All News articles – Page 1735
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News
Lawyer’s big news
Nearly four years after Big Brother Series Six was aired, former contestant Vanessa Layton is back… as a lawyer. And she’s not shy about it. Layton survived seven weeks in the reality TV show. Now in her penultimate year of study at law school, the 23-year-old tells us she ...
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Solicitors launch national brand with bean protest
Law firms appeared outside the Royal Courts of Justice today to stage a symbolic demonstration against the prospect of supermarkets and banks running legal services. To mark the launch of a new brand name QualitySolicitors.com, law firm members handed out cans of beans labelled: ‘Legal services by supermarkets is as ...
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Bad call over helpline criticism
Michael Burdett’s criticisms of CDS Direct and the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (Letters, 23 April) ignore recent positive comments by independent practitioners.
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Serious Fraud Office to ask parliament to grant it new powers
The Serious Fraud Office is to ask parliament to enhance its powers to fight fraudulent companies and corrupt directors, the Gazette has learned. The investigation and prosecution agency has begun consulting privately with senior lawyers and officials before it approaches parliament later in the year. Sources close to the discussions ...
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Jackson costs review backs CFAs, alternative dispute resolution
Lord Justice Jackson today (8 May) published his much-awaited preliminary report as part of his review of civil litigation costs. Speaking this morning, Master of the Rolls Sir Anthony Clarke, who commissioned the review, said Jackson’s final proposals will be given a ‘fair wind’ by the ...
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When asking ‘why’ all the time is the right thing to do
You know how it is; you tell a young child that you’re going to cut the grass, redecorate the bathroom or whatever, and you’re asked, ‘Why?’ Each answer you give is met with another ‘Why?’
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Top legal aid fee-earners named
The squeeze on legal aid spending has not yet consigned the million-pound-a-year legal aid barrister to history, Ministry of Justice statistics revealed last week. Charles Salmon QC of London’s Hare Court topped the annual league table of the highest-paid criminal legal aid barristers. He received ...
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After-the-event insurers seek clarity from Ministry of Justice
After-the-event (ATE) insurers are calling for a seat at negotiations about a new claims process amid fears that the question of when solicitors can take out insurance is back on the table. The Legal Expenses Insurance Group (LEIG), which represents seven insurers, has written to the ...
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Indemnity costs can add woe to a losing party’s bill
The recent High Court case of Noorani v Calver [2009] EWHC 592 (QB) has provided valuable guidance as to the factors a court will take into account when deciding whether to award costs to a party on an indemnity basis.
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Law Society to review access to justice
The Law Society has launched a wide-ranging review of access to justice to mark the 60th anniversary of legal aid. Andrew Caplen, chairman of the Society’s access to justice committee, will study the long-term policy options for publicly funded criminal and civil legal services, the Society said this week. ...
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Room for abuse
I spend a fair proportion of my time dealing with both lasting power of attorney and Court of Protection work, both of which bring me into contact with local GP practices, whose doctors act as certificate providers and assess mental capacity on court form COP3.
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Spreading ‘good news’ about the profession
The legal profession ‘is in good shape,’ according to one of HM Treasury’s top dogs. Launching a report on the future of UK financial services at a Whitehall press briefing this morning, Paul Myners, financial services secretary to the Treasury, painted a bright picture of the state of all the ...
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Human rights lawyers expose violence against their Colombian counterparts
Sara Chandler is director of pro bono services at the College of Law, and is the Law Society Council member for the voluntary sector, and a member of the Law Society’s International Human Rights ...
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Plain speaking
Obiter would like to remind readers of the following article that no liability shall be implied by any failure to take, perfect or enforce any indemnity, guarantee or security in respect of the obligations to which this article relates or by any other ...
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Missed opportunities for reform
On 5 March Gazette reporter Jonathan Rayner wrote a deeply personal and disturbing account of his son’s experiences of the criminal justice and mental health services.
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Memory lane
The President reads the Barristers and Solicitors (qualification of women) Bill and the 1999 Women Lawyer Forum ‘Mainstreaming: dismantling the barriers’ The Law Society's Gazette, April 1919 ...
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Land Registry overhauls registration procedure
The Land Registry is to apply a new ‘early completion’ practice from 3 August, to ensure that registration applications are completed as quickly as possible. The practice will apply to all situations where an application for a discharge of whole has been received with another ...
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Kenny says LSB will transform the market
Chris Kenny (pictured), chief executive of the Legal Services Board, last week vowed to transform the legal services market, promising to promote competition and – as early as mid-2011 – license the first alternative business structures.
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Society survey will reveal salary inequalities
An in-depth investigation into solicitors’ salaries will reveal ‘significant inequalities’ between white members of the profession and those from black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. The warning came from Law Society president Paul Marsh (pictured) at the Minority Lawyers’ Conference at Chancery Lane on Saturday. ...