All News articles – Page 1359
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News
PC renewals – one-third of the roll still to apply
Almost a third of the expected applications for practising certificate renewal have yet to be started with just four working days until the deadline. Despite repeated pleas from the Solicitors Regulation Authority for early applications, 31% of last year’s PC holders had yet to even start ...
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Unified patent regime clears parliamentary hurdle
London is to hear all European patent cases concerning medical biotechnology, hygiene and chemicals, including pharmaceuticals, following today’s vote in the European parliament in favour of setting up a new court system for a unitary EU patent. The vote signals the final stage of nearly 40 ...
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Will post-Jackson clients need protection from lawyers?
The government is now well on its way towards introducing damages-based agreements, which will be served up to litigants from a new menu of funding options next April. It issued a draft version of its DBA regulations nearly two months ago, and after inviting comments during ...
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Ombudsman warns of dangers from ‘conveyancing factories’
‘Conveyancing factories’ pose a potential risk for housebuyers, the chief ombudsman warns today, saying he is braced for more complaints about services. A report, ‘Losing the Plot – residential conveyancing complaints and their causes’, says that despite the fall in house sales, residential conveyancing accounted for ...
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Strasbourg Christmas surprises
Here is the first pantomime of the season. The scene opens in Strasbourg, where giants live: the European Court of Human Rights, and the Council of Europe, among others. Baron Hard-Up (otherwise known as the French government) owns their forest habitat, and has made it as difficult as possible to ...
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Human Rights Day warning to prime minister
The Law Society has warned the government that the ‘increasingly worrying tone’ of domestic debate about the Human Rights Act has placed the UK’s reputation for international human rights leadership at risk. In a letter to prime minister David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, ...
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Smallest firms ‘hardest hit’ by fee rises
The smallest law firms have been hardest hit by this year’s increase in the cost of practising certificates, a finance provider has claimed. Professions finance provider Syscap said sole-trader firms had seen the cost of renewing PCs rise by as much as 40% this year. ...
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News
Diversity boost for lowest rung of judiciary
A quarter of the lawyers recommended as deputy district judges (magistrates’ courts) in the most recent round of appointments were black, Asian and minority ethnic (BME), statistics released by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) this week reveal. The Commission received almost 1,500 applications for the 28 ...
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News
Civilise the internet, Leveson demands
The internet is not out of reach of the law, but new laws are likely to be required to ‘civilise the internet’, the judge charged with investigating the press has suggested. Speaking at the Communications Law Centre in Australia, Lord Justice Leveson said the internet posed ...
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RTA Portal costs: a tale of dishonesty
by Anthony Learmonth, partner at Coyne Learmonth LLP Lord Young’s report in October 2010 led to the 2011 consultation in relation to the Jackson proposals. It will be recalled that much of the consultation took place between the government and the heads of the motor insurance ...
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Dishonesty in debates on tax law
Despite Starbucks’ announcement that it intends to start paying corporation tax in the UK, I’m finding the current debate on tax law frustrating. There is a lack of honesty on all sides. The debate as presented at the moment is a triangle. In one corner, ...
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Statement of intent
On initial reading, the autumn statement contained fewer tax-related announcements than might have been expected. On closer reading there are several developments, actual and potential, affecting clients (and solicitors).
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News
Connect2Law chief vows to create ‘leading’ UK brand
Legal referral and support network Connect2Law has announced the heavyweight appointment of David Jabbari to the new role of chief executive. Jabbari (pictured) will join the executive board and become a partner at Pannone, which established Connect2Law in 2001. Jabbari was until recently chief operating ...
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Voluntary sector should be able to charge - LSB
Not-for-profit groups should be allowed to charge for provision of legal services, the Legal Services Board has said. The super-regulator wants the Solicitors Regulation Authority urgently to remove the current ban on charging. In a response to the consultation on regulation of ...
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Trade union giant Thompsons is latest ABS
Trade union personal injury firm Thompsons has become one of the biggest practices yet to be licensed as an alternative business structure. The Solicitors Regulation Authority today confirmed the firm’s application had been successful, along with that of Thompsons-owned subsidiary firm BBH Legal. ...
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Costly battle of finding advice
As a solicitor with 16 years’ experience in special educational needs law, I must respond to Lord McNally’s assumption that the education lawyer who had had a client for 11 years was possibly not giving the right advice.
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Agony aunt rescues app
When the Department for Work and Pensions unveiled its web app to help separating parents get advice without paying for pesky lawyers, it realised that the minister responsible, Steve Webb, was not an A-list draw. (No doubt he is famous in Thornbury & Yate.) Bravely, in the week of the ...
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App lost in translation
I started reading the article in this week’s Gazette entitled ‘Release an app’, but abandoned it when I hit the following sentence: ‘Further critical success factors include: determining and engaging key internal and external stakeholders to deliver a user-focused product, and developing appropriate analytics and key performance indicators to measure ...
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SRA approves compliance officers
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed the first set of approved compliance officers for legal practice, and finance and administration. About 5,000, just over 40% of the total, have been notified. Notifications of approval will continue to be sent to firms until 31 December. The new compliance officers will take ...