All News articles – Page 1553
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News
A popular choice
Thumbing through the latest speech given by an esteemed member of the judiciary last week, Obiter read something so unexpected it almost – though not quite – caused one’s glass of brandy to tilt to a dangerous degree. In a complete reversal of normal events, ...
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Supreme Court ruling puts children first in immigration cases
A landmark Supreme Court ruling has put the ‘best interests of the child’ at the centre of decision-making in immigration cases involving the deportation or removal of their parents. Giving judgment last week in the case of ZH, a Tanzanian woman who had made three failed ...
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Easing the burden on employment tribunals
There seems to be a consensus that our employment tribunals are unable to cope with the rise in claims. Much of the weight could be lifted simply by a tightened approach on compliance with directions. Employment lawyers are familiar with tribunal orders that contain references to ...
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Turning a brief encounter into lasting romance
‘Perhaps you have seen someone you like in a cafe, bar or a shop; you may have passed each other on the street or caught their eye on a train. It is fate that you were in the same place at the same time. Don’t let that chance pass you ...
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QualitySolicitors in settlement over copyright infringements with BPO
Law firm network QualitySolicitors has paid money out of court to settle a copyright infringement dispute with professional services consultancy Best Practice Online (BPO). BPO alleged QualitySolicitors infringed its copyright in relation to more than 100 articles published on the QualitySolicitors website in 2009 and early ...
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Pro bono thrives in private practice
The value of pro bono work provided by private practice solicitors has reached £475m, according to Law Society research. The figure represents a 19% annual increase and is equivalent to an estimated 2% of the total gross income of private practice. The ...
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Supreme Court backing of Twitter reflects badly on mainstream media
Why did the Supreme Court announce last week that it was offering what its president, Lord Phillips, describes as ‘a green light to tweeting and other forms of [text-based] communication’? There have never been any restrictions on sending texts from the Supreme Court or, until recently, ...
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Solicitors warned on stamp duty land tax avoidance schemes
Conveyancing solicitors are being pressured to become involved in stamp duty land tax (SDLT) avoidance schemes that cost the public purse around £35m, the Gazette has learned. To protect solicitors and help them challenge requests from clients or third parties to become involved in such schemes, ...
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High Court ruling paves the way for patent attorneys
A High Court ruling has cleared the way for patent attorney litigators to conduct litigation in High Court cases. In what is believed to be the first judgment on the scope of patent attorney litigators’ rights, Mr Justice Lewison clarified that they are entitled to conduct ...
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Government faces intense pressure over legal aid cuts
The government faced intense lobbying over its legal aid reforms this week, as the Law Society put forward a raft of alternative measures to preserve the legal aid budget, and the shadow legal aid minister warned that the government’s cuts will ‘destroy’ civil legal advice. The ...
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Is opposition to legal aid cuts gaining momentum?
There are now five days left before the consultation on the government’s proposed reforms to legal aid closes on 14 February, St Valentine’s Day. It is noticeable that in the last few weeks lobbying against the plans, which would see the scope of legal aid radically ...
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The campaign against proposed legal aid cuts gains public support
Last week’s adjournment debate on legal aid cuts in the House of Commons marked a change in tone among MPs who, before Christmas, had not made much of the Ministry of Justice’s proposed £350m annual cut to the legal aid budget. What became evident in the debate, secured by Labour ...
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Free national debt advice service set to close
The Financial Inclusion Fund’s (FIF) free national debt advice service is set to close after the government axed its £25m-a-year funding. Last month, the financial secretary to the Treasury, Mark Hoban, confirmed that funding for the free face-to-face advice service, which has operated since 2005, will ...
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Legal services generate £23bn for UK economy
The UK’s top 100 law firms cut their running costs by £500m to help tip themselves into profit last year, research by trade body TheCityUK has found. Profits of the largest 100 UK law firms increased by 1% in 2009/10 to £4.07bn, despite a 4% fall ...
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Embrace electronic working, criminal law solicitors told
The Law Society has called on criminal law firms to embrace electronic working, as the Crown Prosecution Services seeks to become completely digital by April 2012. Both bodies want to see more firms sign up to use secure email, to enable information to be shared between ...
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Family lawyers should adapt to challenging new market
This is going to be a tough year for family lawyers. For many, the recession has already affected their practices, with a decline in divorce figures and a reluctance on the part of clients to engage solicitors as fully as they did beforehand. It is ...
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ACS:Law cannot drop filesharing cases – judge
The Patents County Court yesterday stayed the hearing of actions for alleged illegal file-sharing, brought by London firm ACS:Law on behalf of its clients MediaCAT. His Honour Judge Birss refused to discontinue the cases in the manner requested by the claimants, saying the notices of ...
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Recession-hit firms dispute government contracts
More recession-hit businesses are complaining about how government public sector contracts are awarded, according to research by law firm EMW. There was an 84% rise in complaints made to the Office of Government Commerce in the year to the end of September 2010, to 57 complaints, ...
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Consumer research: will it tell you all?
Recent consumer and market research, with the debates they foster, reminded me to be careful when looking at and using research findings. There are two quotes that are worth keeping in mind when looking at research data and reports; both are currently relevant to the legal services market. ...
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When lawyers lobby
It looks as if the UK is set for the same painful debate that we have had in the EU recently over what to do about government lobbyists, and in particular the lawyer lobbyists among them. Maybe something can be learned from the EU experience. The ...