All News articles – Page 1590
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QualitySolicitors steps up expansion with 50 new branches
Law firm franchise QualitySolicitors is to launch 50 new branches next month, the ...
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A Tanzanian teaching experience
One of the greatest rewards for any coach, mentor or trainer in the development process is to be able to help individuals and teams realise their potential and develop their talent. The ‘dream’ scenario is that, before your eyes, skills are gradually mastered, performance improved and confidence built and sustained, ...
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A coup for Chancery Lane – but what happens now?
Last week’s High Court judgment that the Legal Services Commission’s family tender process was unlawful railroaded a process which would have reduced the number of family providers from 2,400 to 1,300 and led to the demise of many experienced firms.
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LSC announces defendant legal aid sanctions
The Legal Services Commission has announced that financial sanctions will be imposed on defendants who fail to provide evidence of means when applying for criminal legal aid in the Crown court. The Crown court means-testing scheme was rolled out nationally earlier this year. The sanction for ...
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3,000 high street firms could disappear - Clarke
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke yesterday warned lawyers to prepare for changes as far reaching as the ‘big bang’ proved to be for the financial sector. Clarke told members of Birmingham Law Society that alternative business structures (ABSs) would herald a ‘whole new world’ for lawyers. From ...
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After PQE: wise beyond years?
Some law firms, having moved partners away from lockstep towards a more strict merit-based system, have now turned their attention to the way they price and reward assistants and associates. Unpicking the use of PQE to decide on fees and reward is a logical step, but as a piece of ...
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Mayer Brown outsources secretarial practice
The London corporate group of US firm Mayer Brown has outsourced its entire secretarial practice, the firm announced today. Corporate administrative outsourcer TMF Group, which runs 87 corporate administration companies in 67 countries, has acquired the practice. Peter Dickinson, head of the ...
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Financial crisis: are regulators asking the right questions?
We have just passed the second anniversary of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Of course, the financial crisis it caused, in which we are still immersed, has given rise to a flurry of activity by regulators around the world. We are all agreed upon one message: NEVER AGAIN. ...
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Firms make applications to assigned risks pool
Some 409 firms applied to enter the assigned risks pool (ARP) on 1 October, the deadline for professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal, according to figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority today. The SRA said this is roughly the same number of deadline day applications as ...
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Court figures show rise in FTSE 100 litigation
The number of High Court cases involving FTSE 100 companies has risen 16% in the last year, research from legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell has revealed. In the year to 30 June 2010, the study shows there were 179 cases involving the FTSE 100, ...
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LSC hit by £300,000 legal bill over tender
The Legal Services Commission faces a £300,000 bill for the Law Society’s legal costs, after losing a High Court battle over its family tender process. The LSC said it could not disclose how much it had spent on its own legal fees in defending the action, ...
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A change in direction on electronic disclosure
The introduction of Practice Direction 31BOn 1 October 2010, a new practice direction, 31B on the disclosure of electronic documents comes into effect. The new practice direction is designed to encourage and assist the parties to reach agreement on the disclosure of electronic ...
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Small conveyancers still have weaponry against big brands
The Gazette reported recently on some figures released by Contact Law showing the level of anxiety among the profession over the ‘threat’ of alternative business structures.
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War of words
Over the past few weeks, a theme has been emerging on this page about the profession’s veritable obsession with the correct use of language. But it transpires that it is not only solicitors of the Supreme Court who get hot and bothered about the use and abuse of English; their ...
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Negligence
Contractual liability – Exclusion clauses – Liability insurance – Burden of proof Omega Proteins Ltd v Aspen Insurance Uk Ltd: QBD (Comm) (Mr Justice Clarke): 10 September 2010 The claimant ...
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Reform of the law relating to murder is long overdue
by Julian Young, senior partner at Julian Young & Co I have in front of me a copy of an Order for Assize and General Gaol Delivery, dated 1955, ordering the execution of a defendant for ... ‘the crime of wilful murder’. That sentence was carried ...
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High thrive
Obiter tips his thermal cap to Chris Rawstron (pictured), consultant and former managing partner at national firm DLA Piper, who scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania this month to raise an impressive £10,000 for Marie Curie. Do you have any pics of solicitors in ...
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PII spend predicted to hit record high
Solicitors are facing the ‘most challenging’ professional indemnity insurance market in years, commentators said this week ahead of Friday’s renewal deadline. The news came as the Law Society launched a SafetyNet scheme designed to help firms that cannot obtain cover. Brokers ...
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Local government
Employment – Equal pay questionnaires – Statutory grievance procedures DM Birch and 99 others v (1) Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council (2) Housing 21 Ltd (3) Sodexo Healthcare Services Ltd (4) Pinnacle Housing Ltd: EAT (Mrs Justice Cox): 10 September ...