Latest news – Page 677
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News
Profits up in Scotland but small firms struggle
The Law Society of Scotland's annual Cost of Time survey has reported the first rise in profitability for law firms north of the border since 2008. Average profit per partner at Scottish firms totalled £71,000 in 2011, on a par with 2004 but well below the highs of 2005-08. ...
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We share your frustration
Darren Isaacs is wrong to say there has been a marked increase in the past six months in the level of bills we are rejecting. The level of rejects has remained relatively constant.
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Banking on advice
Just as I was reading the article ‘Lenders in the line of fire’ a new client of mine rang and mentioned that she was going to get an HSBC mortgage. She was told by the HSBC branch in Belper, Derbyshire, that she had to use their panel solicitor, and only ...
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Future fusion
The president’s address on the future relationship between barristers and solicitors is wholly commendable, not least his suggestion that both solicitors and barristers undergo the same training.
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Not up to the job
It is good to see Anne-Marie Elliott sticking up for mental health lawyers in the face of corrosive criticisms of standards of advocacy at mental health review tribunals. I see Ms Elliott is herself an accredited representative. Complaints about poor standards, particularly those coming from the tribunal judiciary, almost always ...
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Loose connection
Could David Jones explain to defence solicitors how, in the new electronic age, one is supposed to let one’s client in the cells read the case against him? If this client should be remanded in custody, how does one provide the evidence to the client, electronically?
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MoJ interpreting hub a ‘false economy’
Concern is mounting that the Ministry of Justice's central contract for interpreting work could prove a false economy, incurring knock-on costs for criminal justice agencies.
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Referral proposals ‘won’t work’
The government must abandon its current proposals to ban referral fees in personal injury cases and start again from scratch, Chancery Lane has urged. Writing in the Gazette today, Law Society policy chief Mark Stobbs says the relevant amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and ...
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Peers pillory third-party code
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke may reconsider the case for statutory regulation of third-party litigation funding amid claims that a voluntary code has ‘manifest weaknesses’. The government, which has so far favoured self-regulation for external litigation funders, hinted at the change when it came under pressure for ...
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Roger Smith: legal aid reforms ‘unsustainable’
The director of law reform and human rights organisation Justice has condemned the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill as ‘so bad’ that it will not survive if it is enacted. Roger Smith (pictured) described the package of reforms in the bill, which ...
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Landmark judgment on fixed-share partner rights
Fixed-share partners of law firms are not employees and cannot claim employment rights before a tribunal, the Court of Appeal has ruled. However the ruling, in a case brought by Martin Tiffin against southern England law firm Lester Aldridge (LA), applies only when fixed-share partners enjoy some of the ‘obligations ...
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Judicial watchdog probes Winehouse coroner case
The Office for Judicial Complaints is investigating the case of an assistant deputy coroner who was appointed by her senior coroner husband despite not having the minimum required experience.
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Euro patent court ‘ruinous for business’
As Britain, France and Germany haggle over which country should host a Europe-wide patent court, the professional body for UK intellectual property lawyers has warned that the proposed court would not be in the public interest - and could be ‘ruinous’ for business.
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Clarke raises small claims limit in county court
The limit on small claims in the county court is to be doubled to £10,000 as part of government measures to speed up civil litigation. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke today set out plans to divert up to 80,000 more cases to a small claims mediation process that can be carried ...
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Change the rules
The balance of power is currently with the lenders, which are seeking to control the property market, but how many banks can we or our clients really embargo?
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Registering discontent
As members of the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme, we wrote to HSBC to enquire whether or not we were still on their panel of solicitors as we had been for many years. We received a letter from Countrywide Property Services to advise that they were administering the HSBC panel ...
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Protect legal privilege, bar urges government
The Bar Council has urged the government to protect the right of citizens to hold private conversations with their lawyers. The call, supported the Law Society, comes as the proposed Protection of Freedoms Bill, intended to protect people from unwarranted state intrusion in their private lives, goes through parliament.
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DAS back in the black
Legal expenses insurer DAS has reported a dramatic turnaround in financial performance during 2011. The UK group posted a pre-tax profit of £9.74m last year compared with a £470,000 loss in 2010, when the company was hit by increasing claims frequencies and costs. Turnover rose from ...
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Jackson ‘Plan B’ splits claimant lobby
Deep divisions surfaced in the personal injury claimant lobby this week after the proposal of a compromise deal on the Jackson reforms. Leaders of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers said they are now prepared to drop blanket opposition to Jackson’s plans to switch the burden ...
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Law Commission to tidy law on financial provision after break-up
The Law Commission is to bring ‘clarity and predictability’ to the law entitling married couples and civil partners to claim financial provision from one another upon divorce or dissolution of their partnership, it was announced this week. The commission said that it aims to review two ...