Latest news – Page 821
-
News
Tribunals Service reports 40% rise in claims
The Tribunals Service saw a 40% rise in claims this financial year, far greater than it had anticipated. However, the service still managed to reduce its costs by £9m, through greater efficiency. The Tribunal Service’s annual report showed that it disposed of ...
-
News
LSB appoints chairwoman of consumer panel
The Legal Services Board has appointed Dr Dianne Hayter as chairwoman of its independent consumer panel. The panel, set up by the Legal Services Act 2007, will advise the LSB on the interests of all legal services users, including individual and business consumers. LSB chairman David Edmonds said: ‘The panel’s ...
-
News
LSC climbdown over best value tendering
The Legal Services Commission has today delayed the national rollout of best value tendering (BVT) for criminal work by three years, pending a ‘full’ evaluation of the pilot. The move will be seen as a considerable climbdown by the LSC. Responding to ...
-
News
Protocol sets out attorney general’s role in prosecutions
The attorney general, Baroness Scotland QC, has published a new protocol setting out her relationship with the prosecuting bodies she superintends. The document outlines the roles and responsibilities of the attorney general and clarifies the extent of her role in individual prosecution cases. It also underlines ...
-
News
Anti-money laundering rules should be relaxed for solicitors
The anti-money laundering (AML) reporting regime should be relaxed for solicitors and others in the private sector, a House of Lords committee concluded today. Failure to report a suspicious transaction which is based on a minor criminal offence should not be prosecuted, according to the House ...
-
News
Solicitors invited to nominate honorary QCs
Solicitors have been invited to nominate themselves or other legal professionals for honorary Queen’s Counsel (QC). The honorary counsel will be appointed alongside the new substantive QCs in spring 2010. Honorary silk is available to all practising lawyers, whether in private ...
-
News
Graduated fee scheme will ‘better reflect complexity’
Caroline Little claims that membership of the Law Society Children Panel is in jeopardy owing to proposed family legal aid reforms (see [2009] Gazette, 25 June, 9).
-
News
‘US in stronger position than UK’ to weather downturn
Top US law firms are better placed to weather the downturn than the biggest UK firms, and will be in a better position when the demand for legal services picks up, the head of the world’s biggest firm claimed this week. Eric Friedman (pictured), executive partner ...
-
News
Anger management
I write to draw the attention of professionals in the Yorkshire area to the invaluable service I have been receiving from an organisation called S.T.O.P.
-
News
Clients ‘bled dry’
The research into employment lawyers by Cardiff Law School is partly corroborated by our own clients’ experiences of the practices of other law firms (see [2009] Gazette, 2 July, 3). Many clients are bled dry early on in the litigation process by hourly rate solicitors. They approach us to take ...
-
News
No more ‘fat cats’
While clearing out my rather dated and messy office today, I came across the Green Book from October 2000. Still being at university then and labouring under the misconception that my path was to be paved with gold, I flicked through it curious to know what fixed costs were allowable ...
-
News
More power for FSA’s chief enforcer
The Financial Services Authority’s chief enforcer is to be given greater power to fine individuals and companies as she moves to head an enhanced enforcement division at the City watchdog. The FSA wants to treble some fines for mis-selling and market abusers after it merges its ...
-
News
US eyes Bahrain project, shampoo maker listing, and Plymouth Argyle Football Club stake
Powerful project: US firm Shearman & Sterling advised more than 20 lenders, including the US Government, on arranging $2.1bn (£1.3bn) of financing for Bahrain’s Al Dur water and power production project, which is expected to yield 1,230 megawatts of energy. A mix of ...
-
News
Whitehall fee regulation ‘political’
Government plans to crack down on the use of contingency fees in employment and other tribunals are politically motivated, it has been alleged. The Ministry of Justice last week published a consultation paper on regulating contingency fees, having inserted a provision in the Coroners and Justice ...
-
News
Commercial attorney threat
Lawyers in England and Wales could soon face competition from commercial attorneys, a group of legal representatives operating mainly in the field of construction law whose origins lie in Scotland. The Association of Commercial Attorneys recently won a near 20-year battle for rights of audience ...
-
News
Head of family division calls for ‘urgent action’ over guardians
Hundreds of children are currently at risk of being taken into care without a guardian to represent them, a leading children’s lawyer said this week. The warning came as the president of the family division, Sir Mark Potter (pictured), announced an interim ‘stop-gap’ scheme to deal ...
-
News
PC fee increase ‘looks likely’
Solicitors could face an increase in the practising certificate (PC) fee, which is to be discussed later this month, the Gazette understands. Following inquiries from the Gazette, the Law Society confirmed that an increase ‘looks likely’. However, chief executive Des Hudson stressed that any increase ...
-
News
LCS frustrated by Raleys delay
The Legal Complaints Service has offered to continue investigating complaints against Yorkshire law firm Raleys concerning compensation payments to miners, after previously rejecting the advice of its watchdog and refusing to do so. However, the LCS, which suspended investigations in March, stressed that it ...
-
News
International property blow
A firm with 30 years’ experience of international property law is to shut it doors this week as the recession takes its toll on the sector. The International Law Partnership, which provides specialist advice through offices in London and Leeds, has seen its income plummet ...
-
News
Doctors ‘put police station detainees at risk’, says BMA
Inadequately trained doctors are putting the safety of police station detainees at risk and could undermine criminal trials, the British Medical Association has warned. At its annual conference last week, the BMA said the Metropolitan Police lacked the competence to deliver the clinical governance required for ...