All News articles – Page 1786
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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Why solicitors are best equipped to be notaries
Having qualified as a solicitor at Allen & Overy, my experience has always been in the commercial world. I then spent eight years in private practice with commercial firms in Hong Kong. While I was in Hong Kong, I became a notary. On returning to the UK, I qualified as ...
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Biggest ever survey of women solicitors
The biggest ever survey of women’s status and role within the profession may contradict recent suggestions that the recession is having less impact on female workers than on men, the new chairwoman of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) said last week.
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Social welfare boost
A quarter of a million more people will qualify for help with social welfare problems following a 5% rise in the cut-off threshold for civil legal aid, the Ministry of Justice announced last week. Lord Bach, legal aid minister, told the Advice Services Alliance conference in ...
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Bring on equality
I read with some disbelief Jack Straw’s remarks. On what planet is this man living, or more frighteningly, what planet are those who advise him living on?
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Council legal departments face budget crunch
Local authorities face gaps in the availability of legal advice in key areas as council legal departments struggle to cope with rising demand and diminishing resources, according to exclusive research for the Gazette. A survey of 124 heads of legal found respondents predicting a rise in ...
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Chancery Lane dismisses NHS ‘cash cow’ claim
The Law Society has taken issue with a Sunday Times report alleging that fee-hungry lawyers use the NHS as a ‘£100m cash cow’ in making compensation claims. Chief executive Des Hudson (pictured) said the best way for the NHS Litigation Authority to pare legal costs ...
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Clifford Chance freezes pay
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance today (31 March) announced a pay freeze for all lawyers and business services staff worldwide. Around 3,800 lawyers will be affected, across the firm’s 30 global offices. In a statement, Clifford Chance said it will hold salaries ...
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Civil evidence
Real property – Admissibility – Limitations – Without prejudice communications Ofulue & Anor v Bossert: HL (Lords Hope of Craighead, Scott of Foscote, Rodger of Earlsferry, Walker of Gestingthorpe, Neuberger of Abbotsbury): 11 March 2009 ...
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Handling of some fast-track claims gives rise to serious concerns
by District Judge David Oldham. The Civil Procedure Rules are 10 years old. Their ambition was to sweep away undue delay, complexity and heavy costs with new procedures for civil cases.
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Clarification: Franks Solicitors
We have been asked to clarify that Franks Solicitors of London E8, which is the subject of an SRA intervention (see [2009] Gazette, 19 March, 23), is not the same firm as Franks & Co of Cursitor Street, London EC4A.
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UK has more lifers than rest of Europe combined
England and Wales sentence more prisoners to life than all 46 other Council of Europe member states combined, according to the Howard League for Penal Reform. Figures released this week show that 12,090 men, women and children in England and Wales are serving life sentences, ...
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LSB consults on regulatory independence
The Legal Services Board has today (25 March) launched a consultation on regulatory independence. A new document sets out proposals for rules that would require the separation of regulatory work from any representative work at eight approved regulators, including the Law Society. It also deals with rules necessary to approve ...