Latest news – Page 647
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News
Green in the dock with technology
Damian Green, minister for criminal justice, tries out new courtroom technology on a visit to the Crown Prosecution Service in Maidstone, Kent. Under the digital strategy of the Law Officers’ Departments, published last month, the CPS is to introduce ‘full digital working’ by December.
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Unpaid court fines still add up to £600m
The government failed to make any significant impression in the £600m outstanding debt from court fines during the past financial year. Justice minister Helen Grant revealed on Friday that outstanding impositions stood at £1.8bn by the end of April 2012.
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Justice secretary questions hiring of QCs in criminal trials
Taxpayer funding for criminal defence should to go to less-expensive lawyers than QCs, Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, said today. Grayling used an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme to criticise the way the annual £1bn criminal legal aid budget is spent, particularly ...
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CILEx announces advanced legal apprenticeship
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) is to introduce a new advanced apprenticeship in legal services which it says will provide a springboard to qualification as a lawyer. The Level 3 Advanced Apprenticeship in Legal is being developed in partnership with Skills for Justice and ...
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Taxi for the cab rank rule
The barristers’ cab rank rule is ‘redundant’ and should be abolished, according to a report published today by the Legal Services Board. Authors Professor John Flood and Professor Morten Hviid suggest that the rule is ‘regularly breached’, and serves ‘no clear purpose’. They claim its ...
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SRA spurns pleas to approve post-Jackson business models
Regulators will reject requests to pre-approve business models that may flout the impending ban on referral fees. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed it will not draw up detailed rules ahead of the ban coming into force in April, despite requests from members of the profession. ...
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COLP/COFA test failed by over 1,000
Convicted criminals and undeclared bankrupts were among the people nominated by law firms to be their compliance officers, it has emerged. The Solicitors Regulation Authority today revealed that more than 1,200 nominees failed an automatic verification exercise to check their suitability to be firms’ self-policing staff. ...
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Legal professional privilege only for lawyers, Supreme Court rules
The Supreme Court ruled today that legal professional privilege (LPP) applies only to qualified lawyers – solicitors and barristers. The eagerly awaited decision, by a majority of 5:2, maintains the existing certainty about the scope of LPP. It confirms that ‘there is no doubt that ...
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Reform chief predicts 'sweaty palms' over costs budgets
Judges and lawyers will adapt to new costs management rules but the process may take some time, according to the senior judge charged with implementing the Jackson reforms. Lord Justice Ramsey, who has taken over responsibility for the task from Lord Justice Jackson, admitted there will ...
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Secret courts ‘unjust’ warns Law Society
Extending secret courts to ordinary civil justice cases would see the UK ‘stoop to the level of repressive regimes’, the Law Society warns today. In a letter to members of the Public Bill Committee for the Justice and Security Bill, Chancery Lane ...
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Eversheds sheds up to 166 in strategic restructuring
Eversheds plans to axe up to 166 staff across its international network - nearly half of them lawyers - as part of a management and office restructuring. Among those leaving will be Nick Seddon, who joined Eversheds to head the Asia region in 2008 when ...
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Society and Bar clash over new standard contract terms
Solicitors have been warned to protect themselves against new terms governing their relationship with barristers which come into effect next week. In a practice note, the Law Society said the Bar Council’s new standard contractual terms of business, which for the first time enable barristers to sue for their fees, ...
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Legal challenge begins on RTA fixed fees
Claimant groups have formally begun a legal challenge to the government’s plans to cut personal injury fixed costs. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) have jointly applied for a judicial review of the justice secretary’s decision to cut fees ...
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Law leads the way over living wage
City law firms are leading the way in paying low-paid workers an independently assessed ‘living wage’ rather than the minimum wage, a Gazette investigation has revealed. A ‘living wage’ is currently £8.55 an hour in London and £7.45 elsewhere. The minimum wage is £6.19. ...
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Solicitors have ‘little to fear’ from Barco
Solicitors’ representatives and sector analysts have played down the likely impact of the bar’s latest move to attract clients directly. They were commenting after the Financial Services Authority approved a scheme allowing barristers to sidestep the current prohibition on holding client money, a major barrier ...
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Legal apprenticeships no threat, says CILEx
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, which traditionally champions a vocational route into the legal profession, has insisted that it does not feel threatened by government plans to introduce apprenticeships as an alternative to law degrees. Diane Burleigh (pictured), the institute’s chief executive, was responding to ...
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Legal aid warning over contract allocation
Legal aid firms may go out of business as a result of the allocation of work for new civil legal aid contracts, representative groups have warned. The Legal Services Commission notified firms last week of the outcome of tenders for family, housing and debt, and immigration, ...
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JLD chair claims trainees need more protection
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is failing to protect trainee solicitors from exploitation and threats, the new chair of the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has claimed. Heather Iqbal-Rayner (pictured) has drafted a letter to SRA chief executive Antony Townsend in which she claims that the regulator refuses ...
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Chancery Lane must not pull punches
I understand that the president of the Law Society has called for a freeze on civil justice reform, until the effects have been properly researched. This is welcome news. As usual, the Law Society is being civilised and reasonable. But in modern Britain, how effective is ...
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Registry posts mixed signals
The Gazette reported in December that the Land Registry has launched the web version of its electronic document registration service, allowing practitioners to lodge documents electronically, thus saving time and postage costs.