Latest news – Page 793
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News
Lawyers unite to oppose further criminal legal aid cutbacks
The government has united solicitors and barristers in their opposition to proposals to make further cuts to criminal legal aid work. But as both sides seek a solution that protects their members’ interests, there are differences over the best way forward. The Bar Council and Criminal ...
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Recession fears leaves corporate and property lawyers overstretched
Corporate and property lawyers are being overstretched as firms remain fearful of a double-dip recession and refuse to recruit new staff to deal with an upturn in work, the Gazette has learned. At a national meeting of the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), which represents lawyers from ...
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Conveyancing solicitors face higher bank charges over Registry portal
Conveyancing solicitors will face higher bank charges as a result of the Land Registry’s new electronic portal. On 31 March, Land Registry Direct, the means by which solicitors access the Land Registry’s e-business services, will be replaced by a new electronic platform. ...
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Website for blacklisted solicitors plans expansion
A website that blacklists solicitors and law firms is set to expand its capacity, with the number of visitors to the site now exceeding 1,000 a day, its owner claimed this week. Rick Kordowski, who runs solicitorsfromhell.co.uk, told the Gazette that he plans to expand the ...
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Firms feel the burden of SRA regulation
More than three-quarters of firms think the regulatory burden imposed on them by the Solicitors Regulatory Authority is excessive, research commissioned by the Law Society has shown. However, the study showed a high level of satisfaction with the SRA’s ethics helpline, and an understanding ...
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Unpalatable answer
If referral fees are such a smart idea, why don’t barristers, accountants or chartered tax advisers permit them? The answer is unpalatable. Collectively, they have integrity and intelligence. Solicitors do not.
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Conflicting interests
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is consulting upon relaxing the rules on conflicts of interest for solicitors (see [2010] Gazette, 21 January).
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Unlevel playing field
Lord Justice Jackson is to be applauded for bringing forward proposals which will so clearly reduce the cost of litigation by providing a cap on success fees, non-recoverability of after-the-event insurance premiums, and fixed fees across the fast-track.
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Law firm ‘disarray’ over retirement proposals
Proposed changes to the mandatory retirement age would pose management challenges for law firms and throw succession plans into ‘disarray’, employment lawyers have warned. The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has published a series of proposals this week to allow people, including solicitors, ...
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Clampdown on mortgage fraud by lawyers saves lenders £15m
A campaign by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to target solicitors involved in property fraud has saved lenders £15-20m over the past nine months, the SRA claimed this week. Its inspectors have made emergency inspections of firms where property fraud was suspected and the SRA has given ...
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Law firms set up terror victim compensation scheme
The pro bono work of lawyers at two City firms has played a key role in the establishment of a new scheme to compensate British victims of terrorism abroad. Over the last three years, Lovells and Field Fisher Waterhouse (FFW) have been working on a scheme, ...
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Estate agents not influenced by referral fees, survey reports
Referral payments made by solicitors are ‘the least important consideration’ for estate agents when deciding which law firm to recommend, research has suggested. In a survey of more than 100 estate agents carried out by conveyancer and home information pack provider The Partnership, only 3% ...
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Government unveils strategy to tackle overseas bribery
The government has today announced a four-pronged strategy to tackle overseas bribery. The strategy aims to strengthen the UK’s bribery laws through the new bribery bill; encourage UK companies to apply appropriate ethical standards; support law enforcement agencies in the detection of corruption; and reduce the ...
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Mediation success
The story ‘Family mediation pilot achieves mixed results’ (news, 7 January) suggested that court-based mediation in the pilot scheme had disappointing results.
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Payment by results
Both Natalie Saunders and Neil Wright make the point that it is the client and not the solicitor who should pay for the time wasted by inexpert or incompetent solicitors acting on the other side of a transaction or dispute (letters, 14 January).
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Client conflict
Shamil Purohit ( letters, 7 January) defends referral fees – which are in my view indefensible.
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Right mechanism
I write with regard to Dick Jennings’s comment piece ‘Time is of the essence’ (see [2009] Gazette, 10 December, 10). His central premise is that legal services differ from other services in that cost cannot be predicted and value cannot be measured – a view that I fundamentally disagree with ...
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Lawyers report upturn in takeover bid success
The proportion of takeover talks involving listed companies that end in a successful deal has almost returned to pre-credit crunch levels, research has found, signalling a greater confidence in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market as lawyers succeed in driving deals through. A failure rate for ...
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Train judges to control costs, says Jackson
Judges and lawyers involved in high-stakes commercial court disputes should be trained in costs budgeting and costs management, Lord Justice Jackson’s review of civil litigation costs has recommended. The report suggested that costs budgeting and costs management be included as part of lawyers’ CPD training, while ...
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Withers faces investigation into contempt claims
City firm Withers faces an investigation into claims that it committed a contempt of parliament by seeking to prevent an MP from talking about one of its clients there. The Commons held an emergency debate on the matter last Thursday, and it was referred to the ...