All News articles – Page 1617
-
News
House of Lords’ unsung battles for EU democracy
One of the constant accusations made against the EU – it was made in a comment to my blog last week – is that there is a democratic deficit. I accept the claim; it is undeniable. But it is also an accusation from within a UK glasshouse, since many of ...
-
News
Research reveals widening social divide in the profession
More than one in seven lawyers come from private schools, despite just one in 50 of the population receiving private education, new research has suggested. While 93% of the population are state educated, only 85% of lawyers went to non-public schools, according to an analysis of ...
-
News
Solicitors ‘not doing enough’ to market themselves as ABSs approach
Nine out of ten solicitors think they are not doing enough to promote their businesses in the face of forthcoming competition from alternative business structures, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has suggested. A survey of 330 solicitors by law firm referral service Contact Law found ...
-
News
New solutions should deliver access to justice
by Robert Bourns, senior partner at national law firm TLT Those charged with promoting regulatory change – the government, the Legal Services Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and other regulators - are clear that access to justice is not only a primary regulatory objective but also ...
-
News
Chinese human rights and the one that got away
The Chinese authorities have begun deploying a ‘softer type of violence’ against dissidents. That’s the good news told to me by Professor Fu Hauling, head of the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty. ...
-
News
SJ Berwin drops merger plans with US firm
City firm SJ Berwin and US firm Proskauer Rose have decided against a merger, the firms announced today in a statement. ‘At this stage in our discussions, we recognised that the timetable necessary to reach the agreements that would ensure the successful integration of our firms ...
-
News
LSC extends family contracts
The Legal Services Commission has today extended the present family and combined family/housing legal aid contracts until 30 November next year. The contracts had previously been extended until 14 December 2010. The LSC said the additional extension of almost a year ...
-
News
SRA to launch ‘strategic review’ of training
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to undertake an ‘independent, strategic review’ of education and training, in collaboration with the Bar Standards Board and the Institute of Legal Executives. The three regulators will form a joint ‘review group’ to inform the research, which will be a wide ...
-
News
GC100 rejects government's disclosure proposals
General counsel at Britain’s biggest companies have rejected government plans to force companies to disclose more information about corporate social responsibility and risk. The GC100, the association for general counsel and company secretaries in FTSE 100 companies, said the requirement might leave companies vulnerable to legal ...
-
News
Top-50 firms see revenues grow
Top-50 law firms have successfully grown their revenues in the first half of the financial year, figures released by firms this week suggest. Among City firms, Norton Rose posted a 9% rise in fee income for the six months ending 31 October, indicating fee income of ...
-
News
Do UK governments care about human rights in China?
If the government is serious about speaking up on human rights abuses in China, then it has left it too late. It was too late when David Cameron left for Beijing.
-
News
Protecting clients of ABSs and traditional law firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority remains on course, subject to Legal Services Board approval, to license and regulate alternative business structures (ABSs) from 6 October 2011. I am aware that this is not what all solicitors want to hear. Concern has been expressed, in particular about whether ...
-
News
Neuberger endorses accreditation scheme
The master of the rolls has given judicial backing to the proposed quality assurance for advocates (QAA) scheme, saying judges are the ‘ultimate consumers’ of advocacy services and are well placed to assess quality. Speaking at the Bar Council’s annual conference, Lord Neuberger defended the proposal ...
-
News
Rail acquisition, energy listing, bank sale and telecoms loan
Rail thing: Magic circle firm Allen & Overy advised a private equity consortium comprising 3i Group, Star Capital Partners and Morgan Stanley on the consortium’s £2.1bn acquisition of HSBC’s train-leasing business Eversholt Rail Group. Magic circle firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer advised HSBC. ...
-
News
Hands across the water
It would only take a small improvement in the value of sterling against the US dollar and we’d be touching down at JFK, headed for courtroom 14B, 500 Pearl Street, Lower Manhattan in the hope of being put straight by judge Jed Rakoff. He is not a man shy of ...
-
News
Concern over use of 'Henry Vlll' powers to overturn acts of parliament
The coalition’s approach to legislation is neither conservative nor liberal. That much is clear from the new Quangos (Bonfire) Bill, or the Public Bodies Bill as it is more properly called in parliament. It is through this legislation that the government intends to reform nearly 500 ...
-
News
Publicly funded legal advice gets a ringing endorsement
by Steve Hynes, director of the Legal Action Group In the wider media, legal aid is often demonised, with only two stories tending to predominate. Story one concerns the unworthy, scrounging recipients of legal aid – the clients. The latest high-profile variation on this theme concerns ...
-
News
Big majority backs free legal advice
More than eight out of 10 people believe civil legal advice should be free for people on average earnings or below. This conviction is consistent across all social classes, a nationwide opinion poll has found, raising fresh questions over the government’s mandate for swingeing legal aid cuts.
-
News
'Solicitors from Hell' owner vows to persevere after another libel loss
The owner of solicitorsfromhell has vowed to keep the site going, despite losing the latest in a string of libel cases. In the High Court last week, London firm Brett Wilson forced site owner Rick Kordowski to make an undertaking to the court: not to publish ...
-
News
Another route to qualification
I write in response to Robin Dunne’s letter . I agree that it is truly unfortunate when a law student has accrued considerable debt in completing their degree and LPC, then cannot secure a training contract. But it is not correct to say that, unless the LPC providers restrict the ...