All News articles – Page 1594
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News
Local government
Legal advice and funding – Champerty – Conditional fee agreements – Indemnity clauses Danri Morris and Anor v Southwark London Borough Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury MR, Lords Justices Lloyd, Gross): 25 January 2011 ...
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, February 1981 Counsel’s Opinion: In Defence of WomankindHow I wish all the painters, scrawlers, slogan writers and scribblers would stop it. One of the least attractive social phenomena of our time ...
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ACS:Law cannot drop filesharing cases – judge
The Patents County Court yesterday stayed the hearing of actions for alleged illegal file-sharing, brought by London firm ACS:Law on behalf of its clients MediaCAT. His Honour Judge Birss refused to discontinue the cases in the manner requested by the claimants, saying the notices of ...
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Family lawyers should adapt to challenging new market
This is going to be a tough year for family lawyers. For many, the recession has already affected their practices, with a decline in divorce figures and a reluctance on the part of clients to engage solicitors as fully as they did beforehand. It is ...
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Embrace electronic working, criminal law solicitors told
The Law Society has called on criminal law firms to embrace electronic working, as the Crown Prosecution Services seeks to become completely digital by April 2012. Both bodies want to see more firms sign up to use secure email, to enable information to be shared between ...
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Consumer research: will it tell you all?
Recent consumer and market research, with the debates they foster, reminded me to be careful when looking at and using research findings. There are two quotes that are worth keeping in mind when looking at research data and reports; both are currently relevant to the legal services market. ...
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Recession-hit firms dispute government contracts
More recession-hit businesses are complaining about how government public sector contracts are awarded, according to research by law firm EMW. There was an 84% rise in complaints made to the Office of Government Commerce in the year to the end of September 2010, to 57 complaints, ...
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Law Society launches legal aid campaign for the public
The Law Society is to launch a high-profile campaign, ‘Sound off for justice’, this week – aimed at harnessing public opposition to legal aid cuts. The initiative will seek to raise awareness of what the cuts could mean for members of the public, in advance of ...
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Does threat to CFAs mean that libel redress will be only for the rich?
The misuse of conditional fee agreements (CFAs) is one of the most significant causes of what is referred to as ‘the chilling effect’. Bad cases make bad law; bad CFA users make CFAs seem bad.
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New planning proposals risk ‘uncertainty and chaos’ in property market
Proposed changes in the government’s Localism Bill could bring uncertainty and chaos to the property market, the Law Society has warned. The bill proposes changes to planning rules, including strengthening the power of local authorities to tackle abuses of the system. It ...
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When lawyers lobby
It looks as if the UK is set for the same painful debate that we have had in the EU recently over what to do about government lobbyists, and in particular the lawyer lobbyists among them. Maybe something can be learned from the EU experience. The ...
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Marketing collective for brain injury specialists to launch in April
A nationwide network of specialist brain injury lawyers, The Brain Injury Group, is set to launch this April, the Gazette can reveal. The Brain Injury Group will work in tandem with other professional services that provide medical, rehabilitation, welfare and financial support to people who have ...
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How Lotto rapist publicity has helped claimants seeking compensation
The publicity generated by the Lotto rapist case, a newspaper favourite for many years, seems to be helping those who suffered serious crimes against their person. This week, national firm Thompsons said that this publicity, as well as the precedent it set, has helped a group of men win compensation ...
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Surge in disputes over trusts, figures show
Legal disputes over trusts have soared by 238% during the recession, according to City firm Wedlake Bell. Figures from the Ministry of Justice show the number of claims in the High Court in London involving trusts rose to 44 in 2009, up from 13 in ...
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The debate about employment tribunals and the rise in claims
Reforms to employment law and the employment tribunal system did not feature in the 2010 Conservative election manifesto. But there was a clear commitment to reducing regulation of small businesses. In recent weeks, it has become clear this commitment has translated into controversial plans for substantial reform to tribunal procedures.
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Decision time on ABSs
Next month, the Law Society council will have to make the most important decision in my presidential year, the outcome of which will have long-term implications for the profession. Council will have to decide whether to apply for the Solicitors Regulation Authority to be allowed to ...
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Supreme Court widens definition of violent abuse
Solicitors have welcomed a Supreme Court ruling that domestic violence extends beyond physical contact to include other forms of violent conduct.
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Accountancy
Autrefois acquit - Cause of action estoppel - Disciplinary procedures - Abuse of process R (on the application of Coke-Wallis) v Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales: SC (Lords Phillips, Rodger, Collins, Clarke, Dyson): 19 January 2011 ...