All News articles – Page 1720
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News
Why are common law lawyers the hardest hit?
We read every week in the legal press about solicitors suffering in the current crisis: lay-offs, short-time and pay-cuts. There have been stories about trainees receiving the bad news by voicemail, and a US lawyer laying off his own wife.
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Texting your clients should be normal practice, if you love them
Are you using text messaging to communicate with your clients? Most of us carry mobiles, so your text reaches your client instantly when there is something significant to report. In many cases, this can be more effective than phoning, when your client might not be available and neither are you ...
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How green was my council chamber
The Law Society council is off on its travels, but members don’t need to worry about anti-malarials yet. As ardent Obiter readers will remember, back in February the council decided that it should become more geographically adventurous in its choice of meeting venues. This month, the topic came up for ...
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Cash-strapped charities reassess their spending on professional services
Charities are increasingly feeling the impact of the recession, with more than half reporting a drop in income at the same time as demand for their services increases. This is forcing them to make painful decisions about drawing on reserves, dropping projects, selling property and shedding staff.
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BVT – we’re listening
I would like to reassure Rodney Warren (see [2009] Gazette, 11 June, 11) that we are actively engaging with representative bodies to ensure providers are prepared for change, should best value tendering (BVT) progress.
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Criminal solicitors raise fund for court challenge to BVT
Criminal solicitors have pledged contributions for a fighting fund to challenge the government’s introduction of best value tendering (BVT) for legal aid work, the Gazette has learned. A consultation on the scheme ended last week, after attracting more than 1,000 responses expected to be overwhelmingly critical.
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Best value tendering: working for nothing
Over the last couple of years, the Legal Services Commission has churned out consultation upon consultation about unpopular legal aid reforms. But, despite a severe case of consultation fatigue, over 1,000 groups or individuals responded to its second paper on best value tendering (BVT), demonstrating the strength of feeling within ...
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Straw vows corruption bill will become law
Justice secretary Jack Straw has told parliament that he is determined to ensure that the draft bribery bill becomes legislation before a general election. He was responding last week to a joint committee’s concerns about the parliamentary time available for the new measure, which would create two new offences.
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Barclays sale, TomTom share offering and company takeover
Barclays sale: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance, alongside US firm Sullivan & Cromwell, advised Barclays (pictured) on the $13.5bn (£8.2bn) sale of its global investment arm. The buyer, US investment manager BlackRock, was advised by magic circle firm Linklaters and US firm Skadden.
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News
Bad scheme based on poor evidence
In 1984 the Law Society Children Panel was set up to provide quality assurance of children’s representation in care proceedings. The tandem approach has developed into a world-recognised model of good practice. Solicitors became expert negotiators and advocates appearing at all levels of court, and mutual respect grew between solicitors ...
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News
New anti-terrorism legislation is ill-considered and unnecessary
Nine-nil. The House of Lords does not get more decisive than that: control orders are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Alan Johnson, the new boy at the Home Office, duly declared their Lordships’ judgment ‘disappointing’. But it is more the government that merits disappointment than the judges. ...
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Top legal aid firm avoids closure by HMRC
Top London legal aid firm Duncan Lewis has avoided being shut down by HM Revenue & Customs after falling behind in tax payments because of delayed settlements from the Legal Services Commission. A petition to wind up Duncan Lewis, last year the highest earning civil legal ...
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CPS launches national advocacy assessment
A national system of advocacy assessment will be introduced across the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure quality, the director of public prosecutions announced today. Keir Starmer QC (pictured) said the new advocacy quality management strategy will monitor performance and target training. It will be implemented ...
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News
We shouldn’t celebrate 60 years of legal aid with a wake
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. So, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland – a public servant – is set to trouser £10m if he sorts out the mess bequeathed by ‘Fred the Shred’. Meanwhile, Alistair Darling delivers a feeble speech to City high-rollers at the ...
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Data page for June 2009
The data page is the financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by Moneyfacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. DownloadsDownload the data ...
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News
Pinochet pointer
My letter (see [2009] Gazette, 21 May, 9) was an attempt to present a less critical view of the role of Lord Hoffmann in the Pinochet case than that offered by Joshua Rozenberg in his article celebrating Lord Hoffmann’s retirement.
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Packing a punch
We write with reference to a report by Catherine Baksi about cost-price HIPs (see [2009] Gazette, 11 June, 2). We at Donaldson West have been dealing with HIPs in this way since their inception.
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Monopoly supplier
I note that Land Registry fees are to rise from early July by about 30%. Presumably, this is to remedy the lack of income caused by the diminution in the volume of conveyancing work.
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Memory lane
New plans for efficiently dealing with the complaints handling system. Television series review and benefits of membership to the Law Society.
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Immigration
France – Removal – Right to respect for private and family life – Member state’s assumption of responsibility for asylum claim R (on the application of Shayanth) v Secretary of State for the Home Department: QBD (Admin) (Mr Justice ...