All News articles – Page 1773
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News
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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News
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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News
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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News
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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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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Bradley review 'revolution' in mental illness treatment of offenders
A report calling for offenders with mental health problems and learning difficulties to be identified and diverted to health rather than criminal justice services may revolutionise the handling of such cases. Lord Bradley’s review of people with mental health problems in the criminal ...
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News
Law Society president urged to contact Co-op on probate calls
The Law Society’s president has been asked to take up complaints that customers of the Co-operative’s funeral service business are being offered free probate advice from the firm’s legal services department. Following the Gazette’s report two weeks ago (see Gazette [2009] 23 April, 1), several ...
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MPs condemn LSC for ‘insensitive’ Cardiff cuts
MPs have condemned the Legal Services Commission for failing to consult the authorities in Wales over cuts to its Cardiff office. In a report published last week, the Commons Welsh Affairs Committee said the LSC’s ‘insensitive’ failure to contact either the Wales office or the ...
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News
New chair for QC panel
Professor Dame Joan Higgins (pictured) has been appointed as the new chairwoman of the Queen’s Counsel selection panel, to replace Lady Elizabeth Butler-Sloss. Higgins, 60, has been a lay member of the selection panel since 2005 and will be the third person to chair it since ...
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Enforcement: Charging and third-party debt orders
Section 24(1) of the Limitation Act 1980 (‘the 1980 act’) provides that an action cannot be brought on any judgment after the expiration of six years from the date on which the judgment became enforceable, unless an extension is granted on application by the judgment creditor.
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News
City watchdog ‘not yet ready’ to debate regulation of mortgages
City watchdog the Financial Services Authority is not yet ready to even begin the debate on regulation of the mortgage market, let alone offer recommendations, its chairman Adair Turner admitted today. Speaking at the FSA’s mortgage conference, Lord Turner said that the FSA’s detailed analysis of ...
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Solicitors favour sharp rise in employment tribunal claim limit
More than two-thirds of solicitors are in favour of scrapping the present £25,000 cap for breach of contract claims in employment tribunals, research by the Law Society suggests. The web survey found that 61 (70%) of 87 respondents thought the £25,000 cap should not be retained, ...
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Legal services at the cliff edge
The Law Management Section’s conference Rupert White mentioned a few days back was, I believe, a great success. Richard Susskind and Stephen Mayson, along with other contributors, delivered an excellent overview of the current state of and future challenges for the legal profession.
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News
Corridors of uncertainty
What makes the movie In The Loop (pictured) so funny is the way it portrays the chaos lurking just behind the veneer of government. Proof of its realism, if any were needed, came in a classic botch-up experienced by the Gazette last week. On Tuesday, we ...