All News articles – Page 1252
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News
MoJ call for QC nominations
The Ministry of Justice is inviting nominations for the 2013/14 round of Queen’s Counsel hononoris causa (honorary silk) awards. These opened on 6 June 2013. For the Law Society, nominations are invited who are members of the law society but not barristers. Only the highest quality individuals will be nominated ...
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Tory maverick Davis blasts 'Soviet' PCT
Pressure on the government to amend its criminal legal aid reforms mounted last week as MPs debated the changes in parliament. Signs of a cabinet split had already emerged after deputy prime minister Nick Clegg voiced concern about the removal of client choice and attorney general ...
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Birmingham Law Centre closes as cash runs out
Britain’s second city is without a law centre following the closure of Birmingham Law Centre last week. Cashflow problems and the anticipated fall in legal aid funding led the trustees to shut down the service, which is descended from bodies that have offered free legal advice for nearly a century. ...
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Psychic's libel battle ends in victory
Who? Graham Atkins, 46, founding partner of media specialists Atkins Thomson.Why is he in the news? Represented psychic Sally Morgan in her successful libel action against the publisher of the Daily Mail. The newspaper had accused her of using a hidden earpiece during a Dublin show to receive instructions from ...
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MASS calls for blanket inducements ban
The group representing RTA claimant solicitors has said it is ‘disappointed’ that inducements for claims will not be banned. Last week the Solicitors Regulation Authority stated there was no reason to outlaw cash or gift enticements to potential claimants. The Motor Accident Solicitors Society today entered the debate and called ...
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City lawyers join fight against legal aid cuts – finally
City law firms have joined the attack on the government’s legal aid cuts, warning that they ‘pose a potentially irreversible risk to the standards and reputation of English justice’. In a letter to the Law Society, the chairman of the City of London Law Society Alasdair Douglas criticised the ‘grossly ...
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Anger as MoJ accused of deleting legal aid consultation responses
The Ministry of Justice has claimed that an ‘email glitch’ is to blame for many barristers and solicitors receiving a message telling them that their response to the Transforming Legal Aid consultation has been ‘deleted unread’. The Gazette, together with the Law Society, Bar Council and other practitioner groups, have ...
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Centre 70 volunteers
Some years ago the Gazette kindly printed a letter from me about Centre 70, which provides free advice on housing, benefits, debt and other issues, serving a wide area of south London. As a result we recruited someone to join our team of volunteer lawyers who provide free legal advice ...
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News100 years old and still on the roll
Early birthday greetings to George EC Smith, admitted in 1927, and who next week celebrates his 100th birthday, still on the roll. According to his son Charles (also a solicitor), Smith practised law with his uncle, Henry Parfitt, who admitted him into partnership in 1948 at Minet May & Co ...
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Data mining: what happens next?
Although I try to vary the topic covered each week, to show the range of issues being dealt with at European or international level, I do not apologise this week for going back to a subject that I have covered recently: the fall-out from the data mining revelations by the ...
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Want to be a partner? Borrow against rising house prices
A loan provider is offering finance to solicitors aiming to become equity partners in law firms – in exchange for a stake in the rising value of their home. Castle Trust, which was set up with backing from private equity giant JC Flowers, says there is ...
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Ban inducements to help genuine accident victims
Earlier this month the Transport Select Committee held the last hearing of its inquiry into whiplash. This followed the Ministry of Justice consultation covering similar ground and which proposed the raising of the small-claims limit for whiplash claims from £1,000 to £5,000. The pressure for reform ...
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Bar gets into shape for ABSs
The Bar Standards Board is simplifying criteria for approving new business entities, ahead of an application to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures. Several compulsory rules are to be made discretionary to make the authorisation regime more ‘agile’. These currently oblige entities to have: ...
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Ministers find £160m for Wi-Fi transformation of justice
The government has pledged £160m to fulfil ambitious plans to make courtrooms fully digital by 2016, ending the criminal justice system’s ‘outdated’ reliance on paper. Justice minister Damian Green this morning outlined a plan Transforming the Criminal Justice System covering initiatives ranging from increased use of ...
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Public less likely to trust lawyers
Declining public confidence in the professions continues to take its toll on lawyers, according to an annual survey commissioned by watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel. A YouGov survey of 1,702 adults found that 42% trust lawyers to tell the truth, down from 47% in 2011. ...
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Sentencing guidelines will prioritise victims
Proposed new sentencing guidelines for financial crimes published today encompass bribery and money laundering for the first time, while setting out to prioritise the impact on the victim. The guidelines, which will replace existing guidance published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in 2009, also cover ...
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Judicial oversight promised for white-collar prosecution deals
US-style deals to defer prosecutions for offences such as corporate bribery will be transparent and supervised by a judge under a code of practice for prosecutors published today. Deferred prosecutions, under which a prosecution for corporate crime is suspended in return for a promise of ...
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Inducements: damage limitation
Let’s make this clear: inducements to purchase a service or product are a fundamental and legitimate part of business. I’m still with the same bank that offered me free cash back in freshers’ week at university, and I’ll bet many others are in the same boat. ...
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New consultation on hate crime
The Law Commission has published a consultation on extending the law on hate crimes to cover sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 allows for aggravated offences, including assault and criminal damage, if race or religion have motivated or formed part ...