All News articles – Page 1480
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News
Lack of detail in referral fee announcement
If the devil is in the detail, this government is starting to seem angelic. There was excitement unbounded in the newsroom on Thursday afternoon as the Ministry of Justice confirmed that referral fees will be banned for personal injury claims. But reading ...
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Chancery Lane urges solicitors to back EU-wide access to a lawyer
The Law Society has called on solicitors to support the right of suspects detained at police stations across Europe to have access to a lawyer. It wants solicitors to lobby their MPs to vote against a government motion that the UK should not opt into an ...
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News
War on words
Joining the recent crusade against verbosity within the profession is Bob Miller, associate at Fentons in Manchester. He tells Obiter that he detests it when lawyers use ‘the same’ instead of ‘it’, for example by writing, ‘We look forward to receiving the same’. ‘By return of post’ is a phrase ...
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News
Off the wall
London firm TV Edwards has commissioned this intriguing mural to celebrate the opening of its new offices in Whitechapel. The painting, on Mile End Road, stands on the Olympic Highway and was designed by artist Mychael Barratt. It is packed with famous folk with a ...
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This sporting life
Apart from a note at the Law Society’s School of Law about the bar being there to promote ’social intercourse’, there was also the Solicitors Articled Clerks’ Society (SACS), writes James Morton. The latter, if I recall, had a tie with a donkey’s – or probably ass’s – head ...
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Lawyers are taking stock in preparation for PII
This year, renewal is about what is not happening in the professional indemnity insurance market - this is not the year that the assigned risks pool is closed down, nor the year that the renewal date will change, and the impact of alternative business structures has yet to be felt. ...
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OFT probe of motor insurance welcomed by PI lawyers
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate recent sharp increases in motor insurance premiums. The competition watchdog has issued a call for evidence over the next five weeks to provide a clear picture on the hotly disputed topic. The insurance ...
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OPG fees set to increase sharply
The government is to press ahead with proposed increases to Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) fees. In its delayed response to a consultation exercise which finished in May, the Ministry of Justice said it will increase the application to register fees for a lasting ...
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News
Family law
Obiter loves a good legal wedding, so congratulations to Ann Thomas and David Hodson, managing partner and finance partner respectively of London firm International Family Law Group, who have just tied the knot. They founded their niche West End firm in 2007 with ...
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Established procedure was simply ignored during riot hearings
by Joseph Wright, a solicitor-advocate at Hodge Jones & Allen This is not an article on the law of bail and sentencing guidelines; just my experience of the night of 11 August.
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News
Legal training falls short on will drafting
We are fortunate to have had some extremely competent trainees in recent years. However, even those who have taken the wills option at law school come poorly prepared to advise a client and draft their will. A current trainee has shown me ...
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News
Let go of the dead hand of regulation
I have just read Ronnie Fox’s piece ‘Strangulation by regulation’. How right he is. The dead hand of regulation is burdensome and unthinking changes bring little benefit and great aggravation. The Solicitors Regulation Authority should think again and the Law Society should do more to challenge ...
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News
The right to televise court hearings - is it in the public interest?
The Sun King’s crown may be tarnished, but the influence of Rupert Murdoch’s empire continues to weigh on government policy. That’s one interpretation of Ken Clarke’s announcement that cameras will be allowed into courts. It came less than 24 hours after Sky News renewed its demand for court proceedings to ...
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News
New suitability test will be a cornerstone
With a move to a system which is based on principles rather than rules, it becomes even more important that we ensure only those who can meet those principles enter the legal profession. I have always taken a keen interest in legal education and training as ...
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News
Tragedy of council legal head ‘unable to cope’
A senior local authority solicitor committed suicide because he was unable to cope with the demands placed on him following a 30% cut to his department’s budget. In the wake of the tragedy, the chair of Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) has warned that redundancies in ...
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News
From clients to ‘consumers’?
I read the article by Charles Plant with a sinking heart as I found the repeated reference to ‘consumers’ depressing. I was brought up to believe that solicitors belonged to a profession that provided a service. I try to provide such a service, from which I ...
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E-petition lodged calling for tighter tenant deposit protection
A solicitor has lodged an e-petition urging the government to strengthen the law protecting residential rent deposits paid by tenants to landlords. Tenancy deposit protection legislation, introduced by the Housing Act 2004, was designed to protect tenants against unscrupulous landlords who refused to return deposits at ...
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News
Taking responsibility for our brand
Shalaleh Barlow correctly identifies the need to emulate the service ethic in retailing, but misses the point of the Solicitors from Hell website. This attacks the brand of ‘solicitors’. I have spent three decades trying to market this brand only for it to be tainted time after time by the ...
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News
Book offers many compelling insights into the use of legal terminology
It’s always a pleasure to find that a publisher has sent me a book for review. Sometimes the pleasure evaporates as soon as I open the packaging: polemics and monographs are not my favourite bedtime reading. My heart also tends to sink when I find ...