All News articles – Page 1401
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News
Ruling highlights ministerial passivity in the face of US aggression
Sometimes you just can’t win - particularly with the Daily Mail. ‘A glimpse of common sense from Strasbourg’ was its headline hailing the government’s victory at the European Court of Human Rights in the case involving both Babar Ahmad and Abu Hamza. The subsequent piece was the usual attack on ...
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Court of Appeal rules in favour of age discrimination claim
The Court of Appeal (CoA) has ruled that a solicitor may bring an age discrimination claim against the firm that dismissed him just 10 days before it appointed a younger and less well-paid solicitor to do a similar job.
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Solicitor advocates dragging standards down, says BSB research
Low rates for criminal legal aid and the growing share of work taken by solicitor advocates are contributing to a decline in advocacy standards that is harming the administration of justice, according to a survey by the Bar Standards Board. The report, Perceptions of Criminal Advocacy, ...
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Wotton urges US to accept ABSs
Law Society president John Wotton will today urge the US to embrace the era of alternative business structures.In a speech to the American Bar Association (ABA) in New York, Wotton is expected to speak of the opportunities for solicitors through non-lawyer ownership of firms.
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Insurers under fire for ‘wasted costs’
The incoming leader of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers will go on the attack against insurers this week. Karl Tonks, incoming president of APIL, will use his inaugural speech on Thursday at the group’s annual conference to call for fairness in the civil litigation system. ...
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Are judges interested in legal costs?
In a year’s time, everything is set to change in relation to lawyers’ costs. Among Lord Justice Jackson’s many and ambitious plans are a new rule on how to decide whether legal fees are proportionate (met with scepticism by many experts, it must be said), ...
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Domestic violence concession as MPs back legal aid cuts
MPs overturned nearly all of the changes made by peers to the government’s proposed legal aid reforms, but in a key concession agreed to widen the evidential criteria required to grant legal aid to victims of domestic violence. In last night’s debate on the Legal Aid, ...
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ABA rebuffs proposal for non-lawyer ownership
The American Bar Association has rejected any proposal to change its ban on non-lawyer ownership of firms. The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 decided last week to uphold the prohibition after a three-year of consultation with the profession.
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Is it different this time?
Two things have occurred that need your attention. The first alternative business structure (ABS) firms have been announced and QualitySolicitors’ new TV promotional campaign has started. I’m sure there will be a fierce debate about the pros and cons of QS' approach to promoting legal services; however given the Co-operative ...
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Rights conference set to end in ‘fudge’
This week’s Brighton conference on the future of Europe’s human rights court will end in a meaningless ‘fudge’, with no serious debate to address the issues dividing the governments of the 47 European states attending, one of Britain’s leading political scientists has predicted. Dr Michael ...
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College of Law sold in £200m private equity deal
A private equity firm, Montagu, has bought the College of Law in a deal which it says has created a £200m charitable fund for legal education. The sale follows months of speculation, with Montagu Private Equity, media giant Pearson and Providence Private Equity all in the ...
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Harmonised standards the key to family mediation, says Djanogly
Improved regulation and harmonised professional standards would encourage the take up of family mediation, the justice minister said today. Jonathan Djanogly told a Law Society conference on family mediation that the government will work with family mediation services, through the Family Mediation Council (FMC) to achieve a ‘harmonised’ scheme of ...
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Consumer panel to probe financial protection arrangements
The ability of regulators’ financial protection arrangements to cope with the high level of firms in distress is to come under the scrutiny of the consumer legal watchdog. In its work programme for 2012-13, published today, the Legal Services Consumer Panel says the capacity of ...
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Ministers target child legal aid in fightback against bill amendments
The government says it will oppose all but three of the 11 amendments made by peers to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill when the measure returns to the Commons tomorrow. A government response to the Lords’ amendments, published on Friday afternoon, signals ...
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Money laundering again... and again
In the calm of the Easter break, the European commission has published an important report on anti-money laundering, which could eventually have a significant impact on solicitors’ duties. (When reviewing the topics I have written about in these blogs over nearly three years, money laundering is probably the most frequently ...
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Day in court
The day after press day on a weekly newspaper is a good one for editors to get out to see a bit of the real world. I spent last Thursday in Court 1, Southwark Crown court, watching the opening stages of what everyone expects to be a lengthy trial concerning ...
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Titanic undertaking
Astute readers may already have noticed that tomorrow [Saturday 14th April] is the 100th anniversary of the RMS Titanic striking an iceberg.