Latest news – Page 739
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Labour tables amendments to legal aid and costs reforms
Opponents to government strategy for civil litigation and legal aid reform have launched a multi-pronged ‘victim-centric’ attack on the proposals. Labour MPs have tabled a series of amendments to the coalition government’s planned changes under the umbrella of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders ...
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Sky News: riot sentences strengthen case for cameras in court
The head of Sky News has made a renewed appeal for court proceedings to be televised in the light of the August riots. John Ryley has written to justice secretary Kenneth Clarke calling for an end to the ban on television cameras entering the courtroom.
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Solicitors voice concerns over reduction in LSC helpline hours
The reduced operating hours of the Legal Services Commission’s telephone helpline is hampering cases, the Gazette has been told. Lawyers from around the country have contacted the Gazette reporting that the LSC’s decision to cut the operation of its telephone helpline to four hours a day ...
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Society will fight slander claim brought by site owner
The Law Society will seek to strike out a claim for slander being sought against chief executive Desmond Hudson by the owner of the Solicitors from Hell website, it said today. Site owner Rick Kordowski has filed a claim in the High Court in relation to ...
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Abbey Protection to exploit Legal Services Act
Insurance firm Abbey Protection has indicated it will take full advantage of the future deregulation of legal services. The firm, which announced its financial results this week, saw post-tax profits increase by 10% to £3.8m in the first half of 2011 – of which £1.2m was ...
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Lawyers2you national franchise set for launch
A new solicitor-led national law firm franchise will launch next week, with ambitions to extend to continental Europe and the US, the Gazette can reveal. The Lawyers2you franchise has been set up by West Midlands firm Blakemores, spearheaded by its managing partner Guy Barnett (pictured). ...
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Sole practitioners sound ABS ethics alarm
The Sole Practitioners Group is to launch a public relations campaign aimed at warning the public that profit-driven commercial organisations providing legal services may not offer the same high standard of ethics as law firms. The SPG will spend £15,000 on a three-month campaign to address ...
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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 ...