All News articles – Page 1653
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News
Could the ‘Freemium’ model work in legal services?
Twenty-first-century businesses are making vast sums of money by charging their customers nothing. This is the paradox at the heart of Chris Anderson’s new book Free, the Future of a Radical Price, which argues that new technologies are causing production and distribution costs to plummet.
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Splitting hair
Divorce is never a laughing matter. So Obiter extends heartfelt sympathies to the poor couple pictured (in the foreground), who are in the process of parting company. What’s that you say? This bearded chap and elegantly coiffed blonde lady are not actually a separating couple, but are in fact two ...
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Is mental health tendering scheme a success story?
Hugh Barrett (see letter) states that the tendering scheme in mental health was a success. The highly vulnerable clients we represent will often not see it that way.
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Human rights
Administration of justice – armed forces – inquests – jurisdiction R (on the application of Smith) (respondent) v Secretary of State for Defence (appellant): SC (Lords Phillips (president), Hope (deputy president), Rodger, Walker, Brown, Mance, Collins, Kerr, Lady Hale): ...
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Sexism is no joke
Howard Shelley (see letter) says sharia law has a role to play in dispute resolution. Nothing in law currently prevents anyone submitting to religious dispute resolution if they so choose. As he says, as long as it does not replace English law it can be used. The Jews have the ...
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MoJ unveils policy roadmap
The Ministry of Justice has published a structural reform plan (SRP), setting out key milestones and timescales for delivering policy. Justice secretary Ken Clarke listed his top five priorities as: sentencing reform; a ‘rehabilitation revolution’; reforming the courts and legal aid system; reform of the prison ...
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Scare tactics
Cheshire firm Chafes has hosted temporary recruits at its Wilmslow office over the past week. Two scarecrows, named Mike and Dave by staff, have been somewhat precariously ensconced on a ledge outside the firm’s first-floor office. Their arrival is not, as one might imagine, linked to problems of the avian ...
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Sentencing
Penology and criminology – commencement provisions – concurrent sentences – custody plus orders R (on the application of Noone) (FC) v Governor of Drake Hall Prison and Anor: SC (Lords Phillips, Saville, Brown, Mance, Judge): 30 June 2010 ...
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Simon Young
Council members and staff at the Law Society were greatly saddened to learn of the untimely death on 3 July of former council member Simon Young. Simon was elected to the council in 2001 to represent the Society’s Law Management Section, which he did for ...
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European Commission seeks to increase client account protection
The European Commission has scuppered plans by the Financial Services Authority to vastly improve protection for client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts. The commission has announced that it wants to increase to €100,000 (£83,200) the maximum level of compensation available for deposits that are lost ...
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Boom times for serial litigants
Employment law is a nice little earner for serial litigants like Mr X, who has brought 91 cases to the employment tribunal since 1996. He and others like him blackmail employers. They cheat taxpayers out of hundreds of thousands of pounds and clog up the courts. And nobody in authority, ...
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Legal brands ‘missing out’ on social media
Top legal brands are missing out on ‘vital’ customer interaction by failing to set up social networking sites, according to research seen exclusively by the Gazette. A report on the legal sector by internet consultants Greenlight said that many of the most visible legal websites do ...
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DLA profits hit by Middle East losses
National firm DLA Piper today reported partner profits down 18%, and blamed the fall on losses incurred by its hard-hit Middle East practice. For the year ending 31 December 2009, revenues at the firm fell to £581m from £585m in 2008, while average profits per equity ...
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MoJ axes training grants for legal aid
The Ministry of Justice has axed a grant scheme that helped fund the training of the next generation of legal aid solicitors because there are ‘too many lawyers’ conducting legal aid work. Legal aid minister Jonathan Djanogly said the government would save £2.6m a year by ...
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Circuit judge resigns over male prostitute allegations
A circuit judge has resigned after losing an appeal against a decision to remove him from office following allegations over his private life. Gerald Price QC, a judge on the Wales circuit, was the subject of media reports that he had had a relationship with a ...
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Barristers seek partnership with solicitors
Some 43% of barristers would like to go into business with solicitors, research commissioned by bar regulator the Bar Standards Board has shown today. A YouGov survey of nearly 2,000 barristers and 141 clerks and practice managers revealed that 43% said they would be interested in ...
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EU language war sparked by patents proposal
The other side of the coin of the EU’s welcome inclusiveness and multilingualism is that some things are made worse by it.
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Annual immigration cap could harm legal sector
Government plans to impose a permanent annual cap on non-EU nationals entering the UK labour market could have a ‘significant detrimental impact’ on the legal sector, the Law Society has warned. Home secretary Theresa May has announced a consultation process ahead of a permanent annual cap ...
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Is social networking really appropriate for lawyers?
Here are some of the typical comments we hear as we talk to lawyers and their in-house marketing teams: I’m not sure about all this hype around social media. I'm not sure if social networking has any relevance to a law firm. I can see that more and more business ...
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MoJ to publish draft Defamation Bill
The Ministry of Justice has announced it will publish a draft Defamation Bill for consultation in the new year, with a view to introducing a bill in the next parliamentary session. Justice minister Lord McNally outlined the government’s plans to review the law on defamation to ...