All News articles – Page 1622
-
News
Asylum advice centre closes
Immigration advice charity Refugee and Migrant Justice (RMJ) went into administration yesterday following cashflow problems which it said were due to late payments by the Legal Services Commission. Despite a high-profile campaign, with letters sent to the justice secretary and home secretary on RMJ’s behalf by ...
-
News
Lord Phillips defends Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act 1998 is ‘a vital part of the foundation of our fight against terrorism’, the president of the Supreme Court asserted this week in an outspoken defence of the act. Setting out a series of recent cases in which government anti-terrorism measures ...
-
News
The secret world of GATS
There is a small body of rootless cosmopolitans who meet in windowless hotel rooms a few times a year to discuss the ins and outs of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) as it affects lawyers: free trade agreements, most favoured nation status, mutual recognition, the whole shebang. ...
-
News
What will the Legal Services Board do about referral fees?
Is the referral fee debate over? Two reports submitted recently to the Legal Services Board (LSB) would make one think that it is, even though the board itself has still to reach a final decision. First came an economic impact analysis, commissioned from Charles River Associates ...
-
News
Making change happen
Legal firms face probably their toughest challenges for years in the current economic environment. Implementing change successfully to meet client needs is critical, but there is increasing evidence that purely rational decision-making is insufficient.
-
News
Law Society launches advertising campaign
The Law Society is to repeat its nationwide drive to promote solicitors in an advertising campaign that will begin on Monday. Adverts will run in more than 450 railway stations and on more than 40 buses, as well as in the national press. ...
-
News
It’s time to go public about privacy
The privacy genie is out of the bottle. The Facebook generation, brought up on sharing even the most intimate details online, has no concept of confidentiality or need-to-know.
-
News
Princely sum
Obiter is beginning to think that HRH Prince Charles is a bit of a fan of solicitors. He certainly seems to hang out with them quite a lot. Although it could also be said that he appears to have the measure of the ...
-
News
Law Society launches risk management service
The Law Society has launched a new service which it claims will help firms navigate the increasingly complicated area of risk and compliance and put in place risk management procedures. The Risk and Compliance Service includes in-house consultancy, a newsletter and a Lawyerline ...
-
News
We have only vague pledges from the government
By rights, I should be analysing parliament’s legislative programme this week. Five weeks after a general election, you would expect to be reading about the latest crop of government bills.
-
News
Flowery sentence
Those of us who do not possess green fingers have long regarded gardening as a form of punishment, but now it’s official. Instead of the usual community service chores of scrubbing off graffiti or picking up litter, offenders have been creating raised flower beds at a community centre in Carmarthenshire ...
-
News
The five-year plan for immigration – five years on
We have repeatedly heard that the UK has experienced its biggest overhaul of the immigration system in half a century. This claim is false. The recent changes to our immigration system are more of a repackaging.
-
News
Social welfare paralysis fear in Manchester
The Law Society has warned of ‘severe disruption’ to the supply of social welfare advice in Manchester if the delayed timetable for a new Community Legal Advice Service (CLAS) slips further. The tender process for the service, jointly commissioned by the Legal Services Commission and Manchester ...
-
News
Family law
Local government - Social welfare - Child abduction - Local authority housing EA v (1) GA (2) Westminster City Council (3) Salford City Council: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Thorpe, Etherton): 27 May 2010 ...
-
News
Personal injury firms hit face new VAT threat
Changes by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to the treatment of medical reports for VAT purposes could cause personal injury firms ‘significant’ extra expense, tax lawyers have warned. The changes have prompted the Law Society to make written submissions in a forthcoming VAT tribunal case, Barratt ...
-
News
Employment
Damages - Contracts - Disciplinary procedures - Wrongful dismissal Michael Steven Delawar Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Lloyd, Moore-Bick): 26 May 2010 ...
-
News
National grid rights issue and rail freight deal
Power play: Magic circle firm Linklaters advised National Grid on a £3.2bn rights issue, with City firm Herbert Smith advising a consortium of banks. On track: Birmingham firm Wragge & Co advised ...
-
News
A single figure for damages over mesothelioma is needed
by Simon Allenmanaging partner and head of personal injury at the Sheffield office of Russell Jones & Walker One cannot possibly assess the effect of receiving a diagnosis of cancer. However, with many forms of the illness there is a degree of hope of ‘beating’ the ...
-
News
The World Cup offers opportunities for lawyers and solicitor-agents
‘Feel it! It is here!’ runs the unofficial slogan, but it would be hard to miss a football World Cup, the most watched sporting event on the planet, which is beamed to two billion TVs. Among its devotees are sports lawyers, who seize on this quadrennial opportunity to make themselves ...