All News articles – Page 1713
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News
Human rights committee warning on civil litigation funding curbs
The government must consider evidence that civil court costs rules and funding limitations are preventing people who have suffered human rights abuses at the hands of UK companies from seeking redress, the Joint Committee on Human Rights said today. In its report on business and human ...
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It’s time to stop taking liberties with human rights
Adolf Hitler wouldn’t have known a human right if he had found one nibbling on his breakfast pumpernickel. We’re all agreed on that. The British people, on the other hand, are upstanding citizens who champion the weak and whose love of cricket embodies our profound devotion to fair play.
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News
It’s time to stop taking liberties with human rights
Adolf Hitler wouldn’t have known a human right if he had found one nibbling on his breakfast pumpernickel. We’re all agreed on that. The British people, on the other hand, are upstanding citizens who champion the weak and whose love of cricket embodies our profound devotion to fair play.
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News
Lovells agrees merger with Hogan & Hartson
City firm Lovells and US firm Hogan & Hartson will unite to form Hogan Lovells on 1 May next year after partners gave the green light to a merger. Hogan Lovells will have combined revenues of around $1.8bn (£1.1bn) and 2,500 lawyers in more than 40 ...
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Law Society to launch legal challenge on legal aid
The Law Society is set to launch a judicial review of the government’s move to drastically reduce the legal costs that defendants can reclaim if they are acquitted of a criminal offence.
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How others see us: ‘Anglo-Saxon’ values
I attended a round-table discussion this week, put on by one of the Belgian bars, on the topic: ‘What do we expect from a lawyer today?’ The participants came from the media, academia and various parts of the legal profession.
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New guidelines for lawyers on assessing mental capacity
New guidelines to help solicitors, doctors and other professionals assess mental capacity have been jointly issued by the Law Society and the British Medical Association. The guidelines, Assessment of Mental Capacity, set out best practice for dealing with people lacking capacity to make important decisions, ...
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Government to review use of cautions
The justice secretary launched a review today to examine the way cautions and on-the-spot fines are used by the police and Crown Prosecution Service. It follows reports that they have been inappropriately used to punish more serious offences which should be dealt with by the courts. ...
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Cross selling: the rainmaker’s not-so-secret weapon
Continuing our investigation into the attributes of a good rainmaker, we turn to the area of ’cross-selling', having previously considered the amount of time spent and a targeted approach. A little while ago, I was attending an event with a matrimonial lawyer, and we bumped into one of her clients ...
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Family judges must speak out, says Wall
The judiciary must ‘come off the bench’ and speak out about the ‘parlous state of family law in 2009’, Lord Justice Wall has said. Speaking at the Association of Lawyers for Children conference, the Court of Appeal judge said ‘the time has come when the historical ...
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News
LSB sets out rules for regulators
The Legal Services Board (LSB) today laid down its framework of internal governance requirements for legal regulators. The LSB said that it has provided legal regulators with a clear set of criteria to ensure that regulation is carried out independently of professional interests. The new rules ...
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Surge of merger activity at top-100 firms
Three-quarters of top-100 law firms have been approached by other firms with a view to merging this year, new research has suggested. However, a fifth of firms unsuccessfully tried to complete a merger over the past year, according to a survey by accountancy and financial services ...
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MoJ fails to answer parliamentary questions about external legal spending
The Ministry of Justice has declined to give full answers to a string of parliamentary questions on its spending on external services. Pete Wishart, Scottish National Party MP for Perth and Perthshire North, asked how much the MoJ had spent on external legal advice since it ...
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Act in haste, repent at leisure
It is unfortunate that the present consultation on the assigned risks pool poses only narrow questions. The Solicitors Regulation Authority appears to have made up its mind already. We need a thorough analysis of the problems – and an open mind.
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Law Society threatens legal action over complaints staff
The Law Society has threatened the government and the new solicitor complaints handling body with legal action following their decision not to automatically reassign staff from the Legal Complaints Service (LCS) to the new Office for Legal Complaints (OLC). The functions of the LCS are to ...
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Criminal legal aid firms threaten boycott of BVT pilot
More than 120 criminal legal aid firms will refuse to take part in Legal Services Commission plans to pilot best value tendering (BVT) unless they are indemnified against transfer of undertaking, protection of employment (TUPE) actions arising from it, the Gazette has learned. The commission wants ...
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Letting it all out
You don’t often see grown men cry, unless you count Paul Gascoigne (pictured). And you especially don’t see lawyers crying, especially not in public, and especially not in the courtroom. But that, it turns out, is just in the UK, where we are too reserved and repressed to really let ...
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News
Anger over 'cost-cutting' plans for serious criminal cases
Solicitors and barristers have reacted with anger to last-minute ‘cost-cutting’ proposals on pay for the most serious criminal cases, which they say ‘drive a coach and horses through two years of patient and careful negotiation’. A Legal Services Commission consultation on fees for very high ...
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Any claim to stamp duty land tax on goodwill should be appealed
Goodwill is produced by, and only by, people and not by things they use in business, but confusion reigns. The purpose of this article is to expose the pretence of clothing real property, land, with the value of goodwill, which is a species of personal property.
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Europe appoints new justice head
Europe has appointed its first commissioner to hold a separate justice portfolio, taking a ‘step in the right direction’ towards separating the conflicting demands of justice and security.