All News articles – Page 1345
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News
Ten thousand register for criminal advocacy
Over 10,000 solicitors have notified the Solicitors Regulation Authority that they will be seeking criminal advocacy accreditation next year when the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) begins. The controversial scheme is scheduled to start on 14 January when all solicitor-advocates wishing to practise criminal advocacy ...
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Economies of scale needed to set up a firm have actually fallen
by Ian Wimbush, chair of the Legal Software Suppliers Association When Kenneth Clarke told members of the Birmingham Law Society that alternative business structures (ABSs) would herald a ‘whole new world’ for lawyers, he said that 3,000 high street firms would disappear.
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Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme is abandoned
The government has abandoned a scheme to take up to 25% of damages awards from clinical negligence victims. The Supplementary Legal Aid scheme was intended to fund cases that would still come under the scope of legal aid from next April. Campaigners argued it amounted to ...
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Chief coroner sets out new regime in first speech
Only lawyers will be appointed as coroners from next June, the first holder of the new post of chief coroner for England and Wales has announced in his first public speech. Judge Peter Thornton QC told the annual conference of coroners today that new appointments ...
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LSB calls for ‘open debate’ on cost of regulation
The legal profession’s umbrella watchdog today calls for an ‘open debate’ on the cost of regulation which would encompass all the levies lawyers must pay in order to practise. In its response to the government’s first triennial review of its activities, the Legal Services Board ...
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PI specialist is thirtieth alternative business structure
The former president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has steered his firm to alternative business structure status. David Bott, who stood down as president in April, will bring practice manager Paul Hinchcliffe and finance manager Gary Froggatt, both non-solicitors, into equity partner status at ...
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How digital age strengthens in-house professionals
I am delighted to be writing for the Law Society Gazette as an in-house lawyer in industry. The Law Society represents and services the interests of 126,000 solicitors. Some 33% of these lawyers are working in house.
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Solicitors warned off SDLT avoidance schemes after landmark judgment
Schemes designed to dodge stamp duty land tax (SDLT), which cost the public purse £170m a year, will face tough scrutiny from HM Revenue & Customs after a landmark tribunal judgment this week. Regulations have also been laid that will force users of avoidance schemes to disclose them to the ...
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Uncompromising truth
The entire content of Nicholas Lakeland’s article rang true for me as an employment solicitor who advises on up to 8-10 compromise agreements a week. They are increasingly common and I repeatedly find myself having to explain to clients that I have a duty to ...
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LegalZoom in QualitySolicitors tie-up
US online legal services shop LegalZoom is to come to Britain later this year in partnership with UK network QualitySolicitors, the Gazette has learned. LegalZoom claims to be the most recognised legal brand in the US and the leading provider of online legal documentation services ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, September 1962 Father v Son An unusual encounter took place recently at Cardiff Magistrates’ court when a father and son, both of who are solicitors, appeared, respectively, for the defence and the prosecution. They are Mr Myer Cohen (admitted ...
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Intellectual property
Patent - Infringement - Proceedings for infringement Eli Lilly & Company v Human Genome Sciences Inc: CA (Civ) (Lord Justices Hooper, Lewison, Sir Robin Jacob): 5 September 2012 The proceedings, ...
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Injunction
Pre-trial or post-judgment - Relief - Interim injunction - Claimant applying for interim injunction McClaren v News Group Newspapers Ltd: QBD (Mr Justice Lindblom): 5 September 2012 The claimant was ...
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Human rights
Infringement of human rights - Right to life - Proceedings arising out of the killing of 24 civilians by British troops during 1948 Malayan Emergency Keyu and others v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and another: ...
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Hillsborough investigation launched by SRA
The role and conduct of solicitors involved in legal proceedings following the 1989 Hillsborough disaster will be investigated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the regulator announced today. However it said it has yet to receive any formal complaints about the conduct of solicitors involved ...
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Mortgage fraud solicitor jailed
A former criminal defence solicitor has been jailed for two years for her part in a £1.3m mortgage fraud in east London. Elena Quinlivan (pictured), 35, planned to build a rented property empire, using forged identity documents, bank statements and payslips, Southwark Crown Court heard. ...
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Ferret frolics
After a truly memorable summer of sport, this was surely the pinnacle. No sooner had Team Gazette waved the parade of Olympic and Paralympic athletes through London than we were on our way to another sporting spectacle: ferret racing. The ...
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Hillsborough highlights need to make inquiries more effective
by Dr Karl Mackie, chief executive/mediator at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, London The shocking revelations of how the investigations were conducted into the Hillsborough disaster – and the delay of 23 years in uncovering the real issues – will only shake an increasingly disturbed ...
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SRA planning surprise diversity swoops
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to make unannounced visits to 100 ‘randomly selected’ law firms to assess their compliance with mandatory diversity reporting requirements. The plan, announced at a Law Society Firms Diversity Forum meeting in Manchester last week, ‘went down like a lead balloon’, according ...