All News articles – Page 1670
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News
There is now a major imbalance between supply and demand
Just before Christmas the Conservative Party published figures showing that the number of unemployed solicitors on benefits has climbed 400% in the downturn, to over 1,800. Gazette readers posted a deluge of comments on this story on our website, sparking an impassioned debate about the future of the profession. Do ...
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Star and away
Readers may recall that back in November this page was graced by glamour shots of our favourite motor-mouthed personal injury lawyer Kerry Underwood getting cosy with showbiz sirens Diana Rigg and Judith Charmers. Well, it seems this has sparked a bit of rivalry at Hertfordshire firm Underwoods. Keen to show ...
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Local authorities team up to buy legal services
Birmingham City Council has negotiated a deal that will see it join forces with 38 other local authorities to purchase legal services from 11 law firm panels, involving 12 firms. The council has also extended an invitation to every other local authority in England and ...
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Scrap the ARP – but take care
I agree with Sarah Foster and Duncan Crine of Henmans, Oxford that no decision on the assigned risks pool should be made in haste, however any plan to eventually remove or reduce the ARP is a positive step.
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First Sikh to be appointed a judge receives knighthood
The first Sikh to be appointed a judge in England and Wales topped the roll call of lawyers named in the New Year Honours list for 2010. Retired circuit judge Mota Singh QC (pictured), a barrister who sat at Southwark Crown Court, received a knighthood in ...
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Amid economic gloom there is plenty of opportunity for the bar
Although a recession spells misery for some, for many barristers it is time to make hay while the sun shines. Downturns spawn disputes – as does an increasingly legislation-happy government – and while 2009 was largely a time for parties to assess their legal positions (thus boosting barristers’ advisory workload) ...
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Various groups of solicitors represented disproportionately in SRA actions
Various groups of solicitors are disproportionately represented in actions taken by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, but there is no clear pattern, research has found. White solicitors are more likely to face complaints of professional misconduct, for example, while black and minority ethnic (BME) solicitors are more ...
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News
Family mediation pilot achieves mixed results
A pilot scheme making family mediation available at court to legally aided parties in disputes involving children has cost more than expected and achieved modest settlement rates, the Gazette has learned.
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Politically, access to justice is as important as health and education
Last month I mentioned how those abroad observe our work, paying particular attention to the independence of our profession and to the perceived balance and fairness found in our legal system, both criminal and civil. Their perception is built on the outstanding reputation of the judiciary, the trusted skills and ...
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Five solicitors suspended following more than 100 client complaints
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has intervened in a Cheshire firm and suspended the practising certificates of five of its solicitors following allegations of dishonesty involving hundreds of thousands of pounds of clients’ money. The SRA is investigating suspected dishonesty and breaches of accounting rules at Wolstenholmes, ...
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News
Get connected or get out of the kitchen
This year will see a significant change in the supply of legal services to domestic and SME business. I’ll make a prediction here that I’ll review this time in 2011. There will emerge two types of solicitors firms by the end of the year: those that have fully adopted IT ...
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IT failure at LSC delays legal aid payments
Technical problems at the Legal Services Commission have delayed all payments due to be made to legal aid solicitors today. The LSC is set to issue an e-alert later updating the profession on the situation. Payment systems at the LSC apparently ...
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Reform group publishes plans to change HIP rules
A group of property professionals released a ‘white paper’ today putting forward proposals to reform the controversial home information packs in a bid to speed up transactions and reduce abortive sales. The HIP Reform Group, established in November 2009, said the packs should be retained rather ...
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Self-defence is no defence
Pre-election promises aren’t worth the ballot paper they are written on, so don’t take too seriously the sinister spectacle of Labour and the Tories espousing the same populist cause.The populist knee-jerk of the moment is the old chestnut of how far a householder can legally go to protect his property ...
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Trainee solicitors face debts of more than £10,000
More than half of trainee solicitors have racked up debts of more than £10,000 before qualifying, according to an annual survey published by law student forum TraineeSolicitor.co.uk. The survey of around 200 trainees revealed that 55% had debts in excess of £10,000, while 35% were more ...
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The BVT pilot decision could spell trouble for the LSC
It is telling that last week’s announcement to scrap the best-value tendering pilots in Manchester and Avon and Somerset came from the Ministry of Justice, not the Legal Services Commission. At a time when the two bodies seem to be increasingly at odds, the MoJ has decided to step in ...
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What is in store for Europe’s lawyers in 2010?
It is that time of the year when newspapers and magazines run retrospectives on the year that has passed – in 2009, even on the decade that has passed – and give prophecies for the future.
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Jersey wills and grants for people domiciled outside Jersey
If a person dies domiciled outside Jersey owning assets in Jersey in their sole name, article 19(1) of the Probate (Jersey) Law 1998 provides that a Jersey grant must be obtained. Article 19(2) of the 1998 law provides that a Jersey grant is not required if ...
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Ditch cheques – go on, you know you want to
Are you offering your clients a bill payment method that is in ‘terminal decline’? That is how the board of the UK Payments Council this week described cheque transactions. No, I’d never heard of the UK Payments Council either, but apparently they can dictate how we pay for stuff...
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Sentencing
Conspiracy – Counts – Sentence length – Supply of drugs R v David Sangster: R v Robert Burnell: R v Martyn Leslie Jackson: CA (Crim Div) (Lord Justice Maurice Kay, Mr Justice Sweeney, Mr Justice Slade): 2 December ...