All News articles – Page 1640
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News
Media reporting bill ‘threat’ to vulnerable children
Measures rushed through parliament at the ‘eleventh hour’ to allow greater media reporting of the family courts will put vulnerable children at risk, lawyers have warned. Despite being opposed by lawyers’ and children’s groups, the provisions in the Children Schools and Families Bill were passed last ...
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Belly good show
Think of belly dancing and what image comes to mind? To poetic Obiter, it is a scene of lissome ladies shimmering to exotic music while a handsome sheik, mesmerised, looks on. Outside, the desert wind whispers in the palm trees, plucks at the canvas of the tent and ripples the ...
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Beer window
When the tantalising tendrils of summer sun start warming this green and pleasant land, Obiter’s thoughts naturally turn to one thing: the silky chill of a hard-earned, post-work hop-based beverage. This becomes somewhat more than a yearning should one ever visit the offices of brewers SABMiller on a warm day.
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Baker & McKenzie using external firms to recover unpaid fees
US and City firm Baker & McKenzie is to instruct external law firms to recover any unpaid legal fees owed to it by clients, the Gazette has learned. It is understood the firm, in an unusual move, has instructed each of its practice areas to pay ...
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SRA rules out practising certificate fee appeals
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has decided against providing a general appeals process for firms that end up paying significantly higher practising certificate fees under the new PC fee regime from 2011, it emerged last week. SRA board chair Charles Plant (pictured) told the Gazette that there ...
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Most City firms would welcome AIR regulation
Most City firms would welcome a new type of self-regulation being introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, but two ‘major City firms’ have said they would probably shun the new system, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has found. Authorised Internal Regulation (AIR) was proposed by ...
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Immigration legal aid contracts further delayed
The announcement of the outcome of the tender process for immigration legal aid work has been further delayed, the Legal Services Commission said last week. Firms were due to be notified last Friday whether they had been awarded new contracts to provide publicly funded work, ...
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Lawyer issues libel claim against 'solicitorsfromhell' website
A north-east solicitor has instructed libel lawyers Carter-Ruck to bring a claim for damages against the owner of a website that blacklists solicitors and law firms. Scott Eason, principal at Eason Law, is pursuing a claim for damages of between £50,000 and £100,000 and seeking a ...
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Bribery offences create advisory work for law firms
The new corporate offence of failing to prevent bribery will provide a lucrative seam of work for lawyers as companies seek to ensure their anti-corruption compliance systems are fit for purpose, experts have predicted. The offence is one of a raft of measures introduced in the ...
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Barristers starting to take advantage of reforms
Barristers have started to make use of changes to their practice rules that allow them to operate in new business models.On 1 April the Legal Services Board approved changes to the bar’s code of conduct to enable barristers to practise together in partnership or to become partners in legal disciplinary ...
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Permanent administrators appointed to Quinn Insurance
The status of the professional indemnity insurance (PII) policies of more than 2,900 law firms and sole practitioners has today been thrown into uncertainty after the Irish High Court appointed permanent administrators to Irish insurer Quinn Insurance. The Law Society said that its advice to Quinn ...
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New housing association, retail acquisitions and manufacturer deals
Going Dutch: National firm DLA Piper advised a consortium of lenders on providing debt financing for Dutch retail group Maxeda, enabling it to pay €462.5m (£408m) of debt owed to Citibank. Maxeda and its shareholders were advised by ...
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Manifestos pledge to abolish HIPs
A small correction to your article on the main parties' approach to legal issues, in connection with home information packs. In fact, there is a Conservative Party manifesto commitment to ‘abolish home information packs...
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Should legal aid be given to MPs to defend expenses charges?
The news that the Labour MPs accused of fiddling their parliamentary expenses, David Chaytor, Elliot Morley and Jim Devine, have been granted legal aid to defend the charges against them sparked an outcry, with the leaders of all three major parties falling over themselves to denounce it.
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How does your firm manage online enquiries?
When law firms first started to promote themselves online, their websites were little more than brochures: ‘This is who we are, this is where to find us and you can phone or email us for more information.’ Many firms have at least moved on to a more interactive experience for ...
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‘Good firms’ should offer online services, say consumers
More than half of consumers expect ‘good law firms’ to offer their services online, research has suggested. A survey of 2,266 people carried out by YouGov and commissioned by Epoq Legal found that 56% of consumers said they expected good firms to offer services online. ...
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Conservative manifesto promise to ‘rebuild confidence’ in justice system
A Conservative government would carry out a ‘fundamental review’ of legal aid, and introduce measures to ‘rebuild confidence’ in the criminal justice system, it said in its manifesto published today. The manifesto, An invitation to join the government of Britain, promises to look at alternative ...
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Future of Quinn Insurance cause for concern but don't panic
Your article last week (‘Quinn’s future hangs in the balance’, [2010] 9 April, 1] is likely to have caused significant anxiety within the profession, particularly for those currently insured with Quinn.
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Labour manifesto targets legal aid to safeguard ‘frontline services’
Labour will implement more cuts in the legal aid budget if re-elected next month and also plans to increase the use of ‘virtual courts’ in criminal cases. The party has also pledged to press ahead with ID cards and continue to make ‘full use’ of CCTV and DNA technology to ...