Latest news – Page 729
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News
LSC helpline cut back again
The Legal Services Commission’s telephone helpline is taking emergency calls only in an effort to reduce a backlog of work. Emergency calls are those requiring action within 48 hours or where the information being sought is not available elsewhere. In July, the commission cut the ...
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Referral fee ban will go in legal aid bill
The justice secretary has confirmed that a rule banning the payment of referral fees in personal injury cases will be introduced into the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill and debated next week in parliament. Kenneth Clarke tabled the amendment, stating that a regulated ...
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Plea for Society to join forensic service fight
A solicitor renowned for his work freeing the wrongly convicted Guildford Four has asked the Law Society to become a ‘major player’ in the campaign to stop the government’s proposed closure of the Forensic Science Service (FSS).
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Judges not ‘quangocrats’ should accredit advocacy, says Deech
Judicial assessment will be a key component of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), rather than assessment by ‘quangocrats and drama coaches’ according to the Bar Standards Board chair. Lady Deech said the controversial scheme ‘depends on the involvement of judges as the assessors of ...
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Djanogly: referral ban will cover recipients
The new offence being created to ban referral fees will cover those receiving the fees as well as the lawyers who pay them, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said last week. The minister told a LexisNexis costs conference that he wants the offence to go ‘further ...
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Justice head bemoans judicial diversity gap
The head of law reform and human rights organisation Justice has heavily criticised the lack of diversity in the top echelon of the judiciary. ‘We are shamed’ by the lack of women and ethnic minority judges in the Supreme Court, compared with the US and Canada, ...
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‘Crude’ legal aid cuts get a pasting in the Lords
A Labour lord predicted a ‘prolonged and hard winter for access to justice’ as peers condemned ‘crude’ and ‘ill thought-out’ cuts to legal aid fees in a debate last night. The House of Lords was debating a motion tabled by Lord Bach, the former legal aid ...
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LSC improves its performance - but still overpays £51m
The National Audit Office has qualified the Legal Services Commission’s accounts for the third year running, due to overpayments made to providers. The commission’s annual report, published today, reveals that in 2010/11 the LSC overpaid legal aid providers an estimated £51 million; £29.5m due to solicitors’ ...
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SRA consults on client financial protection
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to consult on implementing planned reforms of client financial protection. The changes, announced in April 2011, include: closing the assigned risks pool from October 2013; a 90-day extended policy period from October 2012, for firms which have not taken new ...
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Chambers Guide launched
Lawyer rankings have risen by 8% to almost 9,800 in the 2012 edition of Chambers UK. The client’s guide to the legal profession, which researches factors such as quality and profile of work, incorporating client and barrister feedback, was published last night. ...
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Family justice manifesto calls for rethink on cuts
An alliance of groups opposed to the government’s family legal aid cuts has published a Manifesto for Family Justice, urging MPs to reconsider the proposals. The groups are concerned about the impact that provisions in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill removing legal ...
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Private equity buys into QualitySolicitors
QualitySolicitors has agreed a funding deal which marks the first major investment by private equity in the high street legal market, the Gazette can reveal. Pan-European private equity house Palamon Capital Partners has invested a ‘significant’ sum in QS. The agreement will see it gain a ...
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Solicitors From Hell slander action is thrown out
The High Court has thrown out a defamation claim by the founder of the Solicitors from Hell website against Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson. Rick Kordowski began legal proceedings after a blog from Professor John Flood had alleged that Hudson claimed Kordowski was a ‘criminal’. ...
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New revolt on advocacy accreditation
Solicitor advocates have condemned plans to roll out the ‘bar-centric’ and potentially ‘unlawful’ Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) next April. More than 200 attended a meeting in London this week to voice their opposition to the ‘deeply flawed’ scheme, which some claim is ‘designed ...
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Relationship management to be limited to big firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has given more details of its implementation strategy for outcomes-focused regulation. Its Relationship Management approach to risk-based supervision is to be rolled out to larger firms, after a pilot found that small firms did not require interaction with the regulator on ...
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Excellence Awards winners revealed
Jo Cooper, chair of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates, was this week named Law Society Gazette Legal Personality of the Year in the Law Society’s annual excellence awards. The accolade recognises Cooper’s sterling efforts in promoting the interests of solicitor higher court ...
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Trade unions plan action over asbestos ruling
Trade unions are considering the implications for England and Wales of a Supreme Court ruling that sufferers of pleural plaques in Scotland can get compensation. Their legal departments are looking at what further action they can take to counter what they perceive to be a glaring geographical anomaly. ...
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Solicitors confront online estate fraud
Fraudsters are increasingly targeting the estates of the deceased for valuable internet-hosted assets such as online bank accounts, private client lawyers have warned. Solicitors believe the trend reflects the way probate work has ‘changed beyond all recognition’. For the first time, people are trying to help ...
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FSA told to rethink on legal privilege
The Financial Services Authority has been urged to review its operating procedures after it was found to have acted unlawfully in its use of legally privileged material during an enforcement investigation. The regulator had successfully applied to the High Court for its own nominated administrators, PricewaterhouseCoopers ...
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Solicitor accused of money laundering
A solicitor who failed to answer bail after being accused of conspiracy to launder money and defraud mortgage lenders and banks of around £12m has been rearrested and charged. Ajayi Seun, 45, was held after his photograph and other details appeared on Crimestoppers’ list of ...