Latest news – Page 798
-
News
Firms miss out on consumer calls
Law firms that close for lunch and only open during standard nine-to-five office hours could be missing out on up to 38% of consumer enquiries, it has been claimed. Referral service Contact Law has monitored the 60,000 telephone calls it received from consumers in the first ...
-
News
Law Society launches scheme to deliver PII help
The Law Society’s professional indemnity insurance helpline is braced for a surge in calls from firms looking to secure cover before the 1 October renewal deadline. To assist those firms having difficulty securing renewal terms, the Law Society today launched a SafetyNet scheme. ...
-
News
Legal Ombudsman seeks views on complaints publishing
A discussion paper issued by the Legal Ombudsman today is seeking views on whether it should publish the names of firms when it reports details of consumer complaints. The Ombudsman has been set up by the Office for Legal Complaints and begins taking complaints from consumers ...
-
News
Surge in judges ordering parenting classes
The number of warring parents being ordered by judges to attend parenting classes has tripled to 3,000 in five months, the Gazette has learned. Figures from the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) have shown a threefold rise in the number of separating ...
-
News
Bar regulator proposes relaxing limits on barristers’ role
The Bar Standards Board has set out its stall to become a ‘specialist regulator’ for those providing advocacy and related services – and proposes allowing barristers to carry out work currently performed by solicitors. In a consultation published today, the bar’s regulator proposes that barristers should ...
-
News
City Law School agrees internships
The City Law School has agreed a range of international commercial law internships for students on its Master of Laws (LLM) programmes. The school has renewed an international commercial law internship with US firm Sidley Austin for the fifth year running. The successful candidate will spend ...
-
News
Legal quangos face cull
Nine legal-related bodies are among the 177 quangos set to be axed by the coalition government, according to a leaked report obtained by the Telegraph. The nine bodies are: the Legal Services Commission; the Legal Services Ombudsman; the Legal Deposit Advisory Committee; the Magistrates Court Rule ...
-
News
Law Society doubles Diversity Access Scheme places
A Law Society scheme that aims to improve social mobility in the legal profession is to double the number of candidates it takes on next year. The Diversity Access Scheme (DAS) supports entrants to the solicitors' profession who face exceptional social, educational, financial or personal obstacles ...
-
News
LSC puts its case in family judicial review
On the second day of the Law Society’s judicial review of the Legal Services Commission’s tender for family legal aid work, counsel for the LSC today told the High Court that it should have been ‘obvious’ to solicitors that panel membership was going to be an important factor in the ...
-
News
How to construct the foundations
In the article How Leeds law firms are battling the downturn, Karen Eckstein says: ‘There’s not a comprehensive handbook which tells you how to do it’ (set up a law firm). This ex-Leeds solicitor turned to the excellent Setting Up and Managing a Legal Practice by Martin Smith, published by ...
-
News
Culture clash and compensation
Below is a brief note addressed to Lord Young in relation to a story in last Saturday’s Telegraph. Dear Lord Young I ...
-
News
Beware of rising pension charges
I have just received notification from the NHS that, provided my Pension Share Order is received by 31 December 2010, the implementation charge will be £393.62, including VAT. If it is received after 1 January 2011, the charge will be £2,760, including VAT. I calculate ...
-
News
Eschig ruling and non-panel firms
The article FSA underlines policyholder right to choose solicitor could leave some readers with the impression that the Eschig judgment has in some way affected the position of already-compliant legal expenses insurers, which is not the case.
-
News
Vulnerable people will find it harder to access good legal advice
Hugh Barrett’s reply to John Ford’s concerns about the allocation of low-volume category legal services is inadequate. Mr Barrett’s letter explains that in most low-volume categories, the tender process was ‘non-competitive with matter starts awarded to all organisations that met our essential criteria’. ...
-
News
Working party plea for costs rules to be liberalised
A working party led by a senior judge has called on the government to liberalise the costs rules to make it easier for parties to make challenges under environmental law.
-
News
Recession fuels ADR rise
The financial crisis triggered a surge in the number of disputes resolved by arbitration and mediation, with the UK performing well as a venue for hearing international cases, a study published this week found. The study, by membership body TheCityUK, discloses that the number of arbitrations ...
-
News
Fall in cases handled by magistrates
The number of cases handled by magistrates has fallen by 16% in a decade as more defendants are dealt with out of court, according to a report published this week. The report for the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies shows that around 1.64 million cases ...
-
News
Law firms and insurers join forces to fight Jackson reforms
Five law firms and two insurers have set up a pressure group with the aim of preventing Lord Justice Jackson’s proposed reforms to the funding of personal injury and clinical negligence claims, which they claim will leave victims ‘at the mercy’ of large insurance companies. The ...
-
News
Immigration cap poses ‘threat’ to UK legal sector
The Law Society has made a submission to the Home Office warning that its proposed limits on non-EU highly skilled migration could damage the legal sector. The submission follows concerns voiced by Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable that immigration limits are damaging British industry. ...
-
News
‘Use town halls as courts’, says LGA
Town halls should be used as courts to generate cost savings, the Local Government Association (LGA) suggested this week. Responding to the Courts Service’s consultation on the potential closure of 103 magistrates’ courts and 54 county courts across England and Wales, the LGA said making use ...