Latest news – Page 817
-
News
Clarke urged to save cash-strapped immigration advice provider
Charities, faith leaders and human rights experts are calling on new justice secretary Kenneth Clarke (pictured) to save the UK’s largest immigration advice provider, which is facing closure because of delays in receiving legal aid payments. In an open letter to Clarke and home secretary ...
-
News
HIPs and consumer protection
Now that the home information pack regulations have been effectively scrapped, the unintended consequence is the loss of any consumer protection for the supply of CON29O and R and CON29DW standards searches. HIPs set out, for the first time, clear standards for the conditions upon which searches should be provided, ...
-
News
Stop bleating
What a clever juxtaposition of letters (see [2010] Gazette, 27 May, 9) – 'Hurt in the pocket' and 'A Serious Fee'– where the question of low wages for conveyancers is posed, then answered.
-
News
Tender trauma
I agree with the article 'LSC tender unfair' [link]. It is wholly unfair for the Legal Services Commission to favour those firms that have a Children Panel member or an Advanced Family Panel member over those that simply have a Family Panel member.The notification concerning domestic violence was not flagged ...
-
News
Law Society action on panels
I was disappointed to read Melanie Carroll's call for the Law Society to stand up to lenders [see [2010] Gazette, 20 May] . We might all wish for a simple world where such problems could be dismissed so easily. It may help to note the enormous amount of work we ...
-
News
Chancery Lane welcomes Queen’s speech proposals
The Law Society has responded to the coalition government’s proposals contained in today’s Queen’s speech. The Society said it is ‘delighted’ with the government’s proposals to: bring forward plans to introduce a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill; bring ...
-
News
Consumer watchdog backs retention of referral fees
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called for action to tackle problems surrounding referral fees, but stressed that such fees ought to be retained if its proposals are implemented. The panel has called for more disclosure of fees paid and better regulation following its own review of the current system. ...
-
News
Finding solutions in dispute resolution
The master of the rolls’ call for mediation to become part of every lawyer’s training (see [2010] Gazette, 13 May, 3) is a much welcome endorsement by a member of the senior judicial establishment of the need for a fundamental rebuild of every lawyer’s toolkit.
-
News
Walking wounded
The inference of Paul Rogerson’s In Business feature titled ‘Surveying the damage’ (see [2010] Gazette, 13 May, 14), is that the recession is solely responsible for the dire straits which many hundreds of law firms up and down the country now find themselves in.
-
News
Asylum tragedy
Some time ago, the UK Border Agency decided to grant ‘indefinite leave to remain’ to failed asylum seekers who had lived in the UK for a long period of time (preferably, more than 10 years).
-
News
Hurt in the pocket
We keep hearing about the improvement in the housing market and, as a conveyancing solicitor, I can certainly vouch for this.
-
News
A serious fee?
I wonder whether I am in the majority in disagreeing with the findings of the report on referral fees prepared for the Legal Services Board
-
News
Law Society launches privacy rights initiative
The Law Society has joined forces with surveillance watchdog Privacy International to found a privacy rights centre to provide pro bono legal help to victims of ‘oppressive surveillance’ technologies. The centre will coordinate pro bono privacy advice, advocacy and legal action to uphold individuals’ rights. It ...
-
News
Judicial training drive seeks to foster clarity on citizens’ rights
A Europe-wide judicial training programme to establish a common set of procedural rules and citizens’ rights before the law began this week, as it emerged that there are more than 6,000 violations of judicial procedures currently due to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. ...
-
News
UK lawyers raise questions over EU e-justice system
UK lawyers have questioned moves by the umbrella body for Europe’s lawyers to support a common e-justice system spanning the EU. At its meeting in Malaga last week, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) narrowly won support for its plan to assist ...
-
News
Increasing use of Human Rights Act in court
The number of UK court cases making use of the Human Rights Act 1998 has risen for the first time in seven years, according to research by Sweet & Maxwell. The number of cases using the act grew by 6%, from 327 in the 12 months ...
-
News
MoJ announces new ministerial briefs
The Ministry of Justice has revealed the roles of its new ministerial team headed by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke, with the legal aid brief handed to former City lawyer Jonathan Djanogly. Tom McNally, minister of state and deputy leader of the House of Lords, will have ...
-
News
APIL criticises government for dropping damages bill
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has criticised the new government for dropping a bill to implement damages reform. The draft Civil Law Reform Bill, which included proposed changes to the law of damages, was absent from the Queen’s speech on Tuesday. APIL said that ...
-
News
LSC could face judicial review of 'unfair’ family tender process
The Legal Services Commission could face a judicial review of the process and selection criteria used in the recent tender exercise for its new family contract. A family solicitor who did not want to be identified told the Gazette he has got the support of ‘a ...
-
News
‘Big push’ to clear RTA portal backlog
Some personal injury firms handling road traffic accident (RTA) claims are still waiting to be plugged into a new electronic data exchange nearly a month after it launched, due to a backlog of login requests. Introduced as part of Ministry of Justice reforms to speed up ...