All News articles – Page 1613
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News
European Commission seeks to increase client account protection
The European Commission has scuppered plans by the Financial Services Authority to vastly improve protection for client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts. The commission has announced that it wants to increase to €100,000 (£83,200) the maximum level of compensation available for deposits that are lost ...
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DLA profits hit by Middle East losses
National firm DLA Piper today reported partner profits down 18%, and blamed the fall on losses incurred by its hard-hit Middle East practice. For the year ending 31 December 2009, revenues at the firm fell to £581m from £585m in 2008, while average profits per equity ...
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EU language war sparked by patents proposal
The other side of the coin of the EU’s welcome inclusiveness and multilingualism is that some things are made worse by it.
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Barristers seek partnership with solicitors
Some 43% of barristers would like to go into business with solicitors, research commissioned by bar regulator the Bar Standards Board has shown today. A YouGov survey of nearly 2,000 barristers and 141 clerks and practice managers revealed that 43% said they would be interested in ...
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Circuit judge resigns over male prostitute allegations
A circuit judge has resigned after losing an appeal against a decision to remove him from office following allegations over his private life. Gerald Price QC, a judge on the Wales circuit, was the subject of media reports that he had had a relationship with a ...
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MoJ axes training grants for legal aid
The Ministry of Justice has axed a grant scheme that helped fund the training of the next generation of legal aid solicitors because there are ‘too many lawyers’ conducting legal aid work. Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly said the government would save £2.6m a year by ...
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Scrapping HIPs has little impact on property market
The scrapping of home information packs (HIPs) has had only a ‘marginal’ impact on the beleaguered property market, solicitors said this week, as they predicted that the market will remain slow for the rest of the year. Communities secretary Eric Pickles, who axed the controversial sellers’ ...
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What are the government’s real plans for the financial regulators?
After the big bang, the silence. George Osborne may have wowed the City with his promise to smash the Financial Services Authority (FSA) at Mansion House a couple of weeks ago, but what on earth have we leant since then about our new financial regulators?
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MoJ to publish draft Defamation Bill
The Ministry of Justice has announced it will publish a draft Defamation Bill for consultation in the new year, with a view to introducing a bill in the next parliamentary session. Justice minister Lord McNally outlined the government’s plans to review the law on defamation to ...
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Is social networking really appropriate for lawyers?
Here are some of the typical comments we hear as we talk to lawyers and their in-house marketing teams: I’m not sure about all this hype around social media. I'm not sure if social networking has any relevance to a law firm. I can see that more and more business ...
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Annual immigration cap could harm legal sector
Government plans to impose a permanent annual cap on non-EU nationals entering the UK labour market could have a ‘significant detrimental impact’ on the legal sector, the Law Society has warned. Home secretary Theresa May has announced a consultation process ahead of a permanent annual cap ...
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Social security
Education – Carer's allowance – Courses – Full-time students Secretary of State for Work and Pensions v Amanda Deane: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Ward, Hughes, Lady Justice Hallett): 23 June 2010 ...
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A place for sharia
I work in an area where there is a large Muslim population. I think that sharia law may, in some circumstances, have a role to play, providing: all the parties agree; there is no attempt to replace English law with sharia law; and representatives are given a seat at the ...
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Marching with pride
Lawyers were out in force last weekend for the Pride 2010 parade in central London celebrating ‘equality under the law’. Some 120 solicitors, barristers and legal executives braved the heat to join the lawyers’ contingent, which saw the Law Society, the Bar Council, the Junior Lawyers Division, the Lesbian and ...
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LSC in a parallel universe
I am now convinced that the Legal Services Commission is living in a parallel universe. My sense of foreboding about how they are going to destroy family legal aid firms, their work and the service they provide to vulnerable members of our society, in my mind, is now confirmed.
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Too old for the legal profession?
After selling my practice a few years ago I elected to work nine months a year on locum assignments and consultancy work for solicitors buying, selling or merging their firms. All went brilliantly for two years. Then the recession came and work dried up. Two years ...
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Landlord and tenant
Local government – Date of termination – Death – Tolerated trespass Austin (FC) (appellant) v Southwark London Borough Council (respondent): SC (Lords Hope, Walker, Brown, Kerr, Lady Hale): 23 June 2010 ...
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Solicitors vie for judicial office
The number of applications from solicitors for the role of civil district judge almost doubled in the last selection round, according to data published by the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) last week. Of the 81 candidates recommended for appointment, 72% were solicitors, who make up 40% ...
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Jockeying for position
What with the World Cup, Wimbledon and the Tour de France, cricket and the Open golf, watching sports could become a full-time occupation. But one lawyer in the equine team at northern firm Langleys has gone a step further than being just an armchair spectator. Private client assistant Serena Brotherton ...
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Insurers planning professional indemnity 'surcharge'
A number of insurers intend to include a ‘surcharge’ in their professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums this year, partly to highlight the soaring cost of the assigned risks pool, the Gazette has learned. It is understood that Travelers, among other insurers, is considering adding the charge ...