Latest news – Page 744
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News
SRA to investigate solicitors’ potential role in phone-hacking events
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has today launched a formal investigation into the role played by solicitors in events surrounding the News of the World phone-hacking scandal. The SRA's chief executive Antony Townsend said the decision followed a preliminary review of the material in the public domain. ...
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Anger over £600m in unpaid court fines
The government was accused of ‘economic illiteracy’ this week, as it emerged that the amount owed in outstanding court fines has risen to more than £600m in the past year, while the number of enforcement officers employed to collect them was slashed by 12%. Solicitors expressed ...
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ABSs at risk of criminal ownership, Law Society warns
The Law Society is pressing the Ministry of Justice to make an urgent amendment to the Legal Services Act to prevent non-lawyers with spent criminal convictions from becoming owners of alternative business structures. Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has written to justice secretary Kenneth Clarke urging ...
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Cuts set to delay case reviews, says CCRC
The independent body that played an instrumental role in the acquittals of Barry George and Sion Jenkins (pictured) has warned that further cuts to its budget will cause delays in dealing with cases. In its annual report published this week, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which ...
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Auditors warn MoJ about legal aid reforms
The National Audit Office (pictured) warned the government that its legal aid reforms would threaten the sustainability of law firms before the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill was published. The news comes after the Gazette reported last week that the Legal Services Commission ...
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Domestic violence rules 'boost cost of disputes'
Family lawyers have attacked the government’s plans to deny legal aid to domestic violence victims who accept ‘undertakings’ from an allegedly abusive partner. Responding to a query on the issue from the House of Commons’ Justice Committee, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that undertakings given during ...
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Law firms plan for Olympics delays
City firms have already begun putting action plans in place to deal with the disruption caused by the London 2012 Olympics, the Gazette has learned. London 2012 organisers have written to all firms in the capital warning that capacity on rail and underground services will be ...
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Defamation lawyer: abuse victims need CFAs
A leading defamation lawyer has called for conditional fee agreements to be preserved to help victims of press abuse. Steven Heffer, chair of the Lawyers for Media Standards group, said individuals must be given the means to fight legal battles against media outlets that have acted ...
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NHSLA considers clinical negligence pilot
Claimant lawyers and the NHS Litigation Authority are working on a joint scheme for fast-tracking clinical negligence cases. The two groups will meet next month to examine a pilot for dealing with cases valued up to £25,000. The scheme will use a ...
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Law Society should head off the referral parasites
Third parties’ expectations of receiving a ‘wedge’ from us for an introduction started about the time legal aid was withdrawn for personal injury actions. It seems lots of folk want to get their fingers in the pie. Most introducers have no interest in the legal ...
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Not in my name
I have read how the Law Society is continuing its fight against legal aid cuts. I do not recall the Society asking whether they should spend money on a campaign with which I may not agree. I speak only in respect of civil legal aid. My ...
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Message to SRA: no problem
I write in relation to the SRA’s decision to impose the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocacy on criminal litigation. The reasoning by Mr Plant as to why this scheme is required is far from clear. Those who practise in the criminal courts on a daily basis ...
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LSC transfers cases from collapsed immigration advice provider
The Legal Services Commission has announced that it has begun transferring urgent files from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service to other providers. Following a call for existing immigration contract holders to submit expressions of interest to take on IAS cases, current providers indicated they had the ...
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Regulator clamps down on claims management companies
The regulator of claims management companies has reported a massive rise in the number of businesses refused authorisation. The Claims Management Regulation Unit warned there would be ‘no let-up’ in the coming year after seeing enforcement measures against firms leap from 35 in 2009/10 to 349 ...
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Law Commission reveals new areas for reform
Reviewing the law of contempt, European contract law and financial provision on divorce are among the 14 projects that the Law Commission has revealed it will look into over the next three years. The Commission has published its eleventh programme of law reform projects, selected from ...
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Commons committee targets human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) should take a ‘more robust’ position on human rights abuses across the entire Middle East, including countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain where the UK has close commercial ties, the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has said in a report published today. ...
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Better deal for interns proposed
A best practice code urging law firms to pay work experience interns at least the minimum wage and to recruit them from a broader social range was published yesterday by the Gateways to the Professions Collaborative Forum (GPCF), of which the Legal Services Board (LSB) is a member. ...
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A&O opens in Morocco
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy has announced its first move into Africa with an office opening in Casablanca. The firm is looking to build on a number of recent deals in the continent, focusing on the region’s emerging markets. The new ...
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Solicitor linked to drug dealer jailed
Legal practitioners have been warned not to turn a blind eye to criminality after a solicitor with links to a drug dealer was jailed for 16 months. James Thorburn-Muirhead was sentenced last month to 16 months in prison after abusing his professional posititon. ...