All News articles – Page 1409
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News
Should everything in the EU be divisible by 27?
I see it as my role to give the positive side of the European project - of which there is much to say - and to berate the UK press, which abuses the EU thoughtlessly day after day. But I am sorry to report that I shall have to continue ...
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‘Alternative’ firm applies to be ABS
A self-styled ‘alternative’ law firm which acts for companies such as BSkyB and Nike plans to become an alternative business structure. Halebury has a roster of 14 lawyers contracted to the firm but working on a consultancy basis in-house with corporate clients. The firm was founded ...
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'Upsurge' in Scottish firms interested in ABS status
The Law Society of Scotland has reported an upsurge in law firms north of the border expressing interest in becoming alternative business structures, though it says new regulations enabling them to convert remain ‘some way off’. Today the Society has submitted a proposed regulatory ...
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Children in custody at five-year low
The number of children in custody has hit a record low five years after the start of a programme designed to limit the use of prison, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Justice today.
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Training review: a collegiate sense of déjà vu
There was a distinct sense of déjà vu about the sense of déjà vu I felt at the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) symposium in Manchester last week. The LETR, sponsored by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Bar Standards Board and Chartered Institute of Legal Executive ...
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Honorary degree for Rozenberg
Legal commentator and Gazette columnist Joshua Rozenberg has been awarded an honorary degree by Nottingham Law School. Later this week he will receive an honorary Doctor of Laws (LLD) from the law school, which is part of Nottingham Trent University. The law school acclaimed Rozenberg as ...
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‘Swift’ justice to become ‘norm’ in criminal cases
Dealing with criminal cases in 'hours and days' could become 'the norm' under government plans announced today. Policing and criminal justice minister Nick Herbert published a white paper detailing proposals designed to speed up cases in the criminal justice system. Extended court sittings, increased use of ...
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Lawyers may face regulation as MPs reject lobbyist register
Lawyers who lobby professionally for their clients should be subject to regulation, according to a Commons committee report out today. The Political and Constitutional Reform Committee says the government should scrap current plans for a statutory register of third-party lobbyists as not ‘fit for purpose’. Instead, ...
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Judicial applications up 17%
A record number of candidates applied for judicial appointments last year, the Judicial Appointment Commission’s latest annual report reveals. There were 5,490 applications in 2011-12, of which 746 resulted in the appointment of tribunal chairs, recorders, district judges, deputy district judges, circuit judges and high court ...
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Final consultation launched on advocacy accreditation
A fourth - and ‘final’ - consultation on the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) published today contains a number of ‘significant’ changes that solicitors’ representative groups have welcomed.
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Age concern
Bad news for the nation’s senior judges last week, with confirmation that the mandatory retirement age of 70 will continue to stand. Justice secretary Ken Clarke (pictured) told the House of Commons that relaxing the compulsory age would mean judges of all kinds might enjoy a job for life. ‘If ...
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Law applicants unfazed by tuition fee rise
The number of students applying to read law at university appears to have held up well this year, despite a near 9% fall in applications across all degree subjects in the UK. Statistics released earlier this week by UCAS reveal that 50,000 fewer UK applicants have ...
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Hope over asbestos claims fund
Time is running out for the government to meet its self-imposed deadline to create a contingency fund for asbestos-related disease claims. Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly told the House of Commons last week he hoped to make an announcement before the summer recess, which begins next Wednesday. ...
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Asking the right questions
It is the sort of thing that gives lawyers a good name. MPs spent three hours last week debating Labour’s call for an ‘independent, forensic, judge-led public inquiry’ into the culture and professional standards of the banking industry.
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Assurance scheme will protect the public
The Quality Assurance Scheme for Criminal Advocates (QASA) is soon to become a reality. From January next year, for the first time all criminal advocates, including barristers, solicitors and legal executives, will be assessed against a set of common standards to assure the quality of criminal advocacy in courts in ...
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Local authority
Social services - Adoption - Freeing orders remaining in place Re A & S (children) (failed freeing order): Family Division, Liverpool District Registry (Mr Justice Peter Jackson): 21 June 2012 ...
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The official ‘legal services provider’ role will become commonplace
by Tim Jones, lead partner on London 2012 at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer When the flame is lit on 27 July and the London 2012 Olympic Games are officially declared open, it is not just our athletes who will have had an unrepeatable opportunity.
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Law firm bids for TV licence
A Birmingham law firm behind a consortium bidding to run a new TV station in the city plans to broadcast a regular legal programme. DBS Law is part of Bham TV, which plans to launch in October if it wins approval from Ofcom for a ...
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Rights bill commission seeks second opinion
A right to administrative justice and trial by jury are among measures that may be proposed for a future UK Bill of Rights, the body set up to investigate the need for a bill has suggested. In its second consultation, which opened yesterday, the Commission on ...
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Olympics cases to be fast-tracked
Measures to speed up criminal cases with night and weekend courts will be outlined in a white paper due to be published tomorrow by the Ministry of Justice. The changes build on measures adopted to cope with the high number of people arrested during last ...