Latest news – Page 880
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Commission keeps it simple on legal aid contracts
The Legal Services Commission will allow only one model of consortium in the civil bid round for 2010 legal aid contracts, it has announced. The civil contracts tender process will not begin before September, but the LSC said it wanted to provide clarification and explanation of ...
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Bar thinktank proposes contingent legal aid fund
A contingent legal aid fund (CLAF) could ensure access to justice and help solve the legal aid crisis, according to a report published today by a Bar Council thinktank. The Policy Advisory Group, led by former bar chairman Guy Mansfield QC, proposes a self-funding, not-for-profit scheme ...
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Judge removed following OJC investigation
A district judge has been removed from office in the first judicial sacking since 1983. The Office for Judicial Complaints said yesterday that Margaret Short, who was appointed to the South East District Bench in 1993, has been removed following an investigation into ‘inappropriate behaviour’. A ...
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Thomas to chair tribunals council
Jack Straw, the lord chancellor and secretary of state, has appointed former solicitor Richard Thomas as the new chairman of the Administrative Justice & Tribunals Council (AJTC). Thomas is currently the information commissioner and deputy chairman of the Consumers Association. He has been appointed for four ...
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SRA transparency
A solicitor complained that six months after the Solicitors Regulation Authority had found two ‘minor infractions’, the firm’s partners were told by phone that they had been reprimanded and had to pay £500 in costs (see [2009] Gazette, 9 April, 9). The solicitor was unhappy the decision would be published ...
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Supreme effort
You were quite right to devote two pages to the importance of solicitors applying to join the judiciary (see [2009] Gazette, 17 April, 10-11).
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Out of service
I write further to your comment ‘Getting back on track’ regarding fast-track claims (see [2009] Gazette, 9 April, 8), and in particular road traffic accident cases.
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No bar to progress
Your article, ‘Bar regulator "in stone age" over LDPs’ focuses on the views expressed by a sole practitioner who claims that ‘the Bar Standards Board is "single-handedly frustrating government policy" by its tardiness in changing rules to permit barristers to join legal disciplinary practices’ (see [2009] Gazette, 9 April, 3). ...
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Irrelevant questions
I am not surprised that nine out of 10 solicitors have not replied to a diversity questionnaire.
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Exceptional case
I was pleased to read Carolyn Regan’s commitment to constructive dialogue in reviewing the operation of fixed fees in mental health and including the role of ‘exceptional payments’ (see [2009] Gazette, 19 March, 11). She also indicates that nearly 90% of such exceptional cases are paid as asked.
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Denied assistance
Roger Smith is right to underline the need for effective representation in police stations at a time when that service is being seriously undermined by the extension of the Defence Solicitor Call Centre and CDS Direct to own-solicitor cases. I claim to be one of the founders of the ...
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(Almost) goodbye to the 'crusading cop'
Regarding Roger Smith’s column on the Cardiff Three case (see [2009] Gazette, 17 April, 6), Lord Taylor’s comments on listening to the taped interviews have for me remained the benchmark whenever I attend a client interview at a police station.
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East African joint ventures and new public bodies
Mobile Africa: City firm Lewis Silkin advised Made in Africa, an organisation that encourages economic growth in east Africa, on a joint venture agreement with Monitise, a mobile phone banking technology company. Monitise East Africa will bring together multiple banks, mobile operators and ...
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Fraud case judge slams solicitor- advocates for ‘incompetence’
An extraordinary public row has erupted over the role of solicitor-advocates after a Crown Court judge told a court that he came close to discharging a jury because of concerns that a solicitor lacked the competence to represent his client properly. Speaking in open court at ...
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Concern grows over probate ‘cold calls’ to funeral clients
Customers of Co-operative Funeralcare are being called by the organisation’s legal services department offering free advice about probate, a committee of the Law Society will hear this week. The Co-operative denied cold-calling. A spokesman said ‘the vast majority’ of customers welcome free legal advice, and ...
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Darling cuts and cuts again
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Law Officers Departments will have to make a further £85m in efficiency savings as a result of today’s budget. Chancellor Alistair Darling (pictured) today (22 April) earmarked an additional £5bn in efficiency savings across government on ...
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SRA not up to the job, Law Society tells Hunt review
The Solicitors Regulation Authority ‘lacks the sufficient skills, understanding and flexibility to effectively regulate all parts of the profession’, the Law Society has told the independent review of legal regulation, which Chancery Lane commissioned. In its submission to Lord Hunt’s review, Chancery Lane says sole practitioners ...
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Premiums to rise as PII crisis worsens
This year’s professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewals season will be at least as difficult as 2008 and probably worse, the joint Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority PII crisis group has concluded. Premiums will rise because of escalating claims on PII policies – especially from the ...
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Vince Cable condemns bankruptcy regime
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable (pictured) has urged restraint in bringing bankruptcy proceedings, saying the process is too ‘cumbersome and costly,’ which allows lawyers to make ‘easy money’. In an interview for the Law Society’s Property in Practice magazine, Cable said that more protections ...
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Moneysupermarket.com launches personal injury leads service
Moneysupermarket.com, the price comparison website, is to launch a personal injury leads service today, becoming the first major consumer-oriented website to enter this arena. The website claims 30 law firms have signed up to receive business leads for people seeking PI legal advice. PAA Leads, the ...