Latest news – Page 886
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Jack Straw and legal aid
Let us be grateful to the lord chancellor at least for his frank warning that lawyers dependent on state funding would be ‘wise to reconsider’ their expectations of earnings (see [2009] Gazette, 12 March, 1).
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Constructive dialogue
I write in response to the comments made by Richard Charlton about the fixed fees that apply to legally aided mental health work (see [2009] Gazette, 5 March, 14-15).
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Fixed fees fall-out
The current proposals from the Legal Services Commission in relation to fixed fees for family cases are likely to have an adverse effect on children, families and the administration of justice.
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Upholding decency
I read with much emotion and ever-increasing indignation the brave and intimate feature by Jonathan Rayner concerning the serial failure of the ‘system’ to deal humanely or in any way appropriately with his son ‘Patrick’, particularly once the latter was introduced into the criminal process (see [2009] Gazette, 5 March, ...
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Age-old concern
Joyce Glasser’s letter about students and newly qualifieds in their late-30s or 40s and 50s, captured the situation in a nutshell (see [2009] Gazette, 19 February, 11). I am a newly qualified solicitor who was also made redundant on qualification due to organisational structure changes.
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Trading blows
On 26 February you carried a special In Business report, ‘Marketing – the next generation’ (see [2009] Gazette, 26 February, 12-14). Significantly, both articles were written by marketeers and predict the demise of solicitors, when large corporate businesses are expected to enter the solicitors’ market.
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Legislation planned to bar solicitors convicted of fraud from practice
Plea negotiations are to be introduced and Crown Court powers will be extended to make fraud prosecutions more effective, Attorney General Baroness Scotland (pictured) announced today (18 March). Legislation is also planned to allow the Crown Court to bar convicted fraudsters from practising in certain key professions, including as a ...
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Quality before price
Ian McLachlan’s view (see [2009] Gazette, 19 February, 11) is worrying from a professional indemnity and risk management point of view.
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Murder conviction quashed after 27 years
A man who has spent the last 27 years in prison had his conviction for rape and murder quashed by the Court of Appeal today (18 March). Sean Hodgson, now 57, was given a life sentence in 1982 for the murder of barmaid Teresa de Simone, ...
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Law firm staff win landmark TUPE claim
Firms winning legal service contracts from competitors could face a ‘landslide’ of six-figure claims for unfair dismissal if they do not take on staff on reasonable terms along with the contract, the winner of a landmark employment tribunal case said this week. In the case, Liverpool ...
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Baby P review could end child care court fees
Local authority solicitors have welcomed a government decision that could lead to the ending of court fees for child care proceedings. A review of fees is one of 58 recommendations in Lord Laming’s report into the protection of children commissioned following the 2007 death of London toddler ‘Baby P’. ...
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SRA drops plans for board changes in BME row
The Law Society has dropped a plan to cut short the term of the Solicitors Regulation Authority board as debate continues over ways to tackle the disproportionate number of black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors facing disciplinary hearings. It has also turned down a proposal to co-opt two non-voting ...
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Law Society wins loans pledge from high street banks
The Law Society has voiced fears that increasingly centralised decision-making at Britain’s embattled retail banks could damage the finances of law firms as the recession deepens. Chancery Lane fears that local branch discretion will be reduced and that this will result in banks walking away from more deals and terms. ...
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Lawyers' long march triumphs in Pakistan
Pakistan’s lawyer-led long march demanding the reinstatement of former chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry withstood baton charges, tear gas attacks and mass arrests, a British solicitor told the Gazette from Lahore. Razi Shah, a partner at Berkshire firm Appleby Shaw and a Law Society council member, said ...
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First ABSs expected by 2011
The first alternative business structures should open for business in 2011, the chief executive of the Legal Services Board predicted last week. Chris Kenny told the Association of Law Costs Draftsmen’s annual conference in Harrogate that the recession would encourage new ventures.
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Tories consider private solution to legal aid shortfall
A future Conservative government may look to the private sector to top up the legal aid budget, the Gazette has learned. Tory policymakers are considering how the UK’s legal aid budget could be financed if they take power at the next general election. Earlier this month, ...
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Release partners for pro bono bench placements, says LCJ
Major law firms should allow junior partners to seek part-time judicial appointments as part of their pro bono activities, the lord chief justice said last week. ‘We must find a way of tapping into the talents of the brightest and best solicitors,’ Lord Judge told ...
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MoJ chiefs face MPs over Crown Court failings
Senior officials at the Ministry of Justice this week denied MPs’ charges of ‘complacency’ and running a ‘dysfunctional organisation’ following an auditors’ report criticising the administration of Crown Courts. At a hearing of the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee on Monday, chairman Edward Leigh ...
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Court actions soar over bad debts
Top corporate firms are increasingly resorting to court action to secure unpaid legal fees, the Gazette has learned. In the past six months, the number of cases filed in the Queen’s Bench division of the High Court between top-50 firms and clients has more than doubled, ...
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Mission to open the legal services market in Ukraine
City law firms and British government officials will travel to Ukraine next month to try to boost the presence of English firms in Europe’s largest country. The mission, scheduled for the end of April, will include delegates from 10 City firms and officials from UK ...