Latest news – Page 774
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Home information packs suspended
After a week in office, the new coalition government today announced that the requirement for home sellers to provide home information packs will be suspended pending primary legislation to abolish them entirely. The suspension of the controversial sellers packs will take effect from midnight on Friday ...
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Neuberger calls for curb on legislation
The master of the rolls has called for fewer and more carefully drafted laws to avoid handing too much power to the judiciary. Speaking at the annual conference of the Leasehold Advisory Service (LEASE) last week, Lord Neuberger (pictured) said: ‘Poorly drafted legislation risks giving more ...
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Referral fees do not harm consumers, LSB research shows
There is no evidence that referral fees have caused consumer detriment in either the conveyancing or personal injury market, according to an economic analysis commissioned by the Legal Services Board which was published today. However, there is concern that a focus on profitability causes some criminal ...
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Ministry of Justice appoints City lawyer as minister
A former City solicitor has been appointed a junior minister in the Ministry of Justice’s new line-up. Jonathan Djanogly, a former partner at SJ Berwin, has become a parliamentary under secretary. The Conservative MP for Huntingdon was previously the shadow solicitor general and a shadow minister ...
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New ministers appointed to Ministry of Justice
The Liberal Democrat’s leader in the House of Lords has been appointed as a minister in the Ministry of Justice. Lord McNally, who is also the Lib Dem spokesman on constitutional affairs, has been appointed a middle-ranking minister. The 67-year-old peer is a former Labour MP ...
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Asian lawyers recognised in awards
The Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL) has announced the winners of its annual awards to recognise the exceptional achievements of Asian solicitors and barristers practising in the UK. The award winners were: Young lawyer ...
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Cameron McKenna signs deal to outsource ‘middle office’ functions
City firm CMS Cameron McKenna is to outsource a substantial part of its non-legal office functions in a deal valued by outsourcer Integreon at £583m over ten years. Much of the firm’s non-billable ‘middle office’ functions including accounting and finance; human resources and training; marketing and ...
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Mediations double in two years
The number of mediations has doubled in the last two years, and most mediators expect workloads to increase, according to research seen exclusively by the Gazette. The fourth biennial survey of civil and commercial mediators, carried out by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR), showed ...
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Kenneth Clarke appointed as new justice secretary
Veteran Conservative and former chancellor Kenneth Clarke will be justice secretary in the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, it was announced this morning. He will also be lord chancellor. The 69-year-old is a former barrister, having been called to the bar by Gray’s Inn in 1963 and ...
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Flash back
The cartoon in Obiter of 29 April shows a camera flashing a van for speeding in relation to www.mybrief.com. The camera appears to be a classic Gatsometer which flashes but takes photos of the rear of the vehicle, not the front as in the cartoon.
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Insurance danger
It was reported in your news article on 12 April about Quinn Insurance that, of £5m of premiums due to the assigned risks pool underwriters, only £2m had been paid to date.
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Indian LPO Pangea3 opens in UK in European expansion drive
Indian legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider Pangea3 has opened an office in London as part of a concerted expansion drive in Europe. Brian Allan, vice-president of legal services in Europe, will head the office on London’s South Bank. He said the decision was taken because the ...
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Energy stocks, Poundland sells and housing developments
Power play: Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised Indian energy company Essar Energy on its London Stock Exchange listing, which valued the company at around £5.5bn, potentially catapulting it into the FTSE-100 index. ...
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Lobbying firms under pressure to sign EU register of interests
Law firms that lobby EU institutions will face pressure to sign a register of interests after senior EU officials vowed to forge ahead with plans to boost transparency, the Gazette has learned. At a meeting in Brussels last Thursday, a working group of European commissioners and ...
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PI lawyers asked to report ‘foul play’ by insurers
Personal injury lawyers are being asked to provide evidence of alleged foul play by insurance companies that settle motor accident claims directly with victims. The Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) and Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) have asked members to pass on evidence of alleged ...
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Mexican civil rights lawyer pleads for international support network
A Mexican civil rights lawyer who has received death threats in her own country visited the UK last week to persuade law firms and the Law Society to form an international support network for lawyers. Alba Cruz (pictured), from Oaxaca state, is representing 104 political dissidents, ...
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Town hall budget cut fears over local government legal services
Local government legal services will be ‘severely at risk of implosion’ if public sector budget cuts force a decline in professional standards, the new chairman of the Solicitors in Local Government group has warned. Stephen Turner, a solicitor at Kingston-upon-Hull City Council, said maintaining services and ...
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Commission wins legal aid contract fight
A London immigration firm has lost a judicial review action against the Legal Services Commission after the firm missed a deadline to apply for a new legal aid contract. The High Court ruled that the LSC was not obliged to write to the firm directly to notify it of ...
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Master of the rolls Lord Neuberger: ‘Train all lawyers in mediation’
The master of the rolls has called for mediation to become part of every lawyer’s training from university, but warned against an overzealous approach to alternative dispute resolution. Speaking at the Civil Mediation Council’s annual conference, Lord Neuberger (pictured) said: ‘If mediation and other forms of ...
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Nineteen new solicitor MPs enter House of Commons
Last week’s general election saw 19 solicitors newly elected as MPs – 14 for the Conservative Party and five for Labour. The new solicitor MPs came from all sections of the profession, including high street firms, large commercial practices, in-house and the public sector.