Latest news – Page 736
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News
Referral fee ‘witch hunt’ will ‘jeopardise thousands of jobs’
Ministers have been warned that banning personal injury referral fees will put thousands of jobs at risk and do nothing to reduce insurance premiums. Darren Werth, chairman of the Claims Standards Council, which represents claims management businesses, admitted he was shocked by the government’s announcement.
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Chancery Lane urges solicitors to back EU-wide access to a lawyer
The Law Society has called on solicitors to support the right of suspects detained at police stations across Europe to have access to a lawyer. It wants solicitors to lobby their MPs to vote against a government motion that the UK should not opt into an ...
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Downs to leave LSC for top local government post
Carolyn Downs is leaving the Legal Services Commission to take up a new role at the Local Government Association in the new year. Downs took over as chief executive of the LSC in March 2010 on secondment from the Ministry of Justice, following the resignation of ...
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Top firms sign up to new internship scheme
More than 20 leading law firms have signed up to a scheme that guarantees work experience for young people from less privileged backgrounds. The commitment, launched this week under the name of Prime, will see firms offer a minimum of 30 hours of work experience per ...
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Labour targets Lib Dems on legal aid bill
Solicitors have welcomed opposition amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill tabled this week, but warned that debate on access to justice issues could be drowned out if MPs choose to focus on sentencing reform as a result of political priorities. ...
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Legal aid reform could be 'business deterrent'
The government’s legal aid reforms could undermine the reputation of the English legal system and deter people from doing business in the UK, the chairman-elect of the Bar Council has warned. Michael Todd QC (pictured) told the Gazette that the English legal system boasts exceptional judges ...
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Call for changes to quality assurance scheme
The Law Society is to make a direct appeal to regulators to change details of the contentious Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). Several solicitor-advocates have contacted the Society to register their concerns at the proposed assessment scheme. In particular, practitioners have ...
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Insurer blames solicitors’ fees for referral controversy
The head of claims at car insurance giant Admiral has claimed that solicitors’ fees are to blame for the continuing row over referral fees. The comments were made as claimant lawyers reacted with fury this week to new figures published by the Association of British Insurers, ...
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Whitehall plans to scrap AJTC ‘perverse’
Government plans to scrap the Administrative Justice & Tribunals Council are ‘misguided’ and ‘perverse’, the body’s chair has told the Ministry of Justice. Responding to the consultation proposing the abolition of the AJTC, Richard Thomas said the independent body, which reviews the administrative justice system and ...
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Unite campaign backs public service interpreting
Trade union Unite is to launch a campaign to support public service interpreting and ensure that properly trained translators are used by criminal justice agencies.
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Banks pledge to help with cashflow problems
Four high street banks have agreed to help law firms that are experiencing cashflow difficulties resulting from the ongoing delays in payment from the Legal Services Commission, following a request from the Law Society. Chancery Lane wrote to banks to alert them to the problems being ...
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E-petition lodged calling for tighter tenant deposit protection
A solicitor has lodged an e-petition urging the government to strengthen the law protecting residential rent deposits paid by tenants to landlords. Tenancy deposit protection legislation, introduced by the Housing Act 2004, was designed to protect tenants against unscrupulous landlords who refused to return deposits at ...
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Tragedy of council legal head ‘unable to cope’
A senior local authority solicitor committed suicide because he was unable to cope with the demands placed on him following a 30% cut to his department’s budget. In the wake of the tragedy, the chair of Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) has warned that redundancies in ...
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Legal training falls short on will drafting
We are fortunate to have had some extremely competent trainees in recent years. However, even those who have taken the wills option at law school come poorly prepared to advise a client and draft their will. A current trainee has shown me ...
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Let go of the dead hand of regulation
I have just read Ronnie Fox’s piece ‘Strangulation by regulation’. How right he is. The dead hand of regulation is burdensome and unthinking changes bring little benefit and great aggravation. The Solicitors Regulation Authority should think again and the Law Society should do more to challenge ...
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From clients to ‘consumers’?
I read the article by Charles Plant with a sinking heart as I found the repeated reference to ‘consumers’ depressing. I was brought up to believe that solicitors belonged to a profession that provided a service. I try to provide such a service, from which I ...
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Apprenticeships make sense
If the cost of being a law student is as high and burdensome as people say it is; and if sitting the LPC is an expensive ‘punt’ at a career, why not introduce a solicitor apprenticeship (‘student solicitor’) scheme? This might copy the FILEX programme, ...
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Taking responsibility for our brand
Shalaleh Barlow correctly identifies the need to emulate the service ethic in retailing, but misses the point of the Solicitors from Hell website. This attacks the brand of ‘solicitors’. I have spent three decades trying to market this brand only for it to be tainted time after time by the ...
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OPG fees set to increase sharply
The government is to press ahead with proposed increases to Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) fees. In its delayed response to a consultation exercise which finished in May, the Ministry of Justice said it will increase the application to register fees for a lasting ...
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Labour’s legal aid bill amendments fail
Opposition amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill have been rejected by a committee of MPs. The Legal Aid Committee has voted to turn down a series of changes put forward by Labour to the bill. Opponents wanted ...