All News articles – Page 1363
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News
Dramatic changes to family migration
On 11 June, the Home Office announced the latest round of changes to the UK Immigration Rules. The broad reforms aim to restrict the ability of non-European Economic Area (EEA) migrants to enter or remain in the UK under the family migration route, and to curtail the use of article ...
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Increasing selection in state schools the best way to improve legal diversity
by Lucinda Moule, managing director at legal recruitment agency Laurence Simons Elitism is a huge problem in the legal industry. Research by Laurence Simons in 2010 found that 15% of lawyers still come from public schools that educate only 2% of the population.
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Co-op/Lloyds deal will treble the group’s banking presence and offer golden opportunity
BBC business editor Robert Peston hailed the Co-op’s acquisition of 632 bank branches from Lloyds as the ‘deal of the millennium’. It is hard to disagree, and not just because it picked them up cheap.
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‘Baby barrister’ threat to solicitors
Barristers with under three years’ practising experience will be able to take instructions directly from clients if the Bar Standards Board’s latest plan for the extension of public access rules is approved. The board heard last week that ‘baby barristers’ may be the only representation ...
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UK ‘miscarriages’ model rejected by South Australia
South Australia is now highly unlikely to adopt a UK-style Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), following a report by the parliament’s legislative review committee. The committee also cautioned against the creation of a CCRC at a national level.
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General damages to increase by 10%
The Court of Appeal today confirmed that general damages will increase by 10% for all judgments made after 1 April 2013. Senior figures at the judiciary said the judgment was being made several months in advance to provide 'simplicity and clarity'. The ...
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QC to be charged with failing to pay £600,000 in VAT
A QC is to face charges over an alleged £600,000 VAT fraud, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practises from London’s Thirty Nine Essex Street, will face one charge of cheating the public revenue. CPS central ...
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Forensic science vandalism
He is almost 70 years old and still manning the barricades nearly 24 years after his most high-profile triumph as a solicitor - the freeing of four victims of a miscarriage of justice who had spent 15 years in prison for a crime they did not commit.
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Employment lawyers slam ‘out-of-the-blue’ reform plans
A group representing 6,000 employment lawyers has savaged government plans to cut red tape for businesses, claiming that they will prolong rather than settle disputes and stretch resources ‘beyond breaking point’. The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) says that the proposals, in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform ...
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Insurance fund deal for mesothelioma victims
Insurers will pay £300m over the next 10 years into a scheme to support newly diagnosed victims of mesothelioma, the government confirmed today. The money will go into a new fund for the 3,000 victims across the UK who are unable to claim compensation because ...
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Panel identifies consumer trust shortfall
Legal services consumers are becoming less confident about protection of their rights as the market liberalises, research has found. The second consumer ‘healthcheck’ released by the Legal Services Consumer Panel today identified declining public trust in lawyers, though it pointed out that this is true of ...
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'Commonsense' regulation
I was moved to contribute some observations on regulation following a discussion with a solicitor client pulling their hair out at the delays in the Solicitors Regulation Authority investigation process; and having read Gregory Treverton-Jones QC’s article on the dangers of entity regulation.
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Supreme Court backs ‘unbeliever’ asylum right
The Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the right of asylum seekers not to be forced to hold, seem to hold or express a political opinion in order to protect themselves from persecution in their own countries. The judgment, for the first time, makes the law clear ...
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Consolidation - should we all be doing it?
Merger activity within the UK legal profession is significant. Every week the legal press brings new stories of mergers, team defection and acquisition and firms being rescued as the cashflow requirements of the business prove to be overwhelming.
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Lessons from the low-value RTA process
Last week the Ministry of Justice finally revealed Professor Fenn’s independent report on the operation of the low-value road traffic accident process. And it was rather disappointing. Fenn found that costs under the process, which uses an electronic portal, appeared to be 3-4% lower than previously, ...
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Medical report cost recovery in last-minute Jackson change
Concerns about impact on disabled claimants have forced a last-ditch change to the government’s civil litigation reforms. An equality impact assessment of the Jackson proposals revealed fears that claimants could be prevented from bringing a serious injury claim because of the cost of expert reports. Part ...
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‘New litigation industry’ will deter investors, CBI warns
Government proposals for ‘opt-out’ class actions for consumers could spark a new ‘litigation industry’ around competition law and deter inward investment and growth, business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry warned today. Businesses need incentives such as reduced fines to participate in alternative dispute ...
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Shoosmiths lets 86 go
National firm Shoosmiths has responded to a difficult financial year by announcing a total of 86 redundancies. The top 40 firm, where turnover dropped by 3% in 2011/12 to £84m, today confirmed 71 voluntary and 15 compulsory redundancies following a two-month consultation. ...
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Money laundering - at last, the evidence?
As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Something is about to happen that some have requested for a long time. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body which takes the lead in the global fight against money laundering, and which is the inspiration behind ...
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Solicitor shot in Devizes has died
Police have confirmed that Wiltshire solicitor James Ward (pictured) has died following a shooting in his office earlier this month. The 58-year-old, principal solicitor at Morris Goddard & Ward, was shot at his desk in the firm’s Devizes office on 2 July. Wiltshire Police today confirmed ...