All News articles – Page 1561

  • News

    A view from inside the highest court in the EU

    2011-05-25T00:00:00Z

    From the outside, it could be a Premier League football ground on a day the team is playing away. There is the same sense of enclosed space behind featureless walls, with a vast paved area in the foreground for surging crowds chanting inanities. ...

  • News

    US firms show strong rebound from economic woes

    2011-05-25T00:00:00Z

    Uncertainty may still reign in the UK, but across the pond the legal sector is feeling rather more optimistic, research has suggested. A survey published today indicated that most law firms in the US are seeing revenues rise, partner numbers increase and an end to salary capping. Leaders of the ...

  • News

    Law firms ‘must improve practice management’

    2011-05-25T00:00:00Z

    Business advisors have told law firms to improve their practice management if they want to emerge from the challenges of 2011. Members of the Institute for Turnaround (IFT) warned there are too many firms that are failing to recognise or deal with financial problems early enough. ...

  • News

    For the love of law?

    2011-05-25T00:00:00Z

    In the last 12 months the BBC has played an unexpected role, featuring heavily in the development of discrimination law in the UK. Most notably in a recent case which could have wider implications for lawyers too. Devan Maistry was an ...

  • News

    A life less private

    2011-05-25T00:00:00Z

    What do the former head of the IMF and an English footballer have in common? Well in the last fortnight, issues around what private information is in the public interest, and what is not, have swirled around both men. And ...

  • News

    EU announces measures for recovery of cross-border debts

    2011-05-24T00:00:00Z

    The European Union has announced a new initiative to recover the estimated £48bn of debt that is written off every year because of the difficulty of bringing lawsuits overseas. Some 60% of cross-border debts cannot be recovered because, as the law stands, enforcement measures such as ...

  • News

    Conveyancing Quality Scheme makes progress

    2011-05-24T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society’s chief executive gave an update on the progress of the Quality Conveyancing Scheme at the property section’s annual conference last week. Since registration for the scheme launched in January, Desmond Hudson said 913 firms have applied for the quality mark. ...

  • News

    Firms freeze trainee recruitment, survey suggests

    2011-05-24T00:00:00Z

    More than three-quarters of medium-sized firms have frozen graduate recruitment for the next year – despite an increase in applications. A survey of 82 firms with between 20 and 30 employees found that most firms planned to cut costs over the next 12 months. ...

  • News

    Conveyancing firms must change to compete, solicitors warned

    2011-05-23T00:00:00Z

    Residential conveyancing firms must change their business models to withstand the threat posed by new entrants to the legal market place, delegates at the Law Society’s annual property section conference heard last week. The Society’s chief executive Des Hudson said the introduction of alternative business structures, ...

  • News

    NHS ‘failing to learn lessons’ of litigation claims

    2011-05-23T00:00:00Z

    The medical profession is failing to learn lessons from costly litigation claims, according to a leading clinical negligence lawyer. Writing in the latest issue of Clinical Risk, Irwin Mitchell partner Ian Christian says information from legal actions is not filtering back through the NHS. ...

  • News

    Rightmove founder enters conveyancing market

    2011-05-23T00:00:00Z

    The founder of Rightmove has today launched online residential conveyancing service In-deed, intended to shake-up the conveyancing market. Harry Hill, the founder of Rightmove and former chief executive of estate agency Countrywide, said the service would make the home sale process simpler, more transparent and ...

  • News

    Reflections on the launch of the European Law Institute

    2011-05-23T00:00:00Z

    The European Law Institute is ready for launch. I have written before about the struggle to establish it. The Inaugural Congress will now be held in Paris on 1 June. Its aims are to be: ‘an ...

  • News

    Legal aid award finalists announced

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group has announced the finalists for its Lawyer of the Year 2011. They include Razi Shah, solicitor at Windsor firm Appleby Shaw, who successfully appealed against the custodial sentence given to Munir Hussain. Hussain had been convicted ...

  • News

    Bar Standards Board reviews barristers’ CPD requirements

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    The Bar Standards Board has announced a review of the continuing professional development (CPD) requirements for barristers. The biggest proposed change would see an increase in the number of CPD hours that members of the bar are required to do each year, doubling it from 12 to 24. A more ...

  • News

    Injunction case is reminder that partners have employment rights

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    A High Court ruling in Clyde & Co v Van Winkelhof, reported on 22 March, has highlighted how, even though a member of an LLP or partner may not be an employee, they can still avail themselves of rights traditionally regarded as employment rights. Most ...

  • News

    Legal executives should be on ‘equal footing’ to solicitors, claims ILEX

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    Legal executives should be able to provide the full breadth of services ‘on an equal footing’ to solicitors, the president of the Institute of Legal Executives said yesterday. David McGrady said securing further rights for ILEX members remains the goal of the professional body. ...

  • News

    QualitySolicitors: watch our exclusive interview with Craig Holt

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    Brands will dominate the legal market when alternative business structures are introduced this October – and firms that have not joined a network such as QualitySolicitors or do not do work for larger brands will find the market ‘very small indeed’. So argues a bullish Craig ...

  • News

    Why lawyers say yes to work experience students

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    In common with many firms, there are times in the year where we have work shadowers, or interns if you are really posh. Whatever you call them they write in or email begging for a position. The summer is the same if not more busy. ...

  • News

    Neuberger sets out injunctions review

    2011-05-20T00:00:00Z

    The UK’s leading judges have warned MPs not to abuse their parliamentary privilege to break the privacy achieved by injunctions. Lord Neuberger, the Master of the Rolls, appeared before the media this morning to set out a review of injunctions. The report ...

  • News

    Sterling efforts at legal walks raised more than £500,000

    2011-05-19T00:00:00Z

    One must grudgingly admire legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly’s chutzpah in turning up to this week’s record-breaking London Legal sponsored walk. For its spectacular success will hopefully go some small way to compensating for the deep cuts to funding for social welfare law that his ...