The Law Society Gazette, 21 September 2006

Major breaches of referral fee rules

The Law Society Regulation Board was this week considering the future regulation of referral fees after an investigation by its practice standards unit found ‘significant evidence’ of breaches of the rules. Possible courses of action include issuing further guidance to consumers and solicitors, taking tougher enforcement action, or undertaking a full review.

18 September 1996

Bid to lower advocacy hurdles

The prospect of growing numbers of solicitor advocates in the higher courts looked significantly brighter this week following a meeting between representatives of the Law Society and the lord chancellor’s advisory committee on legal education and conduct. Only 420 solicitors have achieved rights of audience in the higher courts, whether for civil or criminal proceedings, or both.

17 September 1986

Public relations and the legal professional

Since October 1984 solicitors have wrestled with the problem of how to take advantage of their new-found freedom to promote their services. May have bought time and space and filled it with persuasive, biased messages which, given the advertising guidelines and restrictions, can in truth do no more than create a general awareness of the firm.

15 September 1976

Interrogation of political internees

In their recent report on the case of Ireland v The United Kingdom, the European Commission of Human Rights has condemned, as constituting a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights, the use by British security forces in Northern Ireland, in 1971, of interrogation techniques which included the hooding of detainees, depriving them of food and sleep and requiring them to stand upright for long periods.

September 1946

Notes of the month

An interesting poser might well be ‘name the London solicitor whose recent achievement has made him “news” in the press of every civilised country’. The answer is, of course, Sydney Wooderson, who at Oslo in the European Games won the 5,000 metres in a race which competent judges say will go down in athletics history as one of the greatest races of all time. Mr Wooderson was admitted in 1938.

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