Latest news – Page 828
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News
SRA issues advice on Quinn administration
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today advised 2,911 law firms to sit tight and take no action after Irish insurer Quinn Insurance, which provides their solicitors' professional indemnity insurance (PII), was forced into administration yesterday.
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Expansion of barristers’ role following relaxation of bar rules
The Legal Services Board has approved a relaxation in the bar rules that will allow barristers to take advantage of the Legal Services Act 2007. Following the LSB’s approval of the Bar Standards Boards’ applications to relax the bar’s Code of Conduct, barristers will now be ...
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Lawyers warning over family experts fee cuts
Slashing the fees of social work experts will put vulnerable children at risk and increase delays in the family court, their representative groups have warned. From October 2010, the Ministry of Justice will reduce by around 50% the fees paid to social workers who give independent ...
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News
SRA issues advice on Quinn administration
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today advised 2,911 law firms to sit tight and take no action after Irish insurer Quinn Insurance, which provides their solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII), was forced into administration yesterday.
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News
Quinn Insurance in administration
Irish insurer Quinn Insurance, a major underwriter of solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) policies in the UK, has today fallen into administration. In a statement, the Irish Financial Regulator said that it has directed Quinn to cease writing new business in the UK. The statement said ...
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Legal challenge threat to RTA process
A collective of personal injury solicitors is planning a legal challenge against the Ministry of Justice over its new road traffic accident (RTA) claims process, the Gazette had learned. The Accident Compensation Solicitors Group (ACSG) claims that fixed costs under the new process ‘have not been ...
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New higher rights qualification approved
New regulations that provide a single route for solicitors to qualify to appear in the higher courts come into effect this week, on 1 April. The Ministry of Justice has approved the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new system, which will see one route to qualification through an ...
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‘Tesco law juggernaut halted’ in Scotland
Scottish solicitors opposed to the introduction of alternative business structures yesterday hailed the ‘halting of the Tesco law juggernaut’ north of the border, following a heated debate over the future of the nation’s legal profession. At a special meeting held in Edinburgh’s Murrayfield stadium, the ...
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Competence issue
The comments of the Law Society on the Institute of Legal Executives consultation on associate prosecutor advocacy training come a little late (see [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 1). Your report omits to say that this issue was debated and settled by parliament when the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act passed ...
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Paying fair for practising fees
I write in my capacity as president of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors in response to Charles Plant’s article ‘A fairer structure’ (see [2010] Gazette, 11 March, 8).
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Acquisition of Care UK and the creation of Eurostar International
Plan from the Pru: City firm Herbert Smith advised Credit Suisse, JP Morgan Cazenove and HSBC on financing UK insurer Prudential’s $35.5bn (£23.4bn) acquisition of the Asian operations of insurer AIG, advised by US firm Debevoise & Plimpton. Magic circle firm Slaughter and ...
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Partner exodus forecast once alternative business structures available
Experienced City law firm partners will quit their firms in droves to set up a new wave of boutique practices once alternative business structures (ABSs) are available, leading market commentators are predicting. Professor Richard Susskind (pictured) and Maitland Chambers chief executive Robert Graham-Campbell forecast that the ...
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Top legal process outsourcing providers plan ‘aggressive expansion’
Two of the top three legal process outsourcing (LPO) providers are plotting aggressive growth in anticipation of a flood of mandates in 2010, the Gazette has learned. The news comes shortly after the third LPO provider in the trio, CPA Global, announced similarly ambitious plans ...
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VHCC panel for criminal work to be suspended
The Legal Services Commission has announced that the very high cost cases (VHCC) panel for criminal work will be suspended when the current contracts expire in July, because of a lack of time to run a new tendering exercise. From July 2010 the LSC said it ...
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City firms in the dark
Founding firms in the Legal Sector Alliance including Allen & Overy and Lovells have pledged to take part in the symbolic ‘Earth Hour’ lights-out event on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm, in which they will switch off their lights for an hour. ...
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Lord Neuberger calls for single appeals tribunal
The master of the rolls has recommended that a single body should be responsible for hearing appeals brought by lawyers or legal businesses found to have breached licensing and ownership rules. Lord Neuberger said it is essential that common standards are applicable across the profession.
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Environmental search data breakthrough for conveyancing solicitors
Conveyancing solicitors could get free access to more environmental search information from local authorities following an Information Tribunal ruling. In a case concerning East Riding of Yorkshire, the tribunal ruled that the local authority should have allowed a representative from a private search company to inspect ...
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O2 slams letters sent out by lawyers to alleged internet file-sharers
Mobile phone company O2 has waded into the row over controversial letters sent by lawyers to alleged internet file-sharers. O2 broadband customers are among the thousands who have received letters from London firm ACS Law, which acts on behalf of DigiProtect, an anti-piracy firm, and ...
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Tories rule out ban on PI referral fees
A Conservative government would not enforce a blanket ban on personal injury referral fees, shadow justice minister Henry Bellingham told the Gazette this week. The remarks appear to signal a softening in Tory policy, and go against one of Lord Justice Jackson’s key proposals in his ...
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Explosion in demand for paralegals, thinktank reveals
The number of paralegals has doubled in the last decade and is set to rise further, according to a report from government-sponsored thinktank the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The report, which explored the country’s present and future skills needs, disclosed that the number of ...