All News articles – Page 1426
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News
Referral fee ban will trigger PI buyouts
Personal injury firms will become takeover targets as claims managers and brokers prepare for the referral fee ban, according to a report published today by Deloitte. The business advisory firm predicted that those with the most to lose from a ban will use the new rules ...
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Keeping up appearances
What is the test when a tenant applies to set aside a possession order made in their absence? Following Estate Acquisition and Development Ltd v Wiltshire [2006] EWCA Civ 533, [2006] All ER (D) 50 (a case of forfeiture of a lease), it seemed that the answer lay in rule ...
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LSC chair pledges to safeguard ‘high-quality’ legal aid system
The legal aid system in England and Wales ‘compares favourably’ with any in the world, despite the proposed cuts, according to the chair of the Legal Services Commission. In a speech, Sir Bill Callaghan (pictured) told Liverpool Law Society: ‘Together the LSC and legal aid ...
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Senior judge savages advocacy accreditation scheme
A senior judge has ridiculed the ‘steely gaze of the judicial viper’ that sits at the centre of the new ratings scheme for advocates. He called instead for ‘academies of advocacy’ in which judges, barristers and solicitors ‘enliven and encourage’ one another.
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Lawyers and Leveson – how are they doing?
A history of phone hacking and the current Leveson enquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press through the activities of lawyers alone is intriguing. I am a Leveson addict, and a long-time watcher of lawyers, and so it is a natural combination. I undertook an analysis some ...
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Mesothelioma ruling opens way to higher payouts for elderly
Elderly victims of mesothelioma could be entitled to substantial compensation, following a landmark ruling on damages for pain and suffering. In the High Court last week Mrs Justice Swift awarded 92-year-old Dennis Ball £50,000 compensation for pain and suffering after he developed asbestos-related cancer following his ...
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If mediation can cure the system, why is it still voluntary?
Imagine taking a mediator out for dinner. They’d sit there weighing up every option, hearing the waiter argue the merits of the salmon and the steak, before deciding to have a little of both (and possibly doubling the bill). I’d be on my second bottle before ...
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County court shake-up plans dubbed a ‘missed opportunity’
The government has come under fire from all sides of the civil litigation spectrum over its plans to reform the county court system. The Ministry of Justice last week confirmed plans to raise the limit of small claims through the county court system to £10,000 and ...
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Profits up in Scotland but small firms struggle
The Law Society of Scotland's annual Cost of Time survey has reported the first rise in profitability for law firms north of the border since 2008. Average profit per partner at Scottish firms totalled £71,000 in 2011, on a par with 2004 but well below the highs of 2005-08. ...
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PC renewal deadline extended as SRA struggles
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has extended the deadline for practising certificate renewal to the end of February for all solicitors. The first renewals were due to be completed by Monday but delays caused by the new online mySRA system meant many solicitors had not been able ...
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Scots join outcry against HSBC panel
The Law Society of Scotland has called on lender HSBC to suspend its new conveyancing panel system, which it claims will cause chaos for hundreds of property transactions north of the border. The Society said only ‘a handful’ of law firms in Scotland are among ...
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Referral proposals ‘won’t work’
The government must abandon its current proposals to ban referral fees in personal injury cases and start again from scratch, Chancery Lane has urged. Writing in the Gazette today, Law Society policy chief Mark Stobbs says the relevant amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and ...
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Word power
Hopes are revving up for a legal double in the Orwell prize for non-fiction writing. Last year it was won by Lord Bingham, for The Rule of Law. This year, lawyers are represented by Nigel Winter, senior associate at Sussex firm Rawlison Butler.
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, 23 February 1972Lamentations of a junior partner by a Struggling Solicitor
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Media is permeating the judicial process
The Supreme Court seems to have settled down well at its new home in Parliament Square. In the main courtroom, frosted glass has been installed on the doors behind the judicial bench so that spectators can no longer gaze into one of the judges’ rooms. The judges’ microphones are now ...
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Not up to the job
It is good to see Anne-Marie Elliott sticking up for mental health lawyers in the face of corrosive criticisms of standards of advocacy at mental health review tribunals. I see Ms Elliott is herself an accredited representative. Complaints about poor standards, particularly those coming from the tribunal judiciary, almost always ...
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Goodman by name...
A London litigator turned into a crime fighter last week, foiling an attempted raid on a West End boutique. David Goodman, 57-year-old sole principal at Goodman & Co just off Oxford Street, was taking a cab home after working late when he saw a gang ...
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Future fusion
The president’s address on the future relationship between barristers and solicitors is wholly commendable, not least his suggestion that both solicitors and barristers undergo the same training.