Latest news – Page 804
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News
LCS braced for deluge of Scottish equal pay cases
A deluge of impending complaints over Scottish equal pay cases handled by the UK’s most prolific equal pay lawyer could swamp the Legal Complaints Service if they are sent across the border to England, the Gazette has learned.The complaints relate to compensation agreements drawn up by a law firm run ...
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Mid-tier corporate firms see profits plummet
Partner profits have plummeted by more than a quarter among a large swath of corporate firms as ‘acute pricing pressure’ and a fall in work take their toll on the bottom line, according to research by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers published today. The PwC annual law firm benchmarking ...
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Legal Services Board launches consumer panel
The Legal Services Board has unveiled its eight-strong consumer panel to represent the interests of individual and business consumers in England and Wales. The LSB said that the independent panel will help it develop a ‘sharper focus’ on consumers’ interests across the legal services sector, and enhance access to justice.
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Call for change to libel laws
English libel law imposes unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on free speech, sending a ‘chilling’ effect through the publishing and journalism sectors in the UK, according to an inquiry into libel law by two free speech charities. As a result of their findings, published today, Index on ...
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CPS rolls out national telephone charging service
The Crown Prosecution Service and Association of Chief Police Officers today announced the nationwide roll-out of a telephone charging advice service for police. From January, the existing CPS Direct service, which provides advice to police when charging suspects out of hours, will be expanded across ...
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LSB consumer panel to examine referral fees
The Legal Services Board’s new consumer panel will examine referral fees as the very first item on its agenda when it meets for the first time later this month, the Gazette has learned. The news comes after the Law Society’s council last week voted overwhelmingly in ...
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Eversheds reports fall in turnover
National firm Eversheds today reported a 6% fall in half-year turnover but said it is ‘cautiously optimistic’ that its performance will improve. Revenues for the six months to October 31 stood at £178m, down from £188m for the same period in 2007/08. ...
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Fee income falls at Simmons
Fee income at City firm Simmons & Simmons fell by 16% in the first half of the financial year, the firm reported today. The drop, to £120.3m in the six months to 31 October, from £143.5m over the same period in 2008/09, was blamed on the ...
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Rise in number of intellectual property disputes
Intellectual property (IP) disputes in the High Court jumped by a third last year, according to recently released judicial statistics. At 562, the number of IP disputes in 2008 represents a significant increase over the 422 in 2007, and around two and a half times the ...
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Revenues down at Allen & Overy
Half-year revenues at magic circle firm Allen & Overy fell by 7% as the City giant became the first to announce its financial performance results over the past six months. Revenues fell from £548m to £511m during the six months to 31 October. More than half ...
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City firm Denton Wilde Sapte increases turnover
City firm Denton Wilde Sapte grew turnover 3.5% over the half-year, and said that it has met its revenue forecast. Revenue for the first half of the 2009/10 financial year was £87.7m, compared with £84.7m over the first half of the 2008/09 year. ...
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Prosecutors should explain sentences to victims, says attorney general
The attorney general has said prosecutors should explain sentences to victims and has issued revised guidelines on plea and sentencing. Speaking to a conference of Crown Prosecution Service Crown advocates – qualified CPS lawyers in the Crown court - as their superintending minister, Lady Scotland (pictured) ...
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Time-wasting job
Re: ‘Woolf lambasts failures in CPR’ (see [2009] Gazette, 22 October, 1). I have steered clear of litigation for most of my 40 years in practice, but I did advise one party on the pension aspects of a financial settlement following divorce.
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Cause of freedom
I am not an uncritical admirer of the US, but full marks to states which are passing laws enabling their courts to refuse to enforce English libel judgments. It is no cause for pride that our courts attract libel claimants.
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Course fees too low
Your opinion column about rising university costs being a hindrance to ‘poor’ students misses the point. The price set for law degrees and the LPC is determined not just by providers but also those buying courses.
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Profession reserved for the wealthy
I would like to say how pleased I was to see your opinion article ‘Bottom of the class’ (see [2009] Gazette, 29 October, 8). I feel very strongly that class is becoming an increasing barrier in the legal profession and it will soon be the case ...
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Dubious principles
In the first of this year’s BBC Reith lectures, Professor Michael Sandel spoke of ‘a new citizenship’; a politics oriented less to the pursuit of individual self interest and more to the pursuit of the common good. He criticised the policies of the last 30 years as ‘a heady, reckless ...
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Spare us the jobsworths
In these changing times, I have accepted with equanimity the need to be searched on entering court buildings, notwithstanding that I am known in my local magistrates’ court, where I have been practising for over 30 years.
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Not going private
Further to your article ‘Land Registry slashes one in five jobs’, published online on 22 October, I am writing to correct one of your points. You said: ‘Offices in Peterborough, Portsmouth, Croydon, Stevenage and Tunbridge Wells will close and other changes will affect staff in Plymouth and London ahead ...
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Freedom at a premium?
Paul Asplin, chief executive of DAS, extols the virtues of legal expenses insurance in his letter of 22 October. The impression is conveyed of a super-efficient system delivering cost-effective justice with the interests of the client being paramount and that to sacrifice freedom of choice is a price worth ...