All articles by Neil Rose – Page 4
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News
Community legal advice helpline could go offshore
Members of the public calling the Community Legal Advice helpline run by the Legal Services Commission could in future be answered outside the UK, it has emerged. The Legal Services Commission is to issue tenders for five-year contracts to provide a contact centre and telephone services ...
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Firms will need more non-lawyers in post-Legal Services Act world
The evolving market and pressure from clients means law firms will have to employ more non-qualified staff, solicitors have been warned. Professor Stephen Mayson, director of the College of Law’s Legal Services Policy Institute, said current economic conditions mean consolidation among firms is inevitable and the ...
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Courts system sleepwalking into crisis
A five-year strategy must be agreed between the judiciary, government and HM Courts Service to revive a civil justice system that has been ‘sleep-walking into a crisis’, a heavy-hitting report has warned. Sir Henry Brooke, former vice-president of the Court of ...
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Forced retirement backing
The Employment Appeal Tribunal has rejected the ‘stereotyped assumption’ that law firm partners will underperform by the time they reach the age of 65. However, the ruling otherwise backed a compulsory retirement age in a discrimination claim brought by former senior partner Leslie Seldon against Kent firm Clarkson Wright & ...
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Costs-capping order appeal
The High Court will next week hear an appeal against what is thought to be the first costs-capping order made against a defendant. Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly had estimated its costs of defending an action brought by Susan James over alleged side-effects of the drug Zyprexa ...
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New guideline hourly rates are unveiled
New interim guideline hourly rates (GHR) were released in December - but could be slashed in future for personal injury and clinical negligence work if the committee that recommends levels decides that referral fees should not be built into them. The advisory committee on civil ...
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'Common sense' declarations victory for insurance scheme
The Court of Appeal has rejected a major challenge to the way claimant personal injury solicitors operate the Accident Line Protect (ALP) after-the-event insurance scheme. It held last week that being on the ALP panel and so having to recommend the Law Society-endorsed after-the-event (ATE) ...
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Solicitors turned authors reveal what it takes to get published
‘I still feel like a lawyer who writes,’ says Neil White. ‘I’m trying to get my head around the idea that I’m a writer who’s a lawyer. It still feels like a bit of a hobby.’ But signing your second three-book deal with HarperCollins, as he has just done, should ...
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Contingency fees 'nothing to worry about' - new study
The case for contingency fees in England and Wales received another boost this week after research seen by the Gazette found that their use in employment tribunals throws up few major concerns. The study – the first of its kind – said contingency fees in tribunals ...
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Civil costs rates 'next month'
New guideline hourly rates for civil costs may be published by Christmas, the chairman of the committee charged with recommending the rates announced last week. In a rare public address, Professor Stephen Nickell admitted that producing the rates has not been an easy process, with the ...
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Blow for third-party funding
A leading Australian litigation funder has pulled out of its European joint venture less than six months after it set up, the Gazette can reveal. In a blow to the nascent third-party funding market, IMF has withdrawn from Claims Funding International (CFI), which it formally launched ...
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Referral rule breaches widespread
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) is to reconsider the controversial question of referral arrangements as new figures show that the number of firms not complying with rules governing referrals remains stubbornly high. The SRA also expressed fears that the current economic climate might encourage practitioners to cut further corners.
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Contingency fees 'can work but risk justice'
Contingency fees could operate effectively in England and Wales with or without cost shifting, a major report is expected to say this week. However, the Gazette understands that the report, commissioned by the Civil Justice Council, warns of the risk that contingency fees may narrow access ...
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Consultancy targets law firm acquisitions
A consultancy with an initial mandate to acquire 25 law firms on behalf of larger practices was formally launched this week. The new business is also offering other services to support smaller firms – including putting them together to bid for large work contracts. The ...
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Merger rise predicted as law firms struggle
Merger activity in the legal world is ‘rampant’, with more deals predicted in the next year than in the past 25, a leading consultant predicted last week. Chris Frederiksen, chairman of the 2020 Innovation Group, said that mergers are happening because the profession’s three main underpinnings ...
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PI cases up for grabs to the highest bidders
An auction website where solicitors who make the highest bid win the right to take on a case is already generating business, the Gazette has learned. The backers of Legalbid.co.uk said their model is no worse – and, in some cases, better – than other referral arrangements in the market. ...
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Firm breaks new ground by sending PI work to South Africa
Personal injury cases are to be outsourced to South Africa this week in the first trial of its kind, the Gazette has learned. Hertfordshire firm Underwoods has signed a deal with an unnamed practice to test whether road traffic accident (RTA) cases that fall under the ...
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Funding freedom plea
Support remains sharply divided on whether solicitors should be free to contract with clients in whatever way they want – including agreeing to contingency fees. At a debate last week between leading practitioners, third-party funder Susan Dunn said contingency fees should be an option to ...
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LSB chief pledges separation of powers with the Society
Ensuring robust separation between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority will be a priority of the Legal Services Board, its chairman has promised. In a speech at the Law Society last week, David Edmonds highlighted the weight he places on the proper independence both of ...
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Costs-capping power for courts
Courts will have formal powers to make costs-capping orders under changes proposed by the civil procedure rule committee. The courts have been developing their costs-capping jurisdiction, most notably in personal injury and defamation cases, and the consultation issued last week is largely an attempt to codify ...