All News articles – Page 1386
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News
Decision to scrap the trainee minimum salary was ill-considered and nonsensical
by Hekim Hannan, chair of the Junior Lawyers Division Last week the SRA abolished the trainee minimum salary, currently £18,590 in Central London and £16,650 elsewhere.
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SRA defends trainee minimum salary cut
Scrapping the trainee minimum salary will increase, rather than hinder, diversity in the profession, a senior regulator has insisted. Samantha Barrass, executive director of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, was speaking after SRA board members voted to deregulate the minimum salary at their meeting last week. Following ...
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Criminal evidence
Hearsay - Document - Whether conviction on count 1 unsafe R v Ibrahim: Court of Appeal, Criminal Division (Lord Justice Aikens, Mr Justice Field and Judge Nicholas Cooke QC): 27 April 2012 ...
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Contempt of court
Appeal against committal order - Defendant failing to comply with restraint order and being committed to prison for contempt of court R v OB: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Gross, Mr Justice Openshaw, Judge Milford QC): 2 May 2012 ...
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Clutching at Straw
Jack Straw has trousered well north of £100,000 in extra-parliamentary earnings since the last election. A commodity trader, a private equity house and even a military thinktank have all paid handsomely for the peripatetic Blackburn MP’s services, as Obiter has recounted.
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Close shave
With his boss in Russia promoting London’s legal services, it was left to under-secretary of state for justice Jonathan Djanogly to take justice questions in parliament last week. Responding to Liberal Democrat Tom Brake, the minister, known for his attention to detail during the passage of the Legal Aid, Sentencing ...
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Client confusion
The occasional articles by the Legal Ombudsman should give us all cause for concern. Historically we have, in these articles, had our clients described as ‘customers’ or ‘consumers’. Even the lay members of the ombudsman service ought to know that it is shopkeepers who have customers and regional or national ...
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'Customer' or 'client'?
I popped in to the doctor’s yesterday but I had to wait because my GP was busy with another customer. Actually, I was a bit late for my appointment. I’d just got off the phone to my child’s teacher. She’s always keen to chat because my family is one of ...
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No win, no fee climb down: a case of double standards
Is the government losing its nerve on no win, no fee reforms? The overhaul of the civil justice system was supposed to have been rubber-stamped when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act was given royal assent earlier this month.
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Local government career least popular option for students
Local government law is the least popular career option for law undergraduates, with less than 1% of 805 students questioned saying they would choose to work for a local authority, a survey has revealed.
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The legal profession is still capable of coming together as a community
A great deal is written and said about divisions in the legal profession - on the results of increased specialisation, the disparities in rewards, and the questions of public policy that generate discord. While such differences are real and worthy of note, this week’s London ...
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SARs ruling brings relief to law firms
A Court of Appeal ruling on anti-money-laundering obligations will bring relief for businesses, including law firms, and remind lawyers of the importance of having appropriate systems to evidence concerns leading to suspicious activity reports (SARs). In a judgment last week, the court dismissed a claim made ...
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'Work to rule' blow to troubled civil courts service
New evidence of a civil courts service reaching breaking point has emerged with staff working to rule and one county court asking law firms not to increase its ‘already vast workload’ by chasing work in arrears. Members of the Public & Commercial Services union in the ...
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Bigamy and high stakes
The report that devotees may be photographed shaking Bill Clinton’s hand for $1,000 a time reminded me of the great 19th century dancer and courtesan Rosanna James, who ennobled herself as Maria Dolores de Porres y Montes. Better known as Lola Montez (pictured), she was reputed to charge Bostonians a ...
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Hudson: bar strike would ‘damage profession’
Strike action by the bar will damage the legal profession and the justice system, the Law Society’s chief executive Desmond Hudson has warned, after a survey showed that nine out of 10 criminal barristers are prepared to refuse work in protest over fee rates and reforms.
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Desperate ban
The arguments are over and the lobbying is done - the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act is now fully inscribed in the law of the land. The views of politicians, stakeholders and the media over the merits of each provision are moot; attention should now fall to ...