All News articles – Page 1427
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News
We share your frustration
Darren Isaacs is wrong to say there has been a marked increase in the past six months in the level of bills we are rejecting. The level of rejects has remained relatively constant.
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Landmark judgment on fixed-share partner rights
Fixed-share partners of law firms are not employees and cannot claim employment rights before a tribunal, the Court of Appeal has ruled. However the ruling, in a case brought by Martin Tiffin against southern England law firm Lester Aldridge (LA), applies only when fixed-share partners enjoy some of the ‘obligations ...
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Environment
Electricity - Supply - Feed-in tariff - Secretary of state proposing reduction in feed-in tariff for electricity produced by small solar panels R (on the application of Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy and ...
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Electing the people’s judges
To the annual president’s lunch of the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors, where the conversation naturally enough turned to the cheery topic of appointing coroners. Natural because the previous day’s news had been dominated by the resignation of the deputy assistant coroner who had ...
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MoJ interpreting hub a ‘false economy’
Concern is mounting that the Ministry of Justice's central contract for interpreting work could prove a false economy, incurring knock-on costs for criminal justice agencies.
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Registering discontent
As members of the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme, we wrote to HSBC to enquire whether or not we were still on their panel of solicitors as we had been for many years. We received a letter from Countrywide Property Services to advise that they were administering the HSBC panel ...
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Deadline looms for online PC renewal
More than one-third of solicitors had yet to start renewing their practising certificates online through the mySRA website by Tuesday of this week, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said. The deadline for the first batch of registrations is Monday (13 February).
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Unlocking lock-up days
Lock-up is not something firms can afford (literally) to stick their heads in the sand about, yet the number of firms struggling with lock-up (unbilled work in progress plus debtors excluding VAT) is staggering. Crowe Clark Whitehill surveyed over 60 law firms recently, asking them to ...
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Contingency plan
Reaction to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) has primarily focused on the reduction in availability of legal aid and the proposed ban on referral fees in personal injury cases. Surprisingly little attention has to date attached to clause 44 of LASPO, which will enable contingency ...
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Loose connection
Could David Jones explain to defence solicitors how, in the new electronic age, one is supposed to let one’s client in the cells read the case against him? If this client should be remanded in custody, how does one provide the evidence to the client, electronically?
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Peers pillory third-party code
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke may reconsider the case for statutory regulation of third-party litigation funding amid claims that a voluntary code has ‘manifest weaknesses’. The government, which has so far favoured self-regulation for external litigation funders, hinted at the change when it came under pressure for ...
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Clarke raises small claims limit in county court
The limit on small claims in the county court is to be doubled to £10,000 as part of government measures to speed up civil litigation. Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke today set out plans to divert up to 80,000 more cases to a small claims mediation process that can be carried ...
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Clarity needed over civil litigation
Whatever one’s views on the recommendations of Lord Justice Jackson’s Review of Civil Litigation Costs - and few litigation lawyers will find the whole report entirely to their liking - most would expect the implementation process to be well-managed and transparent.
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Change the rules
The balance of power is currently with the lenders, which are seeking to control the property market, but how many banks can we or our clients really embargo?
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Judicial watchdog probes Winehouse coroner case
The Office for Judicial Complaints is investigating the case of an assistant deputy coroner who was appointed by her senior coroner husband despite not having the minimum required experience.
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Euro patent court ‘ruinous for business’
As Britain, France and Germany haggle over which country should host a Europe-wide patent court, the professional body for UK intellectual property lawyers has warned that the proposed court would not be in the public interest - and could be ‘ruinous’ for business.
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The Rolls Building, London's trump card
London has long been regarded as one of the most popular venues for resolving international disputes, but the government - and the legal profession - hope that the opening of the Rolls Building as the world’s biggest commercial court will help cement the UK’s reputation as the key jurisdiction in ...
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Painful birth
If your date of birth was 1 January 1980, you share it with US wrestler Randy Orton and Swedish model Elin Nordegren (pictured). And many thousands of English solicitors. The chief executive of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, Antony Townsend, revealed this week that one of the bugs being encountered in ...