All News articles – Page 1733
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News
City law firms to lose out to regions
Regional law firms look set to benefit at the expense of their City rivals in the coming year, research seen by the Gazette has indicated. A survey by research agency Acritas of 500 senior in-house counsel at large and mid-sized organisations showed that 29% were planning ...
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Law Society responds to PII concerns
I want to take the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Law Society to some of the comments that have been made in response to recent articles in the Gazette about PII, and to clarify our position. I want to do so to rebut some of the more fanciful ...
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Conflicting messages
I cannot be the only person who is left feeling utterly bemused by the conflicting ideas that have been aired in the Gazette of late.
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Sole practitioners removed from Co-Op panel as no deal reached
Sole practitioners in England and Wales have been removed from the conveyancing panel of the merged Britannia Building Society and Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) after negotiations with the Law Society failed to reach agreement. However, their colleagues in Scotland and Northern Ireland have been granted an ...
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UK corporate firms face growing threat from ‘zealous’ prosecutors
The financial crisis provides a ‘golden opportunity for zealous prosecutors’ in the UK to bring proceedings across a broader range of activities, according to a leading criminal silk. Speaking at the International Association of Defence Counsel’s conference in Paris, Richard Lissack QC of London’s Outer Temple ...
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Fixed costs folly
The news from the current Civil Litigation Costs review by Lord Jackson becomes more depressing by the day. Despite the fact that raising the small claims limit has been debated fully in the recent past, the threat is being made again...
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Muttley crew
As lawyers know, when the Legal Services Act 2007 comes fully into force, they will be able to choose from lots of different ‘vehicles’ in which to operate. Speaking at the Young Barristers conference last weekend, Robin Tolson QC of London’s Outer Temple, clearly a fan of the Wacky ...
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Offloading toxic debts and drug sales
Toxic debt: Magic circle firm Slaughter and May and US firm Sullivan & Cromwell advised Barclays on offloading £7.5bn of toxic debt to offshore hedge fund Protium Finance. Protium’s management company C12, composed of former Barclays bankers, will be paid £240m in fees ...
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London and the south-east are learning from the lessons of the downturn
Money is still being made in London and its environs, with a recent bellwether survey suggesting that large law firms – of which the region has more than its fair share – are ‘over the worst’.
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Factory flaw
The newly announced Claims Process for RTA claims valued up to £10,000 is the latest attack on the rights of those injured in road traffic accidents.
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Title hijack
I may be alone but I was not aware, with the coming into force of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, that solicitors will no longer bear the illustrious title of ‘Solicitor of the Supreme Court’.
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Homeward pound
They say in business that Cash is King, but at Brixton firm Ziadies it’s not only notes bearing the Queen’s head that are legal (sic) tender. The firm says it accepts a new local currency, the Brixton pound, or the B£, as valid payment for oaths and affidavits. The initiative ...
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Memory lane
Describing the decorum of a past National Conference. Book review of Lawyer Heal Thyself, a divorce lawyer with marital issues. Law Society’s Gazette, October 1969 ...
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Lovells ‘in US merger talks’
City firm Lovells and US firm Hogan & Hartson are discussing a merger to create a firm with combined revenues of more than £1bn, according to reports. The firm would comprise 2,500 lawyers and would be among the 10 largest in the world if the tie-up ...
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Ode to nowhere
On no – what have we done. After being roundly castigated for describing conveyancing and probate as ‘prosaic’, the Gazette coupled a shamefaced apology with a tongue-in-cheek plea for poems celebrating those undervalued disciplines. And still they come. This week Peter W Marsh, of Peter ...
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PII – problems and solutions
Having read the ‘Solution to the insurance crisis’ letter (1 October) it occurs to me that, if those solicitors who actually meet their conveyancing clients (and there are still many of us), forwarded the copy passport and driving licence or other ID ...
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What kind of law firm are you? NB: You may not know the answer
The legal services market appears to be on the up, at least for the big firms. Mortgage approvals are rising. Halifax Legal Express wants to recruit a panel to deal with the legal services enquiries its automated system can't handle.
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Chancery Lane ‘dismay’ at Co-op’s panel cull
The Law Society has expressed its ‘dismay’ at the decision by Co-operative Financial Services to cut 3,600 sole practitioners from its conveyancing panel. The Society said that the Co-op has jeopardised its ethical image by threatening consumer choice and putting solicitors’ livelihoods at risk. Access to ...