All News articles – Page 1545
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News
Solicitors join London Pride march
The Law Society has called on solicitors to join it in marching at London Pride 2011 this Saturday to celebrate diversity in the legal profession. The Law Society, Bar Council, Institute of Legal Executives, Junior Lawyers Division, Bar Lesbian and Gay Group, Lesbian and Gay Lawyers ...
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Government to provide £20m for not-for-profit centres
The government will provide £20m to help support not-for-profit advice centres hit by planned legal aid cuts, Justice Minister Kenneth Clarke announced yesterday. During the second reading debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, the justice secretary also indicated the he may ...
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Restricting arrests for crimes of universal jurisdiction is more about politics than legal principles
Joshua Rozenberg is ready to support ‘reasons of state’ for restricting the right to ask a magistrate to authorise the first step in the private prosecution of a suspected war criminal.
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ABSs will tempt investors, top banker predicts
A leading banker has predicted that investors will be queuing up to enter the legal services market when alternative business structures (ABSs) come into force from October. Former barrister John Llewellyn-Lloyd, now head of mergers and acquisitions for Espirito Santo, said the market was an attractive ...
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Bostalls was an unregulated commercial body and the move was seen to pre-empt the establishment of ABSs
So, the Legal Services Commission has suspended The Shaftesbury Group’s contract to provide telephone advice at the police station. This comes a fortnight after we revealed that predecessor firm Bostalls - owned and run by the same people as Shaftesbury - had been placed into ...
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We must make our voices heard in the campaign to maintain equal access to justice
by Stephen Ward, director of communications, inclusion and corporate responsibility at the Law Society Driven by the work of the solicitors who form its specialist committees, the Law Society is constantly lobbying government and parliamentarians on a range of aspects of law reform.
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LSC cuts off phone advice agency
The Legal Services Commission has suspended The Shaftesbury Group’s contract to provide telephone advice for people detained in police stations for less serious offences. As reported earlier this month, the LSC transferred a contract to provide the Criminal Defence Service (Direct) service from Bostalls to the ...
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Irwin Mitchell in financial advice tie-up
National firm Irwin Mitchell has linked up with a financial advice group to offer legal services directly to its customers. The law firm will offer a range of services for clients using the Guardian Wealth Management (GWM) group. Irwin Mitchell has already ...
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Late bid to amend Quality Assurance Advocacy Scheme
Talks will be held this week in an eleventh-hour bid to rationalise the scope of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). The scheme, which will accredit advocates at one of four levels, was approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority at the start of the ...
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Chancery Lane escalates legal aid fight
The Law Society is stepping up its campaign to block coalition reforms of legal aid and civil litigation funding which it says will leave the civil justice system ‘at the edge of an abyss’. The move comes as the House of Commons’ health committee warned this ...
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News focus: our analysis of the legal aid and sentencing bill
A close reading of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has left many lawyers, campaign groups and politicians who support the legal aid system more worried than ever about future provision. Even though the government decided to rush to a second reading ...
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District judge wins top legal aid award
The district judge behind the groundbreaking Family Drug and Alcohol Court was honoured at the ninth annual Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year awards this week. Nicholas Crichton (pictured, left) received the top award for outstanding achievement for his work in establishing the pilot of the ...
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Law firms ally with chambers to bid for criminal contract
Fifteen law firms in south Wales are to form an alliance with a set of chambers to bid for a criminal legal aid contract from the Legal Services Commission in the next contract round. In what is believed to be the first initiative of its kind, ...
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Arbitration
Award - Russian courts - Claimant seeking interest payments in England Yukos Capital SARL v OJSC Rosneft Oil Company: Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court (Mr Justice Hamblen): 14 June 2011 ...
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Divorce and inherited assets
Earlier this year I provided an update regarding the family courts’ treatment of inherited assets upon divorce. Since then, two of the judgments discussed in that article have been subject to Court of Appeal decisions.
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Axa says no to referral fees
Leading insurer Axa has said it will no longer accept referral fees from personal injury lawyers. The firm, which has 10 million customers in the UK, will no longer take the payments when it puts customers in touch with solicitors at the time of an accident. ...
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Bar Council stands firm on Bellfield trial backlash
The Bar Council has warned that defence lawyers may feel inhibited about taking on high-profile trials that could potentially see them vilified by the media, following coverage of the trial of Levi Bellfield last week. Jeffrey Samuels QC was subjected to a torrent of abuse on ...
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Disability charity mounts court challenge to Jackson reforms
A disability charity has mounted a High Court challenge to oppose government plans to reform ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements. The Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) says ministers have failed to consider properly the impact its proposals will have on the most vulnerable people in society. ...
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Personal injury firms join forces over thalidomide claims
Two leading personal injury firms have joined forces to represent those affected by the drug thalidomide. London firm Leigh Day & Co and national firm Russell Jones & Walker this week launched the Thalidomiders Legal Group to pursue compensation claims on behalf of people in the ...
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Firm fights LSC on client rights
A Merseyside firm has commenced legal proceedings on behalf of two clients challenging the Legal Services Commission’s attempt to restrict their right to choose their own solicitor. In judicial review proceedings, RMNJ claims the LSC acted ‘unlawfully’ by not allowing the clients to choose their own ...