Latest news – Page 791
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News
Ghanaian law firm opens in London
A law firm with ambitions to become the ‘Linklaters of Africa’ has become the first Ghanaian firm to open in London. Ghanaian corporate and commercial firm Oxford & Beaumont has set up in the UK to service UK law firms conducting business in Ghana.The four-partner firm, ...
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Des Hudson warns that legal aid policy needs ‘radical rethink’
The Law Society has warned that a ‘radical rethink’ of legal aid policy is needed to prevent a reduction in the quality and scope of legal aid and to ensure access to justice. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson (pictured) told delegates at the Westminster Legal ...
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Law Society mulls Zimbabwe protest
The Law Society is considering intervening in the case of a solicitor who was imprisoned by the Zimbabwe authorities for asserting that evidence incriminating his client was obtained under torture. Zimbabwean solicitor Mordecai Mahlangu was arrested when acting for Roy Bennett, a Zimbabwean farmer of European ...
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Legal recruiters see upturn in law firm job market
Legal recruiters have seen a ‘substantial upturn’ in the law firm jobs market in the past three months, and are predicting a still more buoyant year ahead. The positive forecasts came as a new survey predicted a 7% rise in graduate vacancies in the legal sector ...
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LCJ warns of 'undoubted danger’ to administration of justice
The lord chief justice has warned that budgetary pressures on the prosecution and the courts are having a ‘very real impact’ on the administration of justice and said there is ‘an undoubted danger’ that the situation could worsen. In his first annual review, Lord Judge said: ...
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‘New era’ for family mediation in London
The implementation of the revised President’s Private Law Programme in London this week could herald a ‘new era’ for mediation in the capital and reduce ‘unacceptable’ delays in the court system, according to a leading family lawyer. The guidance, devised in 2004 by the then president ...
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LSC procurement plans show no rise in civil legal aid cases
The Legal Services Commission’s procurement plans for civil legal aid, published last week, have revealed that there will be no increase in the number of civil cases funded in the 2010/2011 financial year, to the dismay of solicitors. To assist firms tendering for the civil contracts ...
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Solicitors should report insolvency risk to SRA, recommends KPMG
Solicitors should be under a duty to notify the Solicitors Regulation Authority when they get into financial difficulties, a report to the SRA board by accountants KPMG has recommended. The report also proposes that there should be a new core duty on financial management as part ...
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Firms face court action risk over money laundering reports
Law firms could find themselves being sued for reporting suspected money laundering following a Court of Appeal decision last week. Law firms, banks and other businesses handling client money are obliged to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) ...
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Trainee solicitors 'exploited' after qualification
Trainee solicitors are being ‘exploited’ by firms offering them a Hobson’s choice between a paralegal role or the dole when they qualify, the Gazette has learned. The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) said firms’ financial problems meant they were attempting to avoid paying newly qualified lawyers’ salaries ...
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High numbers of women and solicitors appointed to judicial posts
More than half the candidates selected in the last recruitment round for fee-paid employment tribunal judge positions were women, statistics have shown, while three-quarters of selected candidates were solicitors. The Judicial Appointments Commission today published the statistics for the two most popular selection exercises for fee-paid ...
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Banks predict M&A recovery in 2010
Financial institutions have predicted a recovery in the volume of deals in the European acquisition finance market in 2010, with healthcare and professional services expected to be at the forefront of the M&A rebound, according to research published by a national law firm today. The European ...
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Bar Council to launch legal action against MoJ
The Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association are set to take the government to court for the first time in 20 years over what they claim are ‘inadequate and unfair’ consultations on new fees for criminal legal aid work. They have instructed solicitors to take ...
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Allen & Overy launches in Australia
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy announced the launch of an Australian practice today. The firm has appointed 17 new partners, with 14 based in Sydney and three in Perth. It said analysis of the Australian market had shown there was space ...
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False comparison
I read with interest Christopher Digby-Bell’s comments that solicitors should be able to factor in the likely additional costs to be incurred by incompetent solicitors on the other side when dealing with any transaction.
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Judgement call
Christopher Digby-Bell is missing an important distinction in the debate about time-based charging. The heart surgeon is in a position to judge...
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Touch of hypocrisy?
The Gazette carried a front-page article on 28 January under the headline ‘Blacklisted solicitors site plans growth’. The site facilitator says (with alarming frankness) ‘I don’t have the time or the resources to look at the argument from both sides’, so instead a flat fee is paid by solicitors to ...
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A licence to die
Sir Terry Pratchett’s proposals for a tribunal to license assisted dying will add a welcome and significant boost an idea we have long advocated.
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Restaurant sales, education buyout and pension plans
Ringing off: City firm Herbert Smith advised accountants Ernst & Young as administrators to the Europe, Middle East and Africa entities of telecoms manufacturer Nortel Networks, on selling off Nortel businesses worth $2bn (£1.26bn).
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Commercial property triggers recruitment surge for litigators
High-end commercial property litigators will be the most in-demand breed of lawyer in London over the coming year, recruitment consultants Badenoch & Clark predicted this week. Banks that have already refinanced commercial property loans are beginning to call in specialist litigators to try and recover massive ...