All News articles – Page 1800
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News
Solicitors act against personal injury ‘capture’
A solicitor group fighting the insurance company practice of ‘capturing’ personal injury clients is to meet the Ministry of Justice next week.
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News
Legal advice
Conditional fee agreements - Legal costs insurance - Solicitors’ powers Kier Tankard (appellant) v John Fredricks Plastics Ltd (respondent); (1) Fawcett Old Ltd (2) Michael Jane Hair & Beauty (appellants) v Yvonne Hibberd (respondent); Mark Jones (appellant) v Karl ...
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Legal advice
Breach of contract - Conditional fee arrangements - Costs - Retainers (1) Bray Walker Solicitors (a firm) (2) Bevans Bray Walkers Ltd (t/a Bevans) v Carlo Moise Silvera: QBD (Mr Justice Blake): 18 December 2008 ...
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How the Mortgage Arrears Protocol affects mortgage proceedings
With mortgage repossessions increasing, the government is stepping in with advice to mortgage lenders. As sources of mortgage finance dry up, families can find themselves facing higher mortgage costs, as well as other budgetary pressures. Their predicament has been exacerbated by the tough attitude of ...
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News
Five alive
Hats off to the London chambers formerly known as 5 Paper Buildings for its part in demolishing the myth that the bar is conservative and resistant to change. According to a press release, the chambers has engaged a brand strategist and a communications adviser to come up with a radical ...
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SRA may face challenge over in-house code anomaly
The Solicitors Regulation Authority may face a judicial review challenge over claims that it unfairly penalises in-house lawyers, the Gazette has learned.
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Army reports surge in recruitment inquiries
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) says it has had a surge of enquiries from solicitors and barristers about joining the army as legal advisers. Although figures from this year’s annual intake are not yet available, the MoD said the number of applicants was higher than in recent years, possibly because ...
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News
Liberty balance
In response to your editorial (see [2009] Gazette, 29 January, 8), I would like to express my agreement and fears for civil liberties. Placing coroners’ courts behind closed doors can only have been proposed to avoid government embarrassment and cover up mistakes. Jack Straw cannot be suggesting that ‘national security’ ...
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News
The balance of power
‘The common thread that underpins the Legal Services Board’s work is the consumer,’ declares the LSB’s first business plan, which was published a week ago. Nothing remarkable about that, though what is worth dwelling on is the role of the body’s consumer panel. Part critical friend, part watchdog’s watchdog, the ...
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Sixth-one years and one month - beat that
With some trepidation, Obiter announces a new holder of our secs appeal award for longest-serving legal secretary. Yvonne Drake began working as a legal secretary in January 1948 and, now a sprightly 77, is still working at Hampshire firm Footners. That’s 61 years and one month, a record that bumps ...
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Big rise in calls for help on stress
The number of case files opened by support group LawCare jumped by two-thirds last year, with stress the main cause of concern. LawCare said that it opened 500 case files and received another 1,925 calls in 2008. This compares with 301 case files and 1,310 calls in 2007. ...
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Solicitors dominate Office for Legal Complaints board
Three solicitors, but no barristers, have been appointed to the body charged with setting up and running a new consumer complaints system for the legal profession. The Legal Services Board on Tuesday named the six successful candidates for appointment to the Office for Legal Complaints, due to become operational next ...
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News
Criminal defence call centres may work, but are they justice?
At 9.37am on the Friday before Christmas, the display screen in the middle of the open-plan office indicates that 287 calls from police stations have so far been answered. It is the job of the Defence Solicitor Call Centre (DSCC) in Purley, Surrey (the DSCC’s other ...
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Capital economics
Like many institutions, the Law Society – and indeed the Gazette – get occasional stick for being allegedly metro-centric. Unfairly, of course – here in Chancery Lane we are perfectly cognisant of the world of flat hats and whippets that begins 100 metres north of the M25. And, contrary to ...
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Lawyers targeted as ID card users
Lawyers may be among the first customers of equipment to read UK identity cards, the minister in charge of the scheme said last week. Meg Hillier, undersecretary of state at the Home Office, told a conference on the business uses of ID cards that one ...
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Check medical examiners' credentials, solicitors warned
Defence solicitors have been advised to check the credentials of forensic medical examiners (FMEs) following a warning that police use of inexperienced agency staff may be putting detainees at risk. Ian Kelcey, chairman of the Law Society’s criminal law committee, said inadequately trained or qualified FMEs ...
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Council chief legal officer plan faces opposition
Proposals to require all local authorities to appoint a chief legal officer have run into opposition from groups representing senior council staff. The Law Society and Solicitors in Local Government (SLG) argue that the new post should replace the role of monitoring officer.
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News
Dealing with unclaimed surplus client funds
Solicitors going through the exercise of clearing their ledgers and dealing with unclaimed surplus client monies are being reminded of the role of the Treasury Solicitor's Bona Vacantia ('ownerless property') Division, which collects unclaimed funds on behalf of the Crown. The monies collected are transferred annually to the Exchequer to ...
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Means testing ‘will leave clients unrepresented’
Many defendants could go unrepresented under government proposals to means-test Crown Court legal aid and cap funds to reimburse those acquitted, the Law Society has warned. Responding to the two Ministry of Justice consultations that ended last week, Chancery Lane said: ‘The introduction of means testing ...
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MP condemns government on libel reform
Justice minister Bridget Prentice has come under fire for ‘dismissing’ arguments made by MPs in a debate on libel laws. In a letter to Prentice (pictured), seen by the Gazette, Rotherham MP Denis MacShane, who led the adjournment debate in December, said: ‘I regret deeply you ...