Latest news – Page 891
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LSC 'arrogant and devious' says helpline pioneer
A top criminal lawyer who helped set up the CDS Direct helpline for detainees has launched an outspoken attack on the Legal Services Commission, which engaged him as a key adviser. Writing in this week’s Gazette, Michael Burdett accuses the LSC of being ‘arrogant and ...
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Law Society to help develop conveyancing websites
The Law Society is to join efforts to develop websites that will display what progress has been made up and down a chain of property transactions. Law Society President Paul Marsh told the Gazette that the Society’s e-conveyancing taskforce is working with a number of ...
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International panel condemns UK anti-terrorism measures
'Excessive’ and ‘abusive’ anti-terrorism measures have undermined international human rights law, according to a report by an independent panel of judges and lawyers. After a three-year study, the Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, established by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), said ...
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Society to help firms fight personal injury 'client capture'
Solicitors attacking the insurance company practice of ‘capturing’ personal injury clients have been promised the support of the Law Society. The Accident Compensation Solicitors Group (ACSG), which lobbies for the right of consumers to choose their own solicitor, has attended a meeting at the Law ...
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Work-permit policy for trainees 'discrimination', appeal tribunal rules
Law firms that refuse to consider training contract applications from students who would need a work permit are having to review the policy following a ruling last week. The Employment Appeal Tribunal upheld a finding of indirect race discrimination on the grounds of nationality against top-30 ...
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Law firms may be forced to disclose lobbying clients
Law firms are a step closer to being forced to disclose the clients on behalf of whom they lobby as the parliamentary debate on lobbying continued this week. Responding to a question last week at prime minister’s question time, Gordon Brown said the government had ...
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Business Court opening date slips back to 2011
The new Business Court, due to open in 2010, will not now be ready until the following year, the Gazette has learned. The new court will replace the Commercial and other courts currently working from St Dunstan’s House in Fetter Lane in the City of London. ...
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UK unfairly burdened by money laundering regulations
UK solicitors are unfairly burdened by anti-money laundering regulations compared with many of their European counterparts, the Law Society has warned. In its submission to the House of Lords Inquiry into Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism, Chancery Lane also calls for a Europe-wide ...
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Domestic violence victims get banking help
Victims of domestic abuse can now bypass banks’ money laundering regulations under new measures to help them gain financial independence from their abusers. The Home Office and the British Bankers Association said last week that victims would be allowed to open accounts with only a ...
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Tax specialists dismiss MP's clampdown motion
City tax lawyers have dismissed as unworkable a parliamentary motion urging the government to clamp down on firms that design tax avoidance schemes. Thirty-two MPs have so far signed an early day motion urging the government to ‘investigate and regulate’ the activities of banks, law firms ...
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Sharia finance joins global economic downturn
Hopes that Islamic finance would escape the economic downturn are unfounded, early figures suggest. After six years of growth, the value of sukuk bonds issued fell from $42bn (£28bn) in 2007 to $20bn (£13.4bn) in 2008, according to a new survey. The Islamic Finance 2009 ...
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Mining investments and transport negotiations
China investment: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance, alongside Australian firm Mallesons, advised Aluminum Corporation of China (Chinalco) on its $19.5bn (£13.4bn) investment in the Rio Tinto mining group. The transaction involved the issue of convertible bonds to Chinalco, which will increase Chinalco's shareholding ...
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Baby P case sparks hike in care applications
Fears that vulnerable children would be put at risk because of the soaring cost of family care proceedings appear to have proved unfounded, new figures suggest. Fees for public law childcare applications rose from £150 to £4,825 last May, as part of a government drive ...
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Three solicitors appointed Queen’s Counsel
Three out of four solicitor applicants for Queen’s Counsel (QC) were successful in the latest appointment round, it was announced today (19 February). And women continue to outperform men overall, with 55% of all female applicants successful in 2008/09 compared to 40% of men. ...
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Axe falls at A&O
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy is to cut up to 82 partners and up to 200 lawyers and freeze pay for all employees as part of a wide-ranging, £44m restructuring programme. In total more than 240 A&O jobs in London could go.
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Repossession claims fall in wake of new protocol
The number of new mortgage repossession claims issued in the courts is down by 50% since the credit crunch-inspired introduction of a civil procedure affecting lenders and borrowers. The mortgage pre-action protocol (MPAP), approved by the Master of the Rolls, was introduced for possession claims in ...
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Thinktank calls for overhaul of City firm regulation
A legal policy thinktank has today (23 February) called for an urgent shake-up of the regulation of City law firms. Trying to regulate the high-street practitioner and global firms under one regime produces ‘unhappy compromises’, argues the College of Law’s Legal Services Policy Institute. The institute ...
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Conveyancing crisis: a reflection of the times
I am writing as chair of the Direct Conveyancing Association, which represents some of the largest direct conveyancers in the UK, to respond to comments made by Law Society President Paul Marsh (see [2009] Gazette, 29 January, p1).
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Commodity fetish
I note the recent sad administrations of Hammonds Support Services and Fox Hayes (see [2009] Gazette, 29 January, 1). They were probably two of the biggest examples of firms who followed Professor Richard Susskind’s regular entreaties to the legal profession to ‘commoditise’ legal work. Will ...
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False economies
Your article ‘Dial J for Justice’ claims CDS Direct saves money (see [2009] Gazette, 5 February, 10). John Sirodcar [director of national accounts at the Legal Services Commission] says they get £18 or £19 a call as opposed to £30.25 in private practice – giving a £1m saving.