All News articles – Page 1691
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News
Commerce & Industry Group in-house trainee push
The Commerce & Industry Group is to encourage in-house departments to take on trainee solicitors, its new chair John Bleasdale has told the Gazette. Bleasdale said he wants the group’s 4,500 lawyer members to increase significantly the number of in-house training contracts available to Legal Practice ...
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‘Out of touch’ Law Society of Scotland facing a vote of confidence
The 10,500-member Law Society of Scotland is to face a vote of confidence on its future as the voice of Scottish solicitors, as grassroots opposition to the introduction of so-called ‘Tesco law’ intensifies. Members disillusioned by the body’s policy of support for external ownership and alternative business structures are behind ...
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IT glitch hits operation of virtual court
IT problems caused a ‘meltdown’ in the operation of the virtual court at Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court last month, with the system down for a week, the Gazette has learned. An IT fault meant that the virtual court system, whereby defendants make their first appearance ...
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Court staff go on strike over cuts to redundancy pay
More than 10,000 courts service staff this week refused to cross picket lines as part of a national strike by civil servants over cuts to redundancy pay, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) claimed. However, a spokeswoman for HM Courts Service said that, while there were some reductions in ...
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How to define failure?
I am intrigued as to how standards of advocacy are to be assessed. Who are the people making the assessments? Do they have checklists which they tick off when the right questions are asked? What experience have they got of the courts in question?
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Down with the kids
Last week saw a new event on the regional calendar – the first Manchester Legal Awards, run by Manchester Law Society. Eversheds scooped four of the 17 gongs, while Pannone and Addleshaw Goddard picked up two apiece. Roger Pannone also won an outstanding achievement award ...
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Elephant in the room
I read with glee Mr Gafford’s letter ‘Conveyancing fee embarrassingly low’ (see [2010] Gazette, 4 March, 11), not because I take joy in other people’s angst, but because it’s about time that someone mentioned the elephant in the room.
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The new PC fee system will end historical inequalities within the profession
The current practising certificate fee system is crude and unfair. It is a clumsy ‘one glove fits all’ approach to collecting the funds to pay for regulation. It takes no account of the type of work done by the solicitor, whether he or she handles client money and the statistical ...
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Leap of faith
Bond Pearce associate Michelle Essen (pictured with her instructor) recently leapt out of a plane along with 11 daredevil colleagues – including the firm’s chairman – as part of a six-month fundraising effort that has seen the south-west firm raise £18,394 for charity and come fifth in the Prince’s Trust ...
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No level playing field
Des Hudson claims that subjecting immigration solicitors to a two-hour exam if they want to continue doing publicly funded work is ‘the least burdensome’ option for reaccreditation (see [2010] Gazette 4 March, 11).
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Financial regulation
Civil evidence – Human rights – Disclosure – Documents (1) Financial Services Authority (2) Elisabeth Connell (3) Patricia Senra (appellants) v (1) AMRO International SA (2) Creon Management SA (respondents) and Goodman Jones LLP (interested party): CA (Civ ...
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Word games
Obiter can’t resist just a few more of those dictation blunders. Favourites this week have been a puzzling reference to a Russian Owl in the transcript of a judge’s summing up, which turned out to be a rationale. ...
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Memory lane
An address to the students of the Society’s School of Law on the qualities required in order to become a good lawyer. Law Society’s Gazette, March 1960 ...
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Legal profession
Barristers’ powers and duties – Instructions – Overriding objective – Retainers Richard Buxton (solicitors) (appellant) v Huw Llewelyn Paul Mills-Owens (respondent) and Law Society (intervener): CA (Civ Div) (Sir Mark Potter (President Fam Div), Lords Justice Dyson, Maurice ...
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Oops, did I really do that?
Time to announce the five lucky winners of last month’s competition to win copies of series two of Law & Order: UK. Readers were asked to come up with an amusing ending to the following sentence: ‘If there were a TV show called Lawyers Who Do Silly Things, I could ...
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LSC delays payments due to ‘cash position’ problems
The Legal Services Commission notified the Law Society today that it will be delaying payments to solicitors due in March until the start of the next financial year in April. Chancery Lane said the LSC had said this was due to the ‘cash position’ in which ...
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Scottish solicitors to get ‘Tesco law’ referendum
The Law Society of Scotland is to ballot its 10,000 members on Clementi-style liberalisation of the nation’s legal services market, as efforts to derail the reforms gather momentum. The move was announced in response to the scheduling of a special general meeting on 25 March requisitioned ...
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Law firms unveil their carbon footprints
The alliance dedicated to reducing the carbon emissions of law firms today unveiled the carbon footprints of 32 firms and the Law Society. Publishing its Carbon Footprint Report, the Legal Sector Alliance (LSA) also claimed that carbon emissions fell by 4% among member firms since publication ...
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Do solicitors value their reputation as a marketing tool?
The following statement was made to me by a solicitor: ‘Clients often do not fully understand what they are buying, hence any client review is meaningless.’ I take the opposite view...
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Lord Ashcroft isn’t the only one with tax problems
This is a good week in which to speak about another group of people – apart from non-domiciled peers of the realm – who are currently having problems with taxes in different parts of Europe. Lawyers have their tax problems, too.