All News articles – Page 1758
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Memory lane
The Law Society’s Gazette, 7 July 1999 City warning over information billObtaining information from public bodies could become more difficult and expensive when the Freedom of Information Bill ...
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Legacies at risk
I read with interest the comments of Peter Steer, from Wilsons Solicitors, in your feature about charities (see [2009] Gazette, 25 June, 10).
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Veale Wasbrough poised to merge with Vizards Tweedie
Veale Wasbrough and Vizards Tweedie today announced that they are engaged in advanced merger talks. The combined firm would have about 330 members of staff and 46 partners, operating from offices in central Bristol and Fetter Lane in London and generating a combined turnover of £22m. ...
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Nerd watching
Not satisfied with the daily dramas of the law, members of Blackpool firm Blackhursts Budd have for the past 10 years supported their local amateur dramatic company, Poulton Drama. The group has three solicitors, a district judge and two former solicitors among its members. Blackhursts Budd (formed recently by the ...
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LSC makes adjustments to civil contract proposals following concerns
The Legal Services Commission said it had ‘taken on board’ concerns from the profession in amendments it announced yesterday to its final proposals for the new civil contract and bid round. The tendering process for the three-year contracts will begin in September. It will be run ...
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Society backs FSA move on high deposits
The Law Society has welcomed the Financial Services Authority’s proposal to provide extra protection for holders of temporary high deposit balances in the event of a failure of a UK bank. The current maximum deposit protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme is £50,000 per individual, ...
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Clifford Chance posts sharp drop in profits
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today reported a sharp fall in profit per equity partner (PEP) on top of declining revenues. PEP for the year to 30 April 2009 was down 37% on 2007/08, falling from £1.15m to £733,000. Revenues fell 5%, from £1.33bn in 2008 ...
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MoJ to crack down on contingency fees
The government is seeking a new power to regulate contingency fees – which is likely to include a percentage cap - in a bill tabled today. A new clause in the Coroners and Justice Bill introduced into the House of Lords today will provide the statutory ...
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Society proposes conveyancing shake-up
A chain matrix-style online portal and an updated conveyancing protocol are among measures outlined in a Law Society consultation published today to improve the home-buying and selling process. The electronic conveyancing portal will enable parties to track the progress of their transaction. Unlike the scheme trialled ...
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Are you getting a good reception?
Musing on Rupert White’s recent blog about the legal lunch hour, I couldn’t help wondering about the number of examples of poor reception (on the phone or in person) that I have come across among law firms. Or is it simply that no one really manages the reception experience?
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Are lawyers more like opticians or pharmacists?
We have read that Chris Kenny, chief executive of the Legal Services Board, thinks that the £20m it will take to set up the LSB is not a ‘real issue’ – presumably just small change. Well, I hope that he keeps a penny or two out of it to pay ...
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Data page for June 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 ...
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We shouldn’t celebrate 60 years of legal aid with a wake
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. So, the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland – a public servant – is set to trouser £10m if he sorts out the mess bequeathed by ‘Fred the Shred’. Meanwhile, Alistair Darling delivers a feeble speech to City high-rollers at the ...
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CPS launches national advocacy assessment
A national system of advocacy assessment will be introduced across the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure quality, the director of public prosecutions announced today. Keir Starmer QC (pictured) said the new advocacy quality management strategy will monitor performance and target training. It will be implemented ...
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Top legal aid firm avoids closure by HMRC
Top London legal aid firm Duncan Lewis has avoided being shut down by HM Revenue & Customs after falling behind in tax payments because of delayed settlements from the Legal Services Commission. A petition to wind up Duncan Lewis, last year the highest earning civil legal ...
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New anti-terrorism legislation is ill-considered and unnecessary
Nine-nil. The House of Lords does not get more decisive than that: control orders are incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. Alan Johnson, the new boy at the Home Office, duly declared their Lordships’ judgment ‘disappointing’. But it is more the government that merits disappointment than the judges. ...
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Bad scheme based on poor evidence
In 1984 the Law Society Children Panel was set up to provide quality assurance of children’s representation in care proceedings. The tandem approach has developed into a world-recognised model of good practice. Solicitors became expert negotiators and advocates appearing at all levels of court, and mutual respect grew between solicitors ...
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Barclays sale, TomTom share offering and company takeover
Barclays sale: Magic circle firm Clifford Chance, alongside US firm Sullivan & Cromwell, advised Barclays (pictured) on the $13.5bn (£8.2bn) sale of its global investment arm. The buyer, US investment manager BlackRock, was advised by magic circle firm Linklaters and US firm Skadden.
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Straw vows corruption bill will become law
Justice secretary Jack Straw has told parliament that he is determined to ensure that the draft bribery bill becomes legislation before a general election. He was responding last week to a joint committee’s concerns about the parliamentary time available for the new measure, which would create two new offences.
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Best value tendering: working for nothing
Over the last couple of years, the Legal Services Commission has churned out consultation upon consultation about unpopular legal aid reforms. But, despite a severe case of consultation fatigue, over 1,000 groups or individuals responded to its second paper on best value tendering (BVT), demonstrating the strength of feeling within ...