Latest news – Page 742
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News
European Commission targets collective redress system
The European Commission has relaunched its bid to introduce a coherent system for collective redress in Europe. Publishing a consultation on 4 February, the EC said it wanted to identify common legal principles on collective actions among European states. However, it ‘firmly opposes’ introducing US-style class ...
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Real reason for cuts
Has it occurred to anyone that the motivation behind cuts (begun by New Labour remember) in legal aid – particularly in the civil arena – may be a good deal more sinister than the coalition would have us believe? Any first-year law student should spot that ...
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Conveyancing: bigger is not better
As a firm dealing with conveyancing matters on a comparatively small scale we feel hugely threatened by the pressures on our business from the increase of indemnity premiums largely resulting from the requirements of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, who of course include all the major banks and financial institutions. ...
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Poorly drafted wills
I read (online) the Gazette article about the benefits of Will Aid (and the comments posted on that article). Friends of mine had their wills prepared by a small firm of solicitors under the Will Aid scheme. I offered to check the wills for them before ...
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Butchery and ABSs
I have attended a number of seminars and read a number of different articles regarding alternative business structures that are due to be permitted from October 2011. As I understand it, a ‘manager’, who may be a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, would be able to participate in ...
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Weighing up the balance sheet
What a cheerless world is portrayed in Maureen Broderick’s article . Are we really just a ‘time and materials’ business? It is a very long time since there was any debate about the basis of our professional ethics. There are still some of us who worry ...
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Legal aid cuts ‘do little to protect public interest’, says bar regulator
The government’s proposals for legal aid reform have no positive regulatory impact and do little to protect or promote the public interest, according to the bar’s regulator. In its response to the green paper, the Bar Standards Board said the planned scope and eligibility cuts will ...
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Thousands respond to Ministry of Justice legal aid consultation
The Ministry of Justice received 5,000 responses to its consultation on legal aid cuts, Jonathan Djanogly told the Justice Committee this morning. The legal aid minister told the committee he could not discuss what the responses to the consultation, which closed on Monday, but said the ...
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Protection of Freedoms Bill ‘disappointing’, says Law Society
The new Protection of Freedoms Bill fails to live up to government promises and instead hints at a ‘growth of the surveillance society’, the Law Society has warned. The Society said the legislation, which the coalition claims will scale back on Labour’s ‘intrusive’ policies, will take ...
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SRA streamlines staff levels in move towards risk-based regulation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to reduce its staff levels by 12.5% by the end of the year, in an organisational restructure announced today. The reduction in staff numbers forms part of the regulator’s transition to outcomes-focused regulation and the licensing of alternative business structures, which ...
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Butler-Sloss issues warning over legal aid cuts
The government’s planned legal aid cuts will have a ‘serious adverse long-term effect’ on the justice system, a former president of the family division of the High Court has warned. In a speech to the Society of Conservative Lawyers, Baroness Butler-Sloss said that the plans would ...
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Bar Council cautions against ‘DIY litigants’
The government’s ‘crude and brutal’ legal aid cuts will trigger a surge in ‘DIY litigants’ that risks ‘gridlock’ in the courts, the Bar Council has warned. Responding to the government’s consultation on legal aid, which closes today, the bar’s representative body said the cuts, which are ...
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Stoke personal injury firm launches iPhone app
Stoke-on-Trent personal injury firm Attwood has launched an iPhone app that allows users to upload images of their injuries prior to launching a claim. Launching the app today, which allows users to value and make a claim, the firm said that uploaded information can be downloaded ...
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Law academics slam Jackson’s civil justice proposals
An independent panel of law academics has branded Lord Justice Jackson’s proposals to reform civil litigation costs as ‘misleading and ‘inconsistent with a fundamental principle of civil justice’, as it published a report today. The 11-strong panel, chaired by Bristol University tort law professor Ken Oliphant, ...
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Government faces intense pressure over legal aid cuts
The government faced intense lobbying over its legal aid reforms this week, as the Law Society put forward a raft of alternative measures to preserve the legal aid budget, and the shadow legal aid minister warned that the government’s cuts will ‘destroy’ civil legal advice. The ...
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Pro bono thrives in private practice
The value of pro bono work provided by private practice solicitors has reached £475m, according to Law Society research. The figure represents a 19% annual increase and is equivalent to an estimated 2% of the total gross income of private practice. The ...
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Legal services comparison website launched
The latest legal services comparison website to enter the market was launched by a Hertfordshire solicitor last week. Michael Welsh has launched fixed costs comparison site comparelegalcosts.com, which offers consumers a choice of three firms based on their postcode.
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Supreme Court ruling puts children first in immigration cases
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has put the ‘best interests of the child’ at the centre of decision-making in immigration cases involving the deportation or removal of their parents. Giving judgment last week in the case of ZH, a Tanzanian woman who had made three failed ...
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Supreme Court gives green light for courtroom tweeting
The Supreme Court gave the go-ahead for people to ‘tweet’ from inside the courtroom last week. The court issued guidance on the use of live text-based communication from the courtroom by legal teams, journalists and members of the public. Since the guidance ...
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Research highlights gender differences in legal profession
An in-depth study by the Law Society’s strategic research unit has revealed a picture of a profession in which there is a high level of disparity between the sexes; a tendency to remain in the same job; and a high value placed on flexible working. The ...