Latest news – Page 873
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News
Defence solicitors shun pilots of virtual court
Pilots of a ‘virtual court’ enabling defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates by video link have been snubbed by solicitors. Of the 21 firms in Westminster that are eligible to take part in the first 12-month pilot, only 11 have agreed to ...
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Whitehall department struggles to recruit BME solicitors
One of the biggest Whitehall departments is having a ‘depressing’ struggle recruiting black and minority ethnic lawyers, according to its legal chief. All 30 successful candidates in an anonymised recruitment exercise at the Communities and Local Government (CLG) department last year were white, ...
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China clamps down on civil rights lawyers
The Beijing judicial authorities are blocking more than 20 of China’s most prominent civil rights lawyers from renewing their licences to practise, campaigning group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has reported. HRW says the lawyers have angered the authorities by acting in high-profile cases ...
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Accountancy body warns of clash over ABS regulation
Britain’s biggest accountancy body is expected to warn that the introduction of alternative business structures combining solicitors and chartered accountants could founder, because the codes of conduct of the two professions are incompatible. The 132,000-member Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW) will demand ...
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Tories say new bill of rights would be compatible with ECHR
The shadow justice secretary has dismissed claims by the Council of Europe that Tory plans to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) could exclude the UK from the EU. Council of Europe secretary general Terry Davis, a former Labour MP, said last month that he ...
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India’s fastest emerging cities targeted for investment
The UK government has drawn up a list of emerging Indian cities that it will target for British investment, opening the door for City lawyers to advise British businesses heading to these locations. A report by the UK India Business Council (UKIBC), a government-sponsored trade organisation, ...
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Equity partners’ earnings plummet
Equity partners at top law firms will earn £110,000 less on average this year, early figures have suggested at the outset of the City’s reporting season. To date, the three major firms that have released a figure for profit per equity partner (PEP) have seen a combined average fall of ...
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Road works, IT contracts and property rights
Road works: Magic circle firm Linklaters advised 16 commercial banks, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and 15 investment banks on a £6.2bn contract for the M25 motorway. Connect Plus, a consortium of Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Egis Projects and Atkins, will widen the M25 ...
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Lawyer executives
In last week’s news item ‘Licensed conveyancer made partner’ (see [2009] Gazette, 28 May, 1), there was a reference to ‘legal executives [making] up the other 16 non-lawyer partners’.
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Restraint orders
In an article that appeared in the In Practice section of the Gazette (see [2009] Gazette, 30 April, 16), John Masters questions whether the Crown Prosecution Service has locus standi to apply for a restraint order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA 2002) while a case is still ...
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Fact is not stranger than fiction
I cannot leave uncorrected certain remarks made by Sir Geoffrey Bindman, solicitor for Amnesty International in the Pinochet case (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 9). As is well known, my firm acted for Senator Pinochet.
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Defendant escapes confiscation because no advocate would take legal aid fee
A defendant has escaped confiscation proceedings because she was unable to find an advocate willing to accept the legal aid rate to represent her. The court’s decision, upheld in the Court of Appeal, will fuel an ongoing dispute over the levels of legal aid fees. ...
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Solicitors believe judicial appointments ‘not for me’, JAC research finds
Official research published today reveals a ‘widespread and underlying perception’ of ‘inherent prejudice’ in the judicial application process and suggests that solicitors still see the bench as a career for ‘other people’. The study, sponsored by the Judicial Appointments Commission, surveyed barristers and solicitors eligible for ...
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Sole practitioners condemn SRA risk-assessment plans
Sole practitioners have condemned as ‘outrageous’ and ‘totally intrusive’ plans by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to require commercially sensitive information to carry out risk assessments. SRA head of policy Bronwen Still told the annual general meeting of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) that firms ...
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Local authorities face action over obstructing property searches
Private search companies are threatening to get tough with councils who block access to property search information or fail to comply with the government’s charging guidance. The Council of Property Search Organisations (CoPSO) said this week that it would take action against local authorities that ...
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BVT ‘threatens criminal chambers as well as solicitors’ firms’
Criminal chambers as well as solicitors’ firms will go to the wall under best value tendering (BVT), practitioners have warned while calling for the profession to unite on the issue.
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Clifford Chance to cut equity partners
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance will report a 5% fall in revenue and profits ‘significantly down’ on last year’s £1.33bn, according to the firm’s global managing partner David Childs. He said the firm will cut around 15% of its equity partners at the end of its ongoing staff restructuring. ...
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Straw apologises for probation failings
The justice secretary has apologised to the families of the two murdered French students for the ‘serious failures across the criminal justice system’ that left one of the defendants free to kill when he should have been incarcerated. Dano Sonnex and Nigel farmer were found guilty ...
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Eagle promoted at Ministry of Justice
Junior minister Maria Eagle MP, a former solicitor, was today promoted by under-fire prime minister Gordon Brown. Eagle, a parliamentary under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Justice since June 2007, was today appointed minister of state at the MoJ, one of several new ministerial ...
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Legal aid means testing to hit the Crown court in January
Defendants convicted in the Crown court will have to pay a contribution towards their legal expenses under government plans to redirect legal aid funds more appropriately. The announcement follows a consultation on the proposal to introduce means testing in the Crown court. Under the proposed scheme, ...