All News articles – Page 1631
-
News
Financial crisis: are regulators asking the right questions?
We have just passed the second anniversary of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers in 2008. Of course, the financial crisis it caused, in which we are still immersed, has given rise to a flurry of activity by regulators around the world. We are all agreed upon one message: NEVER AGAIN. ...
-
News
Mayer Brown outsources secretarial practice
The London corporate group of US firm Mayer Brown has outsourced its entire secretarial practice, the firm announced today. Corporate administrative outsourcer TMF Group, which runs 87 corporate administration companies in 67 countries, has acquired the practice. Peter Dickinson, head of the ...
-
News
Small conveyancers still have weaponry against big brands
The Gazette reported recently on some figures released by Contact Law showing the level of anxiety among the profession over the ‘threat’ of alternative business structures.
-
News
A change in direction on electronic disclosure
The introduction of Practice Direction 31BOn 1 October 2010, a new practice direction, 31B on the disclosure of electronic documents comes into effect. The new practice direction is designed to encourage and assist the parties to reach agreement on the disclosure of electronic ...
-
News
Djanogly sticks to October 2011 timetable for ABSs
‘All lawyers’ should be preparing for the introduction of alternative business structures in October 2011, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said last week, as the coalition government gave the first public confirmation that it will press ahead with the reforms and will stick to the timetable already in place. ...
-
News
How can this be access to justice?
I read with interest the letter from Hugh Barrett , executive director, Legal Services Commission. He seems to have forgotten that two important components of access to justice are independent advice and conflicts of interest.
-
News
Legal advice
Equal treatment – Legal Services Commission – Legitimate expectation – Tender period Azam & Co Solicitors v Legal Services Commission (2010) CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justices Pill, Rimer, Sullivan): 10 September 2010 ...
-
News
‘Allegations’ against solicitors in decline
The number of ‘allegations’ made against solicitors which have led to risk assessments by the profession’s regulator has fallen, with a sharp drop in the number relating to mortgages and property, figures have shown. A paper submitted to the Law Society’s management board last week suggested ...
-
News
Terminating agency agreements – watch your language
The court in Stephen Gledhill v Bentley Designs (UK) Limited [2010] EWHC B8 (Mercantile) considered whether the principal (the defendant) had lawfully terminated the agency agreement on grounds that the agent’s (the claimant) purported abusive conduct had amounted to a fundamental breach of contract and thereby justified the termination.
-
News
Tributes paid to Trevor Aldridge, the first solicitor QC
Solicitors have paid tribute to Trevor Aldridge, the first solicitor to become a QC, following his death earlier this month aged 76. Aldridge was a former law commissioner and a longstanding member of the Law Society’s Conveyancing and Land Law Committee (CLLC). He remained an active ...
-
News
Bonanza for lawyers - it’s all in the angle
I came across an article on the Telegraph website the other day which is almost certain to outrage hardworking lawyers – but hey, I’ll force it upon you anyway because once we get over the annoyance, there’s a lot to be learnt from it.
-
News
Anti-piracy firm website breach
The website of London anti-piracy firm ACS:Law has been attacked, leading to the leak of email archives and personal data of thousands of internet users. It is understood that the names and addresses of more than 5,000 people alleged by the firm to have engaged ...
-
News
Five solicitors shortlisted for Gazette Legal Personality of the Year Award
Five solicitors have been shortlisted for the Gazette’s Legal Personality of the Year Award, with the winner to be announced at the Law Society’s Excellence Awards ceremony in October.
-
News
Supreme Court ‘under review’ as legal quangos face axe
Solicitors have voiced deep concern about the future of the Supreme Court, after it appeared on a leaked list of public institutions and quangos facing review or abolition by the coalition government. According to the leaked Cabinet Office list, nine legal quangos are among 177 ...
-
News
Legal Services Board rules out fresh referral fee ban
The Legal Services Board has today effectively ruled out a ban on referral fees, but is likely to impose greater standards of transparency in their use. In a paper outlining plans to improve regulation of referral fee arrangements, the LSB says there is not ‘sufficient evidence’ ...
-
News
Five firms ‘put in intensive care’ by banks
Five of the UK’s top-30 law firms have been put into ‘intensive care’ by banks, a top solicitor claimed this week. Mark Jones, chairman of national firm Addleshaw Goddard, told the second Global Managing Partners Summit conference in London that he fears another law firm failure ...
-
News
Will the Supreme Court survive the coalition's purge of public bodies?
Tomorrow, the UK Supreme Court celebrates its first anniversary. Might it also be the court’s last? According to proposals leaked from the Cabinet Office and published by the BBC last week, the future of Britain’s highest court was still shrouded in uncertainly as recently as 26 August.
-
News
Neighbour boundary disputes
The days when solicitors spent hours poring over plans drawn on ancient conveyances are long gone. Articled clerks (as they were then called) spent days tracing land ownership through successive generations. The carefree draftsperson cobbled together a parcels clause, or adopted unquestioningly a re-photocopied plan thereby doubling the width of ...
-
News
Family lawyers must brace themselves
Lord Justice Wall shoots from the hip when it comes to problems in the family justice system. He even took the step of writing to LSC chief executive Carolyn Downs, warning her that family judges were alarmed by the effect of the tender outcome on ‘well-respected ...
-
News
Injury claims carry a ‘social stigma’
The public’s ignorance of the law is one of the major obstacles that is preventing people from gaining access to justice through personal injury claims, and most believe that making a claim would be ‘working the system’, according to a report by National Accident Helpline based on a poll of ...