Latest news – Page 762
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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 ...
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Shadow justice minister attacks Jackson costs reforms
Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter (pictured) called on personal injury lawyers to get their clients involved in the fight to amend the government’s proposals on civil litigation costs. Solicitors have until 30 June to respond, and the Labour MP for Hammersmith stressed how difficult it is ...
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News focus: council lawyers face up to government cuts
Local government solicitors at last weekend’s three-day training event in Exeter were in a curiously upbeat mood for a group facing ‘salami-slicing’ cuts of 10% or more to their legal departments’ headcounts.
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On your marks for the LSC
The Legal Services Commission is clearly getting into the spirit of 2012. In recent months bills to the LSC have been returned and the travel time claimed has progressively been reduced. Our office is situated just over 1.5 miles from Bristol County Court. Many fee-earners ...
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Witnesses and directed surveillance
In his letter, Jon Mack may have misunderstood Ibrahim Hasan’s article of 10 March on directed surveillance. The focus of the piece was changes in the law now proposed, namely judicial approval, which is already the subject of the Protection of Freedoms Bill and the ...
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Naked attempt to slash debt
In response to a letter from my MP concerning the proposed legal aid cuts, I received a reply from justice minister Jonathan Djanogly. This stated: ‘The government wants to discourage people from resorting to lawyers whenever they face a problem...’ This ...
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Doctors know how to cure oversupply
I write in response to Gemma Bond’s letter. Considering the struggling economy, legal aid cuts (particularly the Legal Services Commission’s training grant scheme), and concerns in relation to alternative business structures and changes to civil costs, the drop in training contracts is no surprise. ...
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Still time to build on splendid idea of setting up solicitors' building society
I saw the letter from Edwin Lee, reminding us of that splendid idea of setting up a solicitors’ building society. It was a good idea in 1984 and it is still a good idea. The loss of so many building societies ...
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Advertising age discrimination
I read Ivan Sanders’ letter, in which he pointed out the failure of many firms of solicitors to comply with equality legislation, with particular regard to age discrimination. I too have noticed for some time that many advertisements do not comply.
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County courts system failure
The complaints of Graeme Hydari regarding the state of the criminal courts in which he practises are reflected in the state of certain county courts, and in particular the Central London County Court.
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Royal Courts of Justice were 'incompetent'
I noted with interest the Obiteritem reporting the Family Justice Review Panel’s comment that the family justice system is in fact ‘not a system at all’ (see [2011] Gazette, 7 April, 35). Last week, my husband, two-year-old daughter and I were ordered to attend the Royal ...
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Law firm launches online fixed-fee service
A London law firm and a barristers’ chambers have collaborated to offer a new online fixed-fee legal advice scheme. EDC Lord & Co and 6 Pump Court Chambers have launched ClickLaw24.com with referral agency Contact Law. The service provides 24/7 access to ...
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Irwin Mitchell to seek external investment
National firm Irwin Mitchell has become one of the first law firms to give notice that it will seek external investment as it embraces the opportunities presented by the Legal Services Act. The firm, which has nine offices in the UK, will seek external investment ...
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SRA publishes strategy for combating conveyancing fraud
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has published a draft supervision and enforcement strategy, setting out how it plans to work with conveyancing firms to combat fraud and money laundering. The strategy forms part of a package of measures designed to address problems in this ...
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Linklaters tops table of law firm websites
Magic circle firm Linklaters has the best corporate website of the top 10 UK law firms, according to a new benchmarking survey. Linklaters’ site was placed 6th in a survey of 100 corporate websites by digital marketing agency Intendance, with magic circle firm Slaughter and May ...
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TUC warns against impact of employment law reforms
Government plans for reform of employment tribunals will discriminate against black and minority ethnic groups, disabled people, women, and young workers, according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC). The TUC said today that it is ‘seriously concerned’ that the government’s proposals ‘are heavily weighted in favour ...
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Half of UK adults cold-called by claims firms
More than half of the UK’s adults have been cold-called or texted by claims firms in the past three years, research has suggested. A survey of almost 2,000 adults by market researchers consumerintelligence.com also found that 78% of people are concerned by a ‘growing compensation culture’ ...