All News articles – Page 1825
-
News
Tories ready for HIP replacement
I have just read your news item speculating that the Conservative Party may abandon its pledge to scrap home information packs (HIPs) (see [2008] Gazette, 2 October, 2). This is not true. At the party conference, shadow housing minister Grant Shapps said: ‘The government is in ...
-
News
Life on the inside
A scathing report of Paddington Green police station deals a blow to the 42-day lobby. The prospect of Parliament backing 42 days’ pre-charge detention in terrorist cases seems to have receded even further this week with the publication of an inside account of conditions at ...
-
News
Matters of routine
A positive way to look at LPO is that it will enable solicitors to focus on work that genuinely requires their expertise. Kerry Underwood, as many readers will know, is not a man to pull his punches. The Hertfordshire solicitor, who was at the cutting edge ...
-
News
Review of regulation
A separate compliance regime for big City corporate firms is to be considered as part of a profession-wide review of regulation, the Gazette can reveal. The development comes amid indications that some of the UK’s biggest practices are considering alternatives to the existing system of ...
-
News
Adding less insult to injury
The ‘blame game’ over fees must not detract from the critical issue of clinical safety within the NHS. The Gazette recently featured the headline ‘lawyers blamed for negligence fees rise’ (see [2008] Gazette, 18 September, 2). I have serious concerns that the blame game over fees ...
-
News
New Labour's legal aid folly
You ‘fat-cat’ solicitors are in reality doing more for less. Did you know that selling a grey squirrel is now against the law? There is gallows (sic) humour in the fact that New Labour has created 3,600 new criminal offences since it came to power ...
-
News
Anger at ‘propaganda’ of MoJ family courts report
Activists have dismissed a Ministry of Justice (MoJ) commissioned survey into family courts’ handling of contact orders as ‘propaganda’. The survey of 11 courts, by Oxford University’s Centre for Family Law and Policy, found that the perception that courts awarded non-resident parents little or no contact ...
-
News
Battle won
Five retired Gurkhas and a serviceman’s widow have successfully challenged an immigration policy preventing Gurkhas who retired before 1997 from settling in the UK. Tuesday’s judgment by Mr Justice Blake at the High Court alluded to the Military Covenant, an agreement between servicemen and the nation to honour debts of ...
-
News
Killer bill
For general counsel, the hours spent poring over legal bills is probably not the highlight of the job. But, every now and again, a rare gem may be uncovered – something that cracks a smile or even draws a snigger. At the C5 forum on reducing ...
-
News
Bitter will to swallow
Readers may be aware of a new business model being launched where the legal profession is encouraged to ‘sign up’ to check online computer-generated wills for free. For more complex wills, the lawyer is able to charge for the service – but at no point would the lawyer meet the ...
-
News
Ghana’s black gold to lure lawyers
Oil and gas-rich Ghana could provide a wealth of opportunities for legal experts as it upgrades its legal and physical infrastructure, according to members of a lawyers’ trade mission. The mission, led by the Law Society’s International Division, met Ghanaian lawyers, government and industry figures ...
-
News
Typing blunders
Steamy goings-on in the Cotswolds. Richard Davies, of Kendall and Davies in Bourton-on-the-Water, continues our series on legal typing errors with the all-time classic ‘sex party application’. He recently received a letter on a matrimonial matter from solicitors acting for his client's husband – referring to his ‘Stella contribution’. ...
-
News
In-house lawyers ‘bullied’ by firms
Corporate counsel are being bullied into retaining panels of law firms despite conflicts of interest, a conference heard last week. Counsel at the C5 Reducing Legal Costs event reported taking the decision to drop law firms from their panel because those firms were simultaneously advising competitors – but some said ...
-
News
Diversity charter threat
The Society of Asian Lawyers (SAL) has threatened to withdraw its support for the Law Society’s diversity charter, amid fears it will be watered down. The scheme, initiated by SAL and supported by BT, is modelled on a project in the US. It aims to ...
-
News
LSB chief pledges separation of powers with the Society
Ensuring robust separation between the Law Society and Solicitors Regulation Authority will be a priority of the Legal Services Board, its chairman has promised. In a speech at the Law Society last week, David Edmonds highlighted the weight he places on the proper independence both of ...
-
News
Firms shut as cover crisis deepens
High street firms are being forced to close because they cannot afford to pay vastly increased professional indemnity insurance (PII) premiums, while hundreds more are destined to end up in the assigned risks pool (ARP), the Gazette has learned.
-
News
CPA plans huge India expansion
CPA Global, the legal process outsourcing (LPO) provider, is to expand its 450-strong team of lawyers in India nearly eight-fold, in response to growing demand from Europe and the US. The company expects to employ 3,500 lawyers in India by 2011, the Gazette has learned. The ...
-
News
The international dimension
Globalisation is the defining characteristic of the profession and must not be obstructed by protectionist impulses, which may re-emerge as the economy declines.
-
News
Employment: no regrets
Sometimes it appears that life is all about regrets. That ill-advised ‘Law Society’ tattoo on qualification, the scurrilous suggestion that the little girl singing at the Olympic opening ceremony was miming, and indeed the rude comments many of us may have made about the likely spectacle Britain will present to ...
-
News
Employment
Banking and finance – Civil procedure – Contracts – Springboard relief (1) UBS Wealth Management (UK) Ltd (2) UBS AG London branch v Vestra Wealth LLP & 5 ors: QBD (Mr Justice Openshaw): 4 August 2008. ...