All News articles – Page 1361
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News
Smaller law firms buck trend with income rise
Smaller legal firms have reported a rise in fee income despite the depressed economy – with residential conveyancing up in the usually weak third quarter of the calendar year. The second quarterly benchmarking survey from the Law Society’s Law Management Section shows a 7.4% increase in ...
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Family mediation scheme extended
Membership of the Law Society’s family mediation scheme will be extended to all qualified family mediators from April. Currently membership is restricted to solicitors and fellows of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives. From April, mediators competence-assessed by the Family Mediation Council will be able to ...
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No legal aid cuts for social welfare appeals
The government suffered a rare ‘fatal defeat’ in the House of Lords last night on a regulation that would have denied legal help to people appealing welfare benefits on a point of law in first-tier tribunals. It also agreed to amend a regulation which opponents ...
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The SRA and referral fees
I attended the SRA's seminar on referral fees on 19 November. It was part of its consultation exercise on implementing the poisoned chalice of the ban on referral fees for personal injury cases. It was well attended and the SRA ought to take credit for listening to the worried and ...
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LSB ‘still needed’, government tells the Lords
The government has dismissed peers’ calls for the urgent scaling back of the Legal Services Board and described current arrangements as ‘fit for purpose’. Baroness Deech, chair of the Bar ...
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Quindell snaps up law firm and claims manager in £60m deal
Fast-growing new legal entrant Quindell has announced a deal worth more than £60m to buy a leading claims management company and a law firm. AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio, which has already bought two law firms this year, today confirmed an agreement with Abstract Legal Holdings, the parent ...
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Scottish society takes high road to ABS-style licensing
The Law Society of Scotland could license new legal businesses by spring after submitting its application to regulate the new entities. The society applied to the Scottish government to become an approved regulator of new licensed legal service providers (LPs), the Scottish equivalent of alternative business ...
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Commission to probe impact of legal aid cuts
Campaigning charity the Legal Action Group has set up a commission to examine the impact of the legal aid cuts and develop a strategy to help ensure public access to justice. The Low Commission on the Future of Advice and Legal Support is chaired by crossbench ...
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A professional lesson from Belarus
There is a country in Europe, bordered by three member states of the EU (Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), where lawyers suffer grievously for carrying out their professional duties - Belarus, often called Europe’s last dictatorship.
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Bill would spare ‘innovative’ doctors from negligence risks
Conservative peer Lord Saatchi has introduced a bill that would exempt doctors from being held liable for clinical negligence if they ‘innovate’ during cancer treatment. Saatchi (pictured) brought forward the Medical Innovation Bill after his wife, the writer Josephine Hart, died from peritoneal cancer in June ...
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Portal and fixed fees – the consequences?
by Julie Carlisle, an associate at Henmans LLP Paul Evans of AXA tweeted recently in support of the government’s proposals for reduced portal and fixed fees: ‘Stripping out lawyers... obscene profits for whiplash claims will lead to lower premiums - good news for honest drivers.’
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SRA awaiting 19,000 renewal applications with only two weeks to go
More than half the expected applications for practising certificate renewal are still to be received with just two weeks of the process remaining. The Solicitors Regulation Authority today revealed that more than 18,000 bulk or single applications are completed or nearing completion, out of an expected ...
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Government launches £300,000 web app for divorce
Separating parents will be able to find free advice and guidance through a web app released this week by the government. ‘Sorting out Separation’ provides information about all aspects of separation, from how to avoid a separation to coping with the emotional impact of breaking ...
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Mediators honoured in CEDR awards
Magic circle firm Linklaters was among the winners of the biannual CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) awards presented last night in London. It won the award for alternative dispute resolution and civil justice innovation for setting up the Commercial Mediation Group in January this year. ...
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Danny Nightingale hysteria sets worrying precedent
No one could fail to be moved by the pictures of Danny Nightingale reunited with his family yesterday. Most happy of all, I suspect, were the tabloid newspapers who lapped up the story with relish and conveniently found a reason to relegate the Leveson report to the inside pages.
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SRA falls short of 45-second target
The Solicitors Regulation Authority failed to answer 25% of calls to its professional ethics helpline within 45 seconds in the third quarter of 2012, the organisation revealed this week, a year after the service began. Board papers said that 13,480 calls were answered out of ...
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Win tickets to see 9 to 5 The Musical
9 to 5 The Musical is a new musical comedy based on the hit movie about three office workers who turn the tables on their sexist boss. They conspire to take control of the company and learn there is nothing they cannot do – even in a man’s world.
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No prescription over advisers is bad news
In what circumstances could it ever be in a client’s best interests not to be referred to an ‘independent’ financial adviser? On its face, the SRA’s relaxation of the rules appears both dogmatic and perverse. However, it is not as simple as that. The City’s pre-eminent ...
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Animal, children and LSB websites
Obiter was in exalted company last week for the launch of the Legal Services Board’s fancy new research website. (And to hear the board’s chair, David Edmonds (pictured), grumble at the inadequacy of his £250,000 research budget.) There was a buzz in the high-powered academic audience as Edmonds handed over ...
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Insurers annex civil justice
To survive and thrive, a legal system must be respected by all sides. However, this principle is surely now under challenge by the fixed payment system being introduced for personal injury work. So misconceived is the principle of fixed costs, and so low are ...