Latest news – Page 821

  • News

    Capture conflict

    2010-05-10T00:00:00Z

    ‘It is in everyone's interests to have a low cost system,’ a director of the Association of British Insurers told the annual conference of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (Gazette news, 29 April, 4). Like most people, I do want to believe what I am told by people who ...

  • News

    Forgotten group disadvantaged by PC fee

    2010-05-10T00:00:00Z

    I write regarding your opinion piece of 24 April headlined ‘PC fee proposal falls flat’.

  • News

    Public fails to chart financial assets in wills

    2010-05-07T00:00:00Z

    Nearly three-quarters of the British public do not have a will that clearly charts their financial assets, research has revealed. Some 73% of Britons have not documented financial assets such as pension plans and life insurance policies in their wills, a YouGov survey of 2,384 adults, ...

  • News

    Spike in mergers predicted in 2010

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The year ahead is likely to see a spike in mergers and team hires among the top 100 law firms, with 20% looking to expand overseas, according to research published this week. Sweet & Maxwell’s annual survey of law firm finance directors reveals that 40% of ...

  • News

    APIL urges government to increase access to compensation

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The next government must provide injured workers with enhanced access to compensation, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) said as a government consultation, Accessing Compensation, closed today. APIL urged the incoming government to ensure that plans laid down by the Department for Work and Pensions ...

  • News

    Equal treatment

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    I read in the Gazette of 22 April that the Co-operative Group is planning to promote its legal services and become an alternative business structure (see [2010] Gazette, 22 April, 4).

  • News

    Partner promotions up at top City firms

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Top City law firms have upped their partner promotions this year, in what appears to be a good round for City lawyers. As the Gazette went to press, only two City firms outside the magic circle, Norton Rose and Denton Wilde Sapte, and two within ...

  • News

    FTSE-100 group attacks ECJ ruling on Akzo Nobel appeal

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The group that represents in-house counsel at FTSE 100 companies has attacked a preliminary ruling of the European Court of Justice (ECJ) on legal privilege rights for in-house lawyers as illogical and ‘flawed’. The GC100 said it was ‘very disappointed’ by advocate general Juliane Kokott’s opinion ...

  • News

    Chancery Lane condemns criticism of Chinese human rights lawyers

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Two Chinese human rights lawyers face losing their licences to practise law following ‘absurd’ accusations by Beijing Municipal Judicial Bureau that they had behaved illegally in court. Chinese human rights lawyers Tang Jitian and Liu Wei, who represented a follower of the Falun Gong movement in ...

  • News

    Quinn Group considers selling insurance arm

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurer currently in administration, looks destined to be sold following a statement from its parent company Quinn Group issued last week. Quinn Group said it had concluded that it ‘should consider selling Quinn Insurance’ in the interests of Quinn Insurance employees and ...

  • News

    Barristers could have right to sue solicitors for unpaid fees

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Barristers would be able to sue solicitors for unpaid fees under proposals published by the Bar Council last week to put the relationship between the two professions on a more commercial footing. The consultation proposes the introduction of new legally binding contractual terms to govern the ...

  • News

    Employment Appeal Tribunal: ‘Job applications must be genuine’

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    A litigant who brought age discrimination claims against 20 recruitment agencies has lost an appeal to the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) on the grounds that she had no genuine interest in the vacancies for which she had applied. The EAT said the judgment could serve as ...

  • News

    QualitySolicitors to launch personal injury claims management scheme

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    National law firm network QualitySolicitors is to launch a new personal injury claims management scheme designed to target claimants from higher socio-economic groups and drive down the cost of referrals, the Gazette can reveal. QualitySolicitors Personal Injury (QSPI) is a members-only claims management-style company which will ...

  • News

    Law Society survey reveals BME insurance divide

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    Law Society research into last year’s professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal process has revealed a growing divide in the market, with ethnic minority firms encountering greater problems than most of the rest of the ­profession. The Society said it would ‘explore urgently’ the reasons behind the ...

  • News

    RTA portal launch runs into trouble

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The new road traffic accident (RTA) information exchange, which is designed to handle hundreds of thousands of low-value RTA claims, has been dogged by problems since its belated introduction last week, the Gazette has learned. Many solicitors have still not received access codes for the new ...

  • News

    Law Society seeks to block privilege for non-lawyers

    2010-05-06T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has been granted permission to intervene in a Court of Appeal case that could see legal professional privilege (LPP) extended to non-lawyers. In his High Court judgment in Prudential v Special Commissioner of Income Tax and Philip Pandolfo (HM Inspector of Taxes) in ...

  • News

    Spike in mergers predicted in 2010

    2010-05-05T00:00:00Z

    The year ahead is likely to see a spike in mergers and team hires among the top 100 law firms, with 20% looking to expand overseas, according to research published this week. Sweet & Maxwell’s annual survey of law firm finance directors reveals that 40% of ...

  • News

    Solicitors to launch scheme to drive down PI referral costs

    2010-05-04T00:00:00Z

    National law firm network QualitySolicitors is to launch a new personal injury scheme designed to target claimants from higher socio-economic groups and drive down the cost of referrals, the Gazette can reveal. QualitySolicitors Personal Injury (QSPI) is a members-only claims management-style company which will be launched ...

  • News

    Child care lawyers are qualified

    2010-05-04T00:00:00Z

    I do not recognise the picture presented in your article entitled ‘Fears over child care lawyer shortage’ (see [2010] Gazette,15 April, 1).

  • News

    Reinstate income threshold for PC fee

    2010-05-04T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest your Opinion column about whether there should be discounts on the PC fee for part-time workers and your request for readers' views (see [2010] Gazette, 29 April, 10).