All News articles – Page 1589
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News
Complaints clinic: Legal Ombudsman
A new monthly column featuring practical advice and case studies from chief ombudsman Adam Sampson and his team At last, just before Christmas, the Legal Ombudsman cranked properly into business. ...
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Filing complaints
I recently had the misfortune to have dealings with the supreme legal quango, the Legal Ombudsman. What is so concerning about this organisation’s approach to handling complaints is how it applies one rule for us and a different rule for itself. Rather than, for example, ...
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Cuts cost money
Many of the Law Society’s suggestions would not achieve savings, but create further cost, something we all need to avoid. The suggestion that prosecutors should meet the cost of acquittals, instead of central funds, simply passes cost from one area of public expenditure to another ...
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HM Courts must do more to recoup uncollected fines and penalties
Tory MP Kris Hopkins asked justice minister Jonathan Djanogly a very good question last week: ‘What progress has [your] department made in recouping outstanding financial penalties that remain uncollected by HM Courts Service?' Answer came there none.
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Defining the scope of witness immunity
The rule of witness immunity was set out by Lord Hutton in Darker v Chief Constable of the West Midlands [2001] 1 AC 435, a case which concerned police malpractice. Lord Hutton held: ‘The rule that a party has immunity in respect of what he ...
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Justice system delays endemic, research shows
Law Society research submitted to the government last week has identified a ‘lack of communication’ pervading the justice system that is causing delays throughout the process. The survey of 245 individuals in the justice system, including 172 defence solicitors and 55 prosecutors, showed that respondents attributed ...
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Employment
Education - Local government - Addition of parties - Boards of governors Jones v Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Carnwath, Elias, Pitchford): 9 February 2011 ...
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A week to, erm, forget...
The last week has doubtless been a tiring one for legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured), as he prepares to wade his way through the hefty 5,000 responses the Ministry of Justice received to its legal aid consultation. This must surely be the only explanation ...
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Study to examine oversupply of LPC graduates
An in-depth study into education and training within the profession will address the current ‘mismatch’ between the number of Legal Practice Course graduates and training contracts, and will assess the role of paralegals, the Legal Services Board has said.
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Landlord and tenant
Civil procedure - Housing - Local government - Demoted tenancies Manchester City Council v Pinnock (No.2): SC (Lord Phillips (president), Lord Hope (deputy president), Lord Rodger, Walker, Lady Hale, Brown, Lord Mance, Lord Neuberger, Lord Collins (Justices of the ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, February, 1971 The Law Society should start a racing car club I have felt for some time that we solicitors are very often far too apologetic about ...
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Stick to the law
With the Jackson Review demonstrates once again is that members of the judiciary should never be asked to advise on anything to do with costs or funding. Judges notoriously know nothing about either. Eminent though he is as a lawyer, it is apparent from Lord Justice ...
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Stick to the law
What the Jackson Review demonstrates once again is that members of the judiciary should never be asked to advise on anything to do with costs or funding. Judges notoriously know nothing about either. Eminent though he is as a lawyer, it is apparent from ...
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Look who’s talking
I was astonished to read the comments of Sadiq Khan MP, shadow justice secretary, in which he described the government’s proposed legal aid cuts as ‘irresponsible and inequitable’. I have no recollection of Mr Khan expressing his concerns about the cuts introduced by his own ...
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Trick of the mind
‘Prepare to enter a world where mind reading and mind control are commonplace, and the rules of reality are flexible’. So boasts the promotional literature of ‘psychological mindreader’ Michael Hinchliffe, who also happens to be a criminal defence solicitor at Fraser Dawbarns in King’s Lynn. ...
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Moot point
Obiter extends its congratulations to the team of students from St Peter’s School in Bournemouth, who came 11th out of 30 in the recent Empire Mock Trial Competition in New York. The trip was sponsored by the Bournemouth & District Law Society.
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Sole practitioners
Any solicitors who are angling for a new hobby this year may be interested to learn that the Lawyers’ Fishing Club will be holding its annual beginners’ and new members’ day on Saturday 2 April at Rib Valley Lakes, near Ware in Hertfordshire. Intriguingly, as ...
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Very superstitious
You might expect lawyers to be a logical breed, immune to superstition. But not so the US trial lawyer, according to last week’s New York Times. The paper revealed the little rituals followed by some of the country’s top lawyers during trials: ordering the same ...
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First law firms accredited under Conveyancing Quality Scheme
The first law firms to be awarded the Law Society’s new quality mark for conveyancing practices were announced last week, with 385 firms having applied for the scheme so far. Colchester firm Martin Elliott & Co, Kent firm Boys & Maughan, Hull firm Hamers and London ...