Latest news – Page 596
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News
More firms using unrated insurers for PII
The proportion of law firms relying on an unrated insurer for professional indemnity insurance (PII) cover almost doubled last year, a new survey has revealed. Around 16% of cash-strapped practices – including almost a quarter of sole practitioners – ignored warnings about unrated insurers as they ...
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Legal aid ‘deserts’ warning
There could be job losses for close to a third of legal aid lawyers and advisers as firms close or cut services, creating ‘advice deserts’ across the country in the wake of the legal aid cuts, according to a report published today. According to an online ...
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Law firm ABS ventures for insurer Admiral
Insurance giant Admiral Group has confirmed two joint ventures with law firms. The UK motor insurance giant has joined with national firm Lyons Davidson and Cardiff firm Cordner Lewis to create Admiral Law and BDE Law. The insurer confirmed in a ...
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Ealing process begins after cuts
A not-for-profit law centre in London opened last week, the day after wide-ranging civil legal aid cuts came into force. Ealing Law Centre will provide specialist housing and immigration support. A small group of volunteers (pictured) has built up the centre since October 2011 with ...
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DLA Piper’s Unicef pledge
International law firm DLA Piper has announced a £980,000 partnership over three years with the United Nations Childrens Fund (Unicef) to help it expand its global child justice work, and ensure that children coming into contact with the law are better served and protected.
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Matchmaking sites go live
Two new online matchmaking services for legal professionals claim to offer tickets to survival. Springboard.net is described as a LinkedIn-style social network for solicitors. Its founders say it allows members to tap into a national network of new business opportunities, control and manage ...
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New code of conduct for CMCs
Claims management companies will have to agree contracts in writing with their clients before taking fees, the Ministry of Justice announced today. The MoJ’s claims management regulator published new conduct rules – coming into force from this summer – in its response to a consultation on ...
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Identity check
If a new client instructs me on the sale of a property and I have not acted for that person before, then in addition to the normal ID checks and due diligence, I can recommend asking the would-be client if they can tell me in what year they purchased and ...
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A good thing?
In the last edition of the Gazette (25 March) the Law Society announced that it had managed to secure a postponement on the abolition of the recoverability of success fees and insurance premiums in insolvency cases until 2015.
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Wrong reforms
As a junior solicitor (and non-practising barrister) it is sad that I, along with many of my colleagues, have said goodbye to publicly funded work. The law school ideal of helping those in need could not be further from the truth. In a recent care case ...
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Age diversity
I was very interested to see the report on the roundtable discussion on diversity (see 18 March), and disappointed in equal measure – although not particularly surprised – to see no mention of age diversity. When I was at law school, there was a student social ...
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A just god?
Richard Dawkins would make short work of Jonathan Goldsmith’s musings on religion and science (25 March), ruthlessly dismissing the idea that justice exists beyond us as an ‘eternal lamp’. If science is the ultimate explanation, then justice, exactly like law, is a rapidly changing artificial human construct, determined like everything ...
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No ABSs in Scotland until ‘end of 2013’
Alternative business structures will not be introduced in Scotland until the end of the year at the earliest. The Scottish government wants more time to review the Law Society of Scotland’s application to be an approved regulator. The Society – the only ...
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MoJ unveils tendering plans for criminal defence
Defendants will lose the right to choose their lawyer and instead be allocated a representative, under government plans to introduce price-competitive tendering (PCT) for criminal defence services. Details of the proposed PCT model were published for consultation today, together with a raft of other measures designed ...
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SRA Handbook in force
The seventh version of the Solicitors Regulation Authority Handbook comes in to force this week. Changes include outcomes dealing with the ban on referral fees in personal injury cases, and the removal of rules put forward in the first phase of the SRA’s Red Tape Initiative. ...
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Judiciary urges caution on contempt
Proceedings against publishers and jury members should be the very ‘last measure’ taken where contempt of court is alleged, the judiciary has said in its response to a law commission consultation. The response’s authors, Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Tugendhat, said that any measure likely ...
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Expert witness ruling a blow to children, Society warns
Children involved in family law cases will face extra uncertainty following a High Court ruling on the funding of expert witnesses, the Law Society has warned. The Society reacted with disappointment to the ruling that the Legal Aid Agency, formerly the Legal Services Commission (LSC), is ...
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CoA backs Law Society on disbursement liability
Solicitors who help their clients by funding the cost of disbursements should not be liable for costs if a case fails, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The ruling came after an intervention by the Law Society in the case of Flatman v Germany published today ...
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Osborne Clarke ups law school rivalry with BPP switch
South-west firm Osborne Clarke has taken the unusual step of announcing that it is moving the training of its future lawyers from the University of Law (formerly the College of Law) to BPP from autumn 2013. The announcement will add to the considerable rivalry between the ...
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Barrister loses DIY tax scheme case
A former London tax barrister who designed his own tax avoidance scheme has lost his tribunal appeal against HM Revenue & Customs. He was attempting to avoid paying £190,000 in tax. Rex Bretten QC designed a complex scheme which entailed setting up trusts and investing £500,000 ...