All News articles – Page 1532
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News
MPs oppose legal aid cuts
Members of parliament have voiced opposition to the government’s proposed legal aid cuts, and warned that the cuts could lead to the closure of many legal advice centres. Fifty-one MPs responded to a survey conducted by consultancy DG Legal for campaign group Justice for All, including ...
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Legal aid changes will hit commercial practitioners
by Rosalind Connor, partner and head of pro bono at Jones Day The government’s consultation on its Proposals for the reform of legal aid in England and Wales has provoked an entirely predictable wave of protests from legal aid practitioners and those, such as free legal ...
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Clifford Chance advises on Arsenal deal, General Electric aquisition and more
Chance on goal: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance advised US businessman Stan Kroenke on acquiring Arsenal Football Club, valued at £730m, advised by magic circle firm Slaughter and May. Kroenke’s financial adviser, Deutsche Bank, was advised by City ...
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Future uncertain for Community Legal Advice Centres
The closure of Portsmouth Community Legal Advice Centre (CLAC) could signal the end of the one-stop-shop model once hailed as the ‘key’ to civil legal aid, solicitors have suggested. Portsmouth CLAC closed on 31 March, at the end of its three-year contract. The Legal Services Commission ...
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US lawyers consult on ABS reforms
The American Bar Association (ABA) has taken a first step towards introducing alternative business structures in response to rule changes on this side of the Atlantic. A New York law firm’s decision to bring English barristers into its partnership via its City office has prompted the ...
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Firms ignoring ABS impact are 'sticking their heads in sand'
Most solicitors will ‘survive and prosper’ in the revolutionised legal services market, but those who ignore the likely impact of alternative business structures (ABSs) are ‘sticking their heads in the sand’. That was the stark warning from David Taylor, chair of the Law Society’s membership ...
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Growth remains 'anaemic' in top 50 law firms
The UK’s biggest law firms did not snap into sustained recovery over the past 12 months, experts told the Gazette, as the 2010/11 financial year drew to a close last week. On average, top-50 firms will report flat revenues and profits when they publish their 2010/11 ...
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Legal Services Commission cuts 100 jobs
The Legal Services Commission has made around 100 of its 1,500 staff, including some senior figures, redundant in a bid to cut costs, the ...
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A career in the law? Let’s be honest…
Perhaps a passion for the musical genres of trance, house and Ibiza is the secret of securing a training contract with a law firm. It certainly worked for Radio One presenter Judge Jules, who is also, as it happens, a London School of Economics ...
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New round of district judge appointments
The Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) is to recruit 56 district judges over the next two to three years. This is the first time in more than two years that any district judge (civil) positions have been available. It is unlikely there will be another opportunity to ...
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Stop cancelling one-to-one meetings with staff
Many managers in private practice and in in-house legal departments struggle with issues around staff morale. Morale’s a complex area. Staff can be intelligent and productive people, team players who are trusted by their colleagues and managers, working in a ...
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Big-hitters join Society’s Human Rights Committee
Seven new members have joined the Law Society's Human Rights Committee to help highlight, challenge and condemn human rights abuses across the world. They are: Immigration solicitor Shanti Faiia of City firm Laura Devine. Faiia was previously with the United Nations development programme and the Sri ...
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Society announces election of deputy vice-president
Solicitor Nick Fluck will become Law Society deputy vice-president in July, and will become president in 2013, Chancery Lane announced today. Fluck, partner at Lincolnshire firm Stapleton & Son and a council member since 2005, will serve one year as deputy vice-president from July, followed by ...
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Law Commission proposes new ‘Consumer Act’
Consumers are finding it too hard to win compensation for misleading and aggressive trading practices and the law must be reviewed, the Law Commission said today. Opening a consultation on the matter, the commission said that routes to redress for ripped-off consumers are 'difficult’ and ‘far ...
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New SRA Handbook passes its first test
Congratulations to the SRA on the launch of its new Handbook. I was hoping to have some mischief at its expense and tell its staff that they will have to start re-writing it straight away, as a result of an interesting judgement of the Court ...
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APIL’s new president pledges to campaign for rights of injured
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) will campaign with other claimant organisations against government plans to make injured people pay for legal fees out of their own compensation, the association’s new president will tell delegates at the APIL annual conference later this week. Bott & ...
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Legal Services Board reveals high level of ABS interest
The Legal Services Board has seen a high level of interest from banks and private equity houses in the run-up to the introduction of alternative business structures, its chair David Edmonds told the Gazette in an interview last week. Edmonds, who was reappointed for a further ...
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ASA rejects complaint about QualitySolicitors TV advert
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has rejected a complaint made by a Yorkshire firm about a television advert for law firm network QualitySolicitors. Williamsons in Hull had challenged the content of the advert, claiming that it was misleading. The advert showed an ...
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QualitySolicitors in WHSmith tie-up
QualitySolicitors has signed a deal with WHSmith enabling it to place a QS member of staff in 150 branches of the high street books and stationery giant, the Gazette can reveal. The deal will see QS open a ‘legal access point’ staffed by a local QS ...