All News articles – Page 1692
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News
North-south divide in conveyancing?
With regard to the letter from Mr Gafford in the Gazette of 4 March, I am quite frankly amazed that a firm might believe a quote of £600 plus VAT would secure a conveyancing matter at a price of £167,000.
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Recruitment freezes in local government
Local government legal departments are instigating recruitment freezes ahead of public sector budget cuts, while there has been a surge in demand for legal aid lawyers in immigration, family and criminal work and an upturn in corporate law hires. Colin Loth, manager of the legal teams ...
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Insurers’ spin
The speech given by Dominic Clayden, director of technical claims at Aviva, at the Civil Justice Section’s annual conference (see [2009] Gazette, 25 February, 2) demonstrates the insurance industry’s lamentable approach to the compensation of accident victims.
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State school skills
I write in response to the letter headed ‘Tools of the trade’ from 18 February. I disagree entirely with the sweeping assumption that state-educated students do not gain the skills to obtain a professional qualification.
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Libel success fees limited to 10%
The success fees charged by lawyers in defamation cases will be cut by 90% after justice secretary Jack Straw laid an order to amend the laws on ‘no win, no fee’ agreements. From April the maximum uplift charged by lawyers for winning defamation cases taken on ...
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Why leave it so late to scrap the LSC?
Between them justice secretary Jack Straw and former civil servant Sir Ian Magee hammered the final nail into the coffin of the Legal Services Commission this week.
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Delivering justice: The Law Society’s manifesto 2010
In 1835, at the opening of the Law Society’s hall in Chancery Lane, the Society was mandated by the profession to ‘make its complaints by petition, remonstrance and appeal to parliament, the bench and several other constituted authorities’. To this day, a great deal of ...
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Withers ‘in contempt’ of parliament over legal action threat
City firm Withers was ‘in contempt’ of parliament when it threatened an MP with legal action if he criticised one of its clients in the House of Commons, a parliamentary investigation found last week. But the report of the standards and privileges committee says no further ...
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Miners’ solicitors to face court action
Solicitors who handled sick coal miners’ government compensation claims are set to appear before courts across the country, as the first known court actions for alleged undersettlement of such claims begin to emerge.
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Carolyn Regan quits as Jack Straw turns LSC into executive agency
The chief executive of the Legal Services Commission has resigned after the Ministry of Justice took control of the body following the publication of the Magee review of the delivery of legal aid. Carolyn Regan, who has headed the LSC for the last three and half ...
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Dispute resolution: recovering costs before allocation
Is a costs judge entitled to take the view that a matter would have been allocated to the small claims track (and therefore requiring the paying party to pay costs on the small claims track basis) where a case is settled before allocation and the consent order provides for costs ...
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Two assaults on press freedom have been defeated, but will anything change?
To anyone who follows parliamentary affairs, last week must have seemed a good one for the press. Potential threats to free speech melted away, not just once but twice. But I suspect that we are not much better off as a result.
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APIL slams government stance on asbestos claims
Personal injury lawyers have expressed disappointment over the government’s decision not to allow asbestos-related pleural plaques to be compensated. The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers called the decision a ‘disappointing end to a long, drawn-out, consultation process’. The Ministry of Justice cited ...
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Landmark Court of Appeal ruling on retainers
Solicitors who cease acting for a client where the case has no chance of success on points of law are entitled to be paid for the work done up to that point, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The Court of Appeal (pictured), in Buxton v ...
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Appointment of just one solicitor QC concerns Law Society
The Law Society has claimed that the appointment of only one of the 10 solicitors who applied for silk is evidence of a ‘worrying trend’. Following last week’s announcement of 129 new QCs, Chancery Lane said it was a ‘matter of great concern’ that the ...
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Secret filming and the case law that subsequently arises
A good story is always more dazzling than a broken piece of truth – Diane Setterfield, The Thirteenth Tale
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ILEX consultation on CPS associate prosecutors
The Institute of Legal Executives is running a consultation exercise upon its application to become an approved regulator for Crown Prosecution Service associate prosecutors to undertake advocacy and litigation. So far, so good. The proposal is that unqualified CPS associate prosecutors assume the same powers as ...
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News
Third-party funders to form association to oversee code of conduct
Third-party litigation funders are to form an industry association to oversee a new voluntary code of conduct, the Gazette can reveal. The moves – which have been under discussion for two years – were given impetus by the Jackson report’s recommendation that all funders sign up ...
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Most consumers ‘cannot tell good lawyer from bad one’
Most consumers could not tell a good lawyer from a bad one, according to Ministry of Justice research published this week.
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Referral fees ban will ‘drive business underground’, says CSC chair
Banning referral fees will harm the legal profession and have no effect on reducing law firms’ marketing costs, according to Darren Werth, the Claims Standards Council’s chair. Werth, managing director at Accident Advice Helpline, told delegates that it is ‘shocking’ that the Law Society and ...