Latest news – Page 755
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News
Forensic expert witnesses should be accredited, warns judge
A lack of accreditation of expert witnesses means that anyone with a scientific background and sufficient ‘brass neck’ could set themselves up as a forensic science expert and mislead the court, a Court of Appeal judge has warned. Lord Justice Leveson told the Forensic Science Society ...
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Justice minister calls for greater steer towards mediation
Individuals should play a greater role in solving their problems rather than turning to the courts, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said last week as he set out the government’s plan to support mediation in the wake of its proposals to slash legal aid. Speaking at CEDR’s ...
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Scrap training contract, says thinktank
A legal thinktank has today called for the abolition of the training contract as part of proposed radical changes to legal education and training. A 53-page discussion paper from the College of Law’s Legal Services Institute (LSI) urges scrapping training contracts and making the Legal Practice ...
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Society launches campaign to fight legal aid cuts
The Law Society has called on law firms to lobby MPs over the impact of the government’s proposed legal aid overhaul, in the first stage in its campaign to fight the cuts. Chancery Lane has warned that the plans outlined in last week’s consultation to reduce ...
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‘Compensation culture’ peer quits over gaffe
Lord Young of Graffham will not now assist the government with the implementation of his report on the ‘compensation culture’ after quitting his advisory role this afternoon, Downing Street has confirmed to the Gazette. The government backed the Tory peer’s report, Common Sense, Common Safety, and ...
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Specialisms not easily acquired
As an experienced practitioner in the field of private client law, I am always pleased to see solicitors, old and new, wishing to practise in this complex and rewarding area of law. However, I do think we need to address the assumption that a ...
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Deputy difficulty
I was very interested to read the letter Capacity issue by Lindsay Taylor. I have been appointed as deputy for a family friend who has all the symptoms of dementia but is living in his own house with a care package to assist him. I duly registered the deputyship order ...
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Making the grade
Restrictions on the legal practice course should be based not on whether a person has obtained a training contract, but on whether or not they are likely to do so. At university, I was among high achievers who obtained training contracts before commencing the LPC. Many ...
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Limiting access to the LPC smacks of restrictive practice
Robin Dunne suggests restricting legal practice course (LPC) places to those who have secured a training contract. One could also fix the pass mark so that the number of students who do pass accords with the number of trainees needed. However, a return to the days of such restriction is ...
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Civil legal aid facing ‘devastation’ after £154m cut
Lawyers warned this week that civil legal aid services could be devastated by government plans that would see the total annual income of legal aid providers slashed by up to £154m. The proposed reforms would cut state help to all but the very poorest, the Law ...
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Research reveals diversity concerns
The Law Society this week published three research papers highlighting the difficulties faced by women, black and ethnic minority (BME), and lesbian and gay lawyers in the profession.
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Judicial approval for costs pilot a ‘success’
Forcing solicitors to win judicial approval of their fee budgets in civil cases has been proven to reduce the costs of litigation, according to the judge who proposed the idea. Lord Justice Jackson (pictured), author of a major report on civil litigation costs, told the Commercial ...
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Neuberger: mediation is no substitute for justice
Mediation ‘cannot be a substitute for justice’, the master of the rolls warned this week, in a view that appears sharply at odds with government proposals to replace many legal aid-funded cases with alternative dispute resolution. Unveiling the government’s legal aid reforms this week, justice secretary ...
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Government rethinks TUPE stance
The coalition government has scrapped plans to reform controversial employment regulations in an apparent U-turn by the Conservatives, it has emerged. Mark Hammerton, employment partner at national firm Eversheds, said Lord Hunt, now energy minister, had suggested before the election that a Conservative government would seek ...
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Consumer shift in estate services
Consumers are increasingly shopping around for estate administration services, which has led to a fall in average administration costs despite a rise in the value of estates, a report has suggested. The survey of 1,514 consumers, commissioned by insurer Sun Life Direct, also found that ...
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More than 300 firms reform as LDPs
More than 300 firms have registered as legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs), according to the latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority, indicating an acceleration of takeup in advance of the rules permitting alternative business structures (ABSs) next year. There were 304 registered LDPs at the end ...
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Skilled worker visa quota massively oversubscribed
So many visa applications have been submitted by highly skilled workers from outside the EU this month that November’s quota of 600 applications was reached three weeks before the end of the month, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has revealed. In July, the government introduced a ...
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Judicial Appointments Commission survives quango cull
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Judicial Appointments and Conduct Ombudsman will not fall victim to the government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’, the government has revealed. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke told parliament last week that the two agencies will remain in place ‘as valued independent ...
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Legal fees drive up motor premium costs, claim insurers
Insurance companies should and could do more to stop people driving without a licence, the Motor Accident Solicitors Society (MASS) has told a House of Commons inquiry into escalating motor insurance costs. In its written submission to the Transport Committee inquiry, MASS said that uninsured drivers ...
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Indian legal services market to stay closed
The Indian government has no plans to allow foreign law firms to practise in the country, it said in a statement on Monday. Veerappa Moily, minister of law and justice, said in response to a question in the Indian parliament that ‘at present there is no ...