All News articles – Page 1646
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News
Planet error
Now for the latest, and possibly last, instalment in what we can only term the Obiter dicta series of amusing dictation errors. Annest Jones, litigation solicitor at City Legal, tells us of some errors typed by secretaries which we think are all rather more engaging than what was originally intended. ...
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Explosion in demand for paralegals, thinktank reveals
The number of paralegals has doubled in the last decade and is set to rise further, according to a report from government-sponsored thinktank the UK Commission for Employment and Skills. The report, which explored the country’s present and future skills needs, disclosed that the number of ...
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Open the custody suite doors, Hal
In the current political climate you don’t have to travel far to find an expert opinion on the rehabilitation of offenders. But rather than ask the nearest taxi driver, the Ministry of Justice has turned to computer science to work out when we should throw away the key. According to ...
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VHCC panel for criminal work to be suspended
The Legal Services Commission has announced that the very high cost cases (VHCC) panel for criminal work will be suspended when the current contracts expire in July, because of a lack of time to run a new tendering exercise. From July 2010 the LSC said it ...
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SRA consults solicitors on overhaul of regulation
The Solicitors Regulation Authority today launched its biggest consultation to date, on root-and-branch changes to regulation of the legal sector. The campaign, Freedom in Practice: Better Outcomes for Consumers, will see the SRA enter a comprehensive dialogue with solicitors in England and Wales on the ...
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Local government: general competence to restore vires confidence
If money does actually make the world go round (as enthusiastically asserted by MC and Sally Bowles in the 1972 film Cabaret) then it is confidence that fuels it. For, as we have all been experiencing, just as confidence ebbs, so does the economic system slow down and stagnate. And ...
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Competence issue
The comments of the Law Society on the Institute of Legal Executives consultation on associate prosecutor advocacy training come a little late (see [2010] Gazette, 18 March, 1). Your report omits to say that this issue was debated and settled by parliament when the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act passed ...
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Civil procedure
Civil evidence – Personal injury – Appeals – Fraud – Fresh evidence Martin Raymond Owens v Mark Noble: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Sedley, Elias, Lady Justice Smith): 10 March 2010 ...
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City firms in the dark
Founding firms in the Legal Sector Alliance including Allen & Overy and Lovells have pledged to take part in the symbolic ‘Earth Hour’ lights-out event on Saturday 27 March at 8.30pm, in which they will switch off their lights for an hour. ...
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Success fee cut in defamation cases delayed by former Commons speaker
Government plans to cut success fees for lawyers in defamation cases have been delayed by the former House of Commons speaker Lord Martin of Springburn (pictured). Martin has tabled a ‘motion of regret’ against the proposal to reduce from 100% to 10% the maximum uplift that ...
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Latest developments in business education for lawyers
Training for lawyers can be a lot like buying legal services – a distress purchase made at the point of no return, says Deborah Walker, business development manager at Manchester Metropolitan University’s (MMU) School of Law.
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Environmental search data breakthrough for conveyancing solicitors
Conveyancing solicitors could get free access to more environmental search information from local authorities following an Information Tribunal ruling. In a case concerning East Riding of Yorkshire, the tribunal ruled that the local authority should have allowed a representative from a private search company to inspect ...
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Women solicitors believe flexible working damages career
Many women solicitors believe their careers will be damaged if they take up more flexible working arrangements, a large-scale study has revealed. A survey of 800 women solicitors conducted by King’s College London together with the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) found that half of ...
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Tories rule out ban on PI referral fees
A Conservative government would not enforce a blanket ban on personal injury referral fees, shadow justice minister Henry Bellingham told the Gazette this week. The remarks appear to signal a softening in Tory policy, and go against one of Lord Justice Jackson’s key proposals in his ...
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Lord Neuberger calls for single appeals tribunal
The master of the rolls has recommended that a single body should be responsible for hearing appeals brought by lawyers or legal businesses found to have breached licensing and ownership rules. Lord Neuberger said it is essential that common standards are applicable across the profession.
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Partner exodus forecast once alternative business structures available
Experienced City law firm partners will quit their firms in droves to set up a new wave of boutique practices once alternative business structures (ABSs) are available, leading market commentators are predicting. Professor Richard Susskind (pictured) and Maitland Chambers chief executive Robert Graham-Campbell forecast that the ...
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MoJ set to tighten up on legal aid and squeeze out smaller players
It was no coincidence that the Ministry of Justice chose to release details of the highest-paid legal aid barristers and firms at the same time as it unveiled its latest plans for a tendering system for legal aid work. The unsubtle message is, ‘we’re tightening ...
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Purge of criminal legal aid firms planned
Up to 75% of criminal legal aid firms will be removed from the market under far-reaching provider reforms set to be implemented from next summer. The plans, announced by the Ministry of Justice this week, envisage a consolidated market in which contracts for larger volumes of ...
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Examining the RTA provisions ahead of next month’s implementation
The Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2010 and update 52 come into force on 30 April. This article is confined to a summary of the most important aspects of these amendments, namely the new Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents (the RTA Protocol). All lawyers ...