Latest news – Page 824
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News
Law firm bankruptcies predicted as Lees Lloyd Whitley closes
Insolvency experts have predicted a rise in the number of law firms that will face bankruptcy in the coming months, after a well-known firm in the north-west closed its doors last week. Lees Lloyd Whitley (LLW) – a 190-year-old Merseyside firm with 90 staff – ceased ...
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Watchdog to review Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will appoint an independent reviewer to oversee the way it handles complaints in a bid to improve efficiency. The SRA plans to introduce a single complaints-handling policy that will deal with all complaints, including those involving discrimination. ...
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Inspectors praise CPS Organised Crime Division
The independent inspectors of the Crown Prosecution Service have praised its specialist Organised Crime Division (OCD) for high-quality case preparation and decision-making, in a report published this week. The HM CPS Inspectorate commended the CPS’s specialist organised crime prosecutors for their availability to give pre-charge advice ...
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Law firm to offer all services online with new website launch
A north-west law firm will next week launch a website that offers the full range of consumer legal services 24 hours a day, for a fixed fee. Canter Levin & Berg claims to be the first firm to provide a full range of services online. ...
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Jackson considers raising personal injury small claims limit
Lord Justice Jackson has hinted that he might recommend increasing the small claims limit for personal injury cases if there is no deal on fast-track fixed costs, the Gazette can reveal. His last public address before going into report-writing purdah is being seen as a warning ...
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Ministry of Justice tackles ‘spiralling’ defamation legal costs
The Ministry of Justice has introduced new rules aimed at cutting ‘spiralling’ legal costs in defamation proceedings by making changes to the rules for ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements.
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Personal injury lawyers hit by new fees for RTA claims
Claimant personal injury solicitors face a cut of up to 53% in the fees they receive under a new road traffic accident claims process agreed last week. However, the claimant groups which negotiated the deal with insurers said this will be balanced by a more streamlined ...
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Chancery Lane responds to PII concerns – statement from the chief executive
The Law Society has moved to address growing disquiet among practising solicitors about the problems they have encountered renewing their professional indemnity insurance. Chancery Lane announced last month that it had written to the Association of British Insurers and individual insurers asking them for an ...
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MP rallies miners for legal action against legal adviser
Hundreds of injured former coal miners are being rallied to sue their legal adviser in the first coordinated legal action for alleged under-settling of government compensation claims, the Gazette can reveal. John Mann, Labour MP for Bassetlaw, told the Gazette he is gathering potential claimants to ...
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Call for lawyers to speak plain English
A senior lecturer at City Law School has called on lawyers to abandon complex and archaic ‘legalese’ and speak clearly. David Emmet said lawyers have a habit of using words and expressions that are more complicated than they need to be. Typical ...
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Hike in TUPE litigation claims against law firms
The number of law firms facing litigation under Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment (TUPE) regulations has risen sharply, the Gazette has learned. Gordon Turner (pictured), employment specialist at London firm Partners Law, said he has acted on nine cases where law firms have been ...
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500 firms to enter assigned risks pool at indemnity deadline
A record 500 firms are set to fall into the assigned risks pool (ARP) today, as the deadline expires for professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal. This means around one in 20 law firms will be forced to spend a quarter of their fee income on emergency ...
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National bar leaders rally in defence of legal aid
More than 50 bar leaders from around the world have issued a communiqué in support of access to justice, urging governments to fulfil their duty to provide adequate legal aid funding. They gathered today at the Law Society in London at the opening of the legal ...
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BSB to decide barristers’ role in new legal structures
The Bar Standards Board will decide the role barristers will be allowed to have in new legal structures in November, it announced today. By then, it says, it will have analysed the results of research it commissioned into the benefits to consumers of the various different ...
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Support service launched for bereaved families of victims
A new national service giving one-to-one support for the bereaved families of murder and manslaughter victims is to begin work this financial year, justice secretary Jack Straw has announced. National organisation Victim Support is receiving an extra £2m from the government to fund the new ...
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Bach rejects Society’s legal aid fee cut fears
Legal aid minister Lord Bach (pictured) has rejected Chancery Lane’s demand for an extension to the consultation period on proposed criminal legal aid cuts. He also dismissed the Law Society’s allegation that the August consultation paper Legal aid: funding reforms is ‘incoherent’ and ‘deeply flawed’. ...
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Bar urges halt on contingency fees reform
The Bar Council has urged the government to halt plans to regulate contingency fees, to allow time for greater public debate. In its response to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on regulating the damages-based agreements that are frequently used in employment cases, the council said proposed ...
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Law Society acts on ‘inflated’ indemnity premiums
The Law Society has written to every professional indemnity insurer asking for an ‘urgent response’ to its concerns over the ‘hugely inflated’ premiums being quoted ahead of this year’s renewal deadline. The Society said calls to its dedicated professional indemnity insurance helpline indicated that insurers were ...
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No man is an island
I agree with Susan Singleton that being a sole practitioner does not mean living as a hermit or having no friends (see [2009] Gazette, 10 September, 9). However, for many who are currently having a rather hellish time getting their insurance renewed, and having panel membership taken away...
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Fixed-fee concerns
I am writing following your report about the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers withdrawing from the fixed-fee mediations run by the Civil Justice Council (see [2009] Gazette, 17 September, 3).