Latest news – Page 841
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News
Murder conviction quashed after 27 years
A man who has spent the last 27 years in prison had his conviction for rape and murder quashed by the Court of Appeal today (18 March). Sean Hodgson, now 57, was given a life sentence in 1982 for the murder of barmaid Teresa de Simone, ...
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Law firm staff win landmark TUPE claim
Firms winning legal service contracts from competitors could face a ‘landslide’ of six-figure claims for unfair dismissal if they do not take on staff on reasonable terms along with the contract, the winner of a landmark employment tribunal case said this week. In the case, Liverpool ...
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Baby P review could end child care court fees
Local authority solicitors have welcomed a government decision that could lead to the ending of court fees for child care proceedings. A review of fees is one of 58 recommendations in Lord Laming’s report into the protection of children commissioned following the 2007 death of London toddler ‘Baby P’. ...
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SRA drops plans for board changes in BME row
The Law Society has dropped a plan to cut short the term of the Solicitors Regulation Authority board as debate continues over ways to tackle the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors facing disciplinary hearings. It has also turned down a proposal to co-opt two non-voting ...
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Law Society wins loans pledge from high street banks
The Law Society has voiced fears that increasingly centralised decision-making at Britain’s embattled retail banks could damage the finances of law firms as the recession deepens. Chancery Lane fears that local branch discretion will be reduced and that this will result in banks walking away from more deals and terms. ...
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Lawyers' long march triumphs in Pakistan
Pakistan’s lawyer-led long march demanding the reinstatement of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry withstood baton charges, tear gas attacks and mass arrests, a British solicitor told the Gazette from Lahore. Razi Shah, a partner at Berkshire firm Appleby Shaw and a Law Society council member, said ...
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First ABSs expected by 2011
The first alternative business structures should open for business in 2011, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board predicted last week. Chris Kenny told the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen’s annual conference in Harrogate that the recession would encourage new ventures.
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Tories consider private solution to legal aid shortfall
A future Conservative government may look to the private sector to top up the legal aid budget, the Gazette has learned. Tory policymakers are considering how the UK’s legal aid budget could be financed if they take power at the next general election. Earlier this month, ...
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Release partners for pro bono bench placements, says LCJ
Major law firms should allow junior partners to seek part-time judicial appointments as part of their pro bono activities, the lord chief justice said last week. ‘We must find a way of tapping into the talents of the brightest and best solicitors,’ Lord Judge told ...
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MoJ chiefs face MPs over Crown Court failings
Senior officials at the Ministry of Justice this week denied MPs’ charges of ‘complacency’ and running a ‘dysfunctional organisation’ following an auditors’ report criticising the administration of Crown Courts. At a hearing of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Monday, chairman Edward Leigh ...
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Court actions soar over bad debts
Top corporate firms are increasingly resorting to court action to secure unpaid legal fees, the Gazette has learned. In the past six months, the number of cases filed in the Queen’s Bench division of the High Court between top-50 firms and clients has more than doubled, ...
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Mission to open the legal services market in Ukraine
City law firms and British government officials will travel to Ukraine next month to try to boost the presence of English firms in Europe’s largest country. The mission, scheduled for the end of April, will include delegates from 10 City firms and officials from UK ...
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Balance sheets, waste technology and Formula 1
On the button: City firm Taylor Wessing advised Ross Brawn, former boss of the Honda GP Formula 1 motorsport team, on buying the Honda team to create Brawn GP F1. The new team has taken on Honda’s drivers from last year, Britain’s Jenson ...
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NSPCC – legal aid cuts ‘risk miscarriages of justice’
Children’s charity the NSPCC has warned that government proposals to cut legal aid for vulnerable children and families would ‘risk miscarriages of family justice’. NSPCC lawyer Barbara Esam said: ‘The proposed, repeated cuts in legal support in family law cases comes at the worst possible time, ...
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Get involved, get posting
Now you can have your say on the Gazette website, as Gazette online now includes blogs and the facility for visitors to add their comments to news stories and blog entries. We are making space for more of your letters, as well as a News blog, ...
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Forgotten victims
I write to comment on the item ‘Abuse victims shun law’ (see [2009] Gazette, 12 February, 4). I work in the area of domestic abuse and have done so for eight years. I agree that this is an area that requires a specialist service. ...
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Ignorance no excuse
Why is it that solicitors seem to think that they are above the law and that it is not necessary to practise what they preach? As an eight-year-qualified solicitor who was employed as an associate partner specialising in commercial and residential property, and employment law, ...
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LPAs to become cheaper following overhaul
Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPA) forms are to be overhauled to make them simpler to complete and cheaper to register, Public Guardian Martin John said today (11 March). The overhaul follows a public consultation on key aspects of the Mental Capacity Act 2005. Forms will now ...
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Straw’s pay warning to legal aid lawyers
Lawyers and law firms dependent on state funding would be ‘wise to reconsider’ their expectations of earnings, the Lord Chancellor has warned. In a stark vision of the future, underlining the government’s determination to press ahead with controversial legal aid reforms, Jack Straw said last ...
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Firms’ network forms alliance with accountants
The prospect of solicitors joining other professionals in one-stop shops for clients with issues that cross disciplinary boundaries has come a step closer with an alliance between law firms and accountants. LawNet, a national network of mid-tier firms set up in 1989, has formed a collaborative ...