Latest news – Page 715
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Complaints pour in on lenders' panel advice
Law firms are suffering financial loss because lenders are incorrectly advising clients that they cannot use their own solicitor for conveyancing and mortgage work, the Law Society has warned. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said Chancery Lane had received a stack of complaints from firms ...
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Juror ‘contempt’ over Facebook contact
A juror who allegedly contacted a defendant through Facebook during a trial could face jail for contempt of court. Attorney general Dominic Grieve QC has applied to the High Court for permission to pursue contempt proceedings against juror Joanne Maria Fraill, who is alleged to have ...
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Human rights LinkedIn launch
The Gazette has launched a human rights LinkedIn group for solicitors interested in civil liberties and human rights issues in the UK and internationally. The group, launched jointly with the Law Society’s international human rights team, will become a leading discussion forum for topics ranging ...
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Solicitor set to pay for wasted costs
A London solicitor at the centre of a dispute over alleged illegal file sharing could face a huge costs bill after a judge ruled that he had breached the code of conduct and ‘brought the legal profession into disrepute’. Judge Birss, sitting in the Patent County ...
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EU takes UK to court over environmental law 'failings'
The European Commission has referred the UK government to the European Court of Justice (pictured) over its failure to provide an affordable procedure for mounting legal challenges to development plans that might damage the environment. The ECJ has the power to impose fines of up to ...
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Law Society will intervene over LPP extension
The Law Society will seek to intervene to prevent legal professional privilege (LPP) being extended to accountants if the matter comes before the Supreme Court, Chancery Lane said last week. Financial services company Prudential was granted leave to appeal a previous Court of Appeal decision ...
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MoJ ends training subsidy for Chinese lawyers
The Ministry of Justice has put an end to a £370,000 annual subsidy paid out for the last 20 years to help train Chinese lawyers. The Lord Chancellor’s Training Scheme was aimed at engaging with young Chinese lawyers to improve their understanding of the English legal ...
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Court stenographers to be replaced with digital recording
The quiet tapping of the court stenographer will be silenced by next year to be replaced with a high-tech recording system.
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MoJ could face judicial review challenge over civil cost reforms
Charitable group the Public Law Project (PLP) has threatened to launch a legal challenge to the Ministry of Justice’s civil costs and funding reforms. London firm Leigh Day & Co has sent a letter before action to the justice secretary Ken Clark on behalf of the ...
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Law Society condemns Iraqi military attack
The Law Society's human rights committee has condemned an attack by the Iraqi military on Iranian refugees at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, during which 34 civilians died and 300 were wounded. Film footage of the 8 April attack shows Iraqi security ...
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Pannone launches ‘white label’ legal services
A Manchester firm has launched a new division to tap into the customer base of major retail, insurance and financial services companies. Pannone is negotiating with several potential partners to join its ‘white label’ legal services division, known as Affinity Solutions, with one unnamed business already ...
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Lawyers call for mobility scooter insurance changes
Personal injury lawyers have called for a comprehensive review of the Road Traffic Act to ensure mobility scooter riders have to take out insurance cover. Simon O’Loughlin, a partner at Hodges, Jones & Allen, said a sharp rise in scooter riders is inevitable with an ageing ...
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Figures reveal rise in age discrimination claims
Age discrimination claims rose 164% in 2010, despite an overall fall in the number of employment claims, according to figures obtained by London firm EMW. Data from employment tribunals shows that they issued 1,100 age discrimination claims in the last quarter of 2009, and 2,900 in ...
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Clarke urges European Court to have more regard for domestic decisions
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) should have greater regard for the decisions of domestic courts, justice secretary Kenneth Clarke told a European ministerial conference today.
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Solicitors Regulation Authority launches review of CPD rules
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will today launch the first review of solicitors’ continuing professional development obligations for more than 25 years, to create a new scheme designed to improve solicitors’ competence and ethical conduct. The review will form part of important changes to education and training ...
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IT errors costly for legal aid firms
Two law firms have lost High Court actions against the Legal Services Commission after IT errors at the firms caused them to send blank documents when submitting tenders for legal aid work. The firms had claimed that the LSC should have informed them that some of ...
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Court hearings should not be private, says Lord Neuberger
Court proceedings should be in public and freely reported, and any restrictions should be kept to the minimum necessary to enable justice to be done, the Court of Appeal said last week. Refusing to allow a case to be heard in private, the master of the ...
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City lawyers warn over EU boardroom plans
EU proposals to improve diversity in the boardroom and ensure transparency around a company’s ‘risk appetite’ depart from current UK thinking, City lawyers have warned. A consultation on a framework for EU corporate governance published earlier this month asked whether more non-nationals should be represented on ...
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Advocacy Training Council calls for vulnerable witness support
Criminal and family advocates should be specially trained and certified to handle vulnerable people in court proceedings, the Advocacy Training Council has recommended. In a report published this week, it said evidence suggests that vulnerable witnesses and defendants ‘frequently face almost insurmountable barriers to justice’ and ...
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Firm wins injunction against Solicitors from Hell
A Thames Valley firm has been awarded an interim injunction against the owner of website Solicitors from Hell, which blacklists law firms and lawyers. Gabbitas Robins, and one of the firm’s partners, Stephen Robins, won the injunction last week prohibiting site owner Rick Kordowski from ...