All News articles – Page 1677

  • News

    Government legal aid spending cuts called into question

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    Figures showing a fall in the cost of criminal defence work have called into question the government’s drive to introduce more spending cuts. Statistics obtained from the Legal Services Commission by More4 News showed that the amount spent nationally on criminal defence services has fallen over ...

  • News

    Quarter of firms expected to walk away from legal aid in next five years

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    More than a quarter of firms expect to walk away from legal aid work in the next five years, a report slamming the Legal Services Commission’s poor administration has revealed. The report by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) showed that one in six ...

  • News

    Assembly probes spending by mayor’s economic development agency

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    The cost of work done by law firms advising the Mayor of London’s economic development agency is to be scrutinised by the London Assembly, the Gazette has learned. The news emerged after Boris Johnson answered questions on the amount that the London Development Agency (LDA) paid ...

  • News

    New commission chairman planning to reform adult social care law

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    The Law Commission is planning ‘very important and potentially very exciting’ reforms to the law on social care for adults, the commission’s new chairman said in an interview for the Gazette. Sir James Munby, who now sits in the Court of Appeal as Lord Justice Munby, ...

  • News

    New Law Commission chairman planning to reform adult social care law

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    The Law Commission is planning ‘very important and potentially very exciting’ reforms to the law on social care for adults, the commission’s new chairman said in an interview for the Gazette. Sir James Munby, who now sits in the Court of Appeal as Lord Justice Munby, ...

  • News

    SRA boosts the diversity of adjudicators

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed the appointments of a panel of 23 external adjudicators, who will make decisions on regulatory matters.

  • News

    Drop in suspicious activity reports by solicitors

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    The number of suspicious activity reports (SARs) made by solicitors has fallen by more than a quarter over the last year, according to figures published by the Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA). SOCA’s third annual report showed that solicitors filed 4,772 SARs between October 2008 and ...

  • News

    Banks could be first to face US-style ‘opt-out’ class actions

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    Banks and other financial institutions could be the first to face US-style ‘opt-out’ class actions, the chancellor confirmed this week. During the Financial Services Bill’s second reading in parliament, Alistair Darling said that though he does not want to see ‘the widespread development’ of class actions, ...

  • News

    Education and training is about much more than CPD

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    As the legal landscape changes, lawyers are finding that it is no longer good enough for them to be just good lawyers – they must also run their firms more effectively and understand their commercial clients better. As Maureen Miller, the Law Society’s head of membership services, points out: ‘It ...

  • News

    Data page for November 2009

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    The data page is the financial rates and data complied for the Law Society Gazette by MoneyFacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. DownloadsDownload the data page for November 2009 below ...

  • News

    Chinese float, Islamic financing, and Brawn GP Formula 1 team

    2009-12-03T00:00:00Z

    Chinese float: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance advised on two Hong Kong Stock Exchange flotations that raised $6.1bn (£3.7bn) in total. The firm advised China Minsheng Bank on its $3.9bn (£2.37bn) flotation and China Longyuan Power on its $2.2bn (£1.34bn) listing.

  • News

    Customers will rule the legal services revolution

    2009-12-02T00:00:00Z

    Where are the clients? Or more to the point, where are the profits going to be in certain law firm client groups in the future market for legal services?

  • News

    Libel judges face a tough time in the media

    2009-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Mr Justice Eady, eminent libel judge and newspaper hate figure, has thick skin. Speaking at today’s Justice conference on free speech and privacy, Eady quoted snippets from newspaper articles accusing him of ‘moral and social nihilism,’ ‘arrogance,’ ‘immorality,’ and to top it off, ‘amorality’.

  • News

    Legal ethics, past and present – part two

    2009-11-30T00:00:00Z

    In the second of three articles tracing the history of ethics and the legal profession, Mark Humphries recalls a time when accusing a lawyer of being a ‘daffy-down-dilly’ was as serious as accusing a doctor of killing a patient

  • News

    Was the LSCP better and cheaper than the LSB will be?

    2009-11-30T00:00:00Z

    So, farewell then LSCP. Another set of initials is about to bite the dust, namely those of the Legal Services Consultative Panel. To continue in initials mode, the LSCP followed on from ACLEC (the Lord Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Legal Education and Conduct) and will be succeeded by the ...

  • News

    Can women really rise to the top in big law firms?

    2009-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Looking at some research into non-legal directors in top-100 law firms yesterday, I was shocked by the gender split at big firms for 'support' roles such as finance, IT and HR director.

  • News

    Negligence

    2009-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Asbestos - Causation - Duty of care - Mesothelioma Karen Sienkiewicz (administratrix of the estate of Enid Costello, deceased) v Greif (UK) Ltd: Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony, Lord Justice Scott Baker, Lady Justice Smith): CA (Civ Div) : 6 ...

  • News

    Memory Lane

    2009-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Law Society’s Gazette, November 1969 The lot of the 5 year articled clerk [letter to the editor] ...

  • News

    Immigration: migrants who wish to qualify as UK lawyers

    2009-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Studying law with a UK institution and becoming a solicitor or barrister in the UK has long been an esteemed achievement by lawyers around the world. Historically, the UK has welcomed migrants who wish to undertake the challenge. Immigration rules (the rules) and related concessions have made routes to becoming ...

  • News

    Heir hunting

    2009-11-26T00:00:00Z

    Calling all probate solicitors. Do you recall acting for a ‘somewhat eccentric and secretive’ millionairess called Judy Maude Keele, some time in the past century? To refresh your memory, she owned a flat in Mayfair, drove a classic sports car, and reputedly built up a large collection of fine art ...