All News articles – Page 1327
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News
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 ...
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Osborne’s employment rights trade ‘adds to red tape’
The complexity and costs associated with offering employee ownership in return for the forfeiture of employment rights is likely to deter employers from the scheme proposed last month by chancellor George Osborne, the Law Society warned today. It said that the new 'employee owner' status ...
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Becoming excited about data protection
I was on a conference panel recently with an Irish solicitor who gushed enthusiasm for data protection, and made it sound… well, interesting. I carefully watched him perform his schtick, and I’m now ready to sing and dance for you on the same subject.
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Pilot officer Isaac’s short second world war
Memorial plaques at Golders Green Crematorium, north London, bear lots of memorable names; Anna Pavlova, Marc Bolan, Sid James. But, hanging around after a funeral a few years back, a memorable date caught my eye. It was 3 September 1939, on a Commonwealth War Graves tablet commemorating the falling of ...
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It’s time to fight, bar chief says
The bar must fight to shape its own future in a ‘dramatically and quickly-changing legal landscape’ or be lost forever, the head of the bar told its annual conference in London this morning. In a passionate and wide-ranging address, Michael Todd QC (pictured) spoke ...
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Insurers take a risk if they get too greedy
‘I’m going to MASS tomorrow,’ I told my better half last night. ‘Since when did you go to church?’ was her immediate reply. Sadly the Motor Accident Solicitors Society conference doesn’t seem imprinted on everyone’s mind just yet. Certainly the delegates here have more reason than ...
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Flotsam and jetsam
On a slow day recently I blew the dust off some files and looked in cabinet drawers that had not seen the light of day for many a year. When we started this firm I had one file for administration; now I have cabinets full of papers. So this was, ...
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Ombudsman will have more powers in February
Chief legal ombudsman Adam Sampson has revealed that radical changes to his role and scope could be in place as soon as next February. Sampson (pictured) said today that ministers were ‘broadly comfortable’ with a range of reforms that his office has recommended. The changes will ...
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Goldring warns expert witnesses on fee ‘padding’
Expert witnesses will face fixed fees if they are found to be ‘padding out’ their charges to compensate for new hourly rates, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales warned the largest regular conference of experts today. Lord Justice Goldring told attendees at the ...
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Chancery Lane warns of ‘two-tier’ will system
A two-tier system for regulating will-writing could confuse consumers and lead to a drop in standards, the Law Society has warned. The Society has welcomed the Legal Services Board’s recommendation that will-writing, estate administration and probate should be regulated. But Chancery Lane is concerned that the ...
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Time limit for care cases ‘impractical’
Family law groups have warned that the government's plan to impose a 26-week time limit for courts to conclude care cases is impractical in most cases and constitutes ‘potentially unlawful interference with judicial discretion’. Giving evidence to the justice committee, the Law Society, Family Law Bar ...
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Legal challenge over custody rights of 17-year-olds
A children’s charity has been given permission to challenge the legality of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act code of practice and the failure of government and police to provide adequate support and protection to 17-year-olds in police custody. The High Court granted permission yesterday for ...
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Running into the sand
David O’Dwyer, assistant solicitor in the real estate department at commercial firm Memery Crystal, finished 10th in a race last week. So what? It was the Sahara Race – a 150-mile run (equivalent to more than six marathons) over seven days. In the Sahara. Carrying all your own food ...
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New York offices reopen post-Sandy
New York lawyers are back at work after the city’s battering last week by ‘superstorm’ Sandy. Some firms were forced to close after the storm left offices and homes without power and caused staff to be evacuated from their homes or stranded without public transport. Clifford ...
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Memory lane
The Law Society’s Gazette, 11 November 1992Audience rights: the next step After a short debate, the Law Society’s Council last week approved an application for solicitor audience rights in the higher courts. The final draft – which covers both solicitors in private practice and employed solicitors ...
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Intellectual property
Database rights – Infringement – Confidential information British Sky Broadcasting Group plc and others v Digital Satellite Warranty Cover Ltd (in liquidation): Chancery Division (Sir William Blackburne): 1 October 2012 ...
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PII warning over unrated insurers
Cash-strapped law firms have been driven to obtaining professional indemnity insurance from unrated insurers this year, risking regulatory sanctions where an insurer becomes insolvent, a leading broker and the Law Society have warned. Unrated firms, listed by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, are those without a ...
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Immigration
Asylum seeker – Appeal – Fresh claim – Claimant being refused asylum from Sri Lanka R (on the application of Sathasivam) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court (London) (Judge Mackie QC (judgment ...