Latest news – Page 765
-
News
SRA considers scrapping minimum trainee salaries
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to examine whether it should stop setting a minimum salary level for trainees as part of its overhaul of regulation, in a review that will begin this autumn. The regulator is also considering whether to freeze the current minimum salary level ...
-
News
Law centre to take on child asylum appeals
A law centre is to improve access to justice for asylum-seeking children by taking on and funding appeals referred to it by legal aid firms, it emerged last week. Hammersmith and Fulham Law Centre (HFLC) has invited publicly funded firms to submit cases to it that ...
-
News
Courts Service failed to collect £1.3bn of fines
The Courts Service has failed to collect more than £1.3bn of fines and other penalties, according to a report from the National Audit Office (NAO) published this week. The report on the financial management of the Ministry of Justice, which oversees HMCS, shows the amount of ...
-
News
Solicitors vie for judicial office
The number of applications from solicitors for the role of civil district judge almost doubled in the last selection round, according to data published by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) last week. Of the 81 candidates recommended for appointment, 72% were solicitors, who make up 40% ...
-
News
Law firm 'conservatism’ slowing LPO market growth
Market hype and law firm conservatism have hindered the growth of the legal process outsourcing (LPO) market, according to a report by data analyst Ovum seen exclusively by the Gazette. While the LPO industry is ‘set for significant growth over the next few years’, it is ...
-
News
Insurers planning professional indemnity 'surcharge'
A number of insurers intend to include a ‘surcharge’ in their professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums this year, partly to highlight the soaring cost of the assigned risks pool, the Gazette has learned. It is understood that Travelers, among other insurers, is considering adding the charge ...
-
News
A third of 'trusted' immigration practices face closure
Nearly a third of ‘trusted’ immigration firms could face closure following the outcome of the Legal Services Commission’s bid round last week, solicitors’ groups have warned. Lawyers also foresaw more bad news ahead for civil legal aid practices as firms await the ‘crunch date’ of the ...
-
News
Self-help on referral fees
My name is Edward…and I am a referral fee-payer Having read correspondence in recent Gazettes about the question of referral fees, I have decided to form a new self-help group called Referrers Anonymous (RA). Anyone who pays referral fees to an introducer is welcome to attend, ...
-
News
It’s not the economy, stupid
The Gazette reported recently there was ‘no evidence that referral fees harm consumers’ according to an ‘economic analysis’.
-
News
LSC in a parallel universe
I am now convinced that the Legal Services Commission is living in a parallel universe. My sense of foreboding about how they are going to destroy family legal aid firms, their work and the service they provide to vulnerable members of our society, in my mind, is now confirmed.
-
News
What about the poor students?
I understand that banks are either reducing or stopping altogether the loans they have offered to students for the graduate conversion and Legal Practice Courses. There is no student loan funding available for this either. We would not discriminate against people from different racial backgrounds ...
-
News
ARP: history repeats itself
Why does history always have to repeat itself? The comment of my professional colleague Dugald Sproull is very similar to the views I held about the Solicitors Indemnity Fund (SIF) and the position from which I challenged the SIF monopoly in the late 1990s.
-
News
Freshfields reports fall in turnover
Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer today reported an 11% fall in turnover as it became the final magic circle firm to unveil its annual financial results. Revenues at the firm fell to £1.14bn in 2009/10 from £1.29bn in 2008/09, while average profits per equity partner ...
-
News
Clifford Chance regains status as biggest firm by revenues
Clifford Chance has retaken its place as the biggest law firm in the UK by revenues, pipping fellow magic circle firm Linklaters to the post. Clifford Chance also reported a strong resurgence in average profits per equity partner (PEP), which jumped by a quarter to £933,000 ...
-
News
Government rules out appealing defence costs cap judgment
The Law Society has welcomed the government's decision not to appeal against Chancery Lane’s recent court victory in defeating the previous administration’s plans to make acquitted defendants pay most of the costs of their own defence. The Law Society challenged the policy introduced by the ...
-
News
Bulgaria opens up to foreign law firms
Bulgaria is to amend its anti-competitive Bar Act and allow international law firms to practise within its borders following a two-year campaign by City firms and the Law Society. Bulgaria’s Bar Act, which will now be amended, prohibits international law firms from practising under their own ...
-
News
Refugee and Migrant Justice clients lose High Court bid
The High Court has rejected a bid to allow collapsed immigration advice charity Refugee and Migrant Justice to carry on representing its clients until their cases are transferred to other firms. Eight clients of RMJ, which went into administration last month, had sought a judicial review ...
-
News
Munby calls for more openness in family courts
Legislation intended to open up the family courts is a ‘lost opportunity’ that will fail to bring about the openness needed to improve confidence in family proceedings, a leading judge has said. Giving the 2010 Hershman-Levy memorial lecture last week, Lord Justice Munby called for ‘radical ...
-
News
Linklaters reports fall in turnover
Linklaters, the biggest law firm in the UK by revenues, has reported falls in turnover and average profits per equity partner (PEP) as it became the second of the magic circle to unveil full-year financial results. Turnover at the firm fell by 8.8% to £1.18bn in ...
-
News
Exclusive: surge in merger activity as firms seek strength in numbers
Merger activity at small and medium-sized firms climbed by a third in the first half of 2010, according to new research published by the Law Consultancy Network in association with the Gazette. Three-quarters of firms surveyed said they had actively considered the option.