Latest news – Page 597
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News
Lord Sugar’s court victory cue for campaign against employment laws
Business leader Lord Sugar has vowed to fight in the House of Lords against a ‘new wave of claim culture’ after seeing off a claim from a former winner of The Apprentice. Stella English lost her claim for constructive dismissal after a tribunal rejected her argument ...
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TUPE changes set to increase disputes
The Law Society has dismissed government plans to repeal the 2006 Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations on the transfer of ‘service provision’ from one employer to another, arguing that the change would lead to commercial and legal uncertainty and more tribunal disputes. The ...
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MoJ cuts driven by Treasury demands
The Treasury played a key role in cajoling justice ministers to push ahead with civil litigation reforms, an influential House of Commons committee report has suggested. A public accounts committee report into the Whole of Government Accounts (WGA), which groups together departmental financial statements for the ...
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Family law scheme aims to limit conflict
Family lawyers have set up a scheme to help separating parents who do not qualify for legal aid to work together to minimise conflict and put their children first after the breakdown of their relationship. Resolution has been given more than £650,000 by the Department for ...
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Fall in solicitor prosecutions
The number of prosecutions opened against solicitors fell dramatically in the first quarter of 2013. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Legal & Enforcement division issued just 17 Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal cases in the first three months of this year, compared ...
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Court interpreter service getting worse, new figures show
The company contracted to provide court interpreters has failed to reach its performance target after a year, new statistics have revealed, leading to delay in thousands of court cases. Figures released by the Ministry of Justice show that the performance got worse in the first month ...
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Bar steps in to legal aid void with guide for litigants in person
The Bar Council has published a jargon-busting guide to help litigants in person in the wake of the legal aid cuts that came into force yesterday. The 74-page guide, put together by specialist bar associations, offers advice on finding free or affordable legal help, putting a ...
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Quindell acquires costs recovery firm in £14m deal
Listed legal entity Quindell Portfolio has announced the acquisition of costs firm Compass Costs in a deal with a paper value of £14m. The takeover was announced to the AIM stock exchange this morning and was secured through the issue of 80m Quindell shares – around ...
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Legal aid chief promises smooth transition to new agency
The chief executive of the new Legal Aid Agency (LAA) has promised practitioners that they will experience ‘minimal’ impact from the change in machinery. In a statement following the Legal Services Commission’s transition to the LAA, which was completed on 1 April, Matthew Coats pledged ...
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Bird & Bird leads shareholders in record £4bn RBS suit
Shareholders of the Royal Bank of Scotland today issued legal proceedings against the bank and four former directors in a claim that could be worth as much as £4bn. The RBOS Shareholder Action Group, represented by international firm Bird & Bird, claims that the bank’s directors ...
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Unchastened LSB defends business plan
The Legal Services Board today pledged to go ahead with its programme for the year ahead despite the battering its draft business plan received in consultation. However its research programme has been ‘rescoped significantly in light of feedback’, according to the plan published today.
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Motor insurer partners with law firm as referral ban bites
The UK’s fourth biggest motor insurer has become the first to announce a partnership with a law firm in the aftermath of the ban on referral fees. Ageas UK has agreed a five-year partnership with Cardiff firm NewLaw to provide services for customers making non-fault personal ...
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Grayling sets sights on prisoners’ legal aid
Prisoners will no longer get legal aid to bring ‘unnecessary’ cases about their treatment in prison under plans announced by the justice secretary this morning. ...
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Northern barristers vote en masse to reject QASA
Northern circuit barristers have overwhelmingly voted to reject the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) in a secret ballot carried out at end of the March. It has become the first circuit to declare its hand, after the chairman of the Criminal Bar Association Michael Turner ...
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Law Society stands by Jackson CFA guidance
The Law Society has said it stands by its draft model conditional fee agreement, which was issued ahead of the Jackson reforms coming into force. The Society has faced criticism from some online commentators that the documents contained errors and could not be relied upon. ...
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Ex-Shearman’s partner bankrolls barrister-matching site
An online service promoting fast direct access to silks and junior barristers, akin to dating site match.com, will launch this week, matching clients to barristers without the need for a solicitor. myBarrister is the brainchild of former Shearman & Sterling partner and dual-qualified US lawyer and ...
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Solicitor wins BBC RTA apology
The BBC has apologised after failing to reveal its source for a claim that one in seven RTA claims results from a staged collision. Home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds made the unattributed claim on a News at Ten report on 15 February on the conviction of ...
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Chancery Lane consults on ‘unworkable’ tendering exercise
The Law Society has published its own consultation on the ‘potentially catastrophic’ price-competitive tendering (PCT) model in advance of the government’s paper expected later this month. The Society is calling on solicitors to respond with alternatives to the planned introduction of PCT for the tendering of ...
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Stop fathers drifting out of children’s lives
You will have to excuse me for not sharing the optimism of the Kingsley Napley partners about the Children and Families Bill in their article ‘Changing perceptions’. It was published a week after your magazine carried a front-page article: ‘Unpaid overtime costs lawyers £14k’. As Frances O’Grady said, the hours ...
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Iranian women in exile
I recently returned from Paris where I spoke on behalf of the Law Society at the International Women’s Day conference in support of Iranian women in exile. There are 1,000 Iranian women held in two camps in Iraq, where they have been refugees for 25 years. They are the residents ...