Latest news – Page 719
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News
Luton solicitor's campaign set to change road safety law
A Luton solicitor has been instrumental in an apparently successful attempt to change road safety laws. Mark Wardrop, partner and head of litigation at Pictons in Luton, campaigned for the creation of a new offence of ‘causing death by dangerous or reckless cycling’ after acting for ...
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Conveyancing solicitors call for binding contracts
Conveyancing solicitors and estate agents have called on the property industry to develop legally binding preliminary contracts to reduce the number of house sales that fall through. At an event hosted by the president of the E-Homebuying Forum, Sir Bryan Carsberg, last week, representatives from ...
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DAS considers offering written legal advice
Legal expenses insurer DAS is considering providing written legal advice to its policyholders once reforms allow, its legal chief told the Gazette this week. DAS head of legal Kathryn Mortimer said that the insurer, which has already made clear its intention to acquire Bristol firm CW ...
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Solicitors Regulation Authority unveils handbook
The Solicitors Regulation Authority published the final version of its new solicitors handbook this week, as it revealed it had received ‘quite a number’ of enquiries from potential new market entrants about becoming alternative business structures. The SRA has applied to become a regulator of ...
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APIL calls for damages discount review
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has alleged that a failure by the justice secretary to review the damages discount rate has led to some claimants being under-compensated by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’. Launching a judicial review against the MoJ last week, APIL said the ...
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European courts face workload ‘crisis’, claims House of Lords
The European Union’s two highest courts are facing a ‘crisis’ in managing their existing and ever increasing workloads, according to House of Lords report published yesterday. The report predicted ‘another crisis of workload soon’ for the Court of Justice (CJ), the supreme or constitutional court of ...
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Government bids to improve social mobility in professions
The government has launched a strategy to end the culture of privilege that sees former independent school pupils dominating the top jobs in the judiciary and boardroom to the exclusion of people from less affluent backgrounds, it emerged today. Launching the new strategy Opening Doors, Breaking ...
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New tax on settlors imposes ‘cumbersome bureaucracy’
A new system for collecting tax from settlor interested trusts is complex and expensive, and imposes a ‘cumbersome bureaucracy’ on everyone involved, the Law Society has warned. A settlor interested trust is one where a person – the settlor - has placed assets, such as money ...
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Society defends solicitors over legal aid
The Law Society president has reacted to negative news coverage concerning the growth in the number of solicitors. The Society president Linda Lee has written to the Daily Mail newspaper in response to an article published yesterday under the headline ‘Now we have more lawyers than ...
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Public backs compulsory mediation assessments
Two-thirds of the public support the new enforced mediation assessments being introduced for divorcing and separating couples tomorrow, according to research published by City firm Charles Russell. Under the rules, which come into force on 6 April, couples seeking to take private law family cases to ...
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Personal injury solicitors will cut use of CFAs, poll finds
Personal injury lawyers will cut the number of conditional fee agreements they offer to clients as a direct result of the civil justice funding reforms announced by the government last week, according to research seen exclusively by the Gazette. A survey of 100 claimant personal injury ...
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CML predicts quality scheme will become ‘prerequisite’ for conveyancers
The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is expected to become a 'pre-requisite' for membership of lenders' panels once it becomes established, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said today. More than 700 firms have applied to join the quality assurance scheme since it launched in ...
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Clifford Chance opens in Istanbul
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today opened an office in Istanbul, to work alongside affiliate Turkish firm Yegin Legal Consultancy. Banking and finance partner Simon Williams will head the office, which will focus on infrastructure, energy, finance, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets work. ...
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Extend social care to prisoners, report suggests
There is overwhelming support to extend adult social care services to prisoners and the mentally ill, but concerns remain about the resource implications for local authorities, responses to a Law Commission consultation have shown. The Law Commission yesterday published a report analysing the 231 responses it ...
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Criminal defence teams in Merseyside merger
Two well-known Liverpool firms have merged to create one of the largest criminal defence teams on Merseyside. Criminal law firm RM Broudie and the criminal law team at Jackson & Canter have joined forces to become RM Broudie Jackson & Canter – The Justice Partnership. ...
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APIL launches court action over compensation discount rate
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has alleged that a failure by the justice secretary to review the damages discount rate has led to some claimants being under-compensated by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’. Launching a judicial review on the issue yesterday, APIL said that ...
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Solicitors from Hell ‘abusing court process’, judge finds
The owner of Solicitors from Hell, the website that blacklists law firms and solicitors, has been accused by a High Court judge of abusing the process of the court. In his judgment in the latest decided case against Rick Kordowski, published today, Mr Justice Tugendhat said ...
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Report shows drop in training contract places
The number of training contracts offered by law firms fell by 18% last year, Law Society figures have shown. The Society’s annual statistical report reveals that only 4,784 training contract places were offered in 2010, compared to 5,809 in 2009. The ...
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MPs call for rethink on legal aid
An influential committee of MPs has criticised the government’s ‘dramatic’ legal aid reforms and called on ministers to ‘refine’ their proposals. In a report published this week, the House of Commons Justice Committee recommended that the Ministry of Justice look at other ways to make the ...
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Jackson reforms ‘devastating’
The government’s plans to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s headline civil costs reforms are a ‘devastating attack on access to justice’, the Law Society warned on Tuesday. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke confirmed this week that legislation will be introduced to implement Jackson’s reforms, which will force winning ...