All News articles – Page 1551
-
News
Love on the cards at MoJ
Modesty prevents Obiter from revealing the number of Valentine’s cards he received this week, save to say that the postman was breathing a little more heavily than usual when he left Obiter Towers on Monday morning.
-
News
Poppadoms and ‘toot’ with Billy
Following on from last month’s article on the inimitable barrister Billy Rees-Davies, some further recollections are worth sharing, writes James Morton. One problem with Billy was eating with him. It was no impediment to him that he had only one arm. The difficulty was that his ...
-
News
Conveyancing: bigger is not better
As a firm dealing with conveyancing matters on a comparatively small scale we feel hugely threatened by the pressures on our business from the increase of indemnity premiums largely resulting from the requirements of the Council of Mortgage Lenders, who of course include all the major banks and financial institutions. ...
-
News
Weighing up the balance sheet
What a cheerless world is portrayed in Maureen Broderick’s article . Are we really just a ‘time and materials’ business? It is a very long time since there was any debate about the basis of our professional ethics. There are still some of us who worry ...
-
News
Legal profession can exploit incoherent legal aid cuts
In the words of a blues anthem from my youth: ‘Don’t let me be misunderstood.’ Publicly, we cannot be defeatist about the government’s legal aid proposals. But we also need the quiet discussion which all lawyers have, at some time, with a client: ‘I understand ...
-
News
Withdrawing legal aid support for disabled children lacks compassion
Looking at the categories of people from whom the Ministry of Justice proposes to remove legal aid support, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that disabled children might be the most deserving of reprieve.
-
News
Where should reserved legal activities apply?
by Professor Stephen Mayson, director of the Legal Services Institute The current reserved activities are rights of audience, the conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities (sometimes inaccurately referred to as the conveyancing reservation), probate activities, notarial activities, and the administration of oaths.
-
News
Businesses should not pause despite Bribery Act delay
According to a recent story in the South China Morning Post, the best gift you can give to a public official in China is not an iPad, it is not even a precious jewel. The favourite gift at the moment is a rather unprepossessing pre-paid ...
-
News
Butchery and ABSs
I have attended a number of seminars and read a number of different articles regarding alternative business structures that are due to be permitted from October 2011. As I understand it, a ‘manager’, who may be a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, would be able to participate in ...
-
News
Law Society sets out £394m justice system savings
The Law Society has today submitted proposals to government that would make savings of £394m in the justice system. The proposals would provide an alternative to the £350m cuts to the legal aid budget contained in the government’s consultation paper on legal aid reform. ...
-
News
QualitySolicitors opens 100 new branches and business brand
National legal brand QualitySolicitors opened 100 new branches today, the Gazette can reveal. The new member firms will take the total number of QS-branded branches to 175. Nottingham firm Wilson Browne and Cornwall firm Nalders are among the new joiners. Other ...
-
News
Lawyer wins £10,000 damages from Solicitors from Hell owner
A judge has condemned the owner of the Solicitors from Hell website for his conduct when committing a serious libel against a young solicitor. Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said that comments on Rick Kordowski’s website, solicitorsfromhell.co.uk, which criticised Juliet Farrall’s professional capability, were baseless, abusive, malicious, ...
-
News
Common sense needed in rape cases
The Crown Prosecution Service has just launched a consultation on guidance governing when individuals who retract allegations of rape or domestic violence should face prosecution. The interim guidance takes immediate effect. It follows a number of high-profile cases, in which women ...
-
News
Legal aid cuts ‘do little to protect public interest’, says bar regulator
The government’s proposals for legal aid reform have no positive regulatory impact and do little to protect or promote the public interest, according to the bar’s regulator. In its response to the green paper, the Bar Standards Board said the planned scope and eligibility cuts will ...
-
News
Thousands respond to Ministry of Justice legal aid consultation
The Ministry of Justice received 5,000 responses to its consultation on legal aid cuts, Jonathan Djanogly told the Justice Committee this morning. The legal aid minister told the committee he could not discuss what the responses to the consultation, which closed on Monday, but said the ...
-
News
Personal tax planning for partners: additional considerations
A few weeks ago, I addressed the topic of year-end personal finance planning, with a specific focus on pension contributions and tax relief. There are, however, several additional considerations that partners should also bear in mind as this tax year winds down and planning ...
-
News
SRA streamlines staff levels in move towards risk-based regulation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to reduce its staff levels by 12.5% by the end of the year, in an organisational restructure announced today. The reduction in staff numbers forms part of the regulator’s transition to outcomes-focused regulation and the licensing of alternative business structures, which ...
-
News
Protection of Freedoms Bill ‘disappointing’, says Law Society
The new Protection of Freedoms Bill fails to live up to government promises and instead hints at a ‘growth of the surveillance society’, the Law Society has warned. The Society said the legislation, which the coalition claims will scale back on Labour’s ‘intrusive’ policies, will take ...
-
News
Who can be a lawyer? Two more cases
I meet regularly with representatives of other professions at European level. The legal profession has a number of special features: it is regulated in every EU country, which is not the case with most, if not all, of the others. Secondly, ...
-
News
Butler-Sloss issues warning over legal aid cuts
The government’s planned legal aid cuts will have a ‘serious adverse long-term effect’ on the justice system, a former president of the family division of the High Court has warned. In a speech to the Society of Conservative Lawyers, Baroness Butler-Sloss said that the plans would ...