Latest news – Page 787
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News
ILEX consultation on CPS associate prosecutors
The Institute of Legal Executives is running a consultation exercise upon its application to become an approved regulator for Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors to undertake advocacy and litigation. So far, so good. The proposal is that unqualified CPS associate prosecutors assume the same powers as ...
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Referral fees ban will ‘drive business underground’, says CSC chair
Banning referral fees will harm the legal profession and have no effect on reducing law firms’ marketing costs, according to Darren Werth, the Claims Standards Council’s chair. Werth, managing director at Accident Advice Helpline, told delegates that it is ‘shocking’ that the Law Society and ...
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Claims management companies and law firms certain to merge
Claims management companies and law firms are certain to merge once they can form alternative business structures, conference delegates agreed. All 180 delegates who responded to a poll said that such mergers will happen after ABSs are allowed from October 2011. Delegates were mainly from CMCs, ...
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‘Big Brother’ to monitor RTA web portal
The government and insurance companies will act as ‘Big Brother’ over law firms and claims management companies, by monitoring data flowing through the new road traffic accident claims web portal and weeding out those abusing the system, it was alleged last week.
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Scots to vote on ‘Tesco law’
A last-ditch effort is under way to halt the Clementi-style liberalisation of Scotland’s legal services market. The 10,000-strong Law Society of Scotland is to vote on whether to reverse its policy of supporting external ownership of law firms and alternative business structures. ...
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Chancery Lane in China human rights protest
Lawyers in China are being detained on spurious charges and denied their right to legal representation, the Law Society’s international action team has warned. The volunteer team of human rights lawyers helped Law Society president Robert Heslett write four times to China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao ...
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Withers ‘in contempt’ of parliament over legal action threat
City firm Withers was ‘in contempt’ of parliament when it threatened an MP with legal action if he criticised one of its clients in the House of Commons, a parliamentary investigation found last week. But the report of the standards and privileges committee says no further ...
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Third-party funders to form association to oversee code of conduct
Third-party litigation funders are to form an industry association to oversee a new voluntary code of conduct, the Gazette can reveal. The moves – which have been under discussion for two years – were given impetus by the Jackson report’s recommendation that all funders sign up ...
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APIL slams government stance on asbestos claims
Personal injury lawyers have expressed disappointment over the government’s decision not to allow asbestos-related pleural plaques to be compensated. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers called the decision a ‘disappointing end to a long, drawn-out, consultation process’. The Ministry of Justice cited ...
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Appointment of just one solicitor QC concerns Law Society
The Law Society has claimed that the appointment of only one of the 10 solicitors who applied for silk is evidence of a ‘worrying trend’. Following last week’s announcement of 129 new QCs, Chancery Lane said it was a ‘matter of great concern’ that the ...
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Poverty campaign protest outside ‘vulture fund’ firm
City firms that represent so-called ‘vulture funds’ while claiming to be socially responsible have been accused of hypocrisy by a campaign group on global poverty. The Jubilee Debt Campaign last week staged a protest outside the London office of US firm Dechert, two days before ...
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Legal Complaints Service a ‘success story’ says commissioner
The body that handles complaints against solicitors is a ‘success story’ that has met all its performance targets, the legal services complaints commissioner declared last week. Releasing her sixth and final annual report before the new Office for Legal Complaints replaces the Law Society’s Legal Complaints ...
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Carolyn Regan quits as Jack Straw turns LSC into executive agency
The chief executive of the Legal Services Commission has resigned after the Ministry of Justice took control of the body following the publication of the Magee review of the delivery of legal aid. Carolyn Regan, who has headed the LSC for the last three and half ...
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Landmark Court of Appeal ruling on retainers
Solicitors who cease acting for a client where the case has no chance of success on points of law are entitled to be paid for the work done up to that point, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The Court of Appeal (pictured), in Buxton v ...
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Most consumers ‘cannot tell good lawyer from bad one’
Most consumers could not tell a good lawyer from a bad one, according to Ministry of Justice research published this week.
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Miners’ solicitors to face court action
Solicitors who handled sick coal miners’ government compensation claims are set to appear before courts across the country, as the first known court actions for alleged undersettlement of such claims begin to emerge.
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Referral ban ‘will not reduce costs’
Banning referral fees will harm the legal profession and will have no effect on reducing law firms’ marketing costs, the chair of the Claims Standards Council (CSC) said last week. Speaking at the CSC annual conference in Manchester, Accident Advice Helpline managing director Darren Werth said ...
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Law Society launches election manifesto
The Law Society today published a policy manifesto ahead of the forthcoming general election, urging all political parties to respect the rule of law and safeguard access to justice. The 24-page document, contains a detailed and wide-ranging ‘wishlist’ of recommendations, ranging from support for the ...
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Government use of ADR falls – but settlement rate increases
The use of alternative dispute resolution by government departments fell last year, though settlement rates increased, a report published by the Ministry of Justice has revealed. In 2008/09 ADR was used in 314 cases, leading to settlement in 259 (82%), saving costs estimated at £90.2m, the ...
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The state we are in
It is perhaps fortunate that your lead letter 'Tools of the trade' writer (see [2009] Gazette, 18 February, 11) withheld their personal details...