Latest news – Page 885
-
News
Aim higher
Looking back to the performance of the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in complaint-handling for the year ended 31 March 2008, I announced that, while complaints were not handled in accordance with the Law Society’s plan, I would not levy a penalty. In reaching this decision ...
-
News
Getting better
Two recent announcements about the LCS have once again placed the spotlight on the effectiveness of the organisation. What has been revealed is not the failing picture that some would choose to paint but that of a confident organisation making impressive strides year on year, whose ...
-
News
City firms eye Malaysia market
City law firms are sizing up the Malaysian legal sector as a potential area for development, after the government there signalled its intention to lift curbs on foreign firms operating in the country. Datuk Zaid Ibrahim, Malaysia’s law minister, told reporters at a press conference last ...
-
News
PI reform delay leaves solicitors ‘in limbo’
Defendant and claimant lawyers have condemned the government’s delay in publishing its plans to reform the personal injury claims process, saying it leaves them and clients ‘in limbo’. Recommendations which were due to be implemented by early 2008, according to Lord Falconer, the then Lord Chancellor, ...
-
News
Net-surfing lawyers warned of compliance risk
Solicitors risk breaching conduct rules and could face insurance claims if they use non-specialist online sources for legal research, a leading QC solicitor has warned. Evidence has emerged that increasing numbers of solicitors, from trainees to senior partners, are putting clients and their own practices at ...
-
News
More delays for court IT roll-out
Commercial court: technology project ‘should have been implemented by now’
-
News
Society escapes complaints fine
The Legal Complaints Service (LCS) and Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) improved in ‘most areas’ of complaints-handling in 2007/08, the Legal Services Complaints Commissioner has ruled.
-
News
Legal sector leads the way on cutting carbon footprint
Legal firms lead the professional services sector in investigating their carbon footprint, according to a league table published this week by an industry forum.
-
News
Charity chief says law has ‘ossified’
The head of the new Charity Tribunal hopes the body will speed up the evolution of charity law to keep pace with developments in the third sector.
-
News
‘End judicial shortlists’
A judicial appointment process that leaves candidates in ‘professional limbo’ while waiting for a vacancy to arise should be abolished, according to the Judicial Appointments Commission.
-
News
Reforms predicted to trigger merger boom
The introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs) will greatly speed up merger activity among law firms, a snapshot survey of leading figures in the legal profession has predicted.
-
News
Insurers set to weed out high-risk firms
Professional indemnity (PI) insurers are drawing up a special questionnaire designed to weed out high-risk law firms ahead of the renewals season, the Gazette has learned.
-
News
Solicitors are more stressed than ever
Stress, depression, bullying and problems with alcohol are affecting more lawyers than ever, according to statistics released by charity LawCare.
-
News
Throwing solicitors a lifeline
Training courses would do much to help practitioners survive the credit crunch
-
News
Damage limitation in the courts
I read with interest the letter from Stuart Killen in last week’s Gazette (see [2008] Gazette, 19 June, 12). I could not agree more with his comments and felt I just had to relate my experiences with Bow County Court. You would be pushed to find a bigger failure by ...
-
News
Wrong kind of lasting impression
Though empathising with Stuart Killen, I cannot comment on his problems with slow service at his local county court. However, I can comment on another government department, which is potentially crucial to part of the profession – the Court of Protection.
-
News
Undermining the rule of law
I write in connection with last week’s article ‘Putting yourself first’, which reflected on the duty criminal defence lawyers owe to their clients (see [2008] Gazette, June 19, 28).
-
News
Third of firms seek bank loans
FUNDING: practices need funds for mergers and to cushion blow of economic gloom
-
News
Recruiters forced to cut fees as lawyers feel squeeze
Legal recruiters will have to reduce their finders’ fees as law firms look to cut costs in the economic slowdown, according to Patricia Walsh, director of human resources at national firm Hammonds.
-
News
Deals of the week
Vitamins deal: National firm Pinsent Masons advised vitamins and supplements provider NeutraHealth on the disposal of its over-the-counter medicines for £6.2m, to fund its £6.4m acquisition of Perrigo UK, which manufactures and packages vitamins, ...