All News articles – Page 1771
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News
E-working compulsory from 2010
Electronic working will be compulsory for civil legal aid providers from 2010 under plans announced by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission’s Delivery Transformation programme aims to save £7m a year. It will expand the use of online billing, ensure that ...
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2009 a year to endure rather than prosper
Many practitioners could be forgiven for bidding a hearty good riddance to 2008, but for the fact that 2009 will almost certainly be even more challenging. In a week when the normally taciturn Barclays chief executive John Varley was accused of talking down the housing ...
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Data page for December 2008
The data page is financial rates and data compiled for the Law Society Gazette by Moneyfacts Group, the UK's largest supplier of savings and mortgage data. Downloads Download the ...
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Word on the street
Let’s face it: if you’re left cold by Olympic sport and televised ballroom dancing, 2008 wasn’t a great year for culture. However, it did produce a spate of books written by lawyers, former lawyers, or with a legal theme. So, if you’re hunting down a ...
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A stain on our reputation
I note that the authors of the Solicitor’s Handbook 2008 say that the solution to compliance in respect of referral arrangements is to send out compliance packs (see [2008] Gazette, 20 November, 9). Wrong. But the solution to non-compliance can, as they contend, be described ...
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A new insurance policy
We are learning the hard way about the hazards of an economic model predicated on letting the market rip. In the market for professional indemnity insurance (PII), some of these hazards are evident in microcosm. When the market was soft and premiums low, it appeared sensible for firms to obtain ...
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Sharia inaccuracy
The news item headed ‘Sharia "could have averted crisis"’ is inaccurate because it suggests 85% of all transactions approved by financial institutions’ own sharia boards are not compliant with the standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions in Bahrain (AAOIFI) (see [2008] Gazette, 27 November, 6). ...
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Tribunal judges must be impartial
Your 4 December issue contained an advertisement for chairmen of Employment Tribunals (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 22). The advertisement reads: ‘Can you help put right the wrongs? We all know somebody who has been unfairly treated at work, but we often feel helpless to do anything about it. If ...
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Points-based immigration
Now the old work permit scheme has gasped its last breath, employers and legal practitioners alike may soon recall with fondness the bygone age of the paper work permit. On 27 November, the work permit scheme was replaced by tier 2 of the points-based system (PBS) ...
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Human rights
Bicycles – Exemptions – Notification - Processions Kay v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis: HL (Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, Lord Rodger of Earlsferry, Baroness Hale of Richmond, Lord Carswell, Lord Brown of Eaton-under-Heywood): 26 November 2008 ...
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Salaried partners need guidance
I refer to BD Woodhams’ letter ‘Unworkable scenario’ (see [2008] Gazette, 13 November, 13). This concerned the reprimand given to a salaried partner by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal, even though she was not aware of the infringements caused by the sole equity partner of the firm in question.
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'Name and shame' threat for top firms
Some of the biggest names on the international law scene are likely to figure in an investigation aimed at naming and shaming firms doing business in Burma, the Gazette can reveal. Pressure group Burma Campaign UK (BCUK) said this week that it is already ‘actively investigating’ ...
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Flamenco fever
Forget Strictly Come Dancing, now promenading towards its sequined climax; flamenco fever is sweeping the legal profession. Bethany Burrow, a corporate associate in the London office of US firm Sidley Austin, together with some of her dance class, including Joan Vis of Tyrer Roxburgh & Co and Mac Macmillan of ...
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News
PII insurers face standards scrutiny
Insurers and brokers offering professional indemnity insurance (PII) could be given a set of service standards following complaints over this year’s renewals. Because some brokers provided ‘bad customer service’ to solicitors, the Law Society’s PII crisis group will discuss ‘appropriate service levels’ with insurers and brokers ...
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Council reforms not workable
While it may be perceived to be a little anomalous for Law Society Council members to extend the nature of the debate from the Council chamber to the columns of the Gazette, a rejoinder to the letter of Tim O’Sullivan might be of interest to the profession (see [2008], Gazette, ...
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Council lawyers 'in well-being denial'
Council lawyers have been told to change the way they work and become more entrepreneurial after research found many are not using a far-reaching legal power at their disposal. A four-year investigation carried out by the University of Birmingham, the Cities Research Centre and the University ...
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Contingency fee problems 'modest'
It is worth emphasising a few points regarding contingency fees (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 2). The evidence is not that contingency fees present no problems, but that those problems are more modest than many assume. They do not give rise to rampant, unmerited litigation, but they do give rise ...
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Complaints and planning options
Your article ‘LCS to cut spend by 10% next year’ offers a number of assumptions about the future Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) and the role within it of Legal Complaints Service (LCS) staff (see [2008] Gazette, 4 December, 3).
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Clamping down on corruption
In the 16th century, Bishop Latimer said of judges: ‘They all love bribes. Bribery is a princely kind of thieving.’ Corruption and its effect is therefore nothing new, and yet the government’s attempt to reform the bribery laws to reflect modern business reality has been long and tortuous. ...
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Cash desk
Never mind the frosty meteorological and economic climate - partners at a firm in Barnard Castle, County Durham, have good reason to be full of festive cheer. Clearing out some furniture, the family-run practice found it had what antique expert and TV presenter David Dickinson would call ‘a real bobby ...