All News articles – Page 1310
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News
One in five firms likely to seek external investment
A third of small and mid-sized practices are considering merging in the next two or three years and one in five are likely to seek external investment, according to the results of the Law Society Law Management Section’s latest benchmarking survey. The report, published today, revealed ...
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DWF expands national presence with new merger
In the latest sign of consolidation in the legal sector, business firm DWF today announced a merger with insurance firm Fishburns.
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Development on town and village greens
The last commercial property column looked at the manner in which town and village green applications create hurdles for development. One aspect of the Commons Act 2006 makes life particularly difficult for developers.
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Dealing with negligence
I read with interest the complaints clinic by Adam Sampson in December. It seems that the three headings ‘Time limits’, ‘Financial limits’ and ‘Prospective customers’ sum up the problems that solicitors have with the Legal Ombudsman.
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David defeats Goliath
by David Dixon, a senior lecturer at Cardiff Law School who teaches on the LPC and GDL The third week of November was a momentous week in the history of Wales.
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Working out data overload
We are obliged to produce a table of the categories of work for practising certificates, divided into percentages for each type of work undertaken. We must also do the same for professional indemnity insurance. However, the breakdown of types of work seems to vary for ...
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Criminal law
Trial – Robbery – Violent disorder – Burglary R v Donovan and another: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division: 18 December 2012 The Court of Appeal, Criminal Division, in allowing ...
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Society critical of employee shareholder contracts
The government’s proposals for employee shareholder contracts will only add to red tape for small businesses and create confusion about workers’ rights, the Law Society has warned. The plans, contained in the Growth and Infrastructure Bill, are currently before the House of Lords having been passed ...
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Regulator ponders guillotine on PPI complaints
The Financial Services Authority has opened talks on introducing a time limit for payment protection insurance (PPI) complaints. In a statement released this afternoon, the FSA admitted there had been ‘initial discussions’ to consider the merits of a limit. The talks followed an approach by the ...
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Does competition law suit the NHS?
Competition law seems especially vulnerable to ‘the law of unintended consequences’ in the current environment. This can be seen in operation, some argue, by the 8 January referral by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) of a proposed merger between two NHS trusts (located in Poole, Bournemouth and Christchurch) to ...
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Compensation fund review to take two years
A full-scale review of the compensation fund will take two years to complete, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has revealed. Regulators want to weigh up whether existing arrangements provide effective protection for consumers of legal services, as well as address any solicitors’ concerns about the scheme. ...
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Chancery Lane must not pull punches
I understand that the president of the Law Society has called for a freeze on civil justice reform, until the effects have been properly researched. This is welcome news. As usual, the Law Society is being civilised and reasonable. But in modern Britain, how effective is ...
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JLD chair claims trainees need more protection
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is failing to protect trainee solicitors from exploitation and threats, the new chair of the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has claimed. Heather Iqbal-Rayner (pictured) has drafted a letter to SRA chief executive Antony Townsend in which she claims that the regulator refuses ...
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Personal injury calculation
The standard rate of interest on general damages for pain and suffering and loss of amenities in personal injury cases was fixed at 2% a year by the House of Lords in Birkett v Hayes [1982] 1 WLR 816; [1982] 2 All ER 70. This was confirmed as appropriate by ...
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Brilliant Law? It’s just a wolf in wolf’s clothing
I’ve never quite understood the antagonism towards foreign football club chairmen. Sure, we may question how the likes of Abramovich and Glazer acquired their money (or even if they have any at all), but to me there’s something deeper afoot. These people are foreign outsiders: they’re ...
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Brand lessons from Claridge’s
If you watched the recent series on BBC2, Inside Claridge’s, you may have asked yourself how they can possibly charge several thousand pounds for one night of accommodation. The Claridge’s brand has been built over many years on a philosophy of putting the guest first and providing exceptional service.
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Blighty sets the tone in Chancery Lane hanging
Obiter has noticed that every so often the art world experiences a paradigm shift – think of the Dutch noticing how perspective worked, or the day Tracey Emin decided not to make her bed. Likewise closer to home, where the Law Society Art Group is ...
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Solicitors have ‘little to fear’ from Barco
Solicitors’ representatives and sector analysts have played down the likely impact of the bar’s latest move to attract clients directly. They were commenting after the Financial Services Authority approved a scheme allowing barristers to sidestep the current prohibition on holding client money, a major barrier ...
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MPs consider extradition forum bar
Government plans to amend extradition laws will be included in a wide-ranging justice reform bill, the home secretary told the House of Commons last night. During the second reading of the Crime and Courts Bill, Theresa May said the bill would propose amending the Extradition ...