All News articles – Page 1498
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News
Ombudsman reveals £8.3m operating costs in first six months
The Legal Ombudsman has spent £8.3m in operating costs in its first six months since it came into being on 6 October, according to its annual report published yesterday. The Ombudsman’s combined implementation and operation costs have been £21.4m from 1 July 2009 when the project ...
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A far-reaching study on lawyers in Europe
Just when the legal profession is staggering under the weight of so much change, another radical review approaches. In the EU, lawyers have long benefited from a special regime of laws dedicated just to us: the lawyers’ directives. No other liberal ...
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Ombudsman warns of ‘confusion’ over legal services
Confusion over regulation of legal services is leaving consumers vulnerable and exposed, the Legal Ombudsman concludes today. Adam Sampson will publish his first annual report to parliament later today, following the launch of the organisation in October 2010. Sampson said that despite ...
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PII premiums not affected by ethnicity or conveyancing work
Law firms do not face higher insurance premiums because they conduct residential conveyancing work or are run by black and ethnic minority lawyers, an authoritative study has indicated. Law Society-commissioned research into last year’s professional indemnity insurance renewal found that while more firms overall had experienced ...
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Rape and torture victims turned away from collapsed advice service
Rape and torture victims were turned away from the collapsed Immigration Advisory Service last week, a former employee has told the Gazette. The employee said uniformed guards had blocked clients from entering the Manchester offices of IAS, which went into administration. The ...
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Regulator to miss October deadline for ABSs
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed that the Solicitors Regulation Authority will miss its 6 October deadline for an ABS licence.
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Filesharing cases settled
The long-running filesharing cases brought by London firm ACS:Law have come to an end, as the Solicitors Regulation Authority has published the allegations faced by the solicitor at the heart of the controversial claims. Manchester firm Ralli, which acted for a number of defendants alleged to ...
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Cameron supportive of referral fees ban
A ban on referral fees has edged one step closer with David Cameron admitting he is ‘sympathetic’ to the idea this week. The prime minister was drawn into the debate on the fees by a question from Liberal Democrat MP David Ward during PMQs on Wednesday. ...
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Solicitors are not as good at writing wills as they assume
Solicitors offering wills are quite rightly worried about how they will compete with new providers, both on- and off-line, as they increasingly enter the market. If matching these interlopers on price isn’t an option because of the higher regulatory costs faced by law firms, then ...
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LSC invites tenders for Immigration Advisory Service work
The Legal Services Commission (LSC) is inviting expressions of interest from immigration contract holders wishing to take on some of the 8,000 file caseload of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS), which went into administration on 8 July. Administrator Cork Gully has disclosed that the open ...
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No time-wasters
In common with many, I suspect, I enjoy reading the regular columns written by chief legal ombudsman Adam Sampson and his team. I am sure, like me, his readers recognise the familiar incidents described and agree that we can all improve our services. ...
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Question of truth
I have not read the full survey by the Legal Services Consumer Panel (see [2011] Gazette, 23 June, 3), nor do I know what the actual question was. We do know the answer – the public believe that only 47% of lawyers are trusted to ...
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Paying the penalty
I read the article ‘Lenders vet solicitors on Google and note that lenders are monitoring the time solicitors take to register charges. The delaying factor in almost all cases is the time lenders take to discharge existing charges after receipt of funds from the seller’s ...
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Practice - parties
Joinder of parties - Joinder of defendant - Claimant bringing proceedings for wrongful dismissal Shetty v Al Rushaid Petroleum Investment Company and others [2011] All ER [D] 195 [Jun], Christopher Pymont QC [2011] EWHC 1460 (ch) ...
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Libraries matter
Martin Barber-Redmore makes some valid points about the possibilities of outsourcing and electronic resources, but misses some fundamental points in his paragraph on traditional legal libraries. Libraries still have a role within law firms, regardless of where they locate themselves or how the office is arranged. ...
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Landlord and tenant
Service charge - Flat - Restriction on recovery of service charge Brent London Borough Council v Shulem B Association Ltd [2011] All ER (D) 238 (Jun), (Morgan J) [2011] EWHC 1663 (Ch) ...
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The judiciary – still too pale, male and stale?
There was a time, in those unreconstructed days before the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC), when a woman would be turned down for judicial appointment simply because her skirt was deemed too short. Or she looked bookish or spinsterish or headmistressy. Or wore ...
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Phone-hacking scandal has obscured other important stories
Last week was not a very good time to be a reporter - although it helped if you had never been employed by one of Rupert Murdoch’s diminishing stable of newspapers. It looks as if journalists, like solicitors, are about to lose the privilege of ...