All News articles – Page 1298
-
News
SRA ‘wrong to pursue costs via conduct rules’
The Solicitors Regulation Authority was wrong to use professional conduct rules to pursue a former practitioner for costs, a tribunal has found. David Bellchamber had been ordered to pay fixed costs adding up to £850 in connection with a 2011 tribunal rebuke and subsequent unsuccessful appeal. ...
-
News
Consumer panel promises ‘long game’ on will regulation
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has claimed credit for changing the climate of opinion on the regulation of will-writing – despite the government’s outright rejection of the idea last month. The quango’s annual report, published today, lists will-writing as one area where it had an ...
-
News
Torn off a stipe in court
Back in the 1960s, legal aid in criminal cases was in the hands of stipendiary magistrates, in the case of lay magistrates, the clerks of the court. The stipes in particular regarded themselves as guardians of the public purse.
-
News
Neuberger defends judges’ right to speak out on cuts
Lawyers and judges have a duty to help the justice system work - and could learn from eBay’s online dispute resolution procedures, according to the president of the Supreme Court. In a wide-ranging speech at the Institute for Government thinktank last night, Lord Neuberger gave a ...
-
News
Family lawyers divided over Prest decision
The Supreme Court’s decision to order an oil tycoon to hand over assets held by his companies to his former wife has been hailed as a victory for fairness and justice by lawyers. But family practitioners are divided on the implications of last week’s judgment in ...
-
News
Defamation on social media
On 24 May Mr Justice Tugendhat handed down the judgment in McAlpine v Bercow [2013] EWHC 1342 (QB), finding that Mrs Bercow’s tweet carried a defamatory meaning. Following the judgment it was announced that Bercow had accepted an earlier settlement offer, saying that ‘today’s ruling should be seen as a ...
-
News
Hudson questions SRA’s firm finances disclosure
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has questioned the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s decision to disclose that 30 leading firms are in serious financial trouble. At the SRA board last week, it emerged that 20% of the 160 firms in ‘intensive engagement’ talks about their finances rank ...
-
News
The EU endorses freedoms but it wants to know what people will do with them
The political orthodoxy that markets provide the best solutions has been surprisingly resilient. In reality the government and the EU have a difficult relationship with market freedoms. They endorse freedoms, with the caveat that they would like to know exactly what people do with them. ...
-
News
Plans underline PCT failings
One of the main planks of the profession’s – sorry, ‘industry’s’ – opposition to price-competitive tendering is that, if implemented, ‘if you are accused of a crime, you will have to take the solicitor allocated to you’. This is the position already.
-
News
Jackson prompts spurt in law firm start-ups
More firms opened in the month after the Jackson reforms came into force than at any point for almost two years. According to figures published by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, 138 firms opened in April – 39% more than in April 2012 and a 77% increase ...
-
News
Freedom of information: limits of privilege
One of the key recommendations of the House of Commons Justice Select Committee in its July 2012 report on the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FoI) was the introduction of a new exemption for academic research. The government accepted this recommendation in its official response late last year.
-
News
Tips for the future lobbyists’ register
The prime minister recently announced plans for a statutory register of lobbyists, with a bill to be published by the end of July. I don’t know whether the bill will include lawyers within its definition of lobbyists. I guess so, although I don’t want anything I say to be taken ...
-
News
Trademarks in toys and games – part two
A recent High Court judgment concerning the Scrabble ‘tile’ trademark highlights the tension between trademarks and the functional elements of toys and games. Below is part two of a two-part summary of a few key decisions in this area; claims with varying degrees of success. Part one was published on ...
-
News
You can help shape improvements to legal regulation
by Helen Grant, justice minister Anyone who has worked in the legal industry will know what a nightmare the sector’s regulatory set-up can be.
-
News
Immigration
Asylum seeker – Detention – Claimant being detained under non-suspensive appeals process R (on the application of JB (Jamaica) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Court of Appeal, Civil Division: 12 June 2013 ...
-
News
Mystery surrounds legal training report
The Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) report remains under wraps as the profession’s regulators, now in possession of the completed document, continue to cite ‘commercial confidentiality’ for withholding its disclosure.
-
News
This is the life
The tortuously named Robert Walters Career Lifestyle Survey has some positive messages for the legal profession. You are an unusually loyal lot. Just 32% of legal professionals surveyed believe they should change employers at least every three years – the lowest of any profession, and well below the 52% of ...
-
News
Shortcomings of mediation
Mediation is ‘flavour of the month’ and doubtless there is a lot to be said for it in reducing the costs of civil litigation. I was involved in mediation recently in a consumer claim, and cannot say that the process did more than delay the listing of the case and ...
-
News
Seeking a twist in tale of Oliver
To the thinktank Politeia to hear a speech on fighting modern day slavery. A very good speech it was, too. But Obiter was also interested in the speaker. The event was a rare public outing for one of our less visible law officers, Oliver Heald ...
-
News
Peer-to-peer pioneer
Eight law firms have borrowed over £500,000 through commercial peer-to-peer lending, an innovative form of financing which some experts predict could one day replace banks. Lender Funding Circle says it has lent a total of £500,000 to eight legal practices: three from the north-west, one ...