Latest news – Page 734
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Police ‘abusing’ bail rules
The police are abusing bail rules, the chairman of the Law Society’s criminal law committee has alleged. Richard Atkinson has called for evidence from solicitors of what he believes to be a worsening phenomenon. He said: ‘Practitioners have very real concerns that huge numbers of people ...
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EU law education programme launched
Some 700,000 of the EU’s estimated 1.4 million lawyers, prosecutors and judges will have received a week’s formal training in EU law by 2020, the European Commission (EC) announced last week. The EC said in a press statement that the aim is to equip legal practitioners ...
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Junior lawyers slam college over training contracts
The Junior Lawyers Division has angrily rejected College of Law claims that there will soon be more training contract vacancies than Legal Practice Course graduates to fill them. The college has been accused of ‘spinning’ the figures to make it appear that securing a training contract ...
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Olswang to pilot new training model targeting City firms
A groundbreaking solicitor training model has launched this week, targeting City law firms and in-house legal departments. The first non-legal services provider to be authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to take on trainees, Acculaw claims it will cut costs and improve efficiency for firms looking ...
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Lib Dem dissenters told LASPO reforms will go ahead
The Law Society and Bar Council have urged Liberal Democrats to hold their party to account over the government’s reforms of legal aid and civil litigation costs. But Lib Dem peer and justice minister Lord McNally (pictured), who will pilot the legislation through the Lords, has signalled that compromise is ...
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Legal aid bill ‘contravenes UN convention’
The government’s plans to remove legal aid in private law family cases will place the UK in breach of its obligations under a United Nations convention to prevent discrimination against women, the Gazette has been told. Cris McCurley, partner and head of international family law at ...
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Medical accidents charity ponders judicial review bid
Opponents of the government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill could launch another High Court challenge. Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) will decide this week whether to seek a judicial review to counter the removal of legal aid for clinical negligence cases. ...
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Law firms sign up to equal pay reporting
National firm Eversheds (pictured) and northwest firm DWF have become the country’s first law firms to join a government scheme to publish gender equality data. News that the two firms have signed up to the Home Office’s Think, Act, Report scheme follows a Legal Services Board ...
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Charity in legal aid challenge on clinical negligence
Action Against Medical Accidents has launched a legal challenge against the government’s controversial plans to scrap legal aid for clinical negligence cases. The charity has issued judicial review proceedings, arguing that the Ministry of Justice's decision to remove such cases from scope is irrational and unfair. ...
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Telephone gateway plan could face judicial review
Government plans to introduce a mandatory telephone gateway to the civil legal aid scheme are facing a legal challenge which is supported by The Law Society. The Public Law Project, acting on behalf of ten specialist legal aid firms, has issued an application for permission to apply for a judicial ...
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Advocacy accreditation will be implemented ‘circuit by circuit’
The controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) will be implemented in stages, but there will be no pilot, it has emerged. A report to the Bar Standards Board indicated that consideration was being given to piloting of the scheme, which is due to ...
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Letterhead change
Elizabeth Muirhead’s letter questions the need for firms to change their letterheads, websites and emails to say ‘authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority’ from 6 October, when our new Handbook and Code of Conduct come into effect. The reason for the change is to ...
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Family bar warns of ‘bleak’ future at national meeting
Family barristers have warned of a ‘bleak’ future for family justice if the government’s legal aid cuts are implemented as planned. At a national meeting last weekend, the Family Law Bar Association said the reforms set out in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders ...
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Claimants will ‘never see’ ten per cent damages uplift
Government plans to introduce a 10% uplift on general damages have again been called into question, amid concern that they are reliant on the co-operation of insurers. The increase, recommended by Lord Justice Jackson in his review of civil litigation costs, was intended in part to ...
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Dundas & Wilson in merger talks
Edinburgh-headquartered Dundas & Wilson, one of Scotland’s so-called ‘big four’ law firms, has has begun merger talks with London-based Bircham Dyson Bell. In a joint statement released on Tuesday by the managing partners of each firm, the pair confirmed that talks have begun which may lead ...
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ABSs ‘not attractive’ to City firms, new research suggests
City law firms do not generally see alternative business structures as attractive, because they are reluctant to cede control of the firm to source external funding that they do not need. This is one conclusion of the first of a series of studies looking at ...
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Regulator considers ‘reflective approach’ on continuing professional development
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to commission research on continuing professional development schemes in other professions and internationally as part of its review of CPD, the Gazette has learned. The regulator said it will examine a range of schemes in use, including the more ‘reflective’ approach ...
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Lib Dems call for legal aid to be retained in benefits appeals
The Liberal Democrats have condemned the cuts to legal aid for welfare benefits appeals. At its autumn conference, the party called on the government to retain legal aid for people appealing welfare benefit decisions, and voted through a motion condemning the government’s welfare reform plans. ...
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New solicitor training model could shake up the City
A groundbreaking solicitor training model has launched this week, targeting City law firms and in-house legal departments. The first non-legal service provider to be authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to take on trainees, Acculaw claims it will cut costs and improve efficiency for firms looking ...
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Law Society announces Excellence Awards shortlist
The Law Society has today unveiled the shortlist of lawyers and firms nominated for this year’s Excellence Awards. The 17 awards recognise outstanding achievement by legal professionals at firms of all sizes across England and Wales, in categories ranging from community investment to client service, with ...