Latest news – Page 752
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Immigration lawyers issue warning over appeals fee
Immigration lawyers have warned that immigrants could be ‘penalised’ as a result of government plans to introduce fees in certain immigration and asylum appeals. Court fees of up to £250 could be charged for immigration and asylum tribunal appeals. No fees are currently charged.
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Lord chief justice calls for reform of family system
The adversarial court system is not appropriate for settling parental disputes over the custody of children, the lord chief justice said today. Giving evidence to the House of Commons’ justice committee, Lord Judge (pictured) said he has ‘real concerns’ that the adversarial system ‘leaves a ...
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New advocacy proposals ‘prejudice’ solicitors
A proposed new quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates could prejudice solicitors because it places too much weight on the views of judges, an advocates’ group has warned. The Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) has voiced concerns over the ‘over-reliance’ on judicial evaluation proposed ...
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Support victims of rape, says Stern
The government must support the victims of serious violent crime despite financial constraints following its spending review, Baroness Stern said last night. The crossbench peer, who led the independent review into how rape complainants are treated by public bodies, said justice had to be balanced, and ...
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Des Collins named Gazette Legal Personality of the Year
High-profile civil litigation solicitor Des Collins, senior partner of Collins in Watford, was named Gazette Legal Personality of the Year at the Law Society’s Excellence Awards last night.
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Children at risk over court fees
Solicitors have warned that local authorities may be deterred from placing vulnerable children into care, following the government’s decision not to scrap the controversial court fees paid by local authorities in care and supervision cases. In a written ministerial statement yesterday, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) ...
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Investors want law firms with capital
Law firms must bulk up their capital reserves if they want investors to consider them as serious acquisition targets, experts said at the Claims Standards Council’s annual conference last week. Royal Bank of Scotland relationship manager Sara Hutton told delegates that firms should retain up to ...
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Conveyancing quality mark launched
The Law Society has launched a conveyancing quality scheme (CQS) designed to give clients a recognisable quality mark for firms providing a high standard of service. The scheme is based on a new Law Society transaction protocol, which will introduce consistent standards to speed up the ...
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Contempt laws needed despite web, says A-G
The increasing power of the internet has not diminished the importance of the contempt of court laws, the Attorney General said last week. Delivering the Criminal Bar Association’s annual Kalisher Lecture, Dominic Grieve QC dismissed calls to scrap the laws that prohibit the publication of evidence ...
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Justice budget will fall to £7bn in four years
The Ministry of Justice will see its budget cut by just under £2bn over the next four years, the chancellor George Osborne announced in the government’s spending review this afternoon. He told the House of Commons that the MoJ budget, which is currently £8.9bn a year, ...
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Huge court closure response, says Djanogly
A Ministry of Justice consultation proposing the closure of 103 magistrates’ courts and 54 county courts has received a huge number of responses, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly told the House of Commons’ Justice Committee this week. The minister said that the MoJ had received ...
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LSC announces contract extension to 14 December
The Legal Services Commission has announced that all current ‘family only’ and ‘family with housing’ legal aid contracts will be extended until 14 December, following the Law Society’s successful judicial review of the tender process. The LSC has until 29 October to decide whether ...
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Abolish ‘unfair’ means testing, say criminal lawyers
Criminal law solicitors have called for the abolition of the ‘unfair, unworkable and discriminatory’ system of means testing for legal aid in the magistrates’ court, claiming the change would save £100m. In a paper on legal aid funding, the Criminal Law Solicitors Association proposed that legal ...
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Pro bono enterprise
Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly believes pro bono work is good for us. With 25% cuts looming at the Ministry of Justice, how convenient to transfer government social obligations to lawyers.
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SRA: public 'satisfied' with legal services but not always 'informed'
The public has faith in legal services providers and rarely questions their expertise, but most cannot distinguish between a qualified solicitor and an unregulated practitioner, research commissioned by the Solicitors Regulation Authority has suggested. Preliminary results of a focus group study of 40 consumers indicated that ...
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Regulatory creep
The new rule in place from 13 October on the requirements to be shown on letterheads reminds one of the various bites at this particular matter the regulators have had. First, it was ‘regulated by the Law Society’. One dutifully reprinted the notepaper. Then came ...
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LPC aptitude test risks ‘clones’
Solicitors have warned that proposals to introduce a compulsory aptitude test for law students seeking to enrol on the Legal Practice Course (LPC) could lead to only ‘clones’ being selected to enter the legal profession. The Law Society’s education and training committee is examining whether ...
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Revenue streams
Lord Young could have proposed banning referral fees, which in turn will remove the revenue stream for the advertising he clearly dislikes so much. Would it be too cynical to suggest that the television companies have pointed out to Young that referral fees fund the millions they take each year ...
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Outdated stance
I read with dismay the letter by David Kirwan regarding the appointment of a legal executive to the post of deputy district judge. I know from firsthand experience the challenging nature of the tests, role-play and interviews set by the Judicial Appointments Commission, and have ...
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Solicitors from Hell injunction
A third solicitor has won an interim injunction against the owner of Solicitors from Hell, the website that blacklists lawyers and law firms, following successful court actions from two other lawyers in recent weeks.