Latest news – Page 588
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News
Sri Lanka relents on visit
The Sri Lanka government has lifted its ban on fact-finding visits by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). The institute is welcome to make an ‘objective and impartial analysis of the reality of contemporary Sri Lanka’, it said. In February, an IBAHRI delegation ...
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Government ‘ignoring’ calls for further RTA review
The government’s adviser on RTA claims has warned that ministers’ failure to heed his advice could lead to bad behaviour being incentivised. Professor Paul Fenn said today that the government had not acted on three key recommendations from last year’s review of the RTA Portal. ...
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30 to meet Grayling in legal aid crisis talks
The Law Society has published the list of the 30 criminal lawyers who will represent the profession at the first of two head-to-head meetings with the justice secretary in crunch talks over the government’s planned criminal legal aid reforms. The first meeting will take place at ...
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Shadow minister hints at ‘unwind’ of Jackson reforms
Labour’s shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter has given the biggest hint yet that his party might seek to undo some civil justice reforms if returned to power. Slaughter (pictured) told today’s Westminster Legal Policy Forum that it was too early to judge the effectiveness of Jackson ...
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Bar Council picks a former mandarin
The Bar Council has appointed former education civil servant Stephen Crowne as its chief executive to fill a post that has been vacant for two years. Crowne (pictured), 55, joins the Bar Council from IT company Cisco, where he was responsible for developing a ...
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100 jobs at risk as BLP seeks 15% salary cost cut
City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner has confirmed it has put more than 100 London-based staff at risk of redundancy. The firm today announced it will consult on a redundancy programme affecting 58 legal staff and 44 secretarial workers. The firm aims to reduce salary costs by ...
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Society and bar join hands against criminal justice plans
The legal profession has united in its opposition to the government’s proposals for fee cuts and reforms which lawyers say will ‘sabotage’ the criminal justice system. The Law Society and Bar Council today issued a statement on the four key planks of changes set out in ...
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Grayling says no to regulating will-writing
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has today rebuffed a recommendation from super-regulator the Legal Services Board that will-writing should be regulated. In a Ministry of Justice statement, he said that an LSB report claiming that there is ‘consumer detriment’ in the will-writing market did not adequately ...
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Jurors ‘confused’ on new media contempt
Groundbreaking research on juries has revealed that most jurors feel they are not given enough guidance on conducting deliberations, while almost a quarter misunderstand the rules on internet use during trials. Among jurors who misunderstand the contempt rules, 16% believe they cannot use the internet at ...
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Desperate PI firms breaking referral fee ban – AXA chief
Personal injury law firms are continuing to pay referral fees for cases weeks after the ban came into force, a leading insurer has alleged. David Fisher, claims technical manager for the UK’s fifth largest motor insurer AXA, told a parliamentary event that existing legislation is not ...
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End-to-end negligence defence practice sets up as ABS
The first multi-disciplinary practice dedicated to defending professional negligence claims has successfully applied to become an alternative business structure. Triton Global Limited will consist of niche defendant firm Robin Simon as well as claims management company Devonshire Claims and loss adjuster firm Walsh PI. ...
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Midlands ABS issues ‘join us’ offer to insurers
A multi-service Midlands firm has used its new alternative business structure licence to issue a direct appeal to insurers to come on board with a joint venture. Shakespeares, a firm with 680 lawyers and staff across the region, said it was ‘ABS-ready’ and looking to team ...
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MoJ plans crackdown on ‘so-called’ experts
Experts whose evidence is ‘not up to scratch’ will be driven out of the family courts by reforms announced today by the Ministry of Justice. It has opened a nine-week consultation on new national standards designed to raise the quality of experts in family courts ...
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Law Society Excellence Awards now open for nomination
The Law Society is inviting legal professionals from across England and Wales to enter the Excellence Awards 2013. ow in its seventh year, and bigger than ever before, the event showcases some of the brightest minds and most innovative firms. ...
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SRA’s popularity slips
Solicitors are less likely to speak positively of the Solicitors Regulation Authority than they were a year ago, a Law Society survey has found. Firms who took part in the 2012/13 winter poll were less likely than a year before to give ‘good’ ratings for the ...
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Criminal legal aid cuts to reach £370m
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that projected savings of £150m in fee cuts will not, as was expected, count towards required cuts of £220m a year - taking cuts in criminal legal aid to £370m. An official also revealed that the MoJ has no contingency ...
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Economy 'testing access to justice'
Access to justice is being tested by the ‘worst economic situation since world war II’, the president of the Athens bar told a pan-European delegation of lawyers today. In his keynote address, Ioannis Adamopoulos added that no matter how bad the economic climate, it was important ...
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Traffic courts to be set up
Dedicated traffic courts will be established to deal with low-level road traffic offences and free up the courts to deal with more ‘serious and contested’ cases, the government announced today. The new courts follow a pilot in nine areas. The Ministry of Justice said it is ...
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SRA must level the playing field between corporations and law firms
It is heartening to learn that Mr Townsend, chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, urges the promotion of morality and ethics on the part of solicitors, intends to look at governance and conflicts of interest, and says that ownership and the independence of solicitors must not get muddled up.
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Minding our language
We should endeavour to uphold the highest standards of professional integrity expected of a solicitor and officer of the court, and to make the best interests of clients central to our practice of the law.