All News articles – Page 1687
-
News
Conveyancers must enact 'radical' change to survive, says Chancery Lane
The Law Society has warned conveyancing solicitors that they will need to consider ‘radical’ change – such as increasing their liability – to ensure they retain a ‘sustainable commercial role’ in the property market. Pledging Chancery Lane’s support for conveyancing solicitors, chief executive Des Hudson questioned ...
-
News
Top solicitor jailed for cash theft
A former deputy coroner and high-profile probate solicitor has been jailed for stealing more than £43,000 from a charitable trust. Alan Benstock, 51, a former deputy coroner for West Yorkshire and former vice-chairman of the Law Society’s probate section, was sentenced to 22 months for thefts ...
-
News
Recession to blame for rise in law firm investigations
Regulatory investigations into law firms have increased steadily over the lifetime of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, parliamentary statistics show. SRA figures requested by justice minister Bridget Prentice in answer to a parliamentary question show that the SRA handled an average of 574 cases per month in ...
-
News
Fixed fees rate cuts will drive profession away, say family lawyers
Family law groups have warned that new fixed fees which will slash legal aid rates for some private law cases by up to 50% will drive lawyers away from legal aid and undermine access to justice. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published the new fee structures ...
-
News
Aspiring will-writing regulator's colourful past revealed
A new will-writing organisation is lobbying the Legal Services Board for will writing to become a regulated activity and, if successful, will apply to become a will-writing regulator. The company behind the Fellowship of Professional Willwriters and Probate Practitioners (FPWPP), which launched this week, has previously ...
-
News
Art of law
The Law Society art group has thrown down an interesting challenge to solicitors. The group has been going since 1958 (see Memory Lane) and next January, to celebrate its 50th anniversary (okay, perhaps they are better at painting than maths) the group’s annual exhibition will take the theme of ‘legal ...
-
News
Recession litigation boom fails to arrive
City litigators have been ‘surprised’ that an expected wave of post-credit crunch disputes has not yet materialised, according to two groups monitoring financial services litigation and dispute resolution.
-
News
Code of Conduct - several important areas in need of greater clarity
by Tony Guise, partner at Guise and a member of the Solicitors Assistance Scheme and the duty solicitor rota at the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal Though the new Code of Conduct has been updated, it is still unclear in its wording and could lead unwary solicitors into ...
-
News
APIL rejoins talks on extending fixed fees regime
The Association of Personal Injury lawyers has rejoined talks on extending the fixed fees regime in personal injury cases.APIL had walked out of the talks last month in an unprecedented move for the organisation. The Civil Justice Council is conducting a mediation process to produce industry-agreed ...
-
News
QLTS will ensure all UK solicitors will meet the highest standards
For several years the Solicitors Regulation Authority has been working on a new scheme to help ensure that the public can be confident that all solicitors, regardless of how they qualified, are competent to practise in England and Wales. The importance of this is indicated by the fact that about ...
-
News
Airport sale, media refinancing and fashion moves
Taking off: Freshfields, alongside City firm Herbert Smith, advised airport operator BAA on its £1.5bn sale of Gatwick Airport to infrastructure asset investment fund Global Infrastructure Partners. Magic circle firm Slaughter and May advised Global Infrastructure Partners, while magic circle firm Allen & ...
-
News
Solicitors overpaid millions by LSC for legal aid work
Solicitors have been overpaid nearly £25m for legal aid work, public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) reported today. The NAO said solicitors overclaimed for legal aid work to the tune of £18.3m in 2008-09, while £6.4m was erroneously paid to solicitors who provided legal ...
-
News
How law firms can use social networking to stay ahead of the pack
Over the past two years or so, the way solicitors network, interact and go about business development has undergone a profound, but almost unnoticed, change.Back in 2007, I wrote a feature for the Gazette on how social networking would change the way solicitors did business with each other and with ...
-
News
Publishing SRA charges ‘discriminates against those with unusual surnames’
by Gregory Treverton-Jones QC, a barrister at 39 Essex Street chambers, London, and co-author of The Solicitor’s HandbookI recently represented an Iranian-born solicitor – let us call him Mr Zadini – in disciplinary proceedings at the SDT. Some of the allegations against Mr Zadini were very serious, but he ...
-
News
Solicitors join with bar to fight plans to cut advocacy rates
The government could face legal action by the Law Society and Bar Council as the professions unite over plans to cut criminal defence advocacy rates by 23%. The two representative bodies are taking advice on a potential judicial review action based on the lack of clarity ...
-
News
Access is the number one priority
The Gazette reported that the Legal Services Commission was capping the number of firms’ new matter starts (see [2009] href="http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/moj-review-separate-budgets-criminal-and-civil-legal-aid" target="_blank"Gazette, 15 October, >]. The LSC wants to make it clear to all legal aid providers that there is no new rule which says ‘no additional new matter starts’.
-
News
Rising material inequality is hindering access to the legal profession
Rising university costs are a hindrance to aspiring black lawyers, the Law Society announced at the conclusion of Black History Month. A timely observation, though Chancery Lane might have gone further. With annual tuition fees predicted to rise to £7,000, an issue that this week is viewed through the prism ...
-
News
Court case results recording review shows error rate of 25%
HM Courts Service needs to improve the accuracy of its recording of case results ‘as a matter of urgency’, a report by HM Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) found last week. The inspectorate said the Courts Service was not recording case results on the courts register ...
-
News
Data page for October 2009
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 October 2009 belowdata page 20 October 2009 (163kb)
-
News
Costs: how to lose when you win
It appears the banks still don't know how to save a penny or two – makes one wonder how good their advice is to customers.In a recent case brought against Barclays, the old adage of 'only bite off what you can chew' was dragged...