All News articles – Page 1509

  • News

    Legal aid and the negligence of the press

    2011-06-21T00:00:00Z

    If you’re angry at cuts to legal aid (and you should be), then don’t just direct your ire at David Cameron. For those unlucky enough to sit through this morning’s press conference announcing changes to the justice system, let me give it to you in a ...

  • News

    Legal aid and the negligence of the press

    2011-06-21T00:00:00Z

    If you’re angry at cuts to legal aid (and you should be), then don’t just direct your ire at David Cameron. For those unlucky enough to sit through this morning’s press conference announcing changes to the justice system, let me give it to you in a ...

  • News

    Two legal inquiries in France

    2011-06-20T00:00:00Z

    The French government has had two recent Clementi-style investigations into the legal profession. The terms of reference in each case foresaw the possibility of major changes in governance. In response to the first report, gradualism won the day. We will see what happens with the second.

  • News

    High Court dismisses challenges to magistrates’ court closures

    2011-06-20T00:00:00Z

    The High Court has rejected legal challenges to the closures of Sittingbourne and Barry magistrates’ courts. Kent firm Robin Murray & Co brought judicial review proceedings in relation to the closure at Sittingbourne, while Vale of Glamorgan Council acted in the case of Barry. ...

  • News

    Arbitration service launched for libel disputes

    2011-06-20T00:00:00Z

    A new not-for-profit company to help litigants resolve libel disputes quickly and cheaply has been launched today. Early Resolution is the brainchild of retired High Court judge Sir Charles Gray and Alastair Brett, former legal manager of The Times and Sunday Times. ...

  • News

    Djanogly reveals lawyers' pay from legal aid

    2011-06-20T00:00:00Z

    The justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has provided details of the barristers and law firms paid the most from legal aid over the last year, ahead of the publication of the bill setting out the governments planned legal aid cuts. The figures prompted the Law Society to ...

  • News

    Administrators pursue former Halliwells partners for £20m

    2011-06-20T00:00:00Z

    The administrators of collapsed law firm Halliwells have written to former equity partners demanding the repayment of a £20m ‘reverse premium’ which the partners shared when the firm moved into new premises in Manchester. BDO confirmed it wrote to the partners last week demanding they pay ...

  • News

    A heavier emphasis on complaints

    2011-06-17T00:00:00Z

    Recent findings by a YouGov poll, commissioned by the Legal Services Board and published on 9 June 2011, reveal how many law firms may not be complying with their regulatory obligations, to inform their clients of their internal complaints- handling processes and their right to complain to the Legal Ombudsman. ...

  • News

    The Big Society, votes and the law

    2011-06-17T00:00:00Z

    Maybe it’s the rain, maybe it’s the lack of cricket in the Test match, but I’m in a wretched mood today. But the government, at least, has given me something to get my teeth into with two law-related stories catching my eye. Let’s start with justice ...

  • News

    Board approves SRA application to license ABSs

    2011-06-17T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Board has approved the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s application to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures. At a meeting this week, it also approved the SRA’s new Handbook, which sets out the standards and requirements for principles-based outcomes-focused regulation (OFR). ...

  • News

    Treatment of wills

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    I share the views on Illott v Mitson reported so cogently by John Hyde. As a practitioner in the field of wills, the decision is most alarming to me and drives a coach and horses through the whole basis upon which mentally capable testators, acting of ...

  • News

    Negligence

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    Duty to take care - Economic loss - Damage to property Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Conarken Group Ltd; Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd v Farrell Transport Ltd: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Pill, Moore-Bick, Jackson): 27 May 2011 ...

  • News

    Trainee solicitor minimum salaries remain unchanged

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    The minimum salary for trainee solicitors will remain unchanged for the third successive year, at £18,590 per annum in central London and £16,650 elsewhere, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed. The rates equate to less than £9 an hour in central London and £8 elsewhere, based ...

  • News

    Puppy love

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    Family lawyers will be familiar with divorcing or separating couples fighting like cat and dog, but it seems that many now literally fight over their feline and canine companions when their relationships end. Research by Co-operative Pet Insurance has revealed that one-fifth of separating couples ...

  • News

    Memory lane

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    Law Society’s Gazette, June 1981 Letter to the editor – Putting ‘Sits. Vac.’ in their Place… As a ...

  • News

    Keep it simple

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    PR 2.3(1) says a claim form is a statement of case. 22.1(1) says a statement of case must be verified by a statement of truth. Easy really. John Wilson, Wilsons Solicitors, Leeds

  • News

    Immigration

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    Asylum - Humanitarian protection grounds - Equivalency principle lFA (Iraq) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: SC (Lord Phillips (president), Lord Hope (deputy president), Justices of the Supreme Court Lord Brown, Lord Kerr, Lord Dyson): 25 May ...

  • News

    It is illogical but...

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    Myles Hickey is quite correct in that neither rule 22.1 of the CPR nor the Practice Direction 22 include the claim form itself in the list of documents that need to be verified by a statement of truth. However, paragraph 3.1 of CPR part 2 ...

  • News

    Solicitors guilty of misconduct

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    Two solicitors have been found guilty of professional misconduct by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal in relation to their handling of alleged internet file-sharing cases. The SDT found that David Gore, a partner at London firm Davenport Lyons, and former partner Brian Miller, were guilty of six ...

  • News

    Many solicitors remain worryingly ignorant of the Get

    2011-06-16T00:00:00Z

    A Get is a Jewish divorce document that dissolves the marriage of a Jewish couple. When they marry, there is a single ceremony which combines both the Jewish and civil marriage requirements. Should they divorce, however, two separate divorces are ...