Latest news – Page 824
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News
Local government legal departments braced for cuts
Local government legal departments are braced for a double whammy of budget cuts and an increase in workload, exclusive research for the Gazette has revealed. The study also found that 61% of departments are considering reducing their use of external advisers. The ...
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Quinn to re-enter UK insurance market
Quinn Insurance has been given permission for a limited re-entry into the UK insurance market following an announcement by the Irish Financial Regulator yesterday. However, the relaxation of the regulator’s restrictions preventing Quinn from writing new business in the UK does not extend to solicitors’ professional ...
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City partnership promotions unveiled
Major City firms announced a wave of partner promotions today, with 33 lawyers made up across the world. City firm Herbert Smith made up 18 lawyers, including 11 in London and three in Paris. The most promotions were in the firm’s energy practice (4). When the ...
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Co-op launches advertising campaign in legal services drive
The Co-operative Group is to launch a fresh campaign to promote its legal services to food shoppers in its 3,000 supermarkets nationwide. The news comes as the group, which aims to be one of the first alternative business structures, told the Gazette that it believes ‘the ...
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Call for opening up of search data
The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) has called on the government to consult on legislation requiring local authorities to provide open and free access to property information. In a ‘manifesto’ published last week, CoPSO said councils were arbitrarily restricting access to data and ‘urgent action’ ...
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‘No action needed’ on Quinn Insurance
The Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Law Society have both issued statements reassuring Quinn Insurance policyholders that they do not need to take action after permanent administrators were appointed to the Irish insurer yesterday. The SRA said that the full administration of Quinn under Irish ...
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Power in a union
I was dismayed to read the remarks about trade unions attributed to the president of the Law Society when he wrote to the shadow justice secretary inviting a future Conservative government to repeal immediately the Damages-Based Agreements Regulations.
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Recipe for fraud
The Law Society’s insert in the 25 March Gazette highlighted the issue of fraud in relation to money laundering and mortgages. To my mind it beggars belief that, in the same issue, it is reported that the Land Registry is consulting (again) on electronic signatures and ...
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New housing association, retail acquisitions and manufacturer deals
Going Dutch: National firm DLA Piper advised a consortium of lenders on providing debt financing for Dutch retail group Maxeda, enabling it to pay €462.5m (£408m) of debt owed to Citibank. Maxeda and its shareholders were advised by ...
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Most City firms would welcome AIR regulation
Most City firms would welcome a new type of self-regulation being introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, but two ‘major City firms’ have said they would probably shun the new system, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has found. Authorised Internal Regulation (AIR) was proposed by ...
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In-house upgrade at SABMiller
One of the UK’s biggest listed companies is conducting a major upgrade of its in-house legal capabilities because it believes that the legal pressures on business have escalated, its general counsel said this week. John Davidson (pictured), general counsel and group company secretary at brewer SABMiller, ...
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Civil Mediation Council to consult on training standards
The Civil Mediation Council (CMC) is to consult on the introduction of minimum training standards for mediators to combat ‘cowboy operations’. Paul Randolph, chair of the CMC communications committee, said the board is initially ‘leaning towards’ a minimum of 40 hours’ training before individuals can be ...
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Bribery offences create advisory work for law firms
The new corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery will provide a lucrative seam of work for lawyers as companies seek to ensure their anti-corruption compliance systems are fit for purpose, experts have predicted. The offence is one of a raft of measures introduced in the ...
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Media reporting bill ‘threat’ to vulnerable children
Measures rushed through parliament at the ‘eleventh hour’ to allow greater media reporting of the family courts will put vulnerable children at risk, lawyers have warned. Despite being opposed by lawyers’ and children’s groups, the provisions in the Children Schools and Families Bill were passed last ...
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IFA commissions clampdown welcomed
The organisation pushing for closer relations between solicitors and independent financial advisers (IFAs) this week welcomed the Financial Services Authority’s decision to clamp down on commissions paid to IFAs. The FSA will ban IFAs from taking commissions from finance companies for recommending the company’s investment products. ...
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Publicity provokes firm into file-sharing rethink
Fear of adverse publicity has prompted a law firm to stop taking on cases against individuals for alleged copyright infringement through illegal downloading of material.
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Barristers starting to take advantage of reforms
Barristers have started to make use of changes to their practice rules that allow them to operate in new business models.On 1 April the Legal Services Board approved changes to the bar’s code of conduct to enable barristers to practise together in partnership or to become partners in legal disciplinary ...
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SRA rules out practising certificate fee appeals
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided against providing a general appeals process for firms that end up paying significantly higher practising certificate fees under the new PC fee regime from 2011, it emerged last week. SRA board chair Charles Plant (pictured) told the Gazette that there ...
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Immigration legal aid contracts further delayed
The announcement of the outcome of the tender process for immigration legal aid work has been further delayed, the Legal Services Commission said last week. Firms were due to be notified last Friday whether they had been awarded new contracts to provide publicly funded work, ...
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Lawyer issues libel claim against 'solicitorsfromhell' website
A north-east solicitor has instructed libel lawyers Carter-Ruck to bring a claim for damages against the owner of a website that blacklists solicitors and law firms. Scott Eason, principal at Eason Law, is pursuing a claim for damages of between £50,000 and £100,000 and seeking a ...