Latest news – Page 727
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News
In-Deed set to buy high street firms
A property legal company has revealed its intention to buy up high street firms. In-Deed, launched this year by Rightmove founder Harry Hill (pictured), will use the £4.5m secured through an Alternative Investment Market flotation in June to secure ownership of high street firms, build its ...
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Double-digit growth for A&O but tougher times ahead
Magic circle outfit Allen & Overy has been rewarded for rapid worldwide expansion with a jump in income - but has warned there are difficult times ahead. The firm, headquartered in London, today announced half-year turnover of £582m, up 11% on this time last year. ...
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Four firms secure half of PII market, says SRA
Four insurance firms secured more than half the market share of professional indemnity insurance in 2011, according to figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. More than 18% of law firms took out initial PII with XL Insurance, the leader in the market, for 2011/12. ...
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Regulate all legal services says SRA
All legal services should come under a regulatory umbrella, the Solicitors Regulation Authority says today. In a response to the Legal Services Board’s consultation on reserved activities it calls for a fundamental review of regulation in England and Wales. The response says the LSB’s current approach ...
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Plans to boost London-based firms abroad
New proposals to ‘cut through the regulatory maze’ inhibiting London-based international law firms and help them develop more unified global businesses have been published. The Solicitors Regulation Authority wants to give big cross-border practices more flexibility to operate in any form allowed in other countries, and also to incentivise foreign ...
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Ombudsman will name lawyers and firms ‘in public interest’
The Legal Ombudsman has taken the highly controversial decision to name lawyers and law firms in circumstances where there is a ‘pattern of complaints’ against them or when it is in the ‘public interest’ to do so. The regulator denied that its object is to ...
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Legal aid cuts ‘will undermine pro bono work’
Proposed cuts to legal aid threaten to undermine a decade of pro bono work, the legal profession has warned at the start of the tenth national pro bono week. A Law Society survey in the spring revealed that just under half of solicitors in private practice ...
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Reforms will cut claims against NHS in half
Legal aid cuts and the Jackson reforms will slash the number of claims brought against the NHS by 50%, a senior member of the Civil Justice Council has predicted. Peter Smith, managing director of FirstAssist Legal Expenses Insurance, told Saturday’s Bar Conference that Jackson in particular ...
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Watchdog’s warning to legal regulators
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has today challenged regulators including the SRA to make the new compliance regime work, or face being replaced by a single regulator independent of the profession. In its response to a Legal Services Board consultation on the boundaries of ...
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Independent costs regulator opens for business
Costs lawyers now have an independent regulator to uphold professional standards. The Costs Lawyer Standards Board (CLSB) formally took up its duties on 31 October after the Association of Costs Lawyers (ACL) delegated its regulatory role. The association is the sixth and final approved regulator set ...
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The Co-operative to offer family law service
The Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) is to offer a family law service spearheaded by leading family lawyers from London firm TV Edwards in the first move by a high street brand into the sector. Christina Blacklaws (pictured), Law Society council member for child care and ...
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Legal aid cuts 'threat' to domestic violence victims
Cuts to legal aid will create a further barrier for women trying to leave violent relationships and could lead to more deaths, the Women’s Institute has warned. The institute published a report, Legal Aid is a Lifeline, this week as the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...
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Law firm wins ‘freedom’ battle over non-panel rates
A London law firm has won a High Court battle against three legal expenses insurers in a judgment that may have significant ramifications for claimant lawyers acting for clients with legal expenses insurance (LEI) when the firm is not on the insurer’s panel. Webster Dixon won ...
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Trust judges on sentencing, says Law Society
The Law Society has criticised plans to extend mandatory life sentences, telling the government to trust judges’ discretion. The new regime, which would replace the indeterminate sentencing system with long determinate prison terms and mandatory life sentences for anyone convicted of a second serious sexual or violent crime, was announced ...
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Court workers opposed to extended opening hours
The union representing court workers has voiced opposition to justice secretary Kenneth Clarke’s wish to extend opening hours. Clarke told the House of Commons home affairs committee last week that the government is considering more evening sittings, following the extension of court hours to deal ...
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Blacklaws joins Co-operative in family law coup
The Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) is to offer a family law service spearheaded by leading family lawyers from London firm TV Edwards in the first move by a high street brand into the sector, the Gazette can reveal. Christina Blacklaws, Law Society council member for child care and TV Edwards ...
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Scott Baker review lacks vital ingredient that would have served it best - humanity
As one of the ‘NatWest Three’, I have first-hand experience of the workings and impact of the Extradition Act, to which Joshua Rozenberg refers.
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A wider problem
The case of Gary McKinnon and the unpopular US/UK treaty dominated coverage of the extradition review in the mainstream press. So it made a pleasant change to read Joshua Rozenberg’s piece in the Gazette. While I share concerns about the treatment Mr McKinnon might face if extradited, the problems with ...
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Credit where it’s due
Down here in West Sussex they don’t do rioting, but if they did I am confident that the criminal defence fraternity would have stepped into the breach and ensured representation for all those who needed it. And not just because they did need it, but because that would be the ...
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Clarification
Two articles appeared in the 6 and 13 October 2011 editions of the Gazette, which contained a number of assertions concerning the arrangements employed by Royal and Sun Alliance Insurance plc (‘RSA’) for recovery of charges relating to repair of motor vehicles from other insurers.