Latest news – Page 860
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News
Chancery Lane backs ABS advice subsidies
The Law Society has said new providers entering the market as alternative business structures (ABSs) should be obliged to offer financial support to existing law firms to safeguard access to justice. In its response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s consultation on ABSs, Chancery Lane warned ...
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Defendants on videolink 'get raw deal', warn solicitors
Defendants who appear in court via videolink are being ‘treated differently’ from those who appear in person, solicitors have warned, with a much higher proportion going unrepresented. The pilot virtual court, whereby defendants make their first appearance in court via videolink from a police station, has ...
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SRA considers foreign lawyer language test
Foreign qualified lawyers seeking to practise in England and Wales may have to pass an English language test under proposals to be considered by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority board this week. The SRA’s education and training committee has put forward the recommendation as an amendment to ...
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Personal injury claims portal under fire
An online personal injury service that claims to save consumers time and money by cutting lawyers out of PI claims has come under fire from solicitors. Lawyers claimed the new service would see claimants ‘swallowed alive’ by companies’ claims departments. Itsmyclaim.com describes ...
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Supreme Court emblems cost taxpayer £50k
The Treasury’s coffers may presently echo to the ghostly rustle of rolling tumbleweed, but no expense has been spared for Britain’s new Supreme Court. Taxpayers have paid nearly £50,000 for the design of not one but two emblems for the institution, a freedom of information request has revealed. ...
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Solicitors hand back £1.5m to miners under voluntary scheme
Solicitors have handed back more than £1.5m to injured former miners under a new voluntary repayment scheme after wrongly deducting fees from miners’ government compensation awards – and this figure could rise further as the project rolls on, the Gazette can reveal.
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Carbon footprint pledge
City firm Olswang has pledged to cut its carbon emissions by 10% in 2010 as part of a new environmental campaign. The 10:10 campaign, launched last week, was set up ahead of December’s climate change talks in Copenhagen. Olswang, the only law firm among the founding members of the campaign, ...
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APIL walks out of fixed-fee talks
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has walked out of talks on extending fixed costs in personal injury cases, the Gazette has learned. In an unprecedented move for the organisation, APIL has withdrawn from talks on extending fixed costs for all ‘fast track’ cases.
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Solicitors sign referral deal with financial advisers
Solicitors and independent financial advisers (IFAs) have entered into a nationwide tie-up in order to benefit from the relaxation of the rules on partnerships between lawyers and non-lawyers. Some 600 law firm members of the 360 Legal Group will be given access to 1,700 IFA members ...
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Chancery Lane attacks 'deeply flawed' MoJ legal aid proposals
The Law Society has called on the Ministry of Justice to clarify its ‘incoherent’ and ‘deeply flawed’ consultation on criminal legal aid cuts. In a hard-hitting letter to legal aid minister Lord Bach, Law Society president Robert Heslett said the vagueness and uncertainty of the paper ...
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Pakistan must take steps to ensure judicial independence, says IBA
Flawed judicial appointments processes, shortcomings in court infrastructure and a lack of training for legal professionals are hindering the independence of the judiciary in Pakistan, a report by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute has warned. The report said that the reinstatement of Pakistan’s ...
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Purdy and propriety
It was entirely right to include a full review of the recent decision in Purdy v DPP (see [2009] Gazette, 20 August, 10). The Gazette's choice of Ms Purdy's solicitor Saimo Chahal as the author was no doubt reasonable.
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HIP protection
Your recent online story ‘Estate agencies charging 50% more for HIPs’, based on a survey by Which?, raises some important issues. But the results must be viewed in the correct context.
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Securing licences, debt refinancing and selling lager
Brewing up: Magic circle firm Freshfields advised brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev on selling its Tennent’s Lager brand to beverage company C&C Group for £180m. C&C Group was advised by City firm LG. Course ...
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Legal Sector Alliance of City law firms press G20 on climate change
A group of City firms committed to safeguarding the environment has written a communiqué to the leaders of the G20 nations calling on them to ‘walk the talk’ when it comes to climate change legislation, the Gazette can reveal. The Legal Sector Alliance (LSA) of 18 ...
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Firms call for ‘safe harbour’ to strike early investment deals
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has rejected calls to create a ‘safe harbour’ for law firms to strike formal investment deals ahead of full implementation of the Legal Services Act 2007 reforms. The news came as the Gazette learned that a number of commercial law firms have taken the first major ...
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Internet users spend an average of two minutes on law firm websites
Internet users spend an average of just two minutes on law firm websites, with visits to ‘fuddy-duddy’ sites often lasting a mere 40 seconds, new research has revealed. Website marketing company Conscious Solutions analysed data from 83 law firms, ranging in size from more than 20 ...
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Firms seek emergency loans to pay for high indemnity premiums
Cash-strapped law firms are seeking emergency loans to pay for hiked professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums, amid claims that many insurers are tightening their payment terms. Independent finance providers Syscap and Key Business Professions (KBP) have reported a recent surge in the number of firms asking ...
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Bar regulator rapped by Legal Services Board over ABSs
The bar’s regulator has been accused of engaging in a ‘sterile debate’ over alternative business structures by oversight body the Legal Services Board. The LSB’s broadside came following the BSB’s decision to commission research by economic analysts on the potential effects on the market and consumers ...
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Nationwide probate deal
The Law Society has published a joint protocol with the Nationwide Building Society to assist in the winding up of estates. The protocol is the first such agreement to be reached with a building society, although similar arrangements are already in place with banks HSBC and ...