All News articles – Page 1675

  • News

    Reinstate income threshold for PC fee

    2010-05-04T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest your Opinion column about whether there should be discounts on the PC fee for part-time workers and your request for readers' views (see [2010] Gazette, 29 April, 10).

  • News

    Give a little whistle!

    2010-05-03T00:00:00Z

    I am playing Jiminy Cricket this week, trying to keep you on the straight and narrow – in relation to views about the European Union: 'If you start to slide, give a little whistle! Give a little whistle!'

  • News

    Solicitors could face serious competition from the bar

    2010-04-30T00:00:00Z

    There are many who have been critical of the bar for being slow to respond to the challenges or opportunities presented by the Legal Services Act.

  • News

    Quinn Group to ‘consider selling’ its insurance business

    2010-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Quinn Insurance, the Irish insurer currently in administration, looks destined to be sold following a statement from its parent company Quinn Group issued today. Quinn Group said it had concluded that it ‘should consider selling Quinn Insurance’ in the interests of Quinn Insurance employees and ...

  • News

    Children ‘at risk’ over expert witness fee cuts

    2010-04-30T00:00:00Z

    Vulnerable children will pay the price if social workers are excluded from being expert family court witnesses, family practitioners have warned the government. Child care professionals met government representatives last week to educate them on the work done by independent social work experts (ISWs) and warn ...

  • News

    Research shows fall in in-house salaries

    2010-04-30T00:00:00Z

    In-house lawyers in the north-east have seen a drop in salaries over the past year, research has shown. A survey of 100 in-house lawyers by legal recruiters BCL Legal found that senior lawyers in Yorkshire and the north-east have seen salaries drop an average of £10,000 ...

  • News

    Data page for April 2010

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    The data page is the financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. DownloadsDownload the data page for April 2010 below. ...

  • News

    The truth about meetings

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    Obiter was intrigued by an insight into the workings of the Crown Prosecution Service, gleaned from an article in last week’s Guardian about the futility of meetings. A CPS ‘senior manager’ who (wisely) asked not to be named, is quoted as saying: ‘Don’t ...

  • News

    Quinn advice

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    I refer to your article ‘Quinn could reopen in UK’ (see [2010] Gazette, 22 April, 2). You assert that the Law Society has advised solicitors currently insured with Quinn ‘... not to take any action’.

  • News

    Advocate general advises against privilege for in-house lawyers

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    In-house lawyers in Europe should not have the same right to legal professional privilege as other lawyers, the advocate general in the long-running Akzo Nobel case said this morning. Giving her opinion on the case, which precedes the final decision of the European Court of Justice ...

  • News

    Rising cost of PI claims against the NHS ‘cannot continue’

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    The escalating cost of personal injury claims against the NHS ‘simply cannot continue’ and lawyers must advise the government on a remedy, the incoming president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) said last week. Muiris Lyons (pictured), partner and head of clinical negligence at ...

  • News

    Employment Appeal Tribunal issues TUPE judgment on contract wins

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    The first case to reach the Employment Appeal Tribunal concerning a dispute between two law firms over the employment law implications of winning a client contract from another firm has provided ‘much-needed clarification’ on the issue, experts have said. The EAT upheld an earlier tribunal decision ...

  • News

    Third-party capture is ‘legitimate’ , says Association of British Insurers

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    Third-party capture is ‘legitimate’ and ‘in everyone’s interests’, Nick Starling, director of general insurance and health at the Association of British Insurers, told delegates at last week’s conference. In a number of heated exchanges, Starling was grilled over the practice of third-party capture – also known ...

  • News

    Solicitors need to communicate with authority on immigration questions

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    by Mark Phillipschair of the Law Society’s immigration law committee. He writes in a personal capacity If freedom of movement may be described as one of the most ancient and least protected customary rights, in the context of migration it must be recognised as one of ...

  • News

    What the legal services reforms could mean for how bar does business

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Act, in combination with changes to the bar’s Code of Conduct agreed last month by the Bar Standards Board, herald a historic sea change for the bar. They give barristers the opportunity to practise in new ways that could radically change the relationship they have with solicitors. ...

  • News

    Bar sets out guidance on how chambers can compete with solicitors

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    The Bar Council has published guidance to chambers on setting up a new business model that will enable barristers to bid for work in competition with solicitors. The new concept, dubbed ProcureCo, is a separate corporate vehicle that can be formed as an adjunct to ...

  • News

    General counsel ‘bypass law firms’ and go directly to the bar

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    General counsel are increasingly bypassing law firms to go directly to the bar for legal advice, according to a report published today. A study by research company Winmark found that while commercial law firms are banking on an increase in corporate legal spend to boost their ...

  • News

    Warning that local solicitors will become an ‘endangered species’

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    Support group the Lawyers Defence Group (LDG) has called on the next government to legislate to protect access to justice and high street firms by imposing marketing restrictions on alternative business structures. The group has warned that local solicitors will become ‘an endangered species’ if ...

  • News

    Solicitors beware

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    The HomeBuy Direct Scheme assists first-time purchasers with government grant delivered by the Homes and Communities Agency via housing associations.

  • News

    Big brands will ‘drive small personal injury firms out’

    2010-04-29T00:00:00Z

    Small ‘pure play’ personal injury law firms will become extinct once ‘big brands’ can offer legal services, Richard Langton, partner at national firm Russell Jones & Walker, told the conference. Langton predicted that personal injury firms with fewer than 30 fee-earners will be driven out of ...