Latest news – Page 875
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Tory human rights plan ‘could lead to departure from EU’
The UK could find itself parting company from the EU if Tory pledges to scrap the Human Rights Act (HRA) are carried through, the head of the Council of Europe has warned Conservative party activists. David Cameron has pledged to repeal the HRA, which since ...
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Legal aid firms campaign against CLAC plan
Legal aid firms in west London have formed a campaign group to fight proposals to set up a community legal advice centre (CLAC) in their area. SAGE – Solicitors Action Group for Ealing – has asked the London borough of Ealing to reconsider working with the ...
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New sole practitioners chairwoman promises to fight ‘frightening’ agenda
The newly elected chairwoman of the Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) has promised to fight the government’s ‘frightening, almost sinister agenda’ on funding and regulation. Sushila Abraham (pictured), of Surrey firm S Abraham Solicitors, told 180 delegates at the SPG’s annual conference that the group is ...
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Disabled claimant wins employment appeal tribunal decision
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has reasserted the right of disabled people to claim that an employer’s failure to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ is an act of disability discrimination.
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Indian competition watchdog enters uncharted territory
A shortage of competition case law and competition lawyers, and a ‘highly politicised’ appointments process, could stall India’s progress towards liberalisation of professional services – despite the establishment of its first competition watchdog, an expert on the Indian legal market has warned. Warsha Kalé, associate director ...
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Eversheds reports 27% dip in equity partner profit
National firm Eversheds today became the second leading law firm to post financial results for 2008/09, reporting a 27% fall in average profits per equity partner (PEP) to £404,000. City firm CMS Cameron McKenna, the other firm to release results so far, also reported a fall in PEP. ...
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Biased system
Anyone reading the recent articles on judicial appointments by the Lord Chief Justice and the president of the Law Society might think that there were few barriers to attaining a fair system of making judicial appointments (see [2009] Gazette, 17 April, 10-11). This is simply not the case.
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Equal footing
I was pleased to read Tim Lawson-Cruttenden’s response to the ‘solicitor bashing’ faced by solicitor-advocates of late (see [2009] Gazette, 14 May, 10). It is about time someone fought their corner.
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The bigger picture
In his critique of the career of Lord Hoffmann (‘Judging the Judges’, 23 April), Joshua Rozenberg presents an incomplete picture of his role in the Pinochet litigation.
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Inns of Court president withdraws letter on solicitor-advocates
The Law Society has forced the bar onto the defensive in the increasingly charged debate about the role and performance of solicitor higher-court advocates (HCAs). Lady Justice Smith, president of the Council of the Inns of Court, has taken the unusual step of withdrawing ...
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Jack Straw announces crackdown on ‘irresponsible’ employment lawyers
Justice secretary Jack Straw has announced a crackdown on ‘irresponsible’ employment lawyers who he says are exploiting vulnerable clients by taking a large proportion of the damages they win in ‘excessive legal fees’. The move to curb the use of contingency fee agreements in tribunals – ...
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Trebling of compensation fund levy on SRA agenda
The board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority will decide today whether to recommend a 313% increase in compensation fund contributions in 2009/10. SRA officers have proposed that solicitors holding clients’ money contribute £470, up from £150 last year. Last month, the regulator predicted that practitioners ...
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Solicitors doubt judges’ impartiality in advocate appraisals
Solicitor-advocates have issued a warning that declining faith in judges’ impartiality in respect of different arms of the profession may imperil plans to assess publicly funded defence advocates. The Legal Services Commission is testing a process to ‘quality assure’ all publicly funded criminal defence advocates, both ...
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France to press ahead with Clementi-style reforms
Clementi-style reforms of France’s legal landscape are to go ahead next year despite a retreat on a major element, the reforms’ architect said this week. Jean-Michel Darrois, a company law specialist and head of Paris firm Darrois Villey Maillot Brochier, headed a commission of academics, ...
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Jackson hints on ending recoverability of success fees
Lord Justice Jackson has given his clearest hint yet that he is minded to end the recoverability of success fees when he makes his final recommendations to reform civil litigation costs. Speaking at the Sweet & Maxwell conditional fee agreement conference last week, Jackson asked ...
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Law Society calls for halt to best value tendering scheme
The Law Society has urged the Legal Services Commission to stop its plans to roll out best value tendering for police station work and urged firms in the pilot areas to think carefully before taking part. In an outspoken address to a conference, ‘Sixty years of ...
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Virtual court ‘puts solicitors at risk’
Defence solicitors taking part in pilots of ‘virtual courts’ could be at risk of injury from their clients, practitioners have warned. The concern has arisen because the video equipment to be used in the pilot requires solicitors to sit alongside their client in a modified ...
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Drive to put lawyers on governing board of every school
International law firms will no longer be able to pump new lawyers into booming practice areas and expanding international offices, even after the recession ends, according to the head of one of the world’s biggest firms. ‘You will see less of the crazy, untamed growth ...
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The 2009 London Legal Sponsored Walk
The 2009 London Legal Sponsored Walk raised a record £380,000 to support law centres across the country. Among 4,000 walkers were 50 judges, 12 City firm senior partners, the lord chief justice, master of the rolls, attorney general and shadow attorney general, and the director of public prosecutions. Lord Justice ...
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Drive to put lawyers on governing board of every school
Lawyers could take a seat on every school governing board under a project aimed at encouraging children from a wider range of backgrounds to enter the legal profession. The Law Society-backed project, ALLIES, will help lawyers to apply to become governors, and bring together ...