All News articles – Page 1695
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News
Solution to the insurance crisis
As someone who practises in the field of property mortgage fraud claims, it gives me no comfort to say that I foresaw that PI premiums would escalate and – coupled with the drop in conveyancing caused by the recession – create the financial crisis for solicitors reported in your front-page ...
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Inspectors praise CPS Organised Crime Division
The independent inspectors of the Crown Prosecution Service have praised its specialist Organised Crime Division (OCD) for high-quality case preparation and decision-making, in a report published this week. The HM CPS Inspectorate commended the CPS’s specialist organised crime prosecutors for their availability to give pre-charge advice ...
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Horses for courses
A friend passed me an article entitled ‘Taking the reins’, by Lucy Trevelyan, about equine law (see [2008] Gazette, 7 August, 14). As I am a life-long horsewoman (and journalist who sometimes writes for the equestrian press) I found it really interesting.
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Ministry of Justice tackles ‘spiralling’ defamation legal costs
The Ministry of Justice has introduced new rules aimed at cutting ‘spiralling’ legal costs in defamation proceedings by making changes to the rules for ‘no win, no fee’ arrangements.
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Cookies and the cream
Obiter has been officially outdone. For some time now the Gazette has been trying to bag an interview with our own justice secretary (yes, you, Mr Straw), only to discover that not one but two new starters at Leeds firm Schofield Sweeney are ...
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The notion of a global ‘legal family’ is more than just a lazy cliche
This year, the opening of the legal year is especially significant, for it marks a new chapter in the eminent history of our profession – the Supreme Court is to open its doors for the first time. Irrespective of sporadic controversy surrounding its creation, the ...
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Jackson considers raising personal injury small claims limit
Lord Justice Jackson has hinted that he might recommend increasing the small claims limit for personal injury cases if there is no deal on fast-track fixed costs, the Gazette can reveal. His last public address before going into report-writing purdah is being seen as a warning ...
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Personal injury lawyers hit by new fees for RTA claims
Claimant personal injury solicitors face a cut of up to 53% in the fees they receive under a new road traffic accident claims process agreed last week. However, the claimant groups which negotiated the deal with insurers said this will be balanced by a more streamlined ...
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Chancery Lane responds to PII concerns – statement from the chief executive
The Law Society has moved to address growing disquiet among practising solicitors about the problems they have encountered renewing their professional indemnity insurance. Chancery Lane announced last month that it had written to the Association of British Insurers and individual insurers asking them for an ...
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Duty calls: the hard and sometimes demanding and thankless role of a duty solicitor
The duty solicitor I’m shadowing negotiates electronically controlled gates under the unblinking gaze of CCTV cameras. He arrives at a windowless room beneath the court, where the table and seats are bolted to the floor and there is a glass viewing port in the heavy wooden door. A guard from ...
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Call for lawyers to speak plain English
A senior lecturer at City Law School has called on lawyers to abandon complex and archaic ‘legalese’ and speak clearly. David Emmet said lawyers have a habit of using words and expressions that are more complicated than they need to be. Typical ...
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BSB to decide barristers’ role in new legal structures
The Bar Standards Board will decide the role barristers will be allowed to have in new legal structures in November, it announced today. By then, it says, it will have analysed the results of research it commissioned into the benefits to consumers of the various different ...
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Serious Fraud Office to demand privilege waivers in plea bargains
Companies wanting to enter into plea bargains with the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) will have to waive privilege rights over previous internal investigations, a solicitor suggested this week, after the SFO completed its first successful prosecution of a British company for overseas corruption. British bridge contractor ...
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Law firm bankruptcies predicted as Lees Lloyd Whitley closes
Insolvency experts have predicted a rise in the number of law firms that will face bankruptcy in the coming months, after a well-known firm in the north-west closed its doors last week. Lees Lloyd Whitley (LLW) – a 190-year-old Merseyside firm with 90 staff – ceased ...
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Watchdog to review Solicitors Regulation Authority
The Solicitors Regulation Authority will appoint an independent reviewer to oversee the way it handles complaints in a bid to improve efficiency. The SRA plans to introduce a single complaints-handling policy that will deal with all complaints, including those involving discrimination. ...
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Bookish appeal
Any solicitors wishing to clear some shelf space and do their bit for history might be interested in an appeal launched by Suzana Edwards of Trawscoed Mansion in Wales. It is asking lawyers to donate leather bound or decorative hardback law books (of any age) for the restoration of the ...
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By analysing data the LCS is better understanding who complains and why
By Deborah Evansthe chief executive of the Legal Complaints ServiceOver time, a complaints handler amasses a huge amount of information. Spending a little time and energy on analysis helps gain an understanding of who complains and who they complain about.
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Law firm to offer all services online with new website launch
A north-west law firm will next week launch a website that offers the full range of consumer legal services 24 hours a day, for a fixed fee. Canter Levin & Berg claims to be the first firm to provide a full range of services online. ...
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Trumpeting legal aid
As Obiter reported back in July, musical lawyers Denis Cameron and Basil Preuveneers, both Law Society council members, were convinced they could make as much cash from busking as from being a legal aid lawyer. After a rousing stint in London’s Covent Garden, with Cameron ...
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National bar leaders rally in defence of legal aid
More than 50 bar leaders from around the world have issued a communiqué in support of access to justice, urging governments to fulfil their duty to provide adequate legal aid funding. They gathered today at the Law Society in London at the opening of the legal ...