Latest news – Page 781
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News
Firms face bar competition after conduct rules relaxed
Changes to the barristers’ code of conduct that enable them to undertake work that was previously only open to solicitors will increase competition but give law firms the opportunity to pick up ‘talent from the bar’, according to consultants. Last week, the Legal Services Board approved ...
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English language test for foreign-qualified lawyers
Foreign-qualified lawyers seeking to practise in England and Wales will have to pass an English language test under new rules approved by the Legal Services Board last week. International applicants will have to pass the language test before being eligible to take the assessments required under ...
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Legal aid cuts will happen ‘under any government’, parties warn
The legal aid budget will face further cuts whoever wins the election, politicians from the three main parties warned last week. Legal aid minister Lord Bach, shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve QC and Liberal Democrat justice spokesman David Howarth all said new funding streams needed to ...
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Fate of Quinn Insurance hangs in the balance
More than 2,900 law firms and sole practitioners could be left without professional indemnity insurance (PII) on Monday when the Irish High Court decides the fate of Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurance company that was forced into administration last week. Quinn covers around 10% of the solicitors’ PII insurance market. ...
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Fate of Quinn Insurance hangs in the balance
More than 2,900 law firms and sole practitioners could be left without professional indemnity insurance (PII) on Monday when the Irish High Court decides the fate of Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurance company that was forced into administration last week. Quinn covers around 10% of the solicitors’ PII insurance market. ...
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Legal aid work at 1998 rates
This may make you laugh. I still do legal aid work. Child care. The rates have not gone up since 1998. Travelling and waiting, I am earning for the firm £32.45 per hour. Because I'm on the Children Panel I can charge an extra amount per hour, just under 5p.
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Pre-packaged insolvency proposals are ‘expensive duplication’
Proposals to boost confidence in the pre-packaged insolvency process published this week are ‘an expensive recipe for duplicating costs’, a City insolvency lawyer has warned. The proposals follow a recent report by the Insolvency Service which found that one-third of insolvency practitioners are failing to comply ...
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Scots to debate compromise plan that would derail ‘Tesco law’
The head of Anglo-Scottish law firm McGrigors has come up with a compromise proposal that could prevent the full implementation of ‘Tesco law’ in Scotland and heal a damaging rift over the future of the nation’s solicitors’ profession.
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MoJ announces changes to Crown court fees
The Ministry of Justice and Legal Services Commission have today announced the fee changes for Crown court legal aid work. The government has decided not to implement the 17.9% cut proposed to the advocates’ graduated fees. Instead there will be a staged reduction over three years ...
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Edwards Duthie wins contract for first London CLAC
East London firm Edwards Duthie has won the contract to run the capital’s first Community Legal Advice Centre (CLAC). It will operate the service in Barking and Dagenham in conjunction with the local Citizens Advice Bureau. Over the next three years the ...
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Metropolitan Police revises document charges for civil cases
The Metropolitan Police Service has issued revised charges for providing copies of documentation in civil proceedings. The following most significant changes came into effect on 1 April: Charges for civil cases – statements and interviews ...
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Yorkshire Forward launches two legal panels
Development agency Yorkshire Forward has launched two legal service panels. Nine firms have won a place on the two panels, with contracts that will run for three years, with an option to extend the term for a further 12 months. The ...
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SRA scraps plans to change conflicts rules
Far-reaching plans to allow law firms to advise rival clients on the same deal have been shelved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority following ‘significant opposition’ from senior in-house lawyers. Relaxed conflict of interest rules were widely expected to be written into the SRA rulebook shortly after ...
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Shamed into action
Joshua Rozenberg’s view that there is ‘nothing to be gained by an arrest of someone who is never going to be prosecuted’ may be good legal analysis but it lacks political sense (see [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 8).
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Prosecution defence
Your story ‘"Justice on the cheap" sparks outcry’ (See [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 1) paints a wholly inaccurate picture of Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors (APs).
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Friendly advice
Mark Stephens, of law firm Finers Stephens Innocent, said that Davenport Lyons’ methodology for handling illegal file-sharing cases conforms to industry best practice, and has been adopted in the Digital Economy Bill currently going through parliament (See ‘File-sharing "bully tactics"’, [2010] Gazette, 11 March, 4)’.
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Lawyers left with egg on their faces
As a hard-pressed legal aid family lawyer, I was in desperate need of comfort food recently. So I popped out for a chocolate cream egg, which cost 46p. I was shocked by the price but, revived by the rush of sugar, I had a quick look at my ‘At A ...
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Newspaper sales, Volvo acquisition and lottery numbers
Paper chain: US firm Mayer Brown advised publisher Independent News & Media on selling the Independent, the Independent on Sunday and independent.co.uk to billionaire Alexander Lebedev’s publisher Independent Print, advised by London firm Tulloch & Co. ...
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Indian lawyers accuse 31 foreign law firms of practising law illegally
A collective of Indian lawyers has accused 31 foreign law firms of practising law illegally in India, while simultaneously criticising the Indian government for failing to act on the alleged illegal practice. A writ petition filed with the Madras High Court on 18 March names ...
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EC attacks claim that legal professional privilege is a fundamental right
The European Commission has argued that any claim that legal professional privilege is a fundamental right under EU law is ‘superficial’. In the Akzo Nobel appeal hearing at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) in February, the commission also argued that in-house lawyers could not be ...