All News articles – Page 1590
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News
Family justice system is failing vulnerable children in care
A report published this week revealed that half of the children in care do not trust the court to make the right decision about their lives. The report, written for Ofsted by Children’s Rights director Roger Morgan, showed that of 58 children interviewed, 50% though the ...
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Separating couples to be forced to consider mediation option
From April separating couples will be required to consider whether their disputes can be settled by mediation rather than through the courts, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly announced today. Under a new protocol, agreed with the judiciary, all parties will be required to attend a mediation awareness ...
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Oversupply of lawyers to drive down costs, says Green
The oversupply of qualified lawyers denied entry to the profession has led to a ‘burgeoning body of paralegals’ that will have a profound effect on solicitors and barristers, former bar chairman Nick Green QC said last week. At a conference on legal education in London last ...
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Law firm mergers – the right partner
Who led the battle for your affections this Valentine’s Day? Your spouse? Your partner? An other? With relationships front of mind this month, it’s perhaps no bad time for law firms to consider their own ‘perfect partner’. As ...
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Djanogly defends impact of legal aid cuts on voluntary sector
The government is ignoring its own research on peoples’ need for free legal advice as it plans to cut legal aid, the House of Commons heard last week. Anas Sarwar, Labour MP for Glasgow Central, said that the government’s planned funding cuts, which will impact law ...
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Jackson reforms fail to account for RTA progress
The road traffic accident claims portal should be ‘given a chance’ before the government becomes distracted from the ‘bigger picture' by rushing to implement the Jackson reforms, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers warned last week. Muiris Lyons told an audience at APIL’s ...
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Rise in legal disputes between commercial landlords and tenants
The economic downturn has led to a surge in landlord and tenants disputes, court figures have shown. Figures obtained by legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell indicated that the number of legal disputes between commercial property landlords and tenants reaching the High Court in London jumped 43% ...
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Explaining money laundering to a Martian
Here are some questions which puzzle me. Why has money laundering, of all crimes, become the single crime where it is enacted everywhere in Europe that lawyers must breach their code of conduct and report on suspicions of criminal activity? Is money laundering worse than ...
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Government cannot afford to ignore £1.3bn in uncollected fines
Amid the last fortnight’s coverage of the government’s planned legal aid cuts, one potential alternative area of savings didn’t get any column inches: the millions of pounds that remain uncollected by the courts system every year. Some £1.33bn currently floats in this pool of outstanding ...
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News
Lloyds backs down on client account information
Lloyds Banking Group will no longer ask its conveyancing panel members to provide client account information, after the Law Society raised concerns with the lender over the risk of breaches of client confidentiality. The Society has advised firms that if any lender asks them for client ...
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Clifford Chance merges with Australian firms
Clifford Chance has merged with two boutique Australian firms, marking the second foray by a major English firm into the country this year. The magic circle firm will merge with Sydney firm Chang, Pistilli & Simmons, and with Perth firm Cochrane Lishman Carson Luscombe. The combined ...
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Gang injunctions and civil liberty
In July 2010 Theresa May heralded the end of the ASBO; claiming that they are responsible for putting ‘too many young people on the conveyor belt to prison’. Civil liberty groups and criminal lawyers alike breathed a collective sigh of relief, glad to see the ...
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News
Lawyer wins £10,000 damages from Solicitors from Hell owner
A judge has condemned the owner of the Solicitors from Hell website for his conduct when committing a serious libel against a young solicitor. Mr Justice Lloyd Jones said that comments on Rick Kordowski’s website, solicitorsfromhell.co.uk, which criticised Juliet Farrall’s professional capability, were baseless, abusive, malicious, ...
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QualitySolicitors opens 100 new branches and business brand
National legal brand QualitySolicitors opened 100 new branches today, the Gazette can reveal. The new member firms will take the total number of QS-branded branches to 175. Nottingham firm Wilson Browne and Cornwall firm Nalders are among the new joiners. Other ...
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Law Society sets out £394m justice system savings
The Law Society has today submitted proposals to government that would make savings of £394m in the justice system. The proposals would provide an alternative to the £350m cuts to the legal aid budget contained in the government’s consultation paper on legal aid reform. ...
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Butchery and ABSs
I have attended a number of seminars and read a number of different articles regarding alternative business structures that are due to be permitted from October 2011. As I understand it, a ‘manager’, who may be a butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, would be able to participate in ...
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Businesses should not pause despite Bribery Act delay
According to a recent story in the South China Morning Post, the best gift you can give to a public official in China is not an iPad, it is not even a precious jewel. The favourite gift at the moment is a rather unprepossessing pre-paid ...
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Where should reserved legal activities apply?
by Professor Stephen Mayson, director of the Legal Services Institute The current reserved activities are rights of audience, the conduct of litigation, reserved instrument activities (sometimes inaccurately referred to as the conveyancing reservation), probate activities, notarial activities, and the administration of oaths.
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News
Legal profession can exploit incoherent legal aid cuts
In the words of a blues anthem from my youth: ‘Don’t let me be misunderstood.’ Publicly, we cannot be defeatist about the government’s legal aid proposals. But we also need the quiet discussion which all lawyers have, at some time, with a client: ‘I understand ...
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Withdrawing legal aid support for disabled children lacks compassion
Looking at the categories of people from whom the Ministry of Justice proposes to remove legal aid support, it is hard to avoid the conclusion that disabled children might be the most deserving of reprieve.