All News articles – Page 1291
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News
'Little hope' for sole practitioners in criminal defence
There is ‘little hope for the future’ for sole practitioners and many small law firms under either the government’s or Law Society’s proposals for reshaping the criminal defence market, the Sole Practitioners Group has claimed. The group’s legal aid spokesperson, former chair Hilary Underwood, told the Gazette that under either ...
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NewsA song and dance over Europe
I preferred to be a wall-flower last week rather than join in the wild and shameless hokey cokey led by the government over the decision both to opt out and then opt back in to various EU criminal law measures. We will opt out of 135 and opt back in ...
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NewsJudicial satire is deadly serious
Price-competitive tendering for judges. That is the subject of a spoof essay of application for the job of lord chief justice, penned by Court of Appeal judge Sir Alan Moses (‘aged 67½’), demonstrating the absurdity of the government’s planned legal aid reforms. The sitting judge read his work ‘What I ...
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New rules that may dilute TUPE rights delayed until September
New regulations that may reduce transfer of undertakings protection of employment (TUPE) rights have been delayed to September, it emerged this week. The new regulations, which had been due for publication in July, arise from a Department for Business, Innovation & Skills consultation that began at the beginning of this ...
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Lack of demand shuts first one-stop shop for offenders
England’s first ‘all in one’ court and offender treatment centre is set for closure due to under-use, the justice minister announced today. Helen Grant announced a six-week consultation on plans to shut North Liverpool Community Justice Centre and move its work and the principles of its problem-solving approach to Sefton ...
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Profession denounces posthumous Magnitsky trial
Lawyers worldwide have denounced the posthumous trial of Russian lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky (pictured) who was yesterday found guilty of tax evasion in a Moscow trial that began following his death in prison four years ago. Magnitsky died in a pre-trial detention after accusing Russian police of complicity in a $230m ...
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Water Divining
Yes, it’s the time of year when legal aid solicitors shed a tear for colleagues at the City firms as they announce their annual results. In general the form with these announcements is that the worse the results, the less assistance the press is given to report them. So hats ...
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DPP to meet judge following prosecution ‘farce’ in murder trial
Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), is to meet Richard Griffith-Jones, the judge who made a scathing attack on the Crown Prosecution Service after a murder trial descended into farce last month.
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EC unveils European public prosecutor plan
A European Public Prosecutor’s Office will tackle the annual loss to fraud of £431m of EU funds according to proposals published by the European Commission yesterday. The proposed office will follow up every case of suspected fraud against the EU budget. This will have a strong deterrent effect, the EC ...
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New government strategy for professional services
Boosting exports and improving skills levels in professional firms are the key priorities of the government’s industrial strategy for professional and business services, published today. The 48-page document, from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, highlights the importance of broadening higher apprenticeship routes in the professions, in particular the ...
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Memory lane
The Law Society’s Gazette, July 1963 World peace through law As this issue of the Gazette is published, the First World Conference on World Peace through the Rule of Law will have reached its concluding sessions in Athens. The first task of the world conference was to try to formulate ...
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Lobby law loophole for lawyers
Law firms that lobby on behalf of their clients will escape the provisions of the government’s lobbying bill, transparency pressure group Unlock Democracy said today. The group said plans to force firms to declare whom they represent would exempt 80% of the lobbying industry, including law ...
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Political storm over Strasbourg whole life ruling
Ministers have condemned the decision by Strasbourg that whole life sentences breach human rights, suggesting that the role of the European Court of Human Rights should be ‘curtailed’. The attack follows the final ruling of the court yesterday that whole life imprisonment of murderer Jeremy Bamber and two others breached ...
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Nothing for Nothing
The news that more solicitors are turning to crime to keep their practices afloat is indeed terrible, writes James Morton. For far too long solicitors have neglected their businesses at the expense of clients and this altruism has clearly gone too far. But what can be done to reverse what ...
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Clifford Chance partners take 9% hit in ‘disappointing’ year
Profit per equity partner (PEP) dropped by 9% to £1m at Clifford Chance in 'disappointing' 2012-13 financial results for the magic circle firm. Profits fell 6% to £404m, on a turnover drop of 2% to £1.271bn, figures released today show. Managing partner at Clifford Chance David Childs said the results ...
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Accountants challenged by Society over ‘flawed’ application
The Law Society has condemned the ‘seriously flawed’ application by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England & Wales (ICAEW) to become an approved licensing body for the grant of probate, it emerged last week. In a letter to Legal Services Board (LSB) chief executive Chris Kenny, the Society accuses ...
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Law Society alternative legal aid proposals
The Law Society last week published alternative proposals to the government’s Transforming Legal Aid plan, saying they would retain client choice, provide certainty and facilitate greater market efficiency. On contracting, the Society proposes: Rolling three-year contracts, awarded subject to an increasingly rigorous quality and capacity framework (QCF). Contracts will ...
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Criminal bar chair backs Law Society’s stance on legal aid
The chairman of the Criminal Bar Association has called for unity in the profession and attempted to quell ‘disquiet’ over the Law Society’s decision to share with the Ministry of Justice its proposals for an alternative to price-competitive tendering (PCT). In his weekly online comment, Michael Turner QC said that ...
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Guess the bank: a fun game for all the family
Obiter had been worried that litigators and expert witnesses weren’t having enough fun these days. Reassuring, then, to find that inventive playfulness is alive and kicking for those involved in the financial services litigation over allegedly mis-sold interest-rate hedging products. One attendee at last week’s Gazette roundtable confessed: ‘We have ...