All News articles – Page 1442
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News
CBA self-interest
The Criminal Bar Association says that there are three ‘bottom line, non-negotiable elements’ in respect of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA).
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Large law firms 'not paying carbon tax'
Some of the country’s largest law firms do not pay any carbon tax, while smaller competitors are facing bills of £50,000 a year or more, according to new research. City firm Herbert Smith (pictured right), with 700 lawyers in London, pays no carbon tax, compared with ...
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Email ‘bugbear’
A recent Gazette drew attention to the writer’s ‘bugbear’ with emails - that many senders of them fail to quote his reference. I can’t say I agree. On the contrary, one delight with emails is precisely that you can send them straight to the correct ...
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Walsall's bard
If Obiter were a poet laureate for any town, we’d choose a rhyme-friendly location such as Poole or Neath. So we don’t envy wordsmith Ian Henery, the solicitor who has been tasked with creating poems for his home town of Walsall. ‘It’s not too difficult to ...
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Pay back time
I cannot agree with Franklin Sinclair who wrote: ‘I can’t leave a young lad with mental health problems unrepresented, so I have to do it for free.’
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Lord Falconer slams assisted dying law
A thinktank led by former Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer (pictured) has called the law on assisted dying ‘inadequate and incoherent’. In a report published today, the Commission on Assisted Dying concludes that the law can be reformed without endangering protections for vulnerable people. The report’s ...
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New arrangements will provide a stronger platform
I am pleased to say that at the end of last year, the Law Society Council approved a package of changes to the arrangements for the governance of the relationship between the Law Society and the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Under the new arrangements agreed between the ...
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Cameron extends PI fees cap in attack on ‘albatross’ safety culture
David Cameron today announced plans to cap lawyers’ fees from personal injury claims at £25,000. Speaking to an audience of small companies, the prime minister launched an attack on the so-called compensation culture and blamed it for holding back the growth of UK businesses.
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Open mind on ADR
Alan Langleben appears to have misread my earlier letter. I entirely approve of mediation as a means to dispose of cases efficiently and economically - indeed, my firm is closely involved with mediation companies in the region, and actively promotes alternative dispute resolution to our ...
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Bias shown by barrister-judges is certain to compromise advocacy accreditation
It is no surprise to me that the bar insists on judicial evaluation of advocates. When the barrister-judge starts the trial in open court by offering the solicitor-advocate his spare wig, you have little doubt of the bias that we will endure at the hands of many barrister-judges within the ...
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SRA ‘ready and waiting’ for ABSs
Applications by firms to become alternative business structures (ABSs) could take up to nine months to process, the Solicitors Regulation Authority revealed this week. The SRA, which on Tuesday became a licensing authority after two years of preparation, said it is ‘ready and waiting’ to accept forms from new entrants ...
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Tesco law is no big bang, but change is still on the horizon
I’ve never quite understood the obsession with celebrating new year’s eve. There’s an enormous build-up, endless boring chat about the future and a few party poppers. Then it’s over, with just dark wintry evenings and uncertainty to look forward to.
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New year resolutions
I was ill just before Christmas, which is not a good time to be off for various reasons. I will not bore you with the details but it was unpleasant. However, it gave me a chance to get up to speed on the mysterious world of daytime television. Most of ...
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Taxation of trusts in france
The French tax authorities have always had a problem with the taxation of trusts because a trust does not exist in French law and it is very difficult to assimilate to a French vehicle. So in its own pragmatic way the French government decided to ignore the legal refinements of ...
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Experts to ponder ‘drug driving’ offence
The government is putting together an expert panel to examine the case for introducing a new offence of ‘drug driving’. The initiative, by the Department for Transport, will bring together academics and scientific experts in alcohol and drug misuse, the Home Office and Department of Health. ...
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Consultation opens on separate jurisdiction for Wales
Welsh Assembly members have begun consulting on the establishment of a separate legal jurisdiction for the principality. The assembly’s constitutional and legislative affairs committee will spend the next two months assessing how a separation from England would work in practice. The issue ...
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‘Titanic battle’ predicted as ABS processing begins
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today began processing applications for companies looking to become an alternative business structure (ABS). The SRA officially became a licensed regulator for ABSs before Christmas and set the first working day after the new year to start accepting applications. Depending on the ...
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PI firm attacks Jackson reforms in £1m campaign
A personal injury firm has launched a £1m advertising campaign to attack government reforms of the no-win no-fee system. Birmingham firm Claim Today Solicitors (CTS) will spread its marketing drive across newspapers, television and the web for at least three months. The campaign is timed to ...
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Ripple effect
We need to fight back against HSBC over its conveyancing panel policy. Upon learning of its decision I emailed our business manager, who replied that it was just as big a shock to him as it was to me, since it was the first he had heard about it. ...
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Grinch Lawyer Syndrome?
As Christmas comes but once a year, I’d like to share with you now a simple verse: 'And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes ...