All News articles – Page 1290
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News
Next year's PC fees agreed today – full details
Individual solicitors will be shielded from significant fee increases next year but most firms will pay more. The Law Society today agreed that its net funding requirement for 2014 will be £116.8m, an increase from £103.5m the previous year. The funds cover the Society, Solicitors Regulation Authority and external bodies ...
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JK Rowling’s solicitor apologises for leak
A London firm has ‘apologised unreservedly’ for accidentally revealing that Harry Potter author JK Rowling (pictured) was writing under a pseudonym. Russells Solicitors, which describes itself as ‘one of the leading firms in the entertainment industry’, has admitted it was the source of the leaked information ...
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Firms asked to cut rates for armed forces
A nationwide scheme to offer discounted legal fees to armed forces personnel is being set up by a solicitor in the RAF, the Gazette has learned. Armed Forces Legal Action (AFLA) is the brainchild of Wing Commander Allan Steele supported by Scottish solicitor Janet Hood. Firms across the UK will ...
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UK will bid to rejoin watered-down European arrest warrant
The government is to exercise its opt-out of 135 European crime and justice measures pre-dating the 2007 Lisbon Treaty – but hopes to rejoin some 30, including the European arrest warrant and the law enforcement agency Europol, the home secretary said today. In a well-trailed statement to the House of ...
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Claimant solicitors attack insurer’s ‘biased’ whiplash proposals
Claimant solicitors have dismissed a report into whiplash by insurer Axa as ‘highly biased’ and based on inaccurate or outdated statistics. The insurance giant yesterday put pressure on the government to impose new medical and time limits for making low-value RTA claims. The report pointed to countries such as Sweden ...
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Solicitors Regulation Authority shuts two firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has closed immigration firm Mulberry Finch Limited and Gloucestershire practice Peter Stafford Eales. The SRA said that Mulberry Finch, based in Conduit Street, London, failed to comply with the SRA Principles, the Code of Conduct and Accounts Rules. Peter Stafford Eales, of Turnpike Gate, Gloucestershire, was ...
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Bar’s disciplinary system on trial in High Court
The legality of the bar’s disciplinary system has been called into question this week as the High Court hears three claims for judicial review. The cases have been brought by three barristers in relation to charges of professional misconduct brought by the Bar Standards’ Board. In each case the charges ...
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Women being imprisoned unnecessarily, reformers say
Magistrates’ courts are sending fewer women to prison than in previous years but some courts are four times more likely to jail women than others, according to figures obtained by the Howard League for Penal Reform. Research by the charity reveals that although the overall number of women being sent ...
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LawWorks warning over pro bono surge
Demand for pro bono legal advice has leapt by almost a third in the past year, pro bono ‘brokers’ LawWorks and the Bar Pro Bono Unit have revealed. But LawWorks warned that the true scale of unmet need has been masked by the ‘desperate state’ of frontline services. The monthly ...
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Whole life imprisonment breaches human rights, rules Strasbourg
The whole life imprisonment of murderer Jeremy Bamber and two other killers breaches their rights under article 3 of the European Convention, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in the case’s final judgment today. The three killers are subject to whole life orders, meaning they cannot be released other ...
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Dig the new breed
Manchester criminal solicitor Nick Freeman, aka Mr Loophole, has a new breed of client: the Staffordshire bull terrier. Freeman, renowned for helping celebrities escape motoring convictions, aims to rehabilitate the image of the dog following an incident involving a Staffie suspected of biting off another dog’s head. Freeman has owned ...
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Petition calls for civil claims centre closure
An online petition is calling on the government to halt the ‘industrialisation of the judicial system’ by immediately shutting down the Salford civil claims centre. The centre, which was opened in early 2012, is the HM Courts & Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) centralised facility for handling civil claims. It aims to ...
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Defendant lawyers ‘saddened’ by Law Society PI campaign
The Forum of Insurance Lawyers has said it is ‘profoundly saddened’ by a Law Society advertising campaign urging accident victims to seek legal advice. The campaign portrays a beaten face with the caption ‘don’t get mugged’, telling injured people to speak to a solicitor before accepting a third-party capture offer ...
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NewsClifford Chance scheme falls foul of tax tribunal
A tax tribunal has ruled against a stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance scheme on which magic circle firm Clifford Chance advised. In the first case to test a targeted anti-avoidance rule in the SDLT legislation, developer of the Chelsea Barracks site Project Blue Ltd now faces a £50m tax ...
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Sir John Thomas will be next lord chief justice
Sir John Thomas is to succeed Lord Judge as lord chief justice, Number 10 Downing Street confirmed today. Thomas was chosen over the two other applicants – Lady Justice Hallett, who is currently Thomas’s deputy at the Queen’s Bench Division and who chaired the 7/7 London bombing inquest; and Lord ...
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Further grilling for Chris Grayling over PCT
Justice secretary Chris Grayling will be summoned to be appear before the House of Commons justice committee for a second time to examine the government’s proposed cuts to legal aid, it was revealed today. Publishing a report on the evidence it had heard on the Transforming ...
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McNally under fire over Lips claim
Justice minister Lord McNally is facing criticism from lawyers over a claim that cases involving litigants in person (LiPs) are ‘normally’ completed more quickly than those where parties have legal representation. The Liberal Democrat peer was responding to a report by a judicial working group calling for new measures to ...
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Clutching at Straw
If there is one thing you can say about Jack Straw, it is that he is regimentally strict about declaring his expenses. In the past 15 months, therefore, we know he was paid £48,000 for speaking engagements at home and abroad (this included £20,000 for a speech at the University ...
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Pre-pack deals under scrutiny in company law shake-up
A central register of beneficial owners and a review of ‘pre-pack’ takeovers of failed businesses are among measures proposed in a shake-up of company law today. A discussion paper published by the department for Business, Innovation & Skills sets out how the UK proposes to carry out its commitment at ...
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CPS has 'more in-house lawyers than it needs'
The Crown Prosecution Service has too many in-house lawyers as it continues to face the challenges of budget cuts, according to the annual report of the agency’s inspectorate. Her Majesty’s CPS Inspectorate said a lack of resources due to budget cuts is hampering the service’s ability to prepare cases, but ...