All News articles – Page 1326
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News
Board battered by bar broadside
Obiter notes with alarm the assertion by certain bigwigs of the bar that the lord chancellor is sympathetic to the culling of the Legal Services Board.
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News
‘Without merit’ immigration appeals rounded on
Immigration solicitors who lodge last-minute groundless applications to prevent removals will be named and shamed and have their senior partners summoned before the court, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division has warned. Sir John Thomas said the administrative court faced an ‘ever-increasing large volume’ of ...
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Bar builds student appeal despite drop in pupillages
The number of students applying for the bar professional training course (BPTC) soared by almost 17% last year as the number of pupillages continued to drop. The second annual ‘Bar Barometer’ report published jointly by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board shows that ...
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Scots protest over legal aid cuts
Lawyers in Scotland demonstrated outside the Holyrood parliament this week, threatening to strike in protest over changes to the country’s legal aid system. The Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance bill, currently before the parliament, proposes that defendants with a disposable income of £68 or ...
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Grayling renews human rights assault after Qatada release
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has used the Abu Qatada deportation debacle to strengthen his call for reform of European human rights laws. The radical Islamic cleric was released on bail this week after a special immigration appeals commission allowed his appeal against deportation to Jordan, ...
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Advisers must learn lessons from the Winterbourne View scandal
by Sheree Green, senior associate at Anthony Collins Solicitors On 26 October, six former members of staff at Winterbourne View Hospital convicted of offences of neglect and abuse were given custodial sentences.
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New call for ABSs complaints data
The Law Society has called on regulators to collect specific complaints data on alternative business structures after failing to persuade the government to create a separate compensation fund for ABSs. The lord chancellor is expected to remove the ‘sunset’ clause in the Legal Services Act to ...
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Part 36: the normal costs rules
The normal costs rules under part 36.10(5)(a) and (b) provide that, where a part 36 offer is accepted after the relevant period has expired and unless the court orders otherwise, the claimant will be entitled to the costs of the proceedings up to the date on which the relevant period ...
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Hundreds of DLA jobs in line of fire
International firm DLA Piper has put 251 jobs at risk across the UK after launching a review of its domestic business. The firm said today it is considering the closure of its Glasgow office, the closure or divestment of its defendant insurance practice and the consolidation ...
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Will costs get out of kilter?
At the end of last month, the government announced what many had suspected for a while; that it is not going to introduce a ‘costs council’ of lawyers and other experts that would have been tasked with ensuring that fixed costs, and the guideline hourly rates used by courts in ...
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FFW merger deal with Osborne Clarke off
Merger talks between top 40 law firms Osborne Clarke and Field Fisher Waterhouse have collapsed over ‘differences in approach’. The firms confirmed in September that talks had started over a joint venture. But in a statement today, the firms said they had ...
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Marsh joins SRA’s first lay majority board
A former Law Society president is among four new members appointed to the first board of the Solicitors Regulation Authority to have a lay majority. Paul Marsh was president in 2008/09 and since then has been central to the creation of the Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme ...
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Beware the private sector bearing gifts
Roll up, roll up for the great prison giveaway. The aim of the game is quite simple: promise the earth and the Ministry of Justice will hand you the keys. All you then need to do is shrink the workforce, slash the budget and make sure ...
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Norton Rose announces transatlantic merger
International firm Norton Rose has announced a merger deal with a US practice that will cement its place in the top 10 global firms. The firm will combine with Fulbright & Jaworski on 1 June, 2013 to form Norton Rose Fulbright. The ...
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News
UK dismisses European common sales law plan
The government has poured cold water on European Commission proposals for an optional common European sales law. In a response to a call for evidence published today, it describes the commission’s plan as ‘an unbalanced proposal which is overly complex, introduces confusion and legal uncertainty ...
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Legal training system not broken - City
The City of London Law Society has criticised what it calls ‘misconceived’ assumptions underpinning the landmark review of legal education and training. In a response to the Legal Education and Training Review being conducted by the three main regulators, the group representing 15,000 City lawyers says ...
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Scot-free banking
‘Unbelievable!!!’ was the striking line in an email I received earlier this week from a trusted contact. It referenced a reported request by John Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industry, for banks to be protected from lawsuits related to the sale of products linked to Libor. ‘It ...
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Salary ranking shows some good news for lawyers
Lawyers’ average salaries have risen more slowly than the national average since 2006 – but still outflank most other professions, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Analysis by recruitment firm Randstad Financial & Professional found salaries increased by 8.1% since the first full ...
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Insurers ‘frustrated’ at small claims limit delays
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has criticised the government for delaying a decision on the future of the small claims process. The Ministry of Justice has yet to produce a response to the consultation, which closed in the summer, on whiplash and the Road Traffic ...
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LSB must go now, says Bar Council chief
The barristers’ profession cranked up its pressure on the Legal Services Board this weekend as the chair of the Bar Council called for the super-regulator to be ‘disbanded'. Michael Todd QC told the bar's annual conference that the LSB was going ‘beyond its brief’, and criticised ...