All News articles – Page 1463
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News
Sometimes we need Europe-wide answers
This is a report from the European frontline. I read the same newspapers as you do and see the hysterical coverage about imminent EU collapse. But I also work in a European organisation - the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) - where we have members from ...
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APIL ‘defeatist’
The rights of innocent victims have had shockingly little bearing on the shape of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which has been driven by a mythical compensation culture as part of a surreptitious government cost-cutting agenda. Sadly, those same victims appear to have been given equally ...
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Politicians appreciate the value of investigative journalism
What future does investigative journalism have in an age when reporters face arrest and courts develop privacy laws? That was the question raised in a report published last week by the House of Lords communications committee. The select committee’s starting point was that ‘responsible investigative journalism ...
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Government backs single EU patent court
The government has backed controversial plans to set up a single patent court for Europe. Lady Wilcox, minister at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, told a Lords committee this week that, even after 40 years of failed negotiations, the way forward for business efficiency in Europe remains a ...
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Beaver diva
Obiter understands why readers who work in criminal justice might be distracted by the Ministry of Justice’s attempts, to put it kindly, to fillet their livelihoods. But as you occasionally lift your eyes from rejected LSC forms, don’t you wonder what the few ...
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The unavoidable impression is of a department which is being run on the hoof
Morale is low at the Ministry of Justice and its agencies, with staff expressing little faith in senior managers. And no wonder. In a climate of deep cuts, a bad case of administrative atrophy appears to have set in.
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Firm in interpreter storm offers better deal
The firm at the centre of the row over courtroom interpreters says it has taken on more staff and offered cash incentives to improve the service offered under its Ministry of Justice contract. Gavin Wheeldon, chief executive of Applied Language Solutions (ALS), contacted staff members ...
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Troika bid to cut judicial holidays
The time-honoured tradition of two-month summer breaks for senior judges has become an unexpected frontline issue in international efforts to rescue troubled European economies, the Gazette has learned. The so-called troika, comprising the International Monetary Fund, European Central Bank and European Commission, has set fiscal and ...
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Could you thrive in the slipstream of big brands?
We’ve yet to see what impact big money brands will have on the legal market but the general consensus seems to be that it won’t be pretty. Legal services sold like cans of beans by giant corporations with no soul or sense of duty and no ...
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Blame game
The letter from Peter Connolly hits home with this firm of solicitors, which has achieved admission to the Conveyancing Quality Scheme. We have already applied to the licensed conveyancers to join the HSBC panel, only to be told that there were no vacancies in our area.
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Millions spent on empty court buildings
The government is spending £2.5m a year maintaining dozens of redundant courts across England and Wales, the Gazette can reveal. A reply to a freedom of information request shows 69 former court buildings remain vacant, with no imminent chance of them being sold. Justice minister Jonathan ...
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New capping regime must not cost the earth
Lord Justice Jackson’s suggestion of a fixed-cost regime is an improvement on the government’s proposals, but falls short of providing ‘copper-bottomed’ compliance with the Aarhus Convention.
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Captured market
In Today’s Conveyancer a Mr Pete Dockar, head of mortgages at HSBC, purports to deal with some questions about the new panel arrangements. As might be expected, the response is bland to the point of being useless, making vague and unsupported assertions about fraud. No doubt the answers given were ...
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In cod we trust
Fish and chips taste better in Yorkshire, as any native of the county will agree (yes - Ed). Newly merged Skipton and Keighley firm AWB Charlesworth Solicitors has made the delicacy the centrepiece of a regular informal Friday lunchtime get-together with local professional contacts. According to commercial partner Umberto Vietri: ...
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MoJ to consult on PI discount rate
The Ministry of Justice is to re-examine the discount rate used to calculate the amount deducted from an injured person’s compensation to account for income received from investing the damages, the Gazette has learned. The personal injury discount rate of 2.5% has not changed since 2001. ...
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‘Control’ of documents
In the recent case of North Shore Ventures Limited v Anstead Holdings Inc [2012] EWCA Civ 11 the Court of Appeal considered the concept of 'control' of documents under Civil Procedure Rules 71.2 and 31. The rules ...
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Quality control
It is unfortunate that the Law Society limits its criticism of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates to the idea that judges should evaluate advocates. Instead it should have addressed Lord Justice Moses’ suggestion in his Ebsworth lecture that it is impossible to evaluate the qualities necessary to make a ...
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‘Cordial’ talks on HSBC panel
Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has met senior representatives of HSBC a month after the bank caused consternation by announcing a conveyancing panel containing only 39 solicitor firms. Despite a ‘cordial’ meeting, Hudson described the outcomes as ‘disappointing’ and said he did not expect ‘any voluntary change of approach ...