Latest news – Page 862
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News
Nationwide signs up to probate protocol
The Law Society has this week published a new 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 ...
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News
Nationwide signs up to probate protocol
The Law Society has this week published a new 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 ...
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News
Sole practitioners axed from Britannia/Co-operative panel
Co-operative Financial Services (CFS), which has recently merged with Britannia Building Society, is to axe 3,600 sole practitioners from its conveyancing panel, it has emerged. The Law Society has urged the CFS not to remove the large number of sole practitioners who had been on Britannia’s ...
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Building society hit by £41m mortgage fraud
Solicitors and other professionals have been implicated in £41m of mortgage fraud which plunged the mutual Chelsea Building Society deep into the red in the first half, it emerged today. In its interim accounts Chelsea said that the mortgage fraud, perpetrated between 2006 and 2008, involved ...
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More job cuts at Burges Salmon
South-west firm Burges Salmon is to axe up to four property lawyers and up to 27 support staff in its second redundancy round of the year. The firm said that redundancy pay will be ‘more generous’ than the statutory minimum. In March, Burges Salmon let 18 ...
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PII boost for small firms as XL enters market
Sole practitioners and small law firms have received a boost ahead of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewals season, with news that insurance giant XL will provide them with cover. As revealed by the Gazette last week, XL, a new entrant to the solicitors’ PII market, ...
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Bar Standards Board warning over ABSs
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has said it would be ‘wrong’ to allow barristers to join alternative business structures (ABSs) without evidence of whether all forms of the new structure are ‘compatible with the regulatory objectives’ of the Legal Services Act 2007, or necessary for the benefit of consumers. ...
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Britannia under fire from Chancery Lane
The Law Society has criticised Britannia Building Society and The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) for failing to engage with it after the newly merged building society moved to axe 3,600 sole practitioners from its conveyancing panel. After being advised last week of the decision to ...
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SRA announces new Board appointments
The Law Society has announced the members of the new Solicitors Regulation Authority board who will take up their posts on 1 January 2010. The 13 appointments – seven solicitors and six lay members – have been made by an independent panel, chaired by the former ...
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Land registry sees 75% drop in income
The Land Registry’s annual report has revealed the impact of the faltering housing market on the government body, with its core business down by 75%. The Land Registry’s annual report published today shows that its income from fees for the year 2008/09 fell to £308m, compared ...
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New code of conduct for third-party funders
Self-regulation of third-party litigation funders has moved a step closer after a draft code of conduct was submitted to Lord Justice Jackson (pictured), the Gazette has learned. However, in putting the code to the judge as part of his review of ...
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Estate agencies charging 50% more for HIPs
Home information packs (HIPs) purchased from estate agents can cost 50% more than those bought directly from specialist HIP providers such as law firms and conveyancing practices, new research indicates. On average, HIPs from estate agents cost about £110 more than HIPs from specialist providers, according ...
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News
Barnardo’s report claims children wrongly taken into custody
Around 170 children between the ages of 12 and 14 may have been wrongly put behind bars in 2007-08, a report published by children’s charity Barnardo’s claimed today. Government policy states that children aged 14 and younger should only be put into custody if they have ...
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Judicial Office reveals £4.45m budget
The Judicial Office budget for 2009/10 will be £4.45m, the office has revealed in its first ever business plan. The Judicial Office was set up in 2006 to provide administrative support to the Lord Chief Justice and senior judiciary. It also provides training to the 42,000 ...
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Bahrain to open alternative dispute resolution centre
Bahrain is to open an alternative dispute resolution centre to conduct international arbitrations, following an agreement formalised at the Bahrain embassy in London today. Bahrain’s Ministry of Justice signed an operating agreement with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) to establish the Bahrain chamber for dispute ...
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A question of authority
I have just read your article on claims management companies (see [2009] Gazette, 30 July 3). I note that Kevin Rousell appears to believe that the majority of CMCs are trying to ‘comply’ with the referral code.
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Clarity on claims
A recent editorial refers to the claims management regulator placing blame for malpractice firmly on solicitors (see [2009] Gazette, 30 July, 10).
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Diversity distraction
I have just received a questionnaire to complete in connection with the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s equality and diversity study. I am absolutely stunned at its content.
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What Lord Justice Jackson’s report left out
In his interim report Lord Justice Jackson gives a number of suggestions, including such ideas as one-way costs shifting in personal injury claims to avoid the necessity for after-the-event insurance.
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Civil legal aid contracts delayed by Legal Services Commission
The Legal Services Commission has delayed tendering for civil legal aid contracts by six months, in a move described as a ‘mixed blessing’ by lawyers. The delay means that family solicitors will have to wait longer for the new rules, which will ensure they are paid ...