All News articles – Page 1618
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News
Some lessons for the Legal Services Board
The Legal Services Board can take a leaf out of the American Bar Association’s book when planning its next radical review of legal services.
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International in-house pay survey shows that seniors are suffering
Senior in-house lawyers have fared much worse than their junior colleagues in the pay stakes over recent years, research has suggested. The average salary for a UK in-house lawyer with 10 years’ post-qualification experience (PQE) dropped 7% between 2004 and 2010, to £89,000 from £95,500, according ...
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The Council of Europe costs one euro a year – and it’s worth every cent
Heard the one about the Council of Europe? It’s worse than a bureaucracy – it’s a Eurocracy. Boom-boom! I’ve just got back from the Council of Europe (CoE) – I was reporting on the parliamentary assembly last week in Strasbourg – and, despite the almost universal cynicism typified by the ...
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Thought police
It was a bright cold day in June and the clocks were striking 13. Obiter Smith needed to find a study of local legal aid commissioned by the last government and published last year. However a search by the document’s title on the Ministry of ...
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A long shot?
At first glance, the invite to this year’s Serious Fraud Office annual press shindig sent an icy chill down Obiter’s spine. Being one to have a firm grip on important events – thanks to a trusty iPhone calendar rather than photographic memory (yes, times have moved on) – the date ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, June 1970 Editorial With Election ’70 in full blast – or should we say full ...
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Immigration
Asylum – Ethiopia – Persecution – Refugees Secretary of State for the Home Department v St (Eritrea): CA (Civ Div): (Sir Anthony May (president QB), Lords Justices Longmore, Stanley Burnton)9 June 2010 ...
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Three Lions on a skive - did you let your staff watch the football?
Apologies for trespassing on this space – not normally my domain. But I am curious. This afternoon saw the latest instalment of what we at the Gazette have dubbed ‘Carry On England’, a quadrennial tale of preening dilettantes and music-hall slapstick that always seems to end with John Bull weeping ...
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The law regarding entrapment
The law is unclear as to how much protection is afforded to those entrapped by undercover journalists into committing criminal offences, says David Sleight
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Unethical earnings
The commercial debate about referral fees overlooks one simple fact – a referral fee is the purchase price for a client.
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National disgrace
On 16 June Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ), one of the largest legal aid providers in the UK for refugees and migrants, went into administration because of cashflow problems caused by a legal aid contracting regime which prevents us from billing our work in progress until the closure of cases.
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Will rising student debt lead to a 'lost generation' of solicitors?
Lawyers unite on 3 July to join the Pride London Parade, celebrating and promoting diversity in the profession. It is just 15 years since the Law Society added sexual orientation to its code of practice in respect of discrimination, which illustrates just how contemporary the diversity debate remains in so ...
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Criminal procedure
Admissibility – Confessions – Theft – Trial within a trial R v Bhavna Dhorajiwala: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Aikens, Mr Justice Slade, Judge Wadsworth QC): 9 June 2010 The ...
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Former Mishcon partner in court
A former partner at City firm Mishcon de Reya last week appeared in court charged with using falsified bank documents to obtain a €22m (£18m) loan. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) alleges that between 1 July 2008 and 22 August 2008, Kevin James Christopher Steele, 50, ...
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Competence powers and school exclusions
‘Under new management’ signs are festooned across the variegated organs of government, from Whitehall to town hall. The new coalition government has not been slow in charting new ground.
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‘Collapse of representation’ fears over LSC’s mental health tender
The ‘extraordinary’ results of the Legal Services Commission’s mental health tender have left established firms facing bankruptcy and could trigger the ‘collapse of representation’, solicitors have warned. The tender outcomes, which were published to providers last week, have resulted in many experienced providers being given less ...
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Smaller firms to collaborate in north-west
An innovative project to help smaller law firms work together to become more competitive has been launched in the north-west. The initiative could involve around 10 Greater Manchester firms setting up a single management company to manage shared support services to help them prosper in the post-Legal Services Act environment. ...
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Civil procedure
Automatic striking out – Litigants in person – Non-compliance – Unduly harsh sanction Kinsley v Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis: CA (Civ Div): (Lords Justices Ward, Thomas, Pitchford): 9 June 2010 ...
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FSA chief warns over enforcement disruption
The scrapping of the Financial Services Authority must not disrupt a pipeline of pending insider dealing and market abuse cases, its enforcement chief warned this week. Margaret Cole (pictured), the FSA’s director of enforcement, said it is ‘vital that the momentum of enforcement activity is ...