Latest news – Page 859
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News
MoJ admits personal data breaches
Nearly 2,000 people have had personal information about themselves lost by the Ministry of Justice over the past year, in a series of incidents listed in the department’s accounts, published last week. The disclosure comes after the MoJ faced embarrassment last year when its IT supplier ...
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Firms keep trainees 'in limbo', says JLD
Trainees and junior lawyers are being unfairly kept ‘in limbo’ as firms delay making a decision on whether to retain them until the last moment as a result of the recession, the Gazette has learned. Kevin Poulter, former chairman of the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), said ...
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Town halls call for monitoring officers with legal expertise
Local authorities are overwhelmingly in favour of requiring monitoring officers to be legally qualified, a recent consultation by Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) and the Law Society has revealed.
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LSB cost deferral too late to affect PC fee
The Law Society is to offer the Legal Services Board early payment of the amount it must contribute towards the £19.9m setup costs of the board and the Office for Legal Complaints, in return for an early payment discount. The LSB announced last week that ...
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SRA unveils mortgage fraud probe
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to examine the role played by solicitors in mortgage fraud as it marshalls its resources to tackle the escalating problem. The SRA claimed its investigations have already led to frauds worth several million pounds being thwarted. Over ...
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Aspiring judges are quizzed on race
Applicants for judicial office are facing aggressive questioning about their attitudes to race, an approach which has in some cases caused offence, the Gazette has learned. One white male barrister was asked if he was ‘racist’ as an opening question, while another was quizzed about why ...
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Chancery Lane drive to promote high street solicitors
The Law Society is to launch a £250,000 advertising campaign to promote high street solicitors next week. The latest campaign, which takes a Beatles theme with the strapline ‘Help, I need somebody’, will be featured in the print media and on posters in more than 200 ...
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Firms shut down ahead of PII renewal
Law firms of various sizes have begun to close down ahead of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal deadline, with others contemplating closure to avoid paying spiralling PII premiums for the second year running, the Gazette has learned.
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Women lawyers receive awards
The Association of Women Solicitors has presented ten ‘outstanding’ women solicitors with awards to recognise their excellence in business and people management. The winner of the large firm award was Susan Bright, head of competition at City firm Lovells, who manages a team stretched across ...
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LSB rebuffs regulator’s plea for control of board appointments
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has rejected a call from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to wrest ultimate control of SRA board appointments from the Law Society. In its latest consultation on legal services regulation, published today, the umbrella body dilutes an earlier commitment ...
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Junior lawyers on community mission to Borneo
The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has teamed up with volunteering charity Raleigh International to develop a unique annual public service project in Borneo. Junior lawyers from the UK will work with a local community in the south-east Asian island of Borneo on infrastructure projects to build ...
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Best value tendering pilot deferred
Tendering for all criminal contracts, including the best value tendering (BVT) pilot process, has been deferred for at least two months, the Legal Services Commission announced today. Tendering for the 2010 criminal contracts was due to begin in October, but the LSC has put the date ...
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The true cost of social mobility
Your feature about social mobility underplayed what can be the biggest barrier for applicants to the law – money (see [2009] Gazette, 20 August, 8).
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Beware CMCs bearing gifts
I read with interest the letter from Denise Kitchener, chief executive of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, headed ‘Cutting out the middle man’ (see [2009] Gazette, 20 August, 5). I found myself smiling wryly at the comment of the Ministry of Justice regulator who – presumably with a straight ...
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Going it alone
Christina Blacklaws describes the potential feelings of isolation some lawyers working from home in virtual law firms can experience (see [2009] Gazette, 20 August, 5).
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CFS panel cull deferred pending talks
The Law Society has secured a two-week stay of execution for sole practitioners in a ‘first round’ of negotiations over the decision to axe 3,600 practitioners from the conveyancing panel of the newly merged Britannia and Co-operative Financial Services (CFS). Sole practitioners will remain on the ...
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Swiss legal professional privilege plea for foreign in-house lawyers
Europe’s largest association of corporate general counsel has asked the Swiss government to bolster legal professional privilege for foreign in-house lawyers working in the country. The call comes after the Swiss government put forward a draft bill to grant resident corporate counsel a right to legal professional privilege – a ...
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City firms reject panel pitch offers due to billing terms
City firms are hitting back at increasingly aggressive cost-cutting by their corporate clients by rejecting offers of panel pitches or putting in pitches that they know are destined to fail, the Gazette has learned. Senior lawyers from the magic circle down to mid-tier commercial firms told ...
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Solicitors in referral tie-up with IFAs
Solicitors and independent financial advisers (IFAs) have entered into a nationwide tie-up to take advantage of the relaxation of the rules on partnerships between lawyers and non-lawyers. Some 600 law firm members of the 360 Legal Group will be given access to 1,700 IFA members of ...
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Employment complaints rise by a third – LCS
Complaints against employment solicitors have risen by almost a third in the past year, while personal injury lawyers saw a 15% rise, the Gazette has learned. However, complaints against conveyancing solicitors fell by nearly a fifth, to 1,184. The latest figures, obtained ...