall-Mede (NPM). NPM’s 40-strong team, including 15 ...
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Dianne Hayter resigns as chair of legal services consumer watchdog
The first chair of watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel has resigned after two years in the post. Baroness Hayter (pictured) has decided to step down because of her commitments in the House of Lords, the Legal Services Board said in a statement. ...
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Commons committee fires warning on clinical negligence funding reforms
The House of Commons health committee has warned that government proposals to change the funding of clinical negligence cases could undermine access to justice and reduce compensation for some of the most seriously injured or disabled claimants. In a report published today, the committee, chaired by ...
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New rules on giving evidence aimed at protecting vulnerable
New laws designed to make it easier for children and vulnerable people to give evidence in court came into force today. The changes, contained in amendments to the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act 1999, provide a range of special measures which the court can direct ...
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We did listen on legal aid, Djanogly insists – but Law Society’s Lee vows to fight on ‘every clause’
Jonathan Djanogly has insisted that the government took full account of thousands of hostile responses to the government’s controversial proposals on legal aid and the Jackson reforms of civil litigation costs. However, the justice minister confirmed that the legislation published earlier this week is to ...
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Watchdog highlights ‘imbalance of power’ between consumers and lawyers
Consumers have benefited from the first four years of the Legal Services Act, but there remains an ‘imbalance of power’ which acts to their detriment in dealing with lawyers. So says the first consumer impact report by watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel, published today. ...
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Fast-track for second reading of legal aid and sentencing bill condemned
Lawyers and MPs have expressed outrage at the government’s attempt to fast track the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill through Parliament. Following the first reading of the bill on Tuesday 21 June, it was confirmed this week that the second reading will be ...
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British businesses buried by European legal avalanche
Businesses are struggling to keep abreast of the hundreds of new laws published last year by the European Union. Legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell says 806 new laws impacting the UK were created in 2010. The majority of those were made ...