All News articles – Page 1339
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News
Time to stop bashing Grayling
The continual jibes in the Gazette about poor Mr Grayling’s lack of legal qualifications and (ergo) his supposed unconcern for the rule of law are growing wearisome.
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News
Status quo is best for Wales
Sometimes, no matter what the Scouts say, it’s best not to be prepared. I spent much of my journey to Wales this morning writing a brilliant piece on why Wales was making a mistake going it legally alone by setting up a separate jurisdiction. As it ...
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News
Cable hails unified patent court boost
Business secretary Vince Cable today finalised the deal for a new London-based unified patent court, which he said will deliver a £200m-a-year boost to Britain’s legal sector. The new court and patent system creates a one-stop shop for pharmaceutical, medical technology, hygiene and chemicals companies wanting ...
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News
Once more into the electronic justice breach
‘So far, a pilot of an all-electronic criminal justice system is working in only one of England’s 42 criminal justice areas. Getting the rest up to speed by 2008 will be a delicate task.’ That classic example of understated fence-perching journalism appeared in the Guardian newspaper in 2003. I recall ...
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News
Two law firms on Cameron’s Indian mission
National firm DLA Piper and southern England firm Dutton Gregory have joined David Cameron’s business delegation to India. They are among 100 businesses on the delegation, which aims to present the UK as the ‘global partner of choice’. One of the key messages the prime ...
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News
High-cost cases to escape new management rules
Commercial cases worth more than £2m will be exempt from new costs management rules, the judiciary has decided. A document issued today says that the exemption was made in an amendment to the Civil Procedure Rules finalised last week. Costs management is ...
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News
Compliance – catalyst for consolidation?
Will 2013 prove to be a happy new year for ALL small and medium-sized practices? We are now into a new era of outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) and the vast majority of firms have their compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs), and finance and administration (COFAs) in place, with the exception ...
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News
Chancery Division upgrade planned
The Chancellor of the High Court has today announced a review of the practice and procedure of the Chancery Division in light of the imminent Jackson and legal aid reforms. The review will consider the working of the court both in and outside London, making recommendations ...
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News
Responding to the changing complaints scope
by Matt Rowley, lead associate at LBS Legal In the last few months we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of enquiries from practices looking to reduce the impact of what they consider to be malicious complaints progressed to the Legal Ombudsman
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News
MPs: family judges should talk to children
Specialist family judges should talk to children whose care cases they deal with, according to an all-party group of MPs. In a report last week, the Child Protection All Party Parliamentary Group warned that government reforms to the family justice system set out in the ...
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News
Tax warning over children’s wills
Thousands of parents may need to rewrite their wills to protect their children’s interests because of inheritance law changes introduced in the Finance Bill, the Law Society has warned. The Society’s tax law committee has written to HMRC to voice concerns over what it says are ...
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News
Government ‘hiding’ RTA Portal evidence, Society claims
The Law Society has accused the government of hiding key information on which it based controversial new personal injury fees. The Ministry of Justice has rejected the society’s freedom of information request for the full report into the future reform of the RTA Portal extension. ...
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News
Client interest
In his recent blog, ‘What Mid Staffs and RBS have in common’, Eduardo Reyes asks: ‘Could a greater emphasis on professional ethics have helped prevent failings?’ With the advent of alternative business structures in particular, being a professional now only means that others have a stick with which to beat ...
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News
Cobbetts’ demise and resurrection – the full story
Unsecured creditors of Cobbetts are likely to recover just 2p in the pound following the ‘pre-pack’ deal that saw the collapsed firm acquired by DWF, the Gazette can reveal. Owed an estimated £41m, creditors are not expected to receive any money for some years. According ...
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News
Concession over EU sales law
The Law Society has welcomed an important concession from the European Parliament on the proposed common European sales law. Following lobbying by Chancery Lane, the new instrument is now to be applied only to contracts involving distance selling, particularly online transactions. The ...
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News
Legal confusion outer Mongolia
Grumbling at the chore of CPD? Spare a thought for our colleagues in the Gobi desert. In the footsteps of, if not Marco Polo, then at least Clyde & Co, Obiter popped along to a breakfast seminar organised by the Law Society’s international division on new markets in Mongolia. ...
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News
MoJ considers ending lump sum PI damages
Ministers are to consider the case for successful personal injury claimants to receive damages over a period of time rather than in one lump sum. The Ministry of Justice revealed last week that it is considering a change to the current payments regime – as well ...
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NewsRoundtable: conveyancing
While the residential conveyancing market is showing tentative signs of recovery, leading practitioners are focusing on raising standards in a volatile environment