All News articles – Page 1595
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News
Panel calls for evidence over will-writing regulation
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has made a call for evidence from solicitors and others in an investigation launched today into whether will-writing should become a regulated activity. The Legal Services Board has asked the panel to provide evidence of what problems consumers encounter in making ...
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Excellence award shortlist published
The outstanding achievements of legal professionals across England and Wales have been recognised by the judges of the Law Society’s Excellence Awards. High-achieving individual solicitors and teams across the entire legal sector have been shortlisted in categories ranging from Excellence in Community Investment to Excellence in ...
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News
Financial crisis sees dispute resolution surge
The financial crisis has seen a surge in dispute resolution cases, with the UK performing well as a venue for hearing international disputes, according to a report published today. The report Dispute Resolution in London & the UK, compiled by membership body TheCityUK, shows the number ...
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Citizens v notaries – a draw
With all the ink spilt since the publication of the Akzo Nobel judgment last week, and the ink still to be spilt in as-yet-unwritten academic articles, something published at the same time on the website of the European Court of Justice has gone unnoticed.
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Solicitors anxious over ABS ‘threat’
There is a high level of anxiety among solicitors over the impact of legal services reforms, with conveyancers showing the greatest alarm, according to research seen exclusively by the Gazette. A survey of more than 300 solicitors by law firm network Contact Law found ...
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Law Society warns Home Office over immigration cap
The Law Society has today made a submission to the Home Office warning that its proposed limits on non-EU highly skilled migration could damage the legal sector. The submission follows concerns voiced by Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable this week that immigration limits are damaging ...
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Innovation ‘anathema to solicitors’, report suggests
Innovation appears to be ‘anathema’ to solicitors, who place too much reliance on the value of their reputation and are overly wedded to ‘old school’ marketing techniques, according to a report published today. The ‘white paper’ compiled by business advisory group Selling for Solicitors also found ...
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Why law firms are seizing on the Akzo privilege judgment
When the European Court of Justice’s ruling in the Akzo case came out on Tuesday, comments from law firms condemning the decision began rolling into the newsdesk within minutes.
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The spy who sued me
In this age of the long lens, BBC executives and MI5 heads cannot be too careful about what documents they leave sticking out of their briefcases. But it turns out that they are not the only ones who need to exercise ultra-caution when it comes to sensitive documents. In its ...
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For the record
For those following the gripping saga of Redruth solicitor J P Leaning and his quest for blanket permission from Ken Clarke to take a handheld recording device into any court – an update. Leaning has informed Obiter that he has still to receive a reply from the minister, who seems ...
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Positive process
In response to John Ford Solicitors’ letter, we have not reduced volume as part of our recent tender for low volume category legal services. New matter start volumes are consistent with those delivered from September 2008 to August 2009. Also, matter starts are ...
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Solicitors queue up to sue LSC
Pressure is mounting on the Legal Services Commission over its handling of the tender for civil legal aid contracts, as it faces a growing number of judicial review challenges to the process, and talks with the Law Society broke down.
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Should lawyers get out more?
On any weekday, in reception areas from the high street to Herbert Smith, clients are giving their name, then waiting to see their solicitor. Depending on the firm, they might wait looking at a Howard Hodgkin poster in a clip frame, or wait looking at the genuine article – whatever ...
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Is the Gazette stuck in a PC straitjacket?
A thought-provoking phone call this week from a solicitor (who wished to remain nameless, of which more below) about the Gazette leader column’s bullish stance on legal aid. It came in the context of this week’s events at the TUC, which is gearing up for a concerted battle over the ...
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Religious freedom
One way the government could reduce spending, while promoting its ideal of the freedom of the individual, would be to abolish chancel repair liability. If more applications are made by parochial church councils (PCCs) for registration of notices against lay rectors’ titles, leading up to the registration deadline of 12 ...
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Paralegal forces removal of posting from solicitorsfromhell website
A London paralegal has forced the removal of a ‘malicious and inaccurate’ posting on the solicitorsfromhell.co.uk website after issuing a claim for defamation against the owner, the Gazette has learned. Max Campbell, a paralegal at McCormacks, spotted the posting on 1 September, which related to his ...
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Employment
Gross misconduct – Law firms – Unfair dismissal Wilson Devonald Ltd v S Suckling: EAT (Judge Serota QC, D Evans CBE, P Gammon MBE): 3 August 2010 The appellant employer ...
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Rallying cry
It’s amazing to what lengths some solicitors will go to escape from the office. Manchester lawyers Chris Adams and Sean Daly, otherwise known as team ‘Freewheeling Palm Trees’, today set off on a 3,000-mile round trip to southern Italy in a 20-year-old Merc. The pair, who are being sponsored by ...
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MoJ to review media reporting in family courts
The Ministry of Justice has told the Gazette that it will not commence legislation that would extend the media’s right to report family cases without ‘looking closely’ at the changes, amid pressure from family lawyers. Family lawyers have called on the government not to ...