Latest news – Page 854
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KBF court action threat
Key Business Finance (KBF), the legal lender currently in administration, has been threatened with legal action by 10 law firms over advance payments made to the company. The 10 firms feature in a list, compiled by administrators Ernst & Young last week, of 125 firms ...
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Contingency fees 'nothing to worry about' - new study
The case for contingency fees in England and Wales received another boost this week after research seen by the Gazette found that their use in employment tribunals throws up few major concerns. The study – the first of its kind – said contingency fees in tribunals ...
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Arbitration soars
Demand for arbitration has soared this year, figures from the London Court of International Arbitration reveal. The court has heard 198 cases to date – 61 more than last year and 66% more than the average over the previous four years. ...
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Duty prosecutors advice plea
Duty prosecutors should provide early legal advice to police officers so that weak cases can be stopped at an earlier stage, according to an inspection report of new charging arrangements. The finding comes from a joint review of charging arrangements by Her Majesty’s Crown Prosecution ...
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CCBE warning on the threat of notaries
A backdoor bid by continental notaries to beat off the threat of competition is meeting fierce resistance from lawyers across Europe. At its plenary session in Brussels last weekend, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) abandoned its historically neutral position on the notarial profession to pass ...
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Bar raises court fears
The Bar Council has alleged that Crown Court cases are being disrupted because barristers are being forced to undertake litigators’ work when solicitors fail to attend hearings. In a letter to the Legal Services Commission’s Criminal Defence Service, the chairman of the council’s remuneration committee, ...
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LCS to cut spend by 10% next year
The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) is to spend 10% less next year than it will in 2008 as the organisation begins to wind down, according to board papers made public last week. In the year beginning January 2009, the service’s budget, which comes from the ...
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Anthony Edwards presented with outstanding achievement award
Anthony Edwards, senior partner at TV Edwards and Gazette contributor, was presented with the outstanding achievement award by Cherie Booth QC at the Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year Awards 2008. Other winners included Jackson & Canter, which won Legal Aid Law Firm of the ...
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Lawyers slam tribunal scam
Lawyers have demanded that the Tribunals Service ‘join the 21st century’ before scammers overwhelm courts with multiple age-discrimination claims. The scam targets job advertisements containing ageist phrases like ‘newly qualified’. The scammers apply for all such jobs and, if not offered the posts, threaten to take ...
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High-visibility jackets accompany community sentences
From this week offenders carrying out community sentences must wear high-visibility jackets branded with the ‘community payback’ logo. Justice secretary Jack Straw (pictured, left, with home secretary Jacqui Smith, right) said: ‘The taxpayer has an absolute right to know what unpaid work is being done to pay back to them ...
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The law of Property Act 1925 will not rescue clients
I refer to the unfortunate question raised in Calvert Solicitors’ letter, asking if the current recession is an ‘exceptional circumstance’ that would allow the return of a deposit under section 49(2) of the Law of Property Act 1925 (see [2008] Gazette, 13 November, 13).
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Amend the contract
Calvert raises a point which, during the downturn in the financial and property markets, could cause considerable grief for property buyers. This concerns a buyer whose deposit has been forfeited turning to his solicitor’s indemnity policy to recoup his loss. Notwithstanding the fact that the Law ...
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Land Registry DIY disaster
How embarrassing for the Land Registry. It thought it could handle all property transactions and cut out the solicitors with electronic conveyancing and their own rules. Now we find that electronic conveyancing is shelved and the rules have been changed to make solicitors the last line of defence against fraud ...
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Law Society Council: opportunity lost
I write in connection with your report of the Law Society Council debate on reform of Council’s size and composition (see [2008] Gazette, 20 November, 2).
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Medico-legal collapse hits solicitors
Hundreds of medical reports for personal injury claims will be delayed following the collapse of one of the country’s largest medical reporting agencies. E-Reporting Group (ERG) fell into administration on 18 November, leaving 9,000 doctors unpaid for completed reports and pending reports due to be sent ...
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Spending cuts highlight HMCS property plight
Chancellor Alistair Darling’s hopes of shaving £5bn from public spending by 2011 may quickly run into difficulties, a Gazette investigation of efficiency plans at HM Court Service (HMCS) suggests. In his Pre-Budget Report (PBR) on Monday, Darling said he expects savings from ‘more ...
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'Bypass solicitor and go straight to the bar'
Consumers will be urged to bypass solicitors and instruct barristers directly in an initiative launched by the Bar Council today. A report entitled ‘Straight there, no detours’, says that 89% of consumers who went directly to a barrister believed they got ‘better value for money’ ...
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Chef loses privacy against battle against firm
Celebrity restaurateur Marco Pierre White has had his High Court claim against City firm Withers struck out by Mr Justice Eady. White (pictured) was seeking damages for an alleged breach of privacy from Withers, his wife’s lawyers during their divorce proceedings. White claimed Withers had instructed ...
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Law Commission to clear 'mess' over adult social care statutes
The first steps in rationalising a ‘confusing jumble of statutes’ governing adult social care were set out this week by the Law Commission. A scoping paper, expected to be approved by the Department of Health, proposes a single modern statute that can be understood by ...
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Fears over UKBA immigration shake-up
Concerns are mounting in the legal profession over new immigration rules described by the United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA) as the biggest shake-up of border security in 45 years. Tiers 2 and 5 of the points-based system, which go live today, require 20,000 employers to have ...