Latest news – Page 763
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News
Legal aid budget to be slashed by half a billion
Justice secretary Ken Clarke is expected to submit plans to the Treasury today that will slash the £2.1bn legal aid budget by a quarter. The huge cut of half a billion pounds is a response to chancellor George Osborne’s demands for sweeping cuts to be made ...
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Firms that fail to pay ARP premium will face closure
Firms in the assigned risks pool that have not paid their premiums by October will be closed down, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said today as it unveiled a tough new enforcement programme to clamp down on ‘financially unstable’ firms in the pool. The SRA said that ...
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MoJ unveils policy roadmap
The Ministry of Justice has published a structural reform plan (SRP), setting out key milestones and timescales for delivering policy. Justice secretary Ken Clarke listed his top five priorities as: sentencing reform; a ‘rehabilitation revolution’; reforming the courts and legal aid system; reform of the prison ...
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Is mental health tendering scheme a success story?
Hugh Barrett (see letter) states that the tendering scheme in mental health was a success. The highly vulnerable clients we represent will often not see it that way.
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Democratic mandate
May I make the following two points in response to the generous comments by Joshua Rozenberg concerning the paper Towards a codified constitution, produced by a working group chaired by Professor Vernon Bogdanor and myself, and published by Justice.
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Sharia dilemma
Howard Shelley’s letter about the potential usefulness of sharia law raises the thorny question of how sharia is to be ‘given a try’. At present sharia courts hear cases and give judgments on a voluntary basis. The only further step I could envisage being taken would be to make those ...
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Sexism is no joke
Howard Shelley (see letter) says sharia law has a role to play in dispute resolution. Nothing in law currently prevents anyone submitting to religious dispute resolution if they so choose. As he says, as long as it does not replace English law it can be used. The Jews have the ...
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Profits up, income down at Shoosmiths and MMS
National firm Shoosmiths today reported a 70% jump in average profits per equity partner (PEP), despite a 9% fall in revenues. PEP rose to £256,000 in 2009/10, up from £150,000 in the previous 12 months, but still well down on the £372,000 recorded in 2007/08. ...
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Chancery Lane launches new studies on paralegals and solicitor-advocates
The Law Society has commissioned former Ministry of Justice senior civil servant Nick Smedley (pictured) to produce research papers on paralegal qualifications and on improved support for solicitor-advocates. Smedley’s first paper will be a ‘scoping study’ into whether the Law Society should develop or endorse qualifications ...
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Oil refinery, sugar, supermarkets and TV entertainment
Comedy collection: City firm Olswang advised Elisabeth Murdoch’s TV production company Shine on acquiring comedy TV producer Brown Eyed Boy, which claims to have discovered comedian Sacha Baron Cohen (pictured), from media investment company Motive Television, advised by southcoast firm Moore Blatch, and ...
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Companies ‘complacent’ on anti-corruption measures
Companies have failed to invest in anti-corruption schemes ahead of legislation that will punish domestic and foreign bribery, research has shown. More than three-quarters of companies have not invested any money in anti-corruption strategies, and only 12% have spent more than £500 on preparing for the ...
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Councils merge two legal teams
Two London councils are to merge their legal teams under a joint head of legal services in a bid to cut external legal spend and staff costs. In a six-month trial, Merton’s head of legal Helen White will also become head of legal at Richmond ...
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Legal aid firms suffer LSC payment blow
The Legal Services Commission has dealt a further blow to legal aid firms by reducing the financial help it gives to firms while they wait for their bills to be paid by the commission. The LSC said it has had to reduce the amount of ...
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Identity theft victim warns solicitors of conveyancing scam
A solicitor whose firm has been the victim of identity theft has warned lawyers not to be caught out by a scam in which a bogus conveyancer has been using her firm’s name to carry out property transactions. Saydia Iqbal, a partner at Bolton firm SK ...
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KBP taken over by financial services mutual Wesleyan
The company that rose from the ashes of legal lender Key Business Finance (KBF), which collapsed amid the 2008 banking crisis, has been taken over by financial services mutual Wesleyan. KBF supplied nearly 15% of law firms in England and Wales with short-term loans before it ...
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Duty rota system in ‘chaos’
The police station duty rotas issued last week by the Legal Services Commission will run for only three months due to problems with the allocation process, which lawyers claim has ‘descended into chaos’. The Legal Services Commission has twice reissued the rotas for police station duty ...
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CPS damages claim saga rumbles on
A judge has with a ‘heavy heart’ allowed the Crown Prosecution Service to continue defending an employment tribunal claim that has already been in court four times and cost the taxpayer more than £1m, including a record £600,000 in damages for racial discrimination. Former CPS prosecutor ...
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Family lawyers left ‘in limbo’ by LSC
Legal aid lawyers have been ‘left in limbo’ by the Legal Services Commission’s continuing failure to announce the outcome of the family and social welfare tenders, practitioners said this week. Firms were originally due to find out the results of the bidding exercise last month, but ...
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Government plans Defamation Bill
Media lawyers have given a mixed response to the government’s announcement that it is to publish a draft Defamation Bill in the new year. Justice minister Lord McNally outlined the government’s plans to review the law on defamation to protect freedom of speech and expression during ...
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Big four buoy partner profits in face of declining revenues
The UK’s quartet of billion-pound law firms have maintained healthy profits per equity partner (PEP) in the face of declining revenues, their financial results have shown. Industry observers said the firms had adopted a sensible strategy of cutting partners to bolster average partner earnings, enabling them ...