Latest news – Page 852
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News
Fees scheme may defuse VHCC row
A breakthrough in the dispute threatening to disrupt trials of very high cost criminal cases (VHCCs) could be in sight following the publication of new funding proposals. The Legal Services Commission is proposing to set up separate payment schemes for litigators and advocates, moving away ...
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Retreat over sole practitioner fee hike
Fierce protests have helped persuade the Solicitors Regulation Authority to ditch plans to charge sole practitioners an additional £300 on top of their practising certificates (see [2008] Gazette, 18 December, 1). The SRA had proposed £300 as an interim solution pending a comprehensive review of fees ...
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Culture shift needed to ease bench route
The tribunals system offers valuable opportunities for solicitors to get a foot on the judicial ladder, but a ‘culture change’ within firms is needed before more can make it onto the bench, a senior solicitor judge has told the Gazette. Gary Hickinbottom, the Deputy Senior President ...
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Family lawyers braced for surge in divorce cases
Family lawyers are bracing themselves for what looks set to be a rush of couples starting divorce proceedings next week. The first Monday after children return to school following Christmas is traditionally the busiest day in the divorce lawyer’s calendar. This year that day falls on ...
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SRA scraps solo fee hike
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has scrapped plans to charge sole practitioners an additional practising fee of £300. At a meeting of the SRA Board (see Gazette 18 December 2008), members indicated that a fee for sole practitioners should be less than the £180 payable by ...
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Bid by civil law notaries to protect their monopoly
The news item ‘CCBE warning on threat of notaries’ highlighted what is going on behind the scenes in Brussels (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 3). As vice-president of the Notaries Society of England and Wales, I attended the Forum on Judicial Cooperation in Civil Matters; ...
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Gradual adoption of e-conveyancing
I write in response to the letter from Andrew Bingham of 27 November (see [2008] Gazette, 27 November, 11). Land Registry has always made it clear that we intend to introduce e-conveyancing stage by stage, rather than in a one-off ‘big bang’ - an approach we ...
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Prescribing a review of healthcare services
Dr Peter Carter, chief executive and general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, said in his letter last week: 'Contrary to Dr Payne-James’s view, nurses are well-trained specialists and deliver high-quality care day in, day out'. I have to protest most strongly that Dr Carter ascribes to me views ...
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Sole practitioners condemn fee rise
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) will consider scrapping proposals to charge 4,500 sole practitioners an additional practising fee of £300 a year, the Gazette has learned.
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New guideline hourly rates are unveiled
New interim guideline hourly rates (GHR) were released in December - but could be slashed in future for personal injury and clinical negligence work if the committee that recommends levels decides that referral fees should not be built into them. The advisory committee on civil ...
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Legal aid advocates to face quality assurance test
Quality inspections for publicly funded criminal defence advocates are on the horizon under plans unveiled by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission said it would test a ‘quality assurance scheme’ on some 250 barristers and solicitors at Crown Courts from February next year. ...
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'Common sense' declarations victory for insurance scheme
The Court of Appeal has rejected a major challenge to the way claimant personal injury solicitors operate the Accident Line Protect (ALP) after-the-event insurance scheme. It held last week that being on the ALP panel and so having to recommend the Law Society-endorsed after-the-event (ATE) ...
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Mediators need time to consider regulation proposals
Proposals for a regulation regime for mediation faltered last week when mediators told the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) they need more time to consider ‘ambitious’ plans. However members of the organisation, which represents civil and commercial mediators, approved a scheme to register workplace mediators to ...
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Bar paves the way for joint practices
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is paving the way for barristers to go into practice with solicitors, but will leave regulation of the new legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs) to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). In its second consultation on the implications of the Legal Services Act ...
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E-working compulsory from 2010
Electronic working will be compulsory for civil legal aid providers from 2010 under plans announced by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission’s Delivery Transformation programme aims to save £7m a year. It will expand the use of online billing, ensure that ...
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Bart-Stewart attacks JAC
The new chair of the Black Solicitors Network (BSN), Cordella Bart-Stewart, has launched a scathing attack on the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), calling for an independent review of appointment processes. Bart-Stewart has refused to take part in what she calls ‘marketing exercises’ such as JAC ...
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Family courts opened up
Family court hearings are for the first time to be open to the press, Justice Secretary Jack Straw told the Commons on Tuesday. From April, accredited media will be allowed to report hearings, unless the child’s welfare requires them not to be admitted, he said. ...
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Contingency fee problems 'modest'
It is worth emphasising a few points regarding contingency fees (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 2). The evidence is not that contingency fees present no problems, but that those problems are more modest than many assume. They do not give rise to rampant, unmerited litigation, but they do give rise ...
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Direct access only works for a few
As a practising barrister (and former solicitor), I strongly disagree with Tim Dutton QC (pictured), chairman of the bar, who supports direct access by lay people to counsel. It can work for a tiny minority who can marshal documents and evidence, write and speak coherently, and ...
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Complaints and planning options
Your article ‘LCS to cut spend by 10% next year’ offers a number of assumptions about the future Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) and the role within it of Legal Complaints Service (LCS) staff (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 3).