All articles by Neil Rose – Page 2
-
News
Halifax seeks firms for nationwide panel
The Halifax is looking to build a nationwide law firm panel to support its new Legal Express service, the Gazette can reveal, enabling solicitors to ‘ride on the coat tails’ of the bank’s brand power. The move is seen as countering those who warn that the ...
-
News
Legal sitcom Lunch Monkeys hits the TV screen
A sitcom set in the postroom of a personal injury law firm and starring Nigel Havers made its debut last week. Lunch Monkeys, which debuted on BBC3 on Thursday and was watched by 403,000 viewers, is a six-part series written by former solicitor David Isaac. ...
-
News
Legal executives seek litigation and probate rights
A scheme allowing legal executives to set up their own law firms offering litigation and probate services has been put to the government. The Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) has applied for the power to grant members civil and family litigation and advocacy rights, as well ...
-
News
Pilot scheme to cut libel costs
Efforts to control the costs of defamation actions will step up this autumn with the launch of a year-long costs budgeting pilot. Under the scheme at the Royal Courts of Justice and High Court in Manchester, parties will be required to discuss with each other and ...
-
News
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 ...
-
News
Class actions in employment tribunals called for by government research
Unpublished government research obtained by the Gazette has called for opt-out class actions to be piloted in employment tribunals, so as to deal with the thousands of discrimination and equal pay cases clogging up the system. The report by Lexicon Ltd, whose publication has been delayed ...
-
News
Firms merging for the wrong reasons, study shows
Nearly 60% of small and medium-sized law firms are looking to grow through merger and acquisition, but they risk giving themselves bigger headaches, new research seen exclusively by the Gazette has claimed. The survey of 188 practices by the 360 Legal Group found that 59% have ...
-
News
Halifax launches next step in its expansion into legal services
Halifax has taken the next step in its expansion into legal services by launching an online ‘pay as you go’ legal document production and advice service. Halifax Legal Express offers customers three levels of service: ‘self-serve’ allows them to create one of a range of more ...
-
News
Civil Justice Council moves to fix fast-track fees
A move to fix the level of legal fees for all fast-track civil cases will begin this week, the Gazette can reveal. The Civil Justice Council has gathered together 13 representatives from the legal profession and insurance industry, including the Law Society, to start work initially ...
-
News
Government gives ‘diluted’ go-ahead for class actions
The government gave a qualified go-ahead to class actions this week. In its response to a report by the Civil Justice Council (CJC) which recommended the introduction of a new collective redress procedure last year, the Ministry of Justice said that class actions could be ...
-
News
Whitehall fee regulation ‘political’
Government plans to crack down on the use of contingency fees in employment and other tribunals are politically motivated, it has been alleged. The Ministry of Justice last week published a consultation paper on regulating contingency fees, having inserted a provision in the Coroners and Justice ...
-
News
Employment solicitors exploit client ignorance over contingency fees
Some employment solicitors may be ‘exploiting client ignorance’ of their funding options for their own gain, research has claimed. However, it was found that generally claimants were happy with the services provided and with the fairness of their fee arrangements.
-
News
Insurers claim referral fees push lawyers’ costs out of control
Solicitors have hit out at a report claiming the market in personal injury claims is failing because legal fees are out of control. Arguing that fees could be reduced without restricting access to justice, a study commissioned by the Association of British Insurers (ABI) said there ...
-
News
Birmingham courts pilot Jackson review’s cost management model
Judges in two of Birmingham’s business courts have begun trialling Lord Justice Jackson’s concept of ‘costs management’. The pilot in the Mercantile and Technology and Construction Courts aims to test whether judges can actively control costs throughout a case. In his ...
-
News
Solicitor loses appeal against insider trading jail sentence
A solicitor jailed after the Financial Services Authority’s first criminal prosecution for insider dealing lost his appeal against sentence last week. Christopher McQuoid, 40, former general counsel at TTP Communications, and his father-in-law, James Melbourne, 74, were both found guilty of one count of insider dealing ...
-
News
Lord chief justice calls for profession to work together
The lord chief justice has called on lawyers to take the initiative in shaping their future and not wait for events to shape it for them. Lord Judge said he would be ‘delighted’ if barristers, solicitors and legal executives ‘would together and separately address the ...
-
News
New fixed-fee deal could cut payments for low cost accident claims
Solicitors handling the hundreds of thousands of straightforward road traffic accident (RTA) claims brought every year look set for a significant cut in the fees they receive, the Gazette can reveal. Talks to agree a new fixed-fee claims process for RTA claims worth less than £10,000 ...
-
News
Government undervalues professions, says study
The contribution of the professions to the UK is ‘comprehensively undervalued’, according to a new study commissioned by the Law Society and other professional bodies. The public interest in peril?, published this week, estimates that roughly 8% of ...
-
News
First licensed conveyancer makes partner
Kent firm Stephens & Son has become the first solicitors’ practice to bring a licensed conveyancer into partnership. Alan Johnston (pictured), joint head of the property department, has been with the firm for 28 years. Stephens & Son now has five partners. Managing partner Jacqueline Shicluna ...
-
News
Civil Procedure Rules: 10 years of change
If you are a civil litigator able to remember serving a writ on behalf of a plaintiff, as well as the days of pleadings, interrogatories, further and better particulars, affidavits and discovery, then you are, shall we say, of a certain vintage