Latest news – Page 814
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BSB chair: 'merge solicitors' and barristers' training courses'
The chair of the bar’s regulator has called for a radical overhaul of legal professional education by merging the solicitors’ and barristers’ courses, to give young people longer to decide which branch of the profession they want to join. Bar Standards Board chair Lady Deech ...
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Society repeats nationwide ad campaign to promote solicitors
The Law Society has launched a repeat of last year’s nationwide drive to promote solicitors in an advertising campaign that began this week. Adverts will run in more than 450 railway stations and on more than 40 buses, as well as in the national press and ...
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Fresh legal aid cuts not ruled out by MoJ
The new legal aid minister refused to rule out more legal aid cuts in his first press interview last week. Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) also said no decision had been made on whether the coalition would proceed with the Labour government’s plans to consolidate the criminal defence ...
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EAT upholds victimisation claim
A firm that ‘gratuitously’ mentioned a solicitor’s previous discrimination claim against it when providing an employment reference to another firm has lost an appeal in the Employment Appeal Tribunal. Pothecary Witham Weld (PWW) lost the appeal in a case that has established that the reverse burden ...
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Banks' reluctance to grant loans impedes student access to LPC
Access to the profession is being restricted because banks are increasingly unwilling to provide loans to Legal Practice Course students, the Junior Lawyers Division has warned. JLD chair Heidi Sandy said LPC students across the country have reported that they are finding it more difficult ...
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Warning over CPS recruitment freeze and budget cut
A recruitment freeze at the Crown Prosecution Service and its latest budget cut will increase the burden on defence solicitors and the criminal justice system, lawyers warned this week. The Attorney General’s Office has said that the CPS must contribute an additional £16m of savings. This ...
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Conveyancers 'vulnerable' as mortgage fraud continues to rise
Conveyancing solicitors are ‘uniquely vulnerable’ to exploitation by criminals laundering money, a leading anti-money laundering solicitor has warned. The warning came as the latest figures from the Solicitors Regulation Authority showed that cases of mortgage fraud continue to rise. Peter Rodd, ...
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Law firms and investors showing 'little appetite' for external funding
Lifting restrictions on external investment in law firms will not lead to a ‘big bang’ for the legal profession, ‘just a big whimper’, a leading private equity investor has predicted. His comments came as the Ministry of Justice confirmed that the new government is ‘fully ...
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Split profession?
I read with interest that the Legal Services Board commissioned an ‘economic analysis’ which concluded there was no evidence that referral fees harm consumers.
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Border agency has to get it right
I agree with C Selvarajah ‘Asylum tragedy’ (see letters, 27 May). Nobody likes uncertainty, which prevents them from pursuing a full life.
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Regulation and will-writing
As long as there is an unregulated will-making sector, professional and ethical solicitors, and professional and ethical willwriters, should join forces with a common goal to provide professional and regulated will-writing services to consumers by whatever means the consumer chooses.
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Lawyer wins tribunal appeal over withdrawal of job offer
A woman lawyer has won her appeal against an employment tribunal ruling that disability discrimination did not lie behind a major law firm’s decision to withdraw a job offer.
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Courts report rise in personal injury claims
The number of personal injury claims filed in the High Court jumped 32% between 2006 and 2008, research has found. Claims relating to personal injury jumped 31.8% from 914 in 2006 to 1,205 in 2008, according to a study of the latest available figures by ...
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Bar must step up competition with solicitors, chairman warns
The bar must embrace direct access to the public to compete in a system that has been ‘calibrated and designed to hand the entire legal aid pot to solicitors’, the Bar Council chairman said last week. Speaking at a symposium last week to discuss the paper ...
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Lord Phillips defends Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act 1998 is ‘a vital part of the foundation of our fight against terrorism’, the president of the Supreme Court asserted this week in an outspoken defence of the act. Setting out a series of recent cases in which government anti-terrorism measures ...
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Joint pro bono clearing house to launch
A National Pro Bono Centre is to open this summer to act as a ‘hub’ for pro bono charities. The NPBC, which has been registered as a new legal charity, will bring together in one building LawWorks, the Bar Pro Bono Unit and the ILEX Pro ...
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Asylum advice centre closes
Immigration advice charity Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) went into administration yesterday following cashflow problems which it said were due to late payments by the Legal Services Commission. Despite a high-profile campaign, with letters sent to the justice secretary and home secretary on RMJ’s behalf by ...
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Mayer Brown picks up pro bono gong
US firm Mayer Brown International was recognised for its work with pro bono group LawWorks at the charity’s annual awards ceremony last night. The firm won the award for the best contribution by a law firm, for supporting numerous projects including providing pro bono assistance through ...
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Law Society launches advertising campaign
The Law Society is to repeat its nationwide drive to promote solicitors in an advertising campaign that will begin on Monday. Adverts will run in more than 450 railway stations and on more than 40 buses, as well as in the national press. ...
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HIPs: a mixed blessing?
While we should applaud the decision to scrap HIPs, they did at least introduce the concept of preparing in advance. The public and estate agents just do not understand that, to effect a smooth sale, the selling solicitor needs to plan ahead.