All News articles – Page 1473
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News
Internet policing is ‘inevitable’
State-imposed control of the internet is ‘inevitable’ if the conflict between the right to privacy and a free press is ever to be resolved, lawyers and journalists suggested last week at a Law Society public debate. They also warned that the current press regulator is toothless ...
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IFA independence
The Financial Services Authority is in the process of adopting a new definition of independent financial advice. It has written to all of the designated professional bodies (DPBs), including the Solicitors Regulation Authority, inviting them to adopt different definitions for their own purposes if they consider this to be appropriate.
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Indemnity insurance renewal ‘less frantic’
Solicitors are reporting a less turbulent renewal round for professional indemnity insurance this year as the deadline approaches, although prices have risen steeply for some mid-sized firms. Hilary Underwood, chairwoman of the Sole Practitioners Group, said there have yet to be any complaints from members ...
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As a profession we are falling for the false perception that solicitors are inaccessible
The letter from Viv Williams of the 360 Legal Group (22 September) repeats the assumption that legal services need to be more accessible and friendly 'and that firms failing to adapt will get left behind'. I run a very small high street firm. We obtain constant ...
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LeO dealing with lawyers who don't engage
Nearly a year into the life of the Legal Ombudsman and we have seen thousands of cases. These cases are not quite as we thought they would be when we started - nothing in our modelling prepared us for family law overtaking conveyancing as the most complained about area of ...
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News
Straw confident PI referral fees will be criminalised
Jack Straw is confident he will succeed in his high-profile bid to criminalise personal injury referral fees. The former justice secretary believes the government will amend its reforms of civil litigation to incorporate the sanction. The MP for Blackburn said yesterday that Labour’s legalisation of ...
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News
Encouraging the use of mediation should be a core component of meeting client demand for value for money
by Suzanne Lowe, managing director of Talk Mediation and co-ordinator of the mediation pilot When I was in private practice in 1999, I voiced concern to one of the partners about the future direction of the firm. He asked me to attend one of the partners’ ...
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Cashflow solution?
I read in the Gazette (news, 8 September, 4) that four high street banks have agreed to help law firms that are experiencing cashflow difficulties resulting from ongoing delays in payment from the Legal Services Commission. As a partner in a niche family law practice in ...
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Language barriers
Obiter’s stout defence of the language against the depredations of modernity is proving to be cathartic. James Pinder, a partner at DWF in Preston, has fired off his own list of pet hates. ‘Why is a plan or strategem now a "road map"? And why do ...
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SRA consults on referral fees ban
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to canvass personal injury firms dependent on referral fees to ask how they will cope when the government moves to ban the payments. Richard Collins, SRA director of standards, told a LexisNexis conference on professional regulation that the authority was identifying ...
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News
Equalities and austerity cuts
The journey of Ulysses was classically eventful and hazardous. Local authorities seeking to effect necessary budget cuts can find their journey through the public sector equality duty and its predecessors equally challenging. Many local authorities, such as Birmingham, have fallen by the wayside, even though (as the old 1930s song ...
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News
Lawyers slam ‘chaotic’ asylum unit
The UK’s system for registering asylum claims is chaotic and unworkable and urgently needs a root-and-branch overhaul, lawyers’ groups allege. Problems at the ‘Kafkaesque’ asylum screening unit in Croydon (pictured), the only such unit remaining after a similar unit in Liverpool closed in 2009, have ...
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Survey: UK cheapest for international arbitration
The UK is the cheapest and most popular venue for international arbitration, according to an authoritative survey published this week. Some 74% of party costs in international arbitrations are accounted for by external legal costs, and external fees are 26% higher in the rest of Europe, ...
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News
Lords may amend legal aid reforms, says top peer
One of the legal profession’s most distinguished peers has offered fresh hope that the House of Lords may yet drive through significant amendments to the legal aid and civil litigation reforms. Liberal Democrat Lord Carlile of Berriew QC believes there is enough support from all sides ...
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The upper house is prepared to contest legal aid reforms. Let us hope the lower house takes heed of its concerns
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile QC has a good record as a defender of legal aid. In his interview with Gazette reporter John Hyde he expresses concern over the implications of the cuts and predicts a difficult ride for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...
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News
Death ‘inevitable’ if legal aid cuts go ahead
It is ‘inevitable’ that someone will die if the government proceeds with planned legal aid funding cuts for cases involving domestic violence, the Law Society has warned. Vice-president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool that the definition of domestic ...
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News
Leading QC: judicial system discriminates against white men
Many people now perversely believe the judicial and QC appointment systems discriminate against white men, according to a leading silk who is about to become a High Court judge. Interviewed by the Gazette, Rabinder Singh QC stressed that progress has been made over recent years to ...