All News articles – Page 1739
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News
How Pinochet tainted Hoffmann's brilliant career
So, farewell then Lord Hoffmann. The much misspelled judge retired as a law lord this week to earn some real money as an international arbitrator and mediator. He will practise from Brick Court Chambers – whose joint head, Jonathan Hirst QC, proclaimed that Hoffmann’s ‘reputation as one of the leading ...
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Breaking the deadlock
The Ministry of Justice must wish it had never begun reforming the personal injury (PI) claims process. It agonised for a year before announcing the results of its 2007 consultation and then watered down its new process so much that it barely seems worth all the bother. ...
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US education provider in for BPP law school
BPP Holdings, which owns BPP Law School, announced today that it has received a buyout-approach from US education provider Apollo Global. BPP told the stock exchange that it has received a preliminary approach to purchase the company at 620p per share in cash, a 70% premium ...
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Hopes for tech and media bonanza unfounded, research shows
Hopes that a boom in technology, media and telecoms (TMT) activity could offset the slump in financial services and property may be unrealistic, new research has suggested. A survey published last week predicts a downturn in the TMT sector because of funding problems faced by businesses. ...
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Fight for your rights to better service
The shrinking number of legal IT vendors and the use of Microsoft by those which remain is a good thing, not a bad thing...
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Impact of budget belt-tightening may not last
I’ll bet some of the law’s City types were at home last night tapping away frantically on a calculator, and I’ll bet that 50% figured in most, if not all, of their equations. Yes, the taxman will be pocketing more of their take home pay – and all in the ...
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No bar to progress
Your article, ‘Bar regulator "in stone age" over LDPs’ focuses on the views expressed by a sole practitioner who claims that ‘the Bar Standards Board is "single-handedly frustrating government policy" by its tardiness in changing rules to permit barristers to join legal disciplinary practices’ (see [2009] Gazette, 9 April, 3). ...
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Vince Cable condemns bankruptcy regime
Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman Vince Cable (pictured) has urged restraint in bringing bankruptcy proceedings, saying the process is too ‘cumbersome and costly,’ which allows lawyers to make ‘easy money’. In an interview for the Law Society’s Property in Practice magazine, Cable said that more protections ...
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Denied assistance
Roger Smith is right to underline the need for effective representation in police stations at a time when that service is being seriously undermined by the extension of the Defence Solicitor Call Centre and CDS Direct to own-solicitor cases. I claim to be one of the founders of the ...
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Criminal law: witness anonymity, automatic deportation
In R v Davis [2008] UKHL 36, the House of Lords held that the use of anonymous witnesses whose evidence was critical to the conviction, rendered a trial unfair without a statutory scheme being in force.
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(Almost) goodbye to the 'crusading cop'
Regarding Roger Smith’s column on the Cardiff Three case (see [2009] Gazette, 17 April, 6), Lord Taylor’s comments on listening to the taped interviews have for me remained the benchmark whenever I attend a client interview at a police station.
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Commission keeps it simple on legal aid contracts
The Legal Services Commission will allow only one model of consortium in the civil bid round for 2010 legal aid contracts, it has announced. The civil contracts tender process will not begin before September, but the LSC said it wanted to provide clarification and explanation of ...
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Bar thinktank proposes contingent legal aid fund
A contingent legal aid fund (CLAF) could ensure access to justice and help solve the legal aid crisis, according to a report published today by a Bar Council thinktank. The Policy Advisory Group, led by former bar chairman Guy Mansfield QC, proposes a self-funding, not-for-profit scheme ...
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Darling cuts and cuts again
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and the Law Officers Departments will have to make a further £85m in efficiency savings as a result of today’s budget. Chancellor Alistair Darling (pictured) today (22 April) earmarked an additional £5bn in efficiency savings across government on ...
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East African joint ventures and new public bodies
Mobile Africa: City firm Lewis Silkin advised Made in Africa, an organisation that encourages economic growth in east Africa, on a joint venture agreement with Monitise, a mobile phone banking technology company. Monitise East Africa will bring together multiple banks, mobile operators and ...
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Fraud case judge slams solicitor- advocates for ‘incompetence’
An extraordinary public row has erupted over the role of solicitor-advocates after a Crown Court judge told a court that he came close to discharging a jury because of concerns that a solicitor lacked the competence to represent his client properly. Speaking in open court at ...
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Someone remind the MoJ what the Legal Services Act is for
This week’s news that price comparison site Moneysupermarket.com is getting into personal injury leads, or referrals as lawyers might see them, is more interesting than it seems in terms of regulation and the new landscape of what a legal business actually is.
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News
Youth custody review cuts imprisonment by 42%
A pilot scheme to review youth imprisonment cases has cut the number of custodial sentences by 42%, a study revealed this week. In a joint report on custody panels, the Howard League for Penal Reform and the Local Government Association said the number of young people ...
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Regulator probes 10 firms over misleading debt claims
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is investigating 10 firms for accepting business from claims management companies that have misled consumers about the prospects of getting debts written off. The regulator renewed an earlier warning about doing business with such introducers, following what it described as a ‘rash ...
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Exhibition celebrates 60 years of legal aid
Sixty years after the birth of legal aid, 83% of the general public say they have little or no knowledge of the scheme, according to new research. To fill the gap, and to mark the anniversary of the passing of the Legal Aid Act in July, the Legal Services Commission ...