All News articles – Page 1459
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News
Risky game in Whitehall?
Speaking in the gilded splendor of London’s Lancaster House last week, attorney general Dominic Grieve QC (pictured) shared some advice given to him by his predecessor when he took up the post. Labour’s Lady Scotland told him that he would do fine if he developed the ability to look ministerial ...
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Roll of honour
Yep, they’re definitely getting younger. James Liasis (pictured), a newly qualified solicitor with London criminal defence firm O’Keeffe’s, reckons he may be the country’s youngest higher rights advocate. He qualified last month at the age of under 24 years and 200 days. ‘I was allowed ...
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Human rights
High Court Appeal - Defendant protesters setting up camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral - Freedom of expression City of London Corporation v Samede and others: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury (Master of the Rolls), Lord Justices Stanley ...
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Immigration
Appeal - Weight to be given to expert evidence SS (Sri Lanka) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Lords Justice Maurice Kay VP, Stanley Burnton and Lewison): 21 February 2012 ...
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Insult to injury
There was an extraordinarily revealing moment during a recent BBC interview of Kenneth Clarke by Joshua Rozenberg for the Law in Action programme. Towards the end of the programme Mr Rozenberg asked a key question: ‘The proposal is that the people who are the victims ...
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Jackson job losses
It occurred to me yesterday that yet another sad consequence of Lord Justice Jackson’s reforms is that they will probably lead not only to job losses in claimant firms, but also mass redundancies in defendant solicitor firms. The latter will now be at the whim of their paymasters as to ...
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Online system will transform services
I am strongly aware of the serious frustrations that have been expressed over the problems and delays with mySRA, our new online application system. The introduction of this enormous IT project has not been a smooth process and, on behalf of the SRA, I would like to apologise to everyone ...
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Title role
I have to thank Dr Julian Critchlow for his contribution because he helps to reinforce my point. He goes out of his way to use what I am sure is a well-deserved doctorate and I immediately felt immense respect for him.
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Fee structure frozen to 2013
Regulators today confirmed they will not change next year’s fee structure for solicitors. However the actual level of fees will not be set until later this year. The existing settings for practising fees were set at a board meeting of the Solicitors Regulation Authority last ...
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Ombudsman stance plays into hands of the Co-op
If I had a pound for every client/customer debate I’d heard, I’d probably have… £10 or so. Most of the time, I retreat before the argument gets going, ignoring this irrelevant and diversionary issue. Frankly, it matters not what the bill payer is called, just that ...
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Reprieve for specialist support service
The Specialist Support Provider Service (SSPS) has received a stay of execution after the Legal Services Commission agreed to extend current contracts for three months while it consults on ending the scheme.
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Bring back Green forms
Those of us of a certain age will remember 'Green' forms. They covered legal advice and meant that virtually anyone could get advice on anything, from any solicitor, if they could not pay for it. You filled in the client’s means on the front and you had something called a ...
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Treat clients as customers or you’re doomed, says Ombudsman
Law firms will not survive if they continue to resist consumer demands for fairer pricing, the Legal Ombudsman has warned. A report published today states that up to a quarter of the 90,000 annual complaints relate to costs, where a client has felt overcharged, confused or been surprised at the ...
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SRA seeks online feedback
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has promised a ‘comprehensive review’ of problems encountered in its first year of online renewals.
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LSB ponders making immigration advice a reserved activity
Regulators have ‘inadequate understanding’ of the immigration advice market and don’t know if lawyers provide a good service, according to a review by the Legal Services Board (LSB). A discussion paper published by the LSB reveals that the authority is looking at whether immigration advice and ...
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Public procurement jumps onto the agenda
Public procurement is not a topic that rates highly when lawyers meet and chat. However, our members have been pressing us to look at the proposed new directive on public procurement, and so we are hurriedly doing so.
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Clarke: ‘We’re taking legal aid away from lawyers’
The government’s legal aid cuts are aimed at lawyers, the justice secretary Kenneth Clarke said today, as he rejected the Law Society’s claims that they will harm access to justice for the disadvantaged. Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme, Clarke said: ‘We’re not taking legal aid ...
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Opponents score hat-trick on legal aid votes
The government lost all three votes in the Lords last night over proposed amendments to its legal aid bill, making concessions on the evidence needed to prove domestic violence and on powers to bring cases back into the scope of legal aid. In a series of ...