All News articles – Page 1352
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News
Society warns against Euro justice opt-out
Opting out of European Union law-and-order measures could jeopardise the UK’s ability to fight cross-border crime, the Law Society has warned. Its warning comes as a House of Lords Committee began taking evidence on the opt-out, which is likely to be announced by the government ...
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Legal aid warning over contract allocation
Legal aid firms may go out of business as a result of the allocation of work for new civil legal aid contracts, representative groups have warned. The Legal Services Commission notified firms last week of the outcome of tenders for family, housing and debt, and immigration, ...
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British Airways employee wins discrimination case
The European Court of Human Rights has today ruled that English courts breached a British woman’s freedom of religion rights to wear a crucifix - a visible symbol of her faith - in the workplace. However, in three other judgments on the right to manifest religion ...
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All eyes on the Irish
Another six months has elapsed, and so another presidency of the EU Council of Ministers begins. For the next half-year, the Irish government is in charge, the seventh time that they have led in the past 40 years. The budget for their presidency is, not surprisingly, less than when they ...
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Legal apprenticeships no threat, says CILEx
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, which traditionally champions a vocational route into the legal profession, has insisted that it does not feel threatened by government plans to introduce apprenticeships as an alternative to law degrees. Diane Burleigh (pictured), the institute’s chief executive, was responding to ...
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Crown succession approach out of kilter
Governments are often accused of legislating in haste and repenting at leisure. One such example is the Succession to the Crown Bill, backed by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and to be debated in the Commons next week.
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LSB backs call for simpler complaints regime
A call by the competition watchdog for simpler complaints procedures in the legal profession has received the support of the Legal Services Board. The Office of Fair Trading’s recommendation followed the publication of research today showing that only one in eight dissatisfied customers goes on ...
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Hefty PC fee stuns bank
As a self-employed consultant solicitor representing serving prisoners in the south-west, I was staggered to discover that this year it would cost me a hefty £344 to renew my practising certificate. My bank appeared to agree, as the payment was immediately identified by Santander as a suspicious transaction. ...
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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 ...
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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 ...