All News articles – Page 1748
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News
BSB to revamp barristers’ code
The Bar Standards Board is to overhaul the barristers’ code of conduct to bring it into line with other regulatory instruments and create a set of ‘clear and user friendly’ professional rules. It will be the first structural change to the code since its introduction in 1981.
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Solicitors more trusted than barristers
Solicitors are the most trusted of the white-collar professions, according to a survey carried out for the Bar Standards Board (BSB).
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Driving a hard bargain: the ins and outs of hire claims
Rather than settling down, credit hire claims in many courts all over the country appear to be on the increase. Certain key issues have been settled in three chapters of litigation to have reached the House of Lords: (a) credit hire agreements are not champertous ...
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Whitehall's concessions over secret inquests are a mixed bag
Can a secret inquest ever be justified after a person has died at the hands of the state? Or does the government deserve some credit for limiting the likelihood that future inquests will be held behind closed doors? That was a key issue that divided MPs as they spent two ...
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Solicitors’ defence union back under discussion
Solicitors facing disciplinary hearings or complaints procedures could receive formal representation under a defence scheme being considered by the Law Society. The Society says it is studying the idea of setting up a legal defence union as a voluntary or compulsory scheme. The Society’s Membership ...
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Costs reforms must avoid creating more problems
by Anthony Hughes, president of the Forum of Insurance LawyersNot since Lord Justice Woolf started his review, Access to Justice, in the late 1990s has there been so much interest in the civil justice system.
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No more automatic secrecy for disciplined judges
The names of judges removed from office following disciplinary proceedings will no longer be kept secret, justice secretary Jack Straw (pictured) announced last week. Launching the second annual report of the Office of Judicial Complaints (OJC), he said there would now be a presumption that ...
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[April spoof] Bankers to be fast-tracked into law
[1 April 2009 spoof story] city law firms have welcomed government plans to fast-track redundant investment bankers into the solicitors’ profession. Under what the Ministry of Justice is calling ‘Fast Track to Success’, former bankers are to undergo a month’s intensive legal tuition before sitting examinations ...
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Pro bono winners urged to apply for costs
The former attorney general has urged pro bono lawyers to use new legislation to apply for costs when they win a case, to support wider access to justice. Lord Goldsmith told City Law School’s pro bono fair that lawyers doing pro bono cases can apply for costs orders under section ...
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MoJ announces new wave of domestic violence courts
Eighteen specialist courts are to open to help victims of domestic violence, the Ministry of Justice has announced. The new courts, in eastern England, East Midlands, London, the north-east, north-west, south-west, West Midlands and Yorkshire and Humberside will take the total of specialist domestic violence courts to 122. ...
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Allen & Overy hosts launch of pioneering share index
The world’s first stockmarket index for professional services firms was launched this week at the City of London headquarters of magic circle firm Allen & Overy. A key aim of the initiative is to educate analysts and institutional investors about the potential benefits of investing ...
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Family legal aid fees will leave solicitors worse off
The proposed fixed fees for family legal aid work will leave solicitors worse off, according to a Law Society survey published today.
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Tories ponder ways to alleviate legal aid ‘crisis’
A contingency legal aid fund and private sector investment are among proposals being considered by the Conservatives to overhaul a legal aid system ‘in crisis’, shadow justice secretary Dominic Grieve QC told the Gazette in an interview published today on our website.
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FSA proposes greater client account protection
Client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts could be given far greater protection in the event of a bank collapse, under changes proposed by the Financial Services Authority. The FSA is suggesting increasing the upper limit of compensation for ‘temporary high balances’, which includes money held ...
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Society seeks urgent talks after Abbey cuts panel
The Law Society is to hold urgent talk with retail bank Abbey next week after reports that the bank has removed many firms from its approved panel of solicitors without notice. This has affected new start-ups, sole practices and firms not instructed by Abbey for ...
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Abbey strikes thousands from conveyancing panel
Hundreds of solicitors across England and Wales reacted with shock and dismay last week after mortgage provider Abbey halved the size of its panel for residential conveyancing. Some 6,050 law firm offices have been removed from the 12,000-strong panel as part of a rationalisation ...
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Abbey panel consolidation – update
Abbey has declined to reinstate 542 law firm offices removed from its conveyancing panel but will be writing today (27 March) to all those affected by the consolidation exercise. All will have an opportunity to reapply to join a panel consolidating Abbey’s panel members with those of Alliance & Leicester, ...
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Barty calls it a day – after 54 years
Winston Churchill retired, Ruth Ellis was hanged and Bill Haley rocked around the clock. In the same year – 1955 – John Barty qualified as a solicitor. He’s been practising in Bournemouth ever since, mainly as partner and senior partner with Rendall Litchfield, now part of Rawlins Davy. After 54 ...
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Data page for March 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 Page for March 2009 below ...
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Rickett takes 10-race challenge
Jacob Rickett, environmental law assistant at Browne Jacobson in Nottingham, is looking to complete a 10-race challenge in a year – including full and half marathons – to raise money for the charity Arthritis Care. Rickett, 27, has a special reason for his passion. He has been diagnosed with ankylosing ...