Latest news – Page 585
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Bar bodies condemn legal aid plans
The Ministry of Justice’s ‘muddled’ and ‘fundamentally flawed’ legal aid reforms have been savaged by the bar’s representative and regulatory bodies.
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Inspectors call for streamlined criminal justice process
Inspectors of police service and prosecutors have called for decisive action to streamline the criminal justice process and end ‘the spectre of unnecessary bureaucracy’. In a joint report published today HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) identify factors that create ...
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In-deed bows out of ABS venture
The ‘cottage industry’ nature of the conveyancing market makes the failure of conveyancing service In-deed Online ‘unsurprising’, the Gazette has been told. AIM-listed In-deed Online announced last week that it is to sell for £1 a law firm alternative business structure (ABS) that it acquired, along ...
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Removal of client choice is a red line - Society
The government’s ‘unworkable and damaging’ planned legal aid changes could push the justice system ‘beyond breaking point to a devastating collapse’, the Law Society has warned in its response to the Ministry of Justice consultation which ends today. Drawing on two sets of independent analyses - ...
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Co-op Legal Services unveils TV and radio campaign
Co-operative Legal Services kicks off a multi-million-pound advertising campaign today with its first TV and radio advertisements.
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Starmer offers victims ‘right to review’
Victims of crime, including bereaved family members, will have the right to ask prosecutors to look again at a case following a decision not to charge or to discontinue proceedings. The government will today set out plans to allow appeals against decisions taken by the Crown ...
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Bar Council faces probe over cab rank ‘interference’
The Legal Services Board is to formally investigate whether the Bar Council breached rules to interfere in a controversial decision affecting the cab rank rule. The investigation follows information provided earlier this year about the council’s role in representing its members. Chris ...
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Hundreds protest as MoJ swamped by legal aid responses
The Ministry of Justice has received 13,000 responses to its Transforming Legal Aid consultation, it confirmed yesterday, as hundreds of lawyers demonstrated against the proposed cuts outside the ministry’s headquarters in London. The protest, organised by trainees at Tottenham firm Wilson Solicitors, marked the end of ...
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‘No limits’ to regulation review
The Ministry of Justice has said there will be no limits to a far-reaching review of the regulation of legal services. Justice minister Helen Grant (pictured) today called on regulators and providers of legal services to show how the burden of regulation can be reduced. ...
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Takeover fever lifts fast-rising DWF
A spate of acquisitions - including that of defunct Cobbetts - boosted income at business law firm DWF by 84% in the latest financial year, while profit per equity partner rose by a comparatively modest 4%. For the year to 30 April, the firm today ...
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Maclays to axe up to 30 jobs
Anglo-Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens has announced a redundancy consultation which will lead to up to 30 job losses. About half of the jobs at risk are fee-earning roles, with the firm's corporate and property practices likely to be most affected. All of MMS’s four ...
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Claims management ‘list of shame’ to go online
Claims management companies that are under investigation will be named online, the Ministry of Justice said today. The list, which goes live next Thursday, will include details of what action is being taken and the reason for it. The MoJ, which runs ...
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Treasury counsel condemn reforms to judicial review
Treasury counsel have joined the wave of concern over the government’s legal aid reforms, warning they will ‘undermine the accountability of public bodies’ and create an ‘underclass’ who will be denied access to the courts. In a letter to the attorney general Dominic Grieve QC, 145 ...
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Client spending squeeze forcing firms to merge
Large commercial law firms face a squeeze in client legal spending in the next 12 months, as virtually all corporate clients who have not yet reviewed instructions and spend plan to do so. The result will be massive consolidation among firms. That is the conclusion ...
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Growth rate plummets at top 100 firms
Fee income growth achieved by the top 100 UK law firms more than halved in 2012/13, according to financial consultant Deloitte. The country’s leading firms managed a 2.6% increase in revenue for the last financial year, compared with a 6.6% increase in 2011/12. The year was capped off by a ...
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Don’t bad-mouth the profession, Hudson tells Co-op
Co-operative Legal Services has sought to distance itself from comments reportedly made by its sales and marketing director suggesting that putting the customer first is ‘an alien approach’ for solicitors. Reporting the launch of the Co-op Legal Services’s multi-million-pound TV and radio advertising campaign, Marketing Week ...
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London Legal Walk 2013
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Law firms: information overload?
Firms will soon be obliged to publish diversity data – perhaps on their website or in reception if they have no website. I find it hard to see how, in a firm which consists of one person only (such as mine), it can be consistent with the Data Protection Act ...
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A sad day for the legal profession
Until this afternoon I had sympathy with colleagues who specialise in claimant personal injury work; that was until I received an unsolicited call from a north-west firm. About 18 months ago, my vehicle was involved in a collision where a car collided with my driver’s door, causing damage. I was ...
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Barmy PCT model
You report the excellent news that of the 25 highest-earning criminal legal aid firms, only a tiny minority will sign the new contract. This shows that, at long last, our branch of the profession has found its spine. Governments have respect only for those who fight hard, as our medical ...