All News articles – Page 1649
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Criminal procedure
Change of plea – Postal pleas – Right to change plea after hearing Michael John Rymer v Director of Public Prosecutions: DC (Lord Justice Hooper, Mr Justice Rafferty): 21 July 2010 ...
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SRA fee: double the pain
I have a firm turning over £2.2m with eight solicitors. In 2009/2010, we paid £10,610 for practising certificates and the compensation fund etcetera.
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Down and out
Obiter takes his swimming cap off to Hamlins intellectual property partner Ian Down, who is set to swim the English Channel for charity this week. Apparently, the first successful swim crossing was by Captain Webb in 1875, and the average time to swim ...
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Duty solicitors face pay scrutiny
A proposal to change the way duty solicitor slots are allocated would ensure that duty lawyers are no longer ‘overpaid’, a leading criminal solicitor has suggested. The Ministry of Justice is understood to be considering altering the current arrangements, so that duty solicitor slots are ...
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Top firms gear up for private investors
Two of the UK’s top-30 law firms are putting formal arrangements in place to take on private capital next year, the Gazette has learned. Jane Galvin, head of professional services at Barclays Corporate, said in an interview with the Gazette this week that two ‘brave souls’ ...
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New governments mean new marketing opportunities for law firms
Whatever your political views, there’s no doubt that a new government can provide excellent marketing opportunities for law firms – particularly those firms that like to keep their clients up to date with the latest legal developments.
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Horn ultimatum
There aren’t many people who can claim to have spent the best part of two months under a rhinoceros. But that is precisely what Sara Corley (pictured), a dispute resolution solicitor at Hillyer McKeown in Chester, has been up to. Corley created two impressive rhino sculptures as part of the ...
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Human rights
Duty to undertake effective investigation – Inhuman or degrading treatment – Iraq Ali Zaki Mousa & Ors (claimants) v Secretary of State for Defence (defendant) & Legal Services Commission (interested party): DC (Sir Anthony May (President QB), Mr Justice ...
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Memory Lane
Law Society’s Gazette, July 1980 Legal confidentiality and the press Home secretary Theresa May appeared to signal the ...
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Pleural plaques compensation scheme opens
Pleural plaques victims frustrated by a 2007 House of Lords decision on compensation can now claim £5,000 from the government if they lodged a claim before the ruling. The Pleural Plaques Former Claimants Payment Scheme opened yesterday for applications, which must be lodged before 1 August ...
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APIL urges government to tighten grip on claims management companies
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has called on Lord Young to recommend tighter regulation of claims management companies (CMCs) as part of his review of health and safety laws. Senior figures from APIL held a face-to-face meeting with Lord Young of Graffham to offer advice ...
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Consumer contracts - we need an independent ombudsman
It’s not realistic for consumers to seek redress in the courts for unfair contract terms, says Dr Olufemi Amao. We need an independent ombudsman scheme Since the introduction of the Unfair Terms in Consumer ...
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Helping the criminal suspect: the letter of rights
I am in Colorado at the moment, and so you will forgive me if I again use cowboy metaphors to describe the latest actions of commissioner Reding. She has come riding down into the canyon (and there are plenty of those in Colorado), lassoed the horse rustling member states ...
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Solicitors welcome ruling on asylum deportations
The Law Society has welcomed the High Court’s ruling that the fast-track deportation of foreign nationals, which did not allow enough time for them to seek legal advice, is unlawful. In January 2010, the Home Office widened its policy of waiving the usual 72-hour notice ...
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Solicitors ‘delaying’ conveyances due to staff shortages
Staff shortages at conveyancing firms are slowing down property transactions, according to a prominent estate agent and former anti-home information pack campaigner. Nick Salmon, commercial director of independent estate agents Harrison Murray who founded anti-HIP group Splinta, told the Gazette that ‘understaffed’ firms are struggling ...
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Will LPO pose a threat to junior lawyers?
So the latest news on private equity investment in law firms is that, as far as the City firms are concerned at least, the investors have gone cold.
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Solicitorsfromhell owner in second High Court libel action
The owner of website solicitorsfromhell.co.uk is facing a second High Court libel action, the Gazette has learned. The news comes as it emerged that website owner Rick Kordowski has been invited by the BBC to assist with an investigation into alleged sharp practices by solicitors as ...
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Halliwells administrator’s cash management warning
Professional firms must pay ‘far greater attention to cash management’ following the break-up of north-west firm Halliwells, the firm’s administrator warned last week. A deal to sell Halliwells’ Manchester, Liverpool and Sheffield operations to three former rivals was completed last week, and Halliwells has now been ...
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End of the line for police station advice?
Cuts in the provision of legal aid are perhaps an inevitable if uncomfortable consequence of the economic mess that we find ourselves in. However, we now learn that justice secretary Ken Clarke’s new-found enthusiasm for keeping offenders out of the prison system is matched by contemplation of a plan to ...
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Law firms entitled to set compulsory retirement age
A former law firm partner who accused his firm of acting unlawfully by making him retire at 65 has lost his age discrimination case in the Court of Appeal. Leslie Seldon, now 69, a former civil litigation partner at Kent law firm Clarkson Wright Jakes (CWJ), ...