All News articles – Page 1260
-
News
Courts: going private is no panacea
by Francesca Kaye, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association The government is right to be thorough in its determination to cut waste and excess in public services, and achieve greater efficiency, particularly in the current economic climate. However, the news that this quest may lead ...
-
News
Streaming the Supreme Court
Television has for a number of years been a reason why people ultimately decide to become lawyers. From fictional characters, programmes such as Rumpole, Judge Deed, LA Law and Silks, we are offered a creative window into the world of the legal profession. But what about real lawyers?
-
News
Return magistrates’ courts to local control
by Penelope Gibbs, director of Transform Justice, a charity working for an effective justice system Recent news that the courts might be privatised was the first time the management of the courts had hit the headlines for years.
-
News
Slackness over prisoner votes shows contempt
Parliament can move very quickly when it needs to. Laws can be passed within days if necessary - even hours. But the legislative process can move extremely slowly when political needs dictate. And that is what has happened to the issue of votes for prisoners.
-
News
Conspicuous consultation
I don’t expect outpourings of sympathy, but spare a thought today for the Ministry of Justice officials charged with reading responses to the department’s consultation ‘Transforming Legal Aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system’. (Yes, that’s the title of Chris Grayling’s proposals to chop £220m by introducing price-competitive tendering ...
-
News
Treasury counsel condemn reforms to judicial review
Treasury counsel have joined the wave of concern over the government’s legal aid reforms, warning they will ‘undermine the accountability of public bodies’ and create an ‘underclass’ who will be denied access to the courts. In a letter to the attorney general Dominic Grieve QC, 145 ...
-
News
Competition law
The coalition government was just six months old when it announced a ‘bonfire’ of 192 quangos, among them the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading. Fast forward to 2013 and, albeit without much ministerial fanfare, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has a CEO-designate, Alex Chisholm. He is ...
-
News
No law recruits for college
The National College of Legal Training (NCLT) has blamed ‘poor market conditions’ and a slump in student numbers for its decision not to recruit for its Legal Practice Course (LPC) and Graduate Diploma in Law for 2013/14. However, the universities of Derby and the West ...
-
News
Cocts management: unintended consequences
Recent changes to the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2013 are affecting the way solicitors and litigants approach cases concerning the management of costs. The recent changes include the small claims track limit being increased from claims valued up to £5,000 to claims valued up to ...
-
News
Client spending squeeze forcing firms to merge
Large commercial law firms face a squeeze in client legal spending in the next 12 months, as virtually all corporate clients who have not yet reviewed instructions and spend plan to do so. The result will be massive consolidation among firms. That is the conclusion ...
-
News
Claims management ‘list of shame’ to go online
Claims management companies that are under investigation will be named online, the Ministry of Justice said today. The list, which goes live next Thursday, will include details of what action is being taken and the reason for it. The MoJ, which runs ...
-
News
Removal of client choice is a red line - Society
The government’s ‘unworkable and damaging’ planned legal aid changes could push the justice system ‘beyond breaking point to a devastating collapse’, the Law Society has warned in its response to the Ministry of Justice consultation which ends today. Drawing on two sets of independent analyses - ...
-
News
Civil procedure: capacity and compromise
Civil Procedure Rule 21.10 provides that where a claim is made by or on behalf of a party who lacks capacity to conduct the proceedings (a child or protected party), no settlement of that claim shall be valid without the approval of the court. The issue before Bean J in ...
-
News
Co-op Legal Services unveils TV and radio campaign
Co-operative Legal Services kicks off a multi-million-pound advertising campaign today with its first TV and radio advertisements.
-
News
Inspectors call for streamlined criminal justice process
Inspectors of police service and prosecutors have called for decisive action to streamline the criminal justice process and end ‘the spectre of unnecessary bureaucracy’. In a joint report published today HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (HMIC) and HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate (HMCPSI) identify factors that create ...
-
News
Slaughter: further court closures will bring ‘chaos’
Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter has warned the government that a further round of court closures would be ‘reckless and chaotic’. Speculation is growing that the Ministry of Justice will soon announce at least 80 further court closures – mainly magistrates’ courts – to add to ...
-
News
Blair's lord chancellor reforms ruining constitution
In his admirably lucid and revelatory account of the removal of Lord Irvine from the office of lord chancellor, and the destruction of the office itself, by his ungrateful pupil Tony Blair, Joshua Rozenberg has pinpointed a key moment in our recent legal history.
-
News
Best go to Tesco? Er, no
Legal aid lawyers have a belligerent ally in the Guardian’s star columnist Zoe Williams, who directed a withering broadside at the government’s PCT plans last Saturday. Still, quite a few solicitors will have choked on their morning croissant at her revelation that Tesco plans to bid for a contract. Maybe ...
-
News
Spelling bee
It was with interest that I noted Obiter’s recent nod to a syntax error on the website of Dynamo Legal (dynamolegal.com), the so-called ‘superbrand’ headed by Alex Mills of BBC’s The Apprentice ‘fame’. Perhaps the young Mr Mills can be excused for the odd gremlin ...