Latest news – Page 839
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Family legal aid fees will leave solicitors worse off
The proposed fixed fees for family legal aid work will leave solicitors worse off, according to a Law Society survey published today.
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Allen & Overy hosts launch of pioneering share index
The world’s first stockmarket index for professional services firms was launched this week at the City of London headquarters of magic circle firm Allen & Overy. A key aim of the initiative is to educate analysts and institutional investors about the potential benefits of investing ...
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Abbey strikes thousands from conveyancing panel
Hundreds of solicitors across England and Wales reacted with shock and dismay last week after mortgage provider Abbey halved the size of its panel for residential conveyancing. Some 6,050 law firm offices have been removed from the 12,000-strong panel as part of a rationalisation ...
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LSB consults on regulatory independence
The Legal Services Board has today (25 March) launched a consultation on regulatory independence. A new document sets out proposals for rules that would require the separation of regulatory work from any representative work at eight approved regulators, including the Law Society. It also deals with rules necessary to approve ...
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Bring on equality
I read with some disbelief Jack Straw’s remarks. On what planet is this man living, or more frighteningly, what planet are those who advise him living on?
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Pay for our offices
I am very encouraged by Jack Straw’s announcement that he thinks it entirely proper that lawyers are paid decent rates and his assertion that we should not expect to be paid more than public sector employees.
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Future perfect?
Your otherwise excellent article on the impact of the recession on the north-west legal scene (see [2009] Gazette, 19 March, 14) was marred by an error regarding the alleged lack of legal training providers in the heart of the city.
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Corporate firms need regulatory group, says Smedley
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is not up to the job of regulating corporate law firms and needs to be fundamentally restructured to equip it for the task. That is the key conclusion of Nick Smedley, the former senior civil servant commissioned by the Law Society to ...
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Council legal departments face budget crunch
Local authorities face gaps in the availability of legal advice in key areas as council legal departments struggle to cope with rising demand and diminishing resources, according to exclusive research for the Gazette. A survey of 124 heads of legal found respondents predicting a rise in ...
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Solicitors’ defence union back under discussion
Solicitors facing disciplinary hearings or complaints procedures could receive formal representation under a defence scheme being considered by the Law Society. The Society says it is studying the idea of setting up a legal defence union as a voluntary or compulsory scheme. The Society’s Membership ...
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No more automatic secrecy for disciplined judges
The names of judges removed from office following disciplinary proceedings will no longer be kept secret, justice secretary Jack Straw (pictured) announced last week. Launching the second annual report of the Office of Judicial Complaints (OJC), he said there would now be a presumption that ...
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Biggest ever survey of women solicitors
The biggest ever survey of women’s status and role within the profession may contradict recent suggestions that the recession is having less impact on female workers than on men, the new chairwoman of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) said last week.
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Tories ponder ways to alleviate legal aid ‘crisis’
A contingency legal aid fund and private sector investment are among proposals being considered by the Conservatives to overhaul a legal aid system ‘in crisis’, shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve QC told the Gazette in an interview published today on our website.
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Social welfare boost
A quarter of a million more people will qualify for help with social welfare problems following a 5% rise in the cut-off threshold for civil legal aid, the Ministry of Justice announced last week. Lord Bach, legal aid minister, told the Advice Services Alliance conference in ...
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Fire forces move of tribunal hearings
Tribunal hearings at Field House, off Chancery Lane, will move to Taylor House, Rosebery Avenue for a ‘considerable time’ following a major fire last week. Some 75 firefighters and 15 appliances fought the blaze at the building, which houses asylum and immigration tribunals and the patents court. None of the ...
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Database survey warns of legal risks
People who take the government to the European Court of Human Rights for mishandling personal data should not have to risk paying the state’s costs if they lose, a landmark survey of government IT programmes said this week. Database State, published by the Joseph Rowntree ...
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BSB to revamp barristers’ code
The Bar Standards Board is to overhaul the barristers’ code of conduct to bring it into line with other regulatory instruments and create a set of ‘clear and user friendly’ professional rules. It will be the first structural change to the code since its introduction in 1981.
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Professional services get their own share index
The world’s first stockmarket index for professional services firms was launched this week at the City headquarters of magic circle firm Allen & Overy. A key aim of the initiative is to educate analysts and institutional investors about the potential benefits of investing in ...
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Sports sponsors, media moves and fashion sales
Bigger splash: British Swimming, the sport’s national governing body, announced a £15m sponsoring partnership with British Gas. In-house teams advised British Gas and British Swimming, while English governing body ASA was separately advised by Leicester firm BHW. Swim Wales was advised by Swansea ...
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Abbey panel consolidation – update
Abbey has declined to reinstate 542 law firm offices removed from its conveyancing panel but will be writing today (27 March) to all those affected by the consolidation exercise. All will have an opportunity to reapply to join a panel consolidating Abbey’s panel members with those of Alliance & Leicester, ...