Latest news – Page 827
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Lord chief justice calls for profession to work together
The lord chief justice has called on lawyers to take the initiative in shaping their future and not wait for events to shape it for them. Lord Judge said he would be ‘delighted’ if barristers, solicitors and legal executives ‘would together and separately address the ...
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SRA immigration ‘loophole’ exposed
Loopholes that allowed a solicitor to practise for two years in England despite being an illegal immigrant are still in place, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. Jitendra Kumar Sharma, 44, of Southall, London, was last week jailed for seven years for a multi-million-pound visa scam.
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Solicitors encouraged to apply for judicial posts
Solicitors have never been in a better position to apply for judicial office, the Law Society has said in response to research suggesting that many still perceive the judiciary as ‘a career for others’. A study sponsored by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) says that solicitors ...
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Wragge & Co to axe 85 after income falls
Birmingham firm Wragge & Co has announced that it will cut up to 85 staff, after its revenues fell by nearly a fifth last year. The firm’s turnover for the 12 months to 30 April was £104.3m, down by 17.5% on last year’s ...
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Chancery Lane hits out at means testing proposals
Government proposals for Crown court means testing could deny vulnerable people access to justice and are being ‘rushed in’ too quickly, the Law Society said today. Chancery Lane said the Ministry of Justice has failed to consider the economic climate, which has seen many people ...
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MoJ publishes report on local legal advice
A government-commissioned report on local legal advice provision has recommended that the Legal Services Commission work with service providers to reduce the bureaucratic burdens heaped upon them.
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Top 100 hit by downturn, says Deloitte survey
Fee income at the UK’s top 100 law firms decreased by 4.3% in the quarter ending 30 April 2009) compared with the same period last year, according to business advisory firm Deloitte’s Quarterly Legal Sector Survey. The report, published today, predicts that the quarter’s fall ...
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Lawyers on honours list
Michael Smyth, a partner at Clifford Chance, has been awarded a CBE for services to pro bono legal work in the Queen’s birthday honours list. A partner since 1990, Smyth is an author of Business and Human Rights Act (2000) and chairman of Public Concern at Work, the whistleblowing charity.
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LSB’s £20m is a drop in the ocean, says Kenny
The £20m set-up costs of the Legal Services Board and Office for Legal Complaints to be paid for by the sector ‘is a not a real issue’, according to LSB chief executive Chris Kenny. Speaking to the Gazette, Kenny (pictured) said that, against the ...
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Guardian raps decision to keep judicial disciplinary proceedings private
The Guardian newspaper has reacted angrily to losing its freedom of information (FoI) bid to force the Ministry of Justice to name more than 100 judges who have been disciplined over the last 10 years and disclose why they were disciplined.
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SRA proposes recovering costs of investigations
Solicitors found guilty of breaking rules could be further hit in the pocket with the cost of investigations doubling under plans put forward by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Changes could be implemented in two phases as the Solicitors Regulation Authority moves towards full cost ...
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Forced-marriage case training for lawyers
Solicitors working on cases involving forced marriage and honour-based violence are to be offered specialist training and accreditation. Cris McCurley, a partner at Ben Hoare Bell solicitors in Newcastle and charity Karma Nirvana have been working with family law organisation Resolution to create an ...
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Defence solicitors shun pilots of virtual court
Pilots of a ‘virtual court’ enabling defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates by video link have been snubbed by solicitors. Of the 21 firms in Westminster that are eligible to take part in the first 12-month pilot, only 11 have agreed to ...
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Whitehall department struggles to recruit BME solicitors
One of the biggest Whitehall departments is having a ‘depressing’ struggle recruiting black and minority ethnic lawyers, according to its legal chief. All 30 successful candidates in an anonymised recruitment exercise at the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department last year were white, ...
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China clamps down on civil rights lawyers
The Beijing judicial authorities are blocking more than 20 of China’s most prominent civil rights lawyers from renewing their licences to practise, campaigning group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported. HRW says the lawyers have angered the authorities by acting in high-profile cases ...
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Accountancy body warns of clash over ABS regulation
Britain’s biggest accountancy body is expected to warn that the introduction of alternative business structures combining solicitors and chartered accountants could founder, because the codes of conduct of the two professions are incompatible. The 132,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will demand ...
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Tories say new bill of rights would be compatible with ECHR
The shadow justice secretary has dismissed claims by the Council of Europe that Tory plans to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) could exclude the UK from the EU. Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis, a former Labour MP, said last month that he ...
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India’s fastest emerging cities targeted for investment
The UK government has drawn up a list of emerging Indian cities that it will target for British investment, opening the door for City lawyers to advise British businesses heading to these locations. A report by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), a government-sponsored trade organisation, ...
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Equity partners’ earnings plummet
Equity partners at top law firms will earn £110,000 less on average this year, early figures have suggested at the outset of the City’s reporting season. To date, the three major firms that have released a figure for profit per equity partner (PEP) have seen a combined average fall of ...
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Road works, IT contracts and property rights
Road works: Magic circle firm Linklaters advised 16 commercial banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 15 investment banks on a £6.2bn contract for the M25 motorway. Connect Plus, a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Egis Projects and Atkins, will widen the M25 ...