Latest news – Page 701
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News
HSBC will not face competition probe over panel
The Office of Fair Trading has declined to investigate HSBC over the small size of its conveyancing panel, saying the arrangement does not have a ‘sufficiently negative impact on competition’. East Grinstead sole practitioner Elaine McGloin contacted the watchdog after HSBC announced its new panel in ...
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£1bn swaps claims going ahead despite settlements
The first wave of funded claims against banks by business owners who bought interest-rate hedging contracts are close to being ready, the Gazette can reveal. Norton Accord, the company that has secured the backing of funds to bring up to £1bn of claims, confirmed today that ...
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US extradition treaty ‘one-sided’, MPs report
The extradition treaty between the UK and the US is failing to protect the rights of British citizens, MPs claim today. A report by the House of Commons’ home affairs select committee says that the 2003 treaty makes it easier to extradite a British citizen ...
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SRA ponders £250m fine limit for firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is looking to close a loophole that restricts its fining powers for firms other than alternative business structures. The Legal Services Act 2007 allows the SRA to fine ABSs up to £250m, compared with a limit of £2,000 for traditional law firms. ...
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Committal fee challenge fails
The High Court has ruled that the government’s decision to scrap lawyers’ fees for committal proceedings was lawful. Dismissing the judicial review sought by the Law Society, Lord Justice Burnton cited the impact of legal aid fee cuts on lawyers. 'No one ...
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Don’t bank on loyalty
My firm, along with thousands of others, is no longer on the HSBC panel. As a result of the ludicrous volume of enquiries being raised by the bank’s preferred lawyers for this area in a case I am currently involved in, and because of the unrealistic and unworkable undertakings which ...
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No to HSBC
Having received the 13 pages of instructions from Countrywide Conveyancing Services in connection with a HSBC mortgage it is providing to my purchasing clients, it is obvious that this new procedure is doubling the work for conveyancing solicitors not on the HSBC panel while leaving all the liability and risk ...
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Something not right about guideline for either-way offences
Does anyone else smell a rat? A new allocation guideline for either-way offences was published earlier this month by the Sentencing Guidelines Council which comes into force on 11 June. Within the guideline it states: ‘It is important to ensure that all cases are tried at the appropriate level. In ...
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Carry on doctor
With reference to Jerry Pearlman’s letter of 8 March, the lady who first taught me German, on learning that I was a ‘rechtsanwalt’, insisted on calling me ‘Herr Doktor’ because she said that was how all lawyers are addressed in Germany and, as viewers of Inspector Montalbano will know, it ...
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Customer is wrong
I assume that if 120,000 solicitors told chief legal ombudsman Adam Sampson and the Law Society to strike out the use of the words ‘customers’ and, worse still, ‘consumers’ from usage, they will oblige? The use of the words customer and consumer is inaccurate in a professional context and ultimately ...
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Bank of England job - lawyers need not apply
In the next few months, David Cameron and George Osborne will be looking to recruit a new governor of the Bank of England to succeed Sir Mervyn King when he steps down in June 2013. I trust that no banking lawyer is tempted to apply ...
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Blanket approach to civil claims costs unfair
I write in response to a number of recent letters about the funding of civil claims. The biggest cause of unfair costs is the blanket approach of the success fee and the premiums for after-the-event (ATE) insurance (often far in excess of the price of any car insurance policy). ...
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Boycott injustice
Congratulations for publishing the comment by Melanie Strickland on the need for lawyers to consider more basic principles of justice than the law presently allows. The letter from David Enright on the ‘justice equation’ in the same edition alerts us to more immediate needs as well.
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Formula won
I applaud David Enright’s attempt to define justice with a formula. He could be on to something. Could there be a formula to calculate profitability (P) in a bank’s mortgage lending? Take a hypothetical, completely made-up bank (call it BHSC). Include total funds lent (M); maybe the size of BHSC’s ...
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SRA dubbed ‘institutionally racist’ by Society of Black Lawyers chair
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to face accusations of being ‘institutionally racist’ and of abusing its powers to the detriment of solicitors from ethnic minorities. In a hard-hitting report to the Legal Services Board, seen by the Gazette, the Society of Black Lawyers accuses the ...
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Fraud fears over RTA portal fee cap
Claimant solicitors have reacted with concern to government proposals to cap at £300 the fee for low-value road traffic claims handled through the RTA portal. The proposal emerged at roundtable discussions on the future of the portal with justice minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) last Thursday. ...
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Deputy district judge competition hit by IT glitches
Technical problems may have disadvantaged some candidates in the heavily oversubscribed deputy district judge competition, it has been alleged. The deputy district judge (magistrates’ court) selection exercise last October elicited nearly 1,500 applications for 28 vacancies – 54 candidates for each post.
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Political split on Welsh jurisdiction
Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan (pictured) has said there is ‘no need’ for a distinct Welsh legal jurisdiction as the country begins a debate on separation from England. The Welsh government began a consultation this week on creating a new legal system. First minister Carwyn Jones is ...
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‘SupplyCo’ could help barristers get work back from solicitor-advocates
A new business model allowing barristers to accept instructions through an agency route could help the bar claw back work from solicitor-advocates, a legal consultant has suggested. John Binks (pictured) of the Bar Consultancy Network, a former manager at the Legal Services Commission, said a ‘SupplyCo’ model would give barristers ...
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Report urges reform of human rights court
Ministers from 47 European states must agree plans to reform the human rights court in Strasbourg before pressure for the UK to withdraw from its jurisdiction becomes ‘irresistible’, a member of the government’s Commission on Human Rights has said. The UK’s chairmanship of the Council of ...