All News articles – Page 1705
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News
Costs regime bad for environment
The UK’s ‘shabby and mean-spirited’ costs regime has halted more than half the cases referred for judicial review by an environmental charity, a report has revealed. The Environmental Law Foundation (ELF), a charity that helps people use the law to protect and improve their surroundings, said ...
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What is the real motive behind defamation costs reform?
Lord Justice Jackson published his review on civil costs on 14 January, recommending the abolition of success fees and after-the-event insurance in all civil cases where conditional fee agreements (CFAs) were used.
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Lawyers report upturn in takeover bid success
The proportion of takeover talks involving listed companies that end in a successful deal has almost returned to pre-credit crunch levels, research has found, signalling a greater confidence in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) market as lawyers succeed in driving deals through. A failure rate for ...
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Judgement call
I write in response to the letter from Shamil Purohit (7 January) headed ‘Wake up and smell the coffee’.
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LawCare helpline sees surge in solicitor calls
A charity that provides pastoral support to solicitors has recorded its busiest year to date, with a 10% rise in lawyers reporting stress and other problems. LawCare opened 549 case files last year, up 10% on 2008. Calls to the helpline were becoming ‘longer and ...
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Charities may be in for a difficult year, but there remains cause for hope
Charities may still be facing the worst effects of the recession after suffering mixed fortunes during 2009, say practitioners looking ahead to the coming year.
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Jackson LJ on civil litigation costs – your views
I believe Lord Justice Jackson’s emphasis on before-the-event (BTE), and the removal of after-the-event and adverse success fees, is linked to the onset of the Legal Services Act (LSA) and the introduction of alternative business structures.
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Withers faces investigation into contempt claims
City firm Withers faces an investigation into claims that it committed a contempt of parliament by seeking to prevent an MP from talking about one of its clients there. The Commons held an emergency debate on the matter last Thursday, and it was referred to the ...
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Client conflict
Shamil Purohit ( letters, 7 January) defends referral fees – which are in my view indefensible.
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Family solicitors report rise in 'collaborative prenups’
Family solicitors have reported a rise in the number of clients asking for prenuptial agreements to be prepared using the collaborative law model. Suzanne Kingston, a partner at London firm Dawsons, said about 50% of the pre- and postnuptial agreements she completed last year were done ...
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How can we help make more commercially minded lawyers?
As a non-lawyer (I refuse to use the terms fee-earner and non fee-earner, or 'fee-burner' as I heard it called recently), I find it frustrating that many lawyers lack commercial awareness, that is the ability and desire to really talk to clients...
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Solicitor comparison wesite for legal fees
A new solicitor comparison website will allow consumers to compare law firm fees for the first time, the Gazette can reveal. CompareLegalSolutions.com, to be launched in March, claims it will allow consumers to compare firms on price across 90 areas of law.
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SRA poised to relax conflict of interest rules
Law firms will be able to advise rival clients on the same deal after the Solicitors Regulation Authority laid down plans to relax conflict of interest and confidentiality rules in a shortened consultation which will close next month. The proposed rule changes being pushed through by ...
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Train judges to control costs, says Jackson
Judges and lawyers involved in high-stakes commercial court disputes should be trained in costs budgeting and costs management, Lord Justice Jackson’s review of civil litigation costs has recommended. The report suggested that costs budgeting and costs management be included as part of lawyers’ CPD training, while ...
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Land Registry urges conveyancers to sign up to web portal
The Land Registry has urged conveyancing solicitors to sign up to access its new web portal in advance of the closure of Land Registry Direct (LRD). On 31 March, LRD, the means by which solicitors access the Land Registry’s e-business services, will be shut down and ...
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Supply and demands
Your editorial ‘Future in the balance’ (7 January) told us nothing new. There has always been an imbalance between those wanting to enter the profession and those for whom there is an opening.
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If Jackson gets his way, non-commercial litigation will be a different world
That sound you can hear is claimant personal injury solicitors, claims management companies and after-the-event insurers canning their business plans and polishing their CVs. Jackson has left us with two known unknowns: will the next government implement his recommendations (let us not forget that it was ...
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Double talk
Foul-mouthed ventriloquism is not a talent you would expect of one of the land’s most senior judges, but for a fleeting moment last week, one Lord Justice appeared to show masterful technique. Presenting his final report on civil litigation costs – a 557-page tome to accompany the 663 pages of ...
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Playing to an empty house
Obiter recently asked for examples of hammy behaviour in the courtroom. Our thanks to David Holt at Suffolk County Council for this little tale of a pompous barrister being given his comeuppance by a judge in the 1970s, when Holt was an articled ...
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Friend to the stars
Cue the trumpet fanfare: Obiter is pleased to announce a new King of the Celebrity Pics. Kevin Poulter, assistant solicitor at Wake Smith & Tofields in Sheffield, has blown the competition out of the water with this fantastic selection of himself posing with a smorgasbord of household names. ...