All News articles – Page 1563
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News
Why not run a separate compensation fund for ABSs?
With alternative business structures due in 2011, the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority’s fitness-to-own test is likely to be tested. The attraction of law firms and client account to organised criminals cannot be underestimated.
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It’s not all about the marketing
Here we are then, 2011, the year of the alternative business structure. If you don’t believe that implementation of the Legal Services Act will have a major impact on the legal market then don’t bother reading on, as nothing I can say will change your mind and neither will ...
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95 not out
A 95-year-old solicitor has just received his 70th consecutive practising certificate, Obiter has learned. Leslie Black (pictured), a consultant at Merseyside firm Black Norman, was admitted in 1941 and has run a thriving litigation, company and commercial, wills and probate, and licensing practice ever since. ‘Is he working today?’ Obiter ...
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‘Not just peanuts’ campaign to support legal advice charities
The Access to Justice Foundation will today launch a national campaign encouraging law firms to release unclaimed money from their client accounts to help support free legal assistance in their local community. The charity’s ‘It's Not Just Peanuts’ campaign is targeting amounts of less than ...
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Thompsons presses for greater focus on rehabilitation
National personal injury firm Thompsons has called on government ministers to put rehabilitation for injury victims at the heart of its review of civil justice, after research into client attitudes showed overwhelming support for the benefits of rehabilitation. According to the firm, in a survey of ...
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Expertise, experience and efficiency – the outsourcing dilemma
A strong feature of 2010 was the growing debate about legal process outsourcing (LPO), offshoring and commoditising. To some practitioners this is anathema: a deskilling and cheapening of the practice of law. Others see it, more positively, as a separation of the repetitive, low value ...
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Law Commission consults on pre-nuptial agreements
The Law Commission has today published a consultation on the future of pre-nuptial agreements, seeking views on whether couples should be able to make binding agreements governing financial arrangements if their relationships end. The paper puts forward a range of options for reforming the law of ...
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Jones day to open three Saudi offices in 2011
US firm Jones Day will open three associate offices in Saudi Arabia this year, it announced today. An office in Riyadh has already been established, and further outposts in Jeddah and Al-Khobar will be set up later this year in association with Saudi firm Al Sulaim ...
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News
Support grows for regulation of will-writing
A call for evidence on whether will-writing should become a regulated activity has received a huge response from the profession and public, with consumer bodies in favour of regulation. The Legal Services Board Consumer Panel has received 380 case studies from lawyers, members of the public ...
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Employment lawyers are under attack
It is open season on employment tribunals and the ‘parasitical creatures’ (aka employment lawyers) that argue their clients’ cases before them. Maybe it is time that the profession got its public relations act together and took on its detractors at their own game.
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Forum shopping for a lawyer’s title is alive and well
In this New Year, there is a new name to be added to the roll call of names that have contributed to the development of the practice of law in Europe, by bringing a case to the European Court of Justice. Added to those on the list such as Gebhard ...
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Profession under stress, helpline reveals
A charity that provides support to solicitors has identified high levels of stress among the profession. Telephone helpline LawCare recorded the second busiest year in its 13-year history. The advice line opened 517 new case files in 2010, down from the ...
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News
Family procedure rules published
The Ministry of Justice has this week published the long-awaited Family Procedure Rules 2010, which will come into force on 6 April 2011. The new code provides a single set of rules for proceedings in the magistrates’ court, county court and High Court, along the model ...
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Control orders ‘infringe fundamental principles’
Control orders infringe the most fundamental principles of due process, and should be replaced with surveillance and criminal trial, the Law Society has urged. Control orders are an anti-terrorism power that allows curfews of up to 16 hours a day, electronic tagging, regular home searches and ...
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Can cuts to legal aid still be halted?
Next week sees the launch in the House of Commons of Justice for All, a broad coalition of over 1,000 legal and advice groups, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public. It has been set up in response to the government’s proposed ...
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MoJ to extend Freedom of Information Act
More public bodies are to be opened up to public scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act (FOI), the Ministry of Justice announced today. The MoJ said it will extend the scope of the FOI to make it easier for people to find and use information ...
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What mystery shoppers can tell us
The Legal Services Board has commissioned a mystery shopping exercise into the will-writing market to explore the experience of consumers getting wills from different channels and test the quality of wills. The study will recruit 100 consumers who are looking to obtain a will – ...
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News
Keep your wig on
There is nothing the papers love more than an eccentric judge, so there was plenty of coverage of Beatrice Bolton’s outburst when she was found guilty of breaching the Dangerous Dogs Act at Carlisle Crown Court last month. London newspaper Metro reported that the 57-year-old judge (pictured), who was told ...
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Human rights
Detention – Drug trafficking – Right to life – Death of drug smuggler Ayesha Al Hassan-Daniel (in her own right and as representative of the estate of Anthony Daniel, deceased) & Anor (appellants) v Revenue & Customs Commissioners (respondent) ...