Latest news – Page 706
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News
Insurance lawyers urge government to implement cost reforms in full
Insurance lawyers have urged ministers not to water down civil litigation reform in the face of vocal opposition. The government has faced repeated criticism over the summer from claimant representatives over changes proposed in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. ...
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International criminals targeting law firms, warns Soca
International criminals have launched a new fraud offensive on law firms’ client accounts, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) has warned. Soca issued a ‘red alert’ to the profession to warn of a trend in ‘advanced fee fraud’ targeting solicitors’ firms. It ...
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Co-operative Legal Services' profits rise
The Co-operative Legal Services has seen its revenues increase by 22% and its profits rise by 3% during the first half of the year, the group’s interim financial results have revealed.
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Will-writing fraudster jailed
An unregulated will-writer has been jailed for 14 months after fraudulently charging 130 clients between £30 and £60 to fix a non-existent problem with their wills. Berkshire resident Walter Ventriglia, 47, was running a will-writing firm called Legacy & Law. He wrote to the clients, under ...
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LSB gives go ahead for barristers to manage ABSs
The Legal Services Board has approved the Bar Standards Board’s application for changes to the bar’s code of conduct to allow barristers to be managers or employees of alternative business structures. In April this year, the bar’s regulator took the decision that barristers should be permitted to work in the ...
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Non-trial advocates to be excluded from court work
Non-trial advocates will be excluded from higher court work by the quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA), a leading solicitor advocate has warned. Following publication of a second consultation on the controversial accreditation scheme, president of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates Jo Cooper said ...
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Irish firm achieves Lexcel status
An Irish law firm has become only the third outside England and Wales to secure the Law Society’s Lexcel practice management accreditation. Dublin firm O’Rourke Reid joins Polish firm TGC Corporate Lawyers and Scottish firm McClure Naismith among those to have passed the assessment process required ...
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Pro-bono project takes foothold in India
Former UK attorney general Lord Goldsmith has moderated a roundtable for eleven of India’s leading law firms to discuss how to develop a pro bono culture. The roundtable, the first of its kind in India, was co-hosted by UK-based i-Probono, a non-profit organisation that connects ...
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Barristers seek to extend public access rights
Public access barristers could be allowed to accept direct instructions from clients eligible for legal aid, under proposals being considered by the Bar Standards Board. Currently Rule 3(1) of the Public Access Rules prohibits barristers from accepting direct instructions from a lay client who may be eligible for public funding ...
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Record number of care cases puts courts under strain
Record numbers of care cases are putting ‘intense’ pressure on the family justice system, according to the head of the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass). Figures from HM Courts and Tribunals Service show that the number of care and supervision cases before ...
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500th law firm secures Conveyancing Quality Scheme status
Five hundred law firms have now secured accreditation to the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS), the Society said today. Essex firm Todmans SRE was the latest to receive the CQS mark of excellence in residential conveyancing practice. Since CQS launched ...
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Bankruptcy petition filed against Solicitors from Hell owner
A solicitor who won libel damages from the owner of the Solicitors from Hell website has filed a bankruptcy petition against him after he failed to pay damages ordered by the court. The solicitor, from London firm Hickman & Rose, is seeking £31,105.44 from website owner ...
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Riots: glut of appeals anticipated
Crown courts could face a glut of appeals in response to the speed at which defendants were dealt with last week, when some magistrates’ courts worked through the night to process defendants. Criminal defence lawyers told the Gazette that the swift dispatch with which cases were ...
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Yorkshire councils combine legal teams
Five West Yorkshire councils have combined their legal teams in an attempt to maximise resources and save around £1.6m a year in legal spend. The legal teams at Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield councils have come together to form WYLAW, an umbrella group that will ...
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News focus: Fast-track justice and the riots
Lawyers have recounted extraordinary scenes both of chaos and professional dedication over the past 10 days, as defence solicitors, prosecutors, magistrates and court staff worked through the night to deal with the unprecedented number of people arrested in the wake of last week’s riots across England. ...
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Yorkshire entrepreneur plans new chain of high-street law shops
A Yorkshire law firm has teamed up with the founder of Freeserve to launch a national chain of high-street law stores called Legal365. Last Cawthra Feather and Ajaz Ahmed (pictured) launched the venture in July as a website - Legal365.com - to enable consumers and small ...
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The SRA has failed to mitigate the risk of solicitors being adversely affected
I write in response to John Hyde’s article, ‘Solicitor-advocates fear QASA disadvantage'. While Mr Hyde comprehensively summarises the issues surrounding judges’ refusal to take part in evaluation, the SRA’s QASA Forum (on 25 July) revealed more fundamental concerns, as highlighted by the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates and the ...
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Portal progress
While discussions about the concept of splitting the costs of using the RTA portal are ongoing, the notion that any decision has been made is premature. The key concern is how independence in decision-making in the portal can be ensured and all options in relation ...
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We can all read the Equality Act
For as long as I can remember, the Law Society has tried to collect diversity data from me, as an individual, and my response has always been the same. Mind your own business. Now the Legal Services Board is to require regulators to ensure firms collect information on their staff. ...
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A pointless exercise in self-justification
Your news item ‘Compulsory diversity data' goes some way to explaining why lawyers have become so disenchanted with the ever increasing regulatory bureaucracy.