Latest news – Page 846
-
News
Domestic violence victims get banking help
Victims of domestic abuse can now bypass banks’ money laundering regulations under new measures to help them gain financial independence from their abusers. The Home Office and the British Bankers Association said last week that victims would be allowed to open accounts with only a ...
-
News
Tax specialists dismiss MP's clampdown motion
City tax lawyers have dismissed as unworkable a parliamentary motion urging the government to clamp down on firms that design tax avoidance schemes. Thirty-two MPs have so far signed an early day motion urging the government to ‘investigate and regulate’ the activities of banks, law firms ...
-
News
Sharia finance joins global economic downturn
Hopes that Islamic finance would escape the economic downturn are unfounded, early figures suggest. After six years of growth, the value of sukuk bonds issued fell from $42bn (£28bn) in 2007 to $20bn (£13.4bn) in 2008, according to a new survey. The Islamic Finance 2009 ...
-
News
Mining investments and transport negotiations
China investment: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance, alongside Australian firm Mallesons, advised Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) on its $19.5bn (£13.4bn) investment in the Rio Tinto mining group. The transaction involved the issue of convertible bonds to Chinalco, which will increase Chinalco's shareholding ...
-
News
Baby P case sparks hike in care applications
Fears that vulnerable children would be put at risk because of the soaring cost of family care proceedings appear to have proved unfounded, new figures suggest. Fees for public law childcare applications rose from £150 to £4,825 last May, as part of a government drive ...
-
News
Three solicitors appointed Queen’s Counsel
Three out of four solicitor applicants for Queen’s Counsel (QC) were successful in the latest appointment round, it was announced today (19 February). And women continue to outperform men overall, with 55% of all female applicants successful in 2008/09 compared to 40% of men. ...
-
News
Axe falls at A&O
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is to cut up to 82 partners and up to 200 lawyers and freeze pay for all employees as part of a wide-ranging, £44m restructuring programme. In total more than 240 A&O jobs in London could go.
-
News
Repossession claims fall in wake of new protocol
The number of new mortgage repossession claims issued in the courts is down by 50% since the credit crunch-inspired introduction of a civil procedure affecting lenders and borrowers. The mortgage pre-action protocol (MPAP), approved by the Master of the Rolls, was introduced for possession claims in ...
-
News
Thinktank calls for overhaul of City firm regulation
A legal policy thinktank has today (23 February) called for an urgent shake-up of the regulation of City law firms. Trying to regulate the high-street practitioner and global firms under one regime produces ‘unhappy compromises’, argues the College of Law’s Legal Services Policy Institute. The institute ...
-
News
Conveyancing crisis: a reflection of the times
I am writing as chair of the Direct Conveyancing Association, which represents some of the largest direct conveyancers in the UK, to respond to comments made by Law Society President Paul Marsh (see [2009] Gazette, 29 January, p1).
-
News
Commodity fetish
I note the recent sad administrations of Hammonds Support Services and Fox Hayes (see [2009] Gazette, 29 January, 1). They were probably two of the biggest examples of firms who followed Professor Richard Susskind’s regular entreaties to the legal profession to ‘commoditise’ legal work. Will ...
-
News
False economies
Your article ‘Dial J for Justice’ claims CDS Direct saves money (see [2009] Gazette, 5 February, 10). John Sirodcar [director of national accounts at the Legal Services Commission] says they get £18 or £19 a call as opposed to £30.25 in private practice – giving a £1m saving.
-
News
Time to move on
I reply to Peter Browne’s letter asking us not to follow the crowd and in particular resistance to paying referral fees (see [2009] Gazette, 29 January, 9). As owners of an estate agency, we are well aware that most estate agents successfully try to persuade buyers and sellers to use ...
-
News
Only four firms apply to become LDPs
Hopes that the legal profession would eagerly embrace new business structures created by the Legal Services Act have received a blow with the news that only a handful of firms have applied to be part of the first wave of reforms. With only three weeks ...
-
News
Solicitors to promote own high street brand
High street solicitors have launched a new legal brand to promote themselves collectively when supermarkets and other businesses enter the legal arena in 2011. QualitySolicitors.com is a nationwide alliance of small and medium-sized firms that will pool resources to develop a recognisable brand to compete with ...
-
News
Law firms’ parliamentary links under scrutiny
UK legal firms employ 15 Lords and four MPs as consultants for as much as £61,000 a year, a Gazette investigation has found. Although the relationships are above board and break no rules, parliamentary activity is likely to come under scrutiny amid calls for tighter ...
-
News
Concern as magic circle firm culls partners
The head of an influential alliance of corporate general counsel has expressed concern at the soaring tally of City firm redundancies, as Clifford Chance became the first magic circle firm to announce it will cut partners. Peter Maynard, legal director and company secretary at Prudential and chair of GC100, which ...
-
News
Lawyers blame NHS for soaring negligence bill
Clinical negligence lawyers have denied charges of profiteering following an National Health Service announcement that total claims could almost double to £713m next year. The NHS said the estimated £317m increase in the total bill for 2009/10 was the result of changes to ...
-
News
ECJ ruling threatens London’s arbitration status
London’s Commercial Court will no longer be entitled to grant anti-suit injunctions to support arbitration provisions with London as their seat, if doing so undermines the jurisdiction of another member state’s court, the European Court of Justice (pictured) ruled this week.
-
News
Asylum laws putting women at risk
British immigration policy is putting female asylum seekers at risk of sexual assault, lawyers warned this week as the Refugee Council reported that three-quarters of women seeking asylum have been raped either in their country of origin or in the UK.