All News articles – Page 1724
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News
Law Society Council votes against referral fees
The Law Society will lobby the government and Legal Services Board to ban the use of referral fees by all providers of legal services. The Law Society’s council voted to change its policy on referral fees yesterday. It adopted a motion by council member Sue Carter ...
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Solicitors rebut claim that they ‘overcharge’ for legal aid work
Solicitors hit back this week at claims that they have been overpaid by nearly £25m for legal aid work, blaming the ‘mountain of bureaucracy’ they face from the Legal Services Commission. A report by the National Audit Office said the LSC had overpaid solicitors by an ...
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Bank buyouts and nuclear land sales
Loan arrangers: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance advised 11 banks as lead arrangers on a $2.4bn (£1.46bn) financing for agricultural, industrial and energy supply chain manager Noble Group. Noble Group was advised by Allen & Overy. ...
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‘Failed’ Kent virtual court pilot to become compulsory
Only seven defendants have chosen to use the virtual court in Kent since the pilot began three months ago, the Gazette has learned, as the Ministry of Justice seeks to make the Kent scheme compulsory. The pilot enables defendants to make their first court appearance from ...
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Employment – is Or-well with the Equality Bill?
Was it Harriet Harman who wrote that ‘all employees are equal, but some employees are more equal than others’? Whoever it was, they may well have foreseen some of the more interesting provisions of the latest version of the Equality Bill, which, we are assured, is still cranking its way ...
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UPDATE: Calls for end to single renewal date for PII
The Law Society’s council yesterday voted overwhelmingly in favour of pressuring the Solicitors Regulation Authority to abolish the single renewal date for professional indemnity insurance (PII), in favour of staggered renewals. Some 55 council members voted in favour of the move, with 14 against and three ...
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Home truths: new regulations for cancelling contracts
Solicitors who see clients at home need to be aware of new regulations for cancelling contracts, says District Judge Pal Sanghera The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer’s Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008 came into force on 1 October 2008. In a ...
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Law firms fail for lack of cash, not profit
Solicitors are a vain lot. We say this not out of admiration for their sartorial elegance but as a reflection of the first part of a well-worn business axiom – ‘turnover is vanity, while profit is sanity...’ As Professor Stephen Mayson has indicated, this is a ...
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Cause of freedom
I am not an uncritical admirer of the US, but full marks to states which are passing laws enabling their courts to refuse to enforce English libel judgments. It is no cause for pride that our courts attract libel claimants.
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Chancery Lane is fighting for members’ interests in testing times
Time passes quickly. Three months after becoming president it remains the case that the main challenge facing the profession is change. After all of the changes currently in train are complete, one hopes (prays) for a period of constancy, unlikely as that may seem. Alas, ...
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Law China delegation to promote UK entrants
China offers business opportunities for UK law firms of all sizes, not just the magic circle, the Law Society’s head of international told the Gazette this week as a Chancery Lane delegation visits the country on a joint mission with the Bar Council. Representatives of the ...
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My experience as a conveyancing client
They say moving home is one of the most stressful things you can do in life. Having just moved house myself, I can understand why. But it did at least provide me with a useful insight into the conveyancing process from a client’s perspective. And I’m afraid the news isn’t ...
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News
Exposing the pretence of clothing property with the value of goodwill
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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News
Exposing the pretence of clothing real property, land, with the value of goodwill
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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News
Government retreats on plans for contingency fees
The government last week withdrew plans to create a legislative framework for contingency fees in contentious work. Amendments proposed for the Coroners & Justice Bill aimed to regulate so-called damages-based agreements (DBAs) used in tribunals – which are deemed non-contentious – and also allow the justice ...
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Does a recent decision mean some people will never escape past convictions?
Imagine the scene, you are 18 years old, you have rather unwisely been a bit rowdy after sampling your first shandy and the overworked police officer has arrested you for a breach of the peace. You are not judged to be a serious threat to society and are bound over ...
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Course fees too low
Your opinion column about rising university costs being a hindrance to ‘poor’ students misses the point. The price set for law degrees and the LPC is determined not just by providers but also those buying courses.
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Superlawyer saves the day
Clients may have a habit of thinking their business must be dealt with as a matter of life and death but, just occasionally, they do have a point. A client dinner attended by quick-thinking solicitor Richard Taylor, an intellectual property partner at DLA Piper, is a prime example of how ...
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Firms settle trademark dispute
Nottingham firm Paragon Law has forced West Bromwich and Peterborough firm Paragon Solicitors to change its name and pay legal costs after a trade mark dispute. Paragon Solicitors has now changed its name to H&V Solicitors and paid £20,000 to Paragon Law in costs. The Paragon ...
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Dubious principles
In the first of this year’s BBC Reith lectures, Professor Michael Sandel spoke of ‘a new citizenship’; a politics oriented less to the pursuit of individual self interest and more to the pursuit of the common good. He criticised the policies of the last 30 years as ‘a heady, reckless ...