All News articles – Page 1630
-
News
No support for cut-price conveyancers
I am sure all firms that undertake conveyancing will have had a fraught time with their professional indemnity insurance renewal this year, with most insurers refusing even to quote where property accounts for more than 50% of turnover. While going through my PI file, I ...
-
News
High Court family tender ruling was a victory for justice
At the start of my presidential year in what, I was assured, was the ‘quiet period’, I received two pieces of extremely bad news. The first was that many small firms were being removed from lenders’ panels, and the second was that the family law tender process had resulted in ...
-
News
Earn CPD points with the Gazette
Today sees the launch of Gazette CPD, through which you can gain up to 10 CPD hours by answering questions about our articles. Each month (excluding August and December), an assessment consisting of 15 questions based on four articles published in the previous month’s Gazette will ...
-
News
Law firms face obstacles as they seek to exploit emerging markets
As developed countries continue to wrestle with their recession-hit economies, most savvy international law firms are turning their attention to emerging markets, with BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China), receiving particular interest.
-
News
Moses stars in epic
Court three of the Royal Courts of Justice was packed out for the result of the Law Society’s challenge to the family legal aid tender last week. But the press pack became somewhat disconcerted when they learned that the court’s stenographers had been engaged for the next four hours. Four ...
-
News
French toast
Obiter raises a glass to personal injury solicitor James Wood for recently becoming the first man with an injured spinal cord to swim the English Channel. Wood, whose spine was broken in a road accident in 1990, causing him to lose the use ...
-
News
Policestationreps sees threefold increase in lawyers using website
A website set up to connect firms doing criminal defence work with accredited police station representatives has reported a threefold increase in lawyers using the site, as solicitors face tightening profit margins. Policestationreps.com provides solicitors with the contact details of local police station representatives so that ...
-
News
Legal profession ‘inherently masculine’, says report for LSB
Stereotyping and bias are preventing women and black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors from furthering their careers, a report funded by the Legal Services Board has found. The report by the University of Westminster claimed that the profession is ‘segmented and stratified’ along the lines of ...
-
News
Intestacy rules in need of updating
Nearly two-thirds of the public do not have a will, and a change in family relationships points to a need to amend the current intestacy rules, research has suggested. A report by the National Centre for Social Research, conducted to provide the Law Commission with up-to-date ...
-
News
Sour smell of success
Pity Nigel Jones QC of Hardwicke, who has learnt the hard way how the British like to keep talent in its place. His mini-biog at the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London last week included a Legal 500 quote describing the barrister as ‘refreshingly in tune with business ...
-
News
3,000 high street firms could disappear - Clarke
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke yesterday warned lawyers to prepare for changes as far reaching as the ‘big bang’ proved to be for the financial sector. Clarke told members of Birmingham Law Society that alternative business structures (ABSs) would herald a ‘whole new world’ for lawyers. From ...
-
News
LSC announces defendant legal aid sanctions
The Legal Services Commission has announced that financial sanctions will be imposed on defendants who fail to provide evidence of means when applying for criminal legal aid in the Crown court. The Crown court means-testing scheme was rolled out nationally earlier this year. The sanction for ...
-
News
A coup for Chancery Lane – but what happens now?
Last week’s High Court judgment that the Legal Services Commission’s family tender process was unlawful railroaded a process which would have reduced the number of family providers from 2,400 to 1,300 and led to the demise of many experienced firms.
-
News
A Tanzanian teaching experience
One of the greatest rewards for any coach, mentor or trainer in the development process is to be able to help individuals and teams realise their potential and develop their talent. The ‘dream’ scenario is that, before your eyes, skills are gradually mastered, performance improved and confidence built and sustained, ...
-
News
After PQE: wise beyond years?
Some law firms, having moved partners away from lockstep towards a more strict merit-based system, have now turned their attention to the way they price and reward assistants and associates. Unpicking the use of PQE to decide on fees and reward is a logical step, but as a piece of ...
-
News
LSC hit by £300,000 legal bill over tender
The Legal Services Commission faces a £300,000 bill for the Law Society’s legal costs, after losing a High Court battle over its family tender process. The LSC said it could not disclose how much it had spent on its own legal fees in defending the action, ...
-
News
Court figures show rise in FTSE 100 litigation
The number of High Court cases involving FTSE 100 companies has risen 16% in the last year, research from legal information provider Sweet & Maxwell has revealed. In the year to 30 June 2010, the study shows there were 179 cases involving the FTSE 100, ...
-
News
Firms make applications to assigned risks pool
Some 409 firms applied to enter the assigned risks pool (ARP) on 1 October, the deadline for professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal, according to figures released by the Solicitors Regulation Authority today. The SRA said this is roughly the same number of deadline day applications as ...