All News articles – Page 1660
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News
LSC procurement plans show no rise in civil legal aid cases
The Legal Services Commission’s procurement plans for civil legal aid, published last week, have revealed that there will be no increase in the number of civil cases funded in the 2010/2011 financial year, to the dismay of solicitors. To assist firms tendering for the civil contracts ...
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Trainee solicitors 'exploited' after qualification
Trainee solicitors are being ‘exploited’ by firms offering them a Hobson’s choice between a paralegal role or the dole when they qualify, the Gazette has learned. The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) said firms’ financial problems meant they were attempting to avoid paying newly qualified lawyers’ salaries ...
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Graduates and junior lawyers are being squeezed as firms try to stay afloat
There’s nothing necessarily equitable, or ethical, about unregulated markets, as the grave economic consequences of free market fundamentalism have demonstrated. So it’s no surprise that junior lawyers are being squeezed as law firms try to stay afloat in the most challenging business environment most solicitors can remember. ...
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LCJ warns of 'undoubted danger’ to administration of justice
The lord chief justice has warned that budgetary pressures on the prosecution and the courts are having a ‘very real impact’ on the administration of justice and said there is ‘an undoubted danger’ that the situation could worsen. In his first annual review, Lord Judge said: ...
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Firms face court action risk over money laundering reports
Law firms could find themselves being sued for reporting suspected money laundering following a Court of Appeal decision last week. Law firms, banks and other businesses handling client money are obliged to file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) to the Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) ...
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Bar Council chairman talks about plans to combat potentially ‘devastating’ threats
Stability and modernisation are the key themes of Nick Green QC’s tenure as the recently installed chairman of the Bar Council. Stability in respect of the publicly funded bar, and modernisation in so far as the bar must urgently adapt to a ‘fast-moving and changing legal landscape’.
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Consumer research – make it work for you
The recent YouGov survey of over 2,000 individuals commissioned by the Legal Services Board contains some useful information. But can you use it to help clients, reduce costs and increase profits?
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News
Civil proof standard for disciplinary matters: just one problem
As we reported last week when the SRA takes on its Legal Services Act powers to conduct disciplinary matters itself – for lesser offences worth a maximum fine of £2,000...
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News
Civil proof standard for disciplinary matters: just one problem
As we reported last week when the SRA takes on its Legal Services Act powers to conduct disciplinary matters itself – for lesser offences worth a maximum fine of £2,000...
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News
High numbers of women and solicitors appointed to judicial posts
More than half the candidates selected in the last recruitment round for fee-paid employment tribunal judge positions were women, statistics have shown, while three-quarters of selected candidates were solicitors. The Judicial Appointments Commission today published the statistics for the two most popular selection exercises for fee-paid ...
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Banks predict M&A recovery in 2010
Financial institutions have predicted a recovery in the volume of deals in the European acquisition finance market in 2010, with healthcare and professional services expected to be at the forefront of the M&A rebound, according to research published by a national law firm today. The European ...
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Public procurement rules are causing dismay among contracting authorities
Like some mythical beast which rises from the depths of the legislative...
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Allen & Overy launches in Australia
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy announced the launch of an Australian practice today. The firm has appointed 17 new partners, with 14 based in Sydney and three in Perth. It said analysis of the Australian market had shown there was space ...
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Bar Council to launch legal action against MoJ
The Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association are set to take the government to court for the first time in 20 years over what they claim are ‘inadequate and unfair’ consultations on new fees for criminal legal aid work. They have instructed solicitors to take ...
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What can lawyers do about climate change?
I don't want to start an argument about climate change. I am not competent to answer points about whether it is man-made or indeed whether it is happening at all. But there are nevertheless challenges and opportunities for lawyers in developing a greener environment.
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Commuting – a cold comfort
I work from home most of the time, but when I call my lawyer clients they are almost invariably in the office. All that changed during the recent cold snap, when heavy snowfalls made travelling very hazardous. Suddenly, lawyers up and down the country were logging onto their networks from ...
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Memory lane
Entries Competitors were asked for ‘the head notes of a law report… based on the facts of any one nursery rhyme’. Law Society’s Gazette, February 1960 ...
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Jurassic lark
Believe it or not, parliamentary committee meetings are not always enthralling. But when dealing with the less riveting matters that must fall under parliamentary scrutiny, such as a recent Justice Committee session on the appointment of a new chief of HM CPS Inspectorate, at least MPs occasionally make an effort ...
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Touch of hypocrisy?
The Gazette carried a front-page article on 28 January under the headline ‘Blacklisted solicitors site plans growth’. The site facilitator says (with alarming frankness) ‘I don’t have the time or the resources to look at the argument from both sides’, so instead a flat fee is paid by solicitors to ...
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You’re not fired
They often say that lawyers do not make good businesspeople, but now we have evidence to the contrary. A not-remotely-disgusted solicitor from Tunbridge Wells has become the town’s entrepreneur of the year. Pam Loch, name partner at employment law firm Loch Associates, emerged as the winner from a gruelling four-stage ...