All News articles – Page 1366
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News
RTA costs to be cut by £700
The government is set to slash £700 from the fixed recoverable costs for low-level claims handled through the RTA Portal scheme, the Gazette can reveal. According to figures released today by the Ministry of Justice, solicitors running claims valued at up to £10,000 will be able to claim £500 in ...
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Society ‘looking at alternatives to client accounts’
The Law Society is looking at whether solicitors still need to have client accounts and what other options could be available to help cut the cost of regulation. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson told the Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates annual conference on Saturday ...
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Fury and bewilderment at plans to curb judicial reviews
Lawyers responded critically to the prime minister’s call today for measures to cut the number of applications for judicial review. Adam Chapman, partner and head of public law at national firm Kingsley Napley, described the focus on judicial reviews as ‘a peculiar target’ in the ...
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Should cyclists be treated differently?
by Malcolm Underhill, a personal injury specialist at IBB solicitors There has been much written about the number of cyclists injured on our roads, with campaigns to improve the lot of those who prefer two wheels, to four.
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An economic message for our regulators
Here are some statistics which may surprise you (apart from the first sentence): Based on 2010 estimates, the UK had the largest share of the European legal services market followed closely by Germany. In total the UK and German legal services markets accounted for just under ...
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Supreme Court justice calls for positive discrimination on the menu
Positive discrimination is the only thing likely to significantly accelerate the rate of progress towards a more diverse judiciary, a Supreme Court judge has suggested. Lord Sumption, who is also a former member of the Judicial Appointments Commission, said positive discrimination to increase the number of ...
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Exclusivity at the bar
Attendees at the Bar Council’s annual conference were treated to an absolute masterclass in delivery from Lady Justice Rafferty. Delivering the keynote address, Rafferty spoke with poise and dry wit in defence of an elite. The word makes many at the bar shuffle – it does ...
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Welsh jurisdiction 'cart without a horse'
The case for a separate legal jurisdiction for Wales is ‘considerably weakened’ without devolved responsibility for policing and justice, the nation’s most senior lawyer said tonight. Theo Huckle, counsel general for Wales, said respondents to this year’s Welsh assembly government consultation on a separate jurisdiction had ...
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Last-chance warning on COLPs and COFAs
Hundreds of law firms risk losing their licence to practise within a matter of weeks unless they appoint compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs), and finance and administration (COFAs). Some 400 have still to do so, despite more than three months having elapsed since the 31 July deadline and repeated ...
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The Co-op’s a game-changer
I had the privilege of attending the launch of the Co-operative Legal Services Family Law service at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It was a fascinating and thought-provoking occasion.
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Don’t meddle with education and training, Neuberger warns
The president of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, has warned regulators to hold back from radical change to legal education and training. Neuberger warned that too much emphasis on consumer interests could undermine the rule of law. The Legal and Education Training Review, set up by ...
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Part 36: the normal costs rules
The normal costs rules under part 36.10(5)(a) and (b) provide that, where a part 36 offer is accepted after the relevant period has expired and unless the court orders otherwise, the claimant will be entitled to the costs of the proceedings up to the date on which the relevant period ...
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New call for ABSs complaints data
The Law Society has called on regulators to collect specific complaints data on alternative business structures after failing to persuade the government to create a separate compensation fund for ABSs. The lord chancellor is expected to remove the ‘sunset’ clause in the Legal Services Act to ...
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Advisers must learn lessons from the Winterbourne View scandal
by Sheree Green, senior associate at Anthony Collins Solicitors On 26 October, six former members of staff at Winterbourne View Hospital convicted of offences of neglect and abuse were given custodial sentences.
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Grayling renews human rights assault after Qatada release
Justice secretary Chris Grayling has used the Abu Qatada deportation debacle to strengthen his call for reform of European human rights laws. The radical Islamic cleric was released on bail this week after a special immigration appeals commission allowed his appeal against deportation to Jordan, ...
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Scots protest over legal aid cuts
Lawyers in Scotland demonstrated outside the Holyrood parliament this week, threatening to strike in protest over changes to the country’s legal aid system. The Civil Justice Council and Criminal Legal Assistance bill, currently before the parliament, proposes that defendants with a disposable income of £68 or ...
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Bar builds student appeal despite drop in pupillages
The number of students applying for the bar professional training course (BPTC) soared by almost 17% last year as the number of pupillages continued to drop. The second annual ‘Bar Barometer’ report published jointly by the Bar Council and the Bar Standards Board shows that ...
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‘Without merit’ immigration appeals rounded on
Immigration solicitors who lodge last-minute groundless applications to prevent removals will be named and shamed and have their senior partners summoned before the court, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division has warned. Sir John Thomas said the administrative court faced an ‘ever-increasing large volume’ of ...
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Bar chief rebuffed over LSB closure
Calls from the bar for the disbanding of the Legal Services Board met with a cool reception from the government this week. Bar Council chair Michael Todd QC told the bar’s annual conference that the super-regulator was going ‘beyond its brief’ and creating ‘burdensome costs’. ...
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Board battered by bar broadside
Obiter notes with alarm the assertion by certain bigwigs of the bar that the lord chancellor is sympathetic to the culling of the Legal Services Board.