Latest news – Page 733
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News
Personal injury solicitors will cut use of CFAs, poll finds
Personal injury lawyers will cut the number of conditional fee agreements they offer to clients as a direct result of the civil justice funding reforms announced by the government last week, according to research seen exclusively by the Gazette. A survey of 100 claimant personal injury ...
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CML predicts quality scheme will become ‘prerequisite’ for conveyancers
The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is expected to become a 'pre-requisite' for membership of lenders' panels once it becomes established, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said today. More than 700 firms have applied to join the quality assurance scheme since it launched in ...
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Clifford Chance opens in Istanbul
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today opened an office in Istanbul, to work alongside affiliate Turkish firm Yegin Legal Consultancy. Banking and finance partner Simon Williams will head the office, which will focus on infrastructure, energy, finance, mergers and acquisitions and capital markets work. ...
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Extend social care to prisoners, report suggests
There is overwhelming support to extend adult social care services to prisoners and the mentally ill, but concerns remain about the resource implications for local authorities, responses to a Law Commission consultation have shown. The Law Commission yesterday published a report analysing the 231 responses it ...
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Criminal defence teams in Merseyside merger
Two well-known Liverpool firms have merged to create one of the largest criminal defence teams on Merseyside. Criminal law firm RM Broudie and the criminal law team at Jackson & Canter have joined forces to become RM Broudie Jackson & Canter – The Justice Partnership. ...
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APIL launches court action over compensation discount rate
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has alleged that a failure by the justice secretary to review the damages discount rate has led to some claimants being under-compensated by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’. Launching a judicial review on the issue yesterday, APIL said that ...
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Solicitors from Hell ‘abusing court process’, judge finds
The owner of Solicitors from Hell, the website that blacklists law firms and solicitors, has been accused by a High Court judge of abusing the process of the court. In his judgment in the latest decided case against Rick Kordowski, published today, Mr Justice Tugendhat said ...
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Report shows drop in training contract places
The number of training contracts offered by law firms fell by 18% last year, Law Society figures have shown. The Society’s annual statistical report reveals that only 4,784 training contract places were offered in 2010, compared to 5,809 in 2009. The ...
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MPs call for rethink on legal aid
An influential committee of MPs has criticised the government’s ‘dramatic’ legal aid reforms and called on ministers to ‘refine’ their proposals. In a report published this week, the House of Commons Justice Committee recommended that the Ministry of Justice look at other ways to make the ...
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Jackson reforms ‘devastating’
The government’s plans to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s headline civil costs reforms are a ‘devastating attack on access to justice’, the Law Society warned on Tuesday. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke confirmed this week that legislation will be introduced to implement Jackson’s reforms, which will force winning ...
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Legal aid firm merger to ‘embrace new opportunities'
Two high-profile legal aid firms are to merge this week to create one of the largest publicly funded criminal defence practices in the country, the Gazette can reveal. Noble, with offices in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire, will merge with Wembley and Watford firm Tank Jowett on ...
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Public law practitioners at ‘breaking point’
Public law solicitors are at ‘breaking point’ due to increased workloads and financial pressure, according to an authoritative report published this week. A study of how parents are represented in care proceedings, by academics at Bristol University’s school of law, found that solicitors acting for parents ...
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Fraudsters jailed for £140,000 injury law scam
Six fraudsters were jailed last week for fronting a fake claims company that defrauded 19 personal injury law firms of almost £140,000. The company, North West Claims, which was run from an apartment in the Beetham Tower, Manchester, referred fictitious road traffic accident claims to solicitors ...
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Young women solicitors far outnumber men
Women solicitors significantly outnumber men at the younger end of the profession, according to Law Society research published today. If current trends continue, the profession could comprise more women than men within the next ten years. The Society’s annual statistical report shows ...
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Lawyers ‘sound off’ for legal aid
Hundreds of lawyers took to the streets of central London on Saturday to protest against the government’s proposed legal aid cuts. Under the banners of the Law Society’s ‘Sound off for justice’ campaign, Justice for All and Young Legal Aid Lawyers, they joined the TUC’s ...
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Claims farmers ban on hold
A government proposal to ban ‘claims farmers’ from offering cash inducements and other benefits to the public has been put on hold, the Ministry of Justice confirmed this week. Responding to its consultation on the proposed ban, which was triggered by Lord Young of Graffham’s report ...
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Law Society of Scotland defers constitutional reform
A three-year project to modernise the constitution of the 10,500-strong Law Society of Scotland has run into difficulties, after solicitors failed to agree on the proposed changes. At the Edinburgh-based body’s annual meeting last Friday, a motion to rescind the current constitution won approval, with ...
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Ilex fast-track route proves popular
More than 270 law graduates have embarked on the Institute of Legal Executives’ (ILEX) fast-track route to becoming a solicitor since its launch in 2009, the Gazette has learned. Some 66 graduates applied for the scheme during the last quarter. ...
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Businesses face ‘human rights audit’
Human rights lawyers could be called upon to audit big businesses for possible human rights abuses, if proposals submitted last week to the UN Human Rights Council are endorsed. A six-year UN-commissioned study on business and human rights has concluded that companies should regularly carry out ...
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Clyde & Co fails to thwart partner’s tribunal hearing
A City firm has failed to stop a former partner from bringing sex and pregnancy discrimination claims to the Employment Tribunal by seeking to rely on an arbitration clause in its partnership agreement. Clyde & Co dismissed Krista Bates van Winkelhof in January. She then filed ...