All News articles – Page 1693
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The LSC fails to, or does not want to, understand its prime supplier base
by Andrew Caplenchair of the Law Society’s Access to Justice Committee Carolyn Regan, the chief executive of the Legal Services Commission, gave a speech at the Westminster Legal Policy Forum on 9 February entitled ‘60 years of legal aid – next steps for reform’. It was ...
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Beg pardon?
Those dictation blunders have had Obiter chuckling once more this week. So many have popped into Obiter’s inbox, it’s a wonder there’s a secretary out there who still has a job.
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‘Big Brother’ to monitor RTA web portal
The government and insurance companies will act as ‘Big Brother’ over law firms and claims management companies, by monitoring data flowing through the new road traffic accident claims web portal and weeding out those abusing the system, it was alleged last week.
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Easing the burden for immigration lawyers
I would like to clarify some important points in relation to last week’s story about immigration lawyers being unhappy over the new accreditation process (see [2010] Gazette, 25 February, 4).
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Poverty campaign protest outside ‘vulture fund’ firm
City firms that represent so-called ‘vulture funds’ while claiming to be socially responsible have been accused of hypocrisy by a campaign group on global poverty. The Jubilee Debt Campaign last week staged a protest outside the London office of US firm Dechert, two days before ...
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Law firm CEOs are standing up to be counted in the most difficult market yet
Last year was challenging for law firms to say the least. For the vast majority growth rates fell or stagnated. And redundancies were common, from the magic circle to the high street firms. Clients were more demanding, applying extensive scrutiny in seeking real value for money. Add in regulatory change, ...
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Claims management companies and law firms certain to merge
Claims management companies and law firms are certain to merge once they can form alternative business structures, conference delegates agreed. All 180 delegates who responded to a poll said that such mergers will happen after ABSs are allowed from October 2011. Delegates were mainly from CMCs, ...
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Chancery Lane in China human rights protest
Lawyers in China are being detained on spurious charges and denied their right to legal representation, the Law Society’s international action team has warned. The volunteer team of human rights lawyers helped Law Society president Robert Heslett write four times to China’s prime minister Wen Jiabao ...
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Civil evidence
Banking – Admissibility – Agreements – Estoppel – Settlement Oceanbulk Shipping and Trading SA v TMT Asia Ltd: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Ward, Longmore, Stanley Burnton): 15 February 2010 ...
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Developments in RTA claims process and third-party litigation funding
There were significant developments at both ends of the litigation spectrum last week. The three-week delay in launching the new road traffic claims process might not seem much, but it gives law firms some breathing space to get to grips with the reams of new rules (the simpler the system, ...
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Come from a land down under?
‘London Calling to a faraway town,’ The Clash sang, we recall – the town in the present case being down under. The Gazette has received an unusual request from the producers of a new TV show about young Australians living in London. They are looking for an Aussie lawyer to ...
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Legal Complaints Service a ‘success story’ says commissioner
The body that handles complaints against solicitors is a ‘success story’ that has met all its performance targets, the legal services complaints commissioner declared last week. Releasing her sixth and final annual report before the new Office for Legal Complaints replaces the Law Society’s Legal Complaints ...
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Conveyancing fee embarrassingly low
I have been asked to give an existing client a quotation for conveyancing costs. On a modest terraced property valued at £167,000, I quoted £600 plus VAT and disbursements.
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Employment
Christianity – Detriment – Religious discrimination – Jewellery Eweida v British Airways Plc: CA (Civ Div) (Lords Justice Sedley, Carnwath, Lady Justice Smith): 12 February 2010 The appellant employee ...
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Referral fees referendum
How ironic that the Office of Fair Trading appears from recent report on homebuying to be concerned about the effect of referral fees on the conveyancing market.
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Going swimmingly
Well-known mental health and human rights solicitor Lucy Scott-Moncrieff is taking the plunge – again – and all in a good cause. Some of you may recall sponsoring Lucy when she swam the Hellespont in 2008. One of the subtle pleasures of the swim, she says, ...
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Huw must be joking
Obiter naturally abhors stereotyping, but in the interests of comic art he is willing to perpetuate what retired solicitor Huw James calls a ‘monstrous calumny’. He is referring to the good people of Ceredigion’s alleged tightness with money. ...
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Immigration
Detention – Foreign nationals – Human rights R (on the application of (1) WL (Congo) (2) KM (Jamaica)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Neuberger, Master of the Rolls, Lords Justice Carnwath, ...
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Memory lane
A 1960s comparison between what solicitors earnt in their careers, against other professions, and why people should choose to enter the legal profession. Law Society’s Gazette, March 1960 ...
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Scots to vote on ‘Tesco law’
A last-ditch effort is under way to halt the Clementi-style liberalisation of Scotland’s legal services market. The 10,000-strong Law Society of Scotland is to vote on whether to reverse its policy of supporting external ownership of law firms and alternative business structures. ...