All News articles – Page 1371
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News
Insurers ‘frustrated’ at small claims limit delays
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has criticised the government for delaying a decision on the future of the small claims process. The Ministry of Justice has yet to produce a response to the consultation, which closed in the summer, on whiplash and the Road Traffic ...
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Salary ranking shows some good news for lawyers
Lawyers’ average salaries have risen more slowly than the national average since 2006 – but still outflank most other professions, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics. Analysis by recruitment firm Randstad Financial & Professional found salaries increased by 8.1% since the first full ...
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It’s time to fight, bar chief says
The bar must fight to shape its own future in a ‘dramatically and quickly-changing legal landscape’ or be lost forever, the head of the bar told its annual conference in London this morning. In a passionate and wide-ranging address, Michael Todd QC (pictured) spoke ...
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Pilot officer Isaac’s short second world war
Memorial plaques at Golders Green Crematorium, north London, bear lots of memorable names; Anna Pavlova, Marc Bolan, Sid James. But, hanging around after a funeral a few years back, a memorable date caught my eye. It was 3 September 1939, on a Commonwealth War Graves tablet commemorating the falling of ...
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Legal challenge over custody rights of 17-year-olds
A children’s charity has been given permission to challenge the legality of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act code of practice and the failure of government and police to provide adequate support and protection to 17-year-olds in police custody. The High Court granted permission yesterday for ...
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Time limit for care cases ‘impractical’
Family law groups have warned that the government's plan to impose a 26-week time limit for courts to conclude care cases is impractical in most cases and constitutes ‘potentially unlawful interference with judicial discretion’. Giving evidence to the justice committee, the Law Society, Family Law Bar ...
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Chancery Lane warns of ‘two-tier’ will system
A two-tier system for regulating will-writing could confuse consumers and lead to a drop in standards, the Law Society has warned. The Society has welcomed the Legal Services Board’s recommendation that will-writing, estate administration and probate should be regulated. But Chancery Lane is concerned that the ...
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Goldring warns expert witnesses on fee ‘padding’
Expert witnesses will face fixed fees if they are found to be ‘padding out’ their charges to compensate for new hourly rates, the senior presiding judge of England and Wales warned the largest regular conference of experts today. Lord Justice Goldring told attendees at the ...
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Ombudsman will have more powers in February
Chief legal ombudsman Adam Sampson has revealed that radical changes to his role and scope could be in place as soon as next February. Sampson (pictured) said today that ministers were ‘broadly comfortable’ with a range of reforms that his office has recommended. The changes will ...
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Flotsam and jetsam
On a slow day recently I blew the dust off some files and looked in cabinet drawers that had not seen the light of day for many a year. When we started this firm I had one file for administration; now I have cabinets full of papers. So this was, ...
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Insurers take a risk if they get too greedy
‘I’m going to MASS tomorrow,’ I told my better half last night. ‘Since when did you go to church?’ was her immediate reply. Sadly the Motor Accident Solicitors Society conference doesn’t seem imprinted on everyone’s mind just yet. Certainly the delegates here have more reason than ...
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APIL slams £500k ‘token gesture’ crime victim fund
The government is to push through cuts of £50m from compensation to crime victims - but will provide a £500,000 hardship fund to help some victims excluded under the reform. Lawyers denounced the measure as ‘a token gesture’. Justice minister Helen Grant told parliament last week ...
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Society steps in over Hamza legal aid row
The Law Society has offered to work with the government to increase public understanding and confidence in legal aid after the justice minister announced an ‘immediate examination’ of the system following the Abu Hamza extradition case. Chris Grayling ordered the review yesterday after it emerged ...
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All fright on the night
Last week’s London Legal Support Trust Halloween thrash was held in the appropriately sepulchral precincts of the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln’s Inn. The drinks reception in the Hunterian Museum of anatomy beforehand was certainly not suitable for those of a nervous disposition. Jar after ...
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Anachronistic nonsense
Now that the Bar Council has decided to imitate the stupidity of our side of the profession and allow barristers to practise in an alternative business structure, why is it continuing to maintain the pretence of the cab-rank principle? This only ever existed in the way ...
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Bureaucracy is dragging the criminal justice system back centuries
by Christopher Coltart, a barrister at 2 Hare Court Historically, it was by no means easy for an acquitted defendant to recover legal costs. Indeed, until 1774, acquitted defendants were not even released from custody until their prison dues had been paid.
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Bare essentials
As Gazette readers will know, debate rumbles on between lawyers and the Legal Services Commission about the timeliness of payments. Invited by the Law Society president to crowd-source solutions for parts of the legal profession that are struggling, Obiter cast a productive set of yeux ...
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Blazing a trail: women and the judiciary
Who was the first woman judge in England and Wales? If you replied ‘Elizabeth Lane’, award yourself an A grade: Lane (1905-1998) became the first female county court judge in 1962, moving to the High Court three years later.
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ECJ blocks Hungarian retirement law
The Hungarian government’s widely criticised attempt to cull the country’s judiciary by lowering the retirement age of judges to 62 has run foul of the European Court of Justice. The court ruled this week that the changes constituted unjustified discrimination.
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Pro bono hours dip as cuts loom
The average amount of pro bono work undertaken by solicitors has fallen by nearly 15% over the past year, according to a Law Society survey published today. Although Chancery Lane says the decline reflects a narrower definition than that used in previous polls, the trend will renew fears about access ...