All News articles – Page 1523
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News
Record numbers of children subject to care applications
The numbers of children subject to applications to be taken into care climbed to record levels in 2011, the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass) announced today. Cafcass received 885 applications last month, the highest number ever received in August since it began ...
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Apprenticeships make sense
If the cost of being a law student is as high and burdensome as people say it is; and if sitting the LPC is an expensive ‘punt’ at a career, why not introduce a solicitor apprenticeship (‘student solicitor’) scheme? This might copy the FILEX programme, ...
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Call for changes to quality assurance scheme
The Law Society is to make a direct appeal to regulators to change details of the contentious Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). Several solicitor-advocates have contacted the Society to register their concerns at the proposed assessment scheme. In particular, practitioners have ...
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Unite campaign backs public service interpreting
Trade union Unite is to launch a campaign to support public service interpreting and ensure that properly trained translators are used by criminal justice agencies.
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‘Solicitors from Hell’ owner gets bankruptcy order
The owner of the Solicitors from Hell website, Rick Kordowski, was made the subject of a bankruptcy order on 7 September 2011, the Gazette can confirm. The petition had been supported by a number of solicitors with damages and costs awards against him. In ...
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Banks pledge to help with cashflow problems
Four high street banks have agreed to help law firms that are experiencing cashflow difficulties resulting from the ongoing delays in payment from the Legal Services Commission, following a request from the Law Society. Chancery Lane wrote to banks to alert them to the problems being ...
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UK lawyers stumped in Barbados
On the subject of lawyers and sport, Obiter can report that the British Lawyers’ Cricket World Cup squad has returned from Barbados, though the team were apparently a touch disappointed not to have been met by an excitable press pack on landing at Gatwick. The ...
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Insurer blames solicitors’ fees for referral controversy
The head of claims at car insurance giant Admiral has claimed that solicitors’ fees are to blame for the continuing row over referral fees. The comments were made as claimant lawyers reacted with fury this week to new figures published by the Association of British Insurers, ...
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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 ...
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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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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
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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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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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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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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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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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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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
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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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 ...