Latest news – Page 916
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News
Protection 'racket'
Solicitors are poised to take on a wave of new legal work following a Competition Commission (CC) report on payment protection insurance (PPI), which showed that policyholders appear to be overcharged by more than £1.4 billion a year. The provisional findings of the CC investigation, published ...
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Quality of legal aid provision 'at risk'
The government is risking lowering standards in legal aid provision if it presses ahead with its reform programme, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) warned at the launch of a new fundraising campaign – Friends of LAPG – last week. Speaking at the event – which ...
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Indemnity rates on the up in 'increasingly volatile' market
Solicitors’ professional indemnity insurance (PII) rates will increase this year because insurance companies are not making ‘adequate’ returns, leading insurer Travelers has warned. Conveyancing firms – especially those with a bias towards residential property – will suffer the biggest hike, Jon Davies, assistant general manager ...
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Law firm 'yet to feel credit crunch'
Half of law firms claim the credit crunch has not yet had an adverse impact on their businesses, according to a straw poll taken at Travelers’ On Risk conference. Just 12% of delegates – made up of more than 100 partners and risk managers from a ...
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'Outsource work or risk being cut out of the loop'
Law firms should be looking to cut costs and outsource some legal work to compete effectively once alternative business structures (ABSs) come into being, Kerry Underwood, senior partner at Hertfordshire firm Underwoods, has warned. Speaking at a legal process outsourcing (LPO) event hosted by the South ...
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Top 100 cautious despite growth
Major firms are forecasting single-digit growth in fee income for the coming year, despite continued double-digit growth up to April, according to business advisory firm Deloitte. The top 100 achieved 12% growth in the quarter ended 30 April compared to the same period in 2007, Deloitte ...
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Deals of the week
Flying deal: City firm Berwin Leighton Paisner advised Ascent, a consortium comprising defence company Lockheed Martin and defence contractor VT Group, on a contract to provide UK military flight and weapons system training to RAF, Royal Navy and Army Air Corps pilots for ...
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Preaching diversity
As I read the letter headed ‘Cheap Labour’ (see [2008] Gazette, 29 May, 11), it struck me that it could have been written by any number of my women solicitor colleagues, many of whom suffer the double discrimination of being female and black or Asian.
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Hours of need
Both Nicola Prior and Andrew Holroyd missed an important point when discussing inequality in the workplace in last week’s Gazette (see [2008] Gazette, 5 June, 11, 15). There is a lot of talk about ‘solicitors of similar PQE’, but firms are surely entitled to reward ...
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Steep learning curve
It was with great interest that I read the article by Andrew Hopper QC and Gregory Treverton-Jones QC, authors of The Solicitor’s Handbook (see [2008] Gazette, 29 May, 14). I am a member of the Solicitors Assistance Scheme. I represent solicitors who are subject to an ...
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Which? way forward
I refer to the article ‘Which? to ramp up legal services arm’ (see [2008] Gazette, 29 May, 1), which reported comments made at a debate about the Legal Services Act 2007, and the response published on this letters page (‘Which? way next?’, 5 June, 12).
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We want the logo
I was very interested to read the letter ‘No logo’ from Dermot Burke in last week’s Gazette (see [2008] Gazette, 5 June, 11). I agree that it is time for there to be a solicitors logo.
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Massive attack
I am writing to comment on an address given by Shadow Attorney General Dominic Grieve QC to a meeting organised by my criminal defence firm, Hine & Associates. Mr Grieve indicated that should the Conservatives return to power, they would not proceed with the proposed competitive ...
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Cause for complaint
Solicitors must not give up the right to deal with a client’s complaint without involving the regulator I have recently been involved (for the first time) in a complaint by a former client to the Legal Complaints Service (LCS). The client did not complain to me ...
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Solicitors are doing their duty
I’m pleased to inform Philip Miles that from 14 July the number of duty solicitors working on our schemes will actually rise from 6,161 to 6,206 – an increase of 45 nationally (see [2008] Gazette, 19 June, 11). Some new solicitors clearly wish to join the profession.
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Preparing for partnership
I read with sympathy Tony Guise’s plea for more support for those about to enter into partnership (see [2008] Gazette, 26 June, 11). This is a crucial time, when lawyers are making the leap from fee-earning employees to employers with wide management responsibilities. Some of us ...
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Doom and gloom
Having just read my Gazette (26 June) I am not sure whether to laugh or cry. I read that our insurance is going to go up by 25% (if we can get insurance at all); we have to raise our professional standards but reduce our fee expectations; we have to ...
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Citi brokers law firm private equity talks
Citi, the world’s largest bank, has brokered meetings between the UK’s biggest private equity houses and major law firms in a bid to strike investment deals before the Legal Services Act is fully implemented, the Gazette has learned. Citi’s specialist legal group has sent its private ...
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Aussie class action drive
One of Australia’s leading class action law firms has joined forces with a top Australian litigation funder to mount on assault on the class action market in the UK and Europe, the Gazette can reveal. One of the most significant entries to the nascent third-party funding ...
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Client account reform
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has backed controversial proposals to allow non-solicitors in law firms to handle client money – despite opposition from members of a profession labelled ‘historically obsessed with status’, the Gazette has learned. The SRA board decided at last week’s meeting to recommend ...