All News articles – Page 1627
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News
Denton Wilde Sapte set for transatlantic merger
City firm Denton Wilde Sapte and US firm Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal are set to merge to create a 1,400-lawyer transatlantic firm. The merged firm would have combined revenues of around £500m and would span 18 countries. The firms’ management boards have ...
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Regional firms risk losing corporate talent to London
A sharp rise in recruitment of corporate solicitors in London could set in motion a talent drain from regional firms, recruiters told the Gazette this week. Recruitment consultants said City firms are rushing to hire corporate lawyers after making excessive cutbacks at the height of the ...
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Royal command
Obiter was royally impressed to learn this week that solicitors at Leeds firm Richardson & Co have been hobnobbing with no less a personage than HRH the Prince of Wales. Apparently HRH met senior partner Danny Richardson (centre) and Stephen Oldroyd (left) after ...
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Law firms must tell clients how to complain, says LSB
Lawyers must provide clear information to clients about how they can complain about the service they receive, the Legal Services Board said today. Noting ‘a perception of poor complaints handling by [legal] regulators and the individuals and entities that they regulate,’ the LSB said that firms ...
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Civil procedure
Civil evidence – Family law – Maintenance Child Support Agency v Forrest: DC (Lord Justice Elias, Mr Justice Keith): 14 May 2010 The appellant Department for Work and Pensions ...
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Judicial training drive seeks to foster clarity on citizens’ rights
A Europe-wide judicial training programme to establish a common set of procedural rules and citizens’ rights before the law began this week, as it emerged that there are more than 6,000 violations of judicial procedures currently due to be heard by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. ...
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OFT chief slams 'excessive demands' of defendant lawyers
The delaying tactics and ‘excessive demands’ of defendant lawyers in competition actions are hampering cases and draining the resources of competition authorities, the chairman of the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) alleged last week. Philip Collins told the Law Society competition section’s annual conference that the ...
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Chancery Lane welcomes Queen’s speech proposals
The Law Society has responded to the coalition government’s proposals contained in today’s Queen’s speech. The Society said it is ‘delighted’ with the government’s proposals to: bring forward plans to introduce a Freedom (Great Repeal) Bill; bring ...
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Solicitors celebrate the demise of HIPs
Solicitors celebrated the end of the home information pack ‘disaster’ last week. The coalition government scrapped HIPs after election manifesto commitments from both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to ditch the packs. Sellers will still need an energy performance certificate. The ...
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Government to scrap ID cards
Identity cards for British citizens are to be scrapped within 100 days, the Home Office announced today. The National Identity Register, the database containing the biographic and biometric fingerprint data of cardholders, is also to be destroyed.
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When duty calls: solicitor Gordon Turner recounts his experience as a juror
When I received my jury summons last December, I thought there had been a mistake. Aren’t lawyers exempt? I protested and tried to get out of it on compassionate – or any – grounds. I had a new business to run, and my staff needed me (although as it turned ...
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HIPs: the idea may have been praiseworthy but it was poorly executed
The government’s decision to scrap home information packs was a crowd-pleaser that will have resonated with the public as well as solicitors. Alive to the PR potential of the announcement, ministers staged a rather curious photo opportunity on a pavement outside a London estate agency. ...
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Bar rules delay blamed for low LDP take-up
The delay in the relaxation of rules preventing barristers from entering law firm partnerships has been blamed for the low take-up of the first wave of new legal business structures. According to the latest Solicitors Regulation Authority figures, 216 legal disciplinary partnerships were up and running ...
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Consumer watchdog backs retention of referral fees
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has called for action to tackle problems surrounding referral fees, but stressed that such fees ought to be retained if its proposals are implemented. The panel has called for more disclosure of fees paid and better regulation following its own review of the current system. ...
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‘Big push’ to clear RTA portal backlog
Some personal injury firms handling road traffic accident (RTA) claims are still waiting to be plugged into a new electronic data exchange nearly a month after it launched, due to a backlog of login requests. Introduced as part of Ministry of Justice reforms to speed up ...
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Asylum tragedy
Some time ago, the UK Border Agency decided to grant ‘indefinite leave to remain’ to failed asylum seekers who had lived in the UK for a long period of time (preferably, more than 10 years).
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APIL criticises government for dropping damages bill
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has criticised the new government for dropping a bill to implement damages reform. The draft Civil Law Reform Bill, which included proposed changes to the law of damages, was absent from the Queen’s speech on Tuesday. APIL said that ...
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MoJ announces new ministerial briefs
The Ministry of Justice has revealed the roles of its new ministerial team headed by justice secretary Kenneth Clarke, with the legal aid brief handed to former City lawyer Jonathan Djanogly. Tom McNally, minister of state and deputy leader of the House of Lords, will have ...
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Solicitors must do all they can to avoid being victims of mortgage fraud
by Robert Heslettthe president of the Law Society During my year as president, mortgage fraud has been a recurrent issue. We have consistently provided support to members affected by changes in panel terms and conditions, and have worked to influence the approaches of lenders.
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Solicitor fears over further legal aid cuts
Solicitors warned of the consequences of further legal aid cuts this week as the government announced it was to slash £325m from the Ministry of Justice’s 2010/11 budget. Law Society president Robert Heslett said it was essential that the axe should not fall on legal aid ...