All News articles – Page 1573
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News
Law Commission proposes new ‘Consumer Act’
Consumers are finding it too hard to win compensation for misleading and aggressive trading practices and the law must be reviewed, the Law Commission said today. Opening a consultation on the matter, the commission said that routes to redress for ripped-off consumers are 'difficult’ and ‘far ...
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Society announces election of deputy vice-president
Solicitor Nick Fluck will become Law Society deputy vice-president in July, and will become president in 2013, Chancery Lane announced today. Fluck, partner at Lincolnshire firm Stapleton & Son and a council member since 2005, will serve one year as deputy vice-president from July, followed by ...
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Big-hitters join Society’s Human Rights Committee
Seven new members have joined the Law Society's Human Rights Committee to help highlight, challenge and condemn human rights abuses across the world. They are: Immigration solicitor Shanti Faiia of City firm Laura Devine. Faiia was previously with the United Nations development programme and the Sri ...
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Stop cancelling one-to-one meetings with staff
Many managers in private practice and in in-house legal departments struggle with issues around staff morale. Morale’s a complex area. Staff can be intelligent and productive people, team players who are trusted by their colleagues and managers, working in a ...
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ASA rejects complaint about QualitySolicitors TV advert
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has rejected a complaint made by a Yorkshire firm about a television advert for law firm network QualitySolicitors. Williamsons in Hull had challenged the content of the advert, claiming that it was misleading. The advert showed an ...
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Legal Services Board reveals high level of ABS interest
The Legal Services Board has seen a high level of interest from banks and private equity houses in the run-up to the introduction of alternative business structures, its chair David Edmonds told the Gazette in an interview last week. Edmonds, who was reappointed for a further ...
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APIL’s new president pledges to campaign for rights of injured
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) will campaign with other claimant organisations against government plans to make injured people pay for legal fees out of their own compensation, the association’s new president will tell delegates at the APIL annual conference later this week. Bott & ...
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New SRA Handbook passes its first test
Congratulations to the SRA on the launch of its new Handbook. I was hoping to have some mischief at its expense and tell its staff that they will have to start re-writing it straight away, as a result of an interesting judgement of the Court ...
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Profession helps law schools to step up pro bono advice
The number of law schools offering pro bono legal advice has risen significantly thanks to a boost in support from solicitors, a report published this week has found. The report by pro bono charity LawWorks showed a 40% increase over the last five years in the ...
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RBS offers legal documentation to small business clients
The Royal Bank of Scotland launched a product that will provide legal documentation and advice to its small business customers this week. The service, Smarta Business Builder, incorporates a range of online accounting, business and legal services, with legal software provided by Epoq. ...
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Who’s in charge – Strasbourg or London?
Who is really in charge - the UK’s unelected judges or its elected politicians, its courts or its parliament? Or is the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights in charge, as many of its critics fear? These were the questions posed ...
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Dominic Grieve set for Minority Lawyers Conference
Attorney general Dominic Grieve and influential Islamic thinker Tariq Ramadan will join a line-up of high-profile speakers at tomorrow’s Minority Lawyers Conference at the Law Society in London. The biennial conference, organised jointly by the Law Society, Bar Council and Institute of Legal Executives, celebrates ...
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Employment lawyers see surge in disputes
Employment solicitors have seen a surge in clients seeking advice on work-related disputes, according to figures seen by the ...
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QualitySolicitors in WHSmith tie-up
QualitySolicitors has signed a deal with WHSmith enabling it to place a QS member of staff in 150 branches of the high street books and stationery giant, the Gazette can reveal. The deal will see QS open a ‘legal access point’ staffed by a local QS ...
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Bribery Act guidance
It is now 13 years since the UK committed to fulfil its obligations under the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention, and almost nine years since it became a signatory to the UN Convention against Corruption. In that time, there has been an unremitting flow of effort aimed ...
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Carlisle solicitor admits fraud
A former Carlisle solicitor is awaiting sentence after admitting a £250,000 fraud. Pauline Lesley Butler, who worked as a sole practitioner at her firm Pauline L Butler in Carlisle, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court last week to charges of fraud and false accounting. ...
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DAS considers offering written legal advice
Legal expenses insurer DAS is considering providing written legal advice to its policyholders once reforms allow, its legal chief told the Gazette this week. DAS head of legal Kathryn Mortimer said that the insurer, which has already made clear its intention to acquire Bristol firm CW ...
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Welcome news as Allen & Overy offers placements and minimum wage
Nick Clegg’s strategy to boost social mobility targets unpaid internships, a nice illustration of the incongruities that can arise in coalition government. As recently as February, his Tory partners were busy auctioning internships in City banks and hedge funds at a £400-a-head fundraiser. Clegg doubtless reasons ...
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Forecasting the creative impact of alternative business structures on law
The challenge of alternative business structures (ABSs) appears to have given fresh legs to a neologism. Lawyers should be ‘pessoptimistic’ – that is, in a state of contradiction, living with both dread and a sense of opportunity. A pessoptimist (the word was coined by Palestinian ...