Opinion – Page 198
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Opinion
Balfour and the law
100 years on, a 67-word statement by the British government still provokes fury. We should ask why.
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OpinionBOOK REVIEW: Why professor Susskind is wrong
What’s To Become of the Legal Profession? - Michael H. Trotter
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OpinionBOOK REVIEW: Standing in your own two feet
A Straightforward Guide to How to Be a Litigant in Person in the New Legal World – representing yourself in the civil courts, Michael Langford
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OpinionPeople power – the new normal
Law firms that put intellectual capital before personal gain should be applauded. Accepting a lower return is a price worth paying
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OpinionChain reaction
‘Blockchain deal bodes ill for conveyancers’, the Gazette reported on 16 October. At their own risk, parties can always bypass solicitors and, for example, prepare their own transfer deed, so it is surprising the Gazette devotes space to this. Neil Singer seems not to understand the purpose of land ...
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OpinionHeavy price of 'efficiency'
One of the reasons why the defence solicitor son of your recent correspondent is ‘paid a pittance’ (letters, 16 October) may be the profession’s lemming-like acceptance of so-called ‘franchising’ and the time-limited criminal contracts in the late 1990s. Such unthinking acceptance eliminated local independence and competition. It ceded effective control ...
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OpinionThe force is against you
I read with sympathy the letter headed ‘Why is my son paid a pittance?’. The answer, however, is very simple: market forces. I am told that when I qualified in 1969 there were about 26,500 practising solicitors in England and Wales. There are now over 140,000 (news, 23 October). Michael ...
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OpinionIt all adds up
With regard to VAT on online property searches, surely any solicitor acquiring such a search will spend time on assessing the search, charge for that time and add VAT on that charge. Perhaps I am over simplifying, but does that not answer all the tribunal judge’s (and HMRC’s) arguments? ...
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OpinionKnowing our place
The status of your professional body post-Brexit will take a long time to settle.
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OpinionNo place at the table for an honest cheat
Judgment in the £7.8m baccarat winnings case has wide implications for criminal law.
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OpinionLidington is polished but no different to the rest
This week's legal aid announcement points to a lord chancellor in the same mould as his predecessors.
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OpinionShielded from data protection fallout
An equivalent of the EU-US Privacy Shield needs to be shaped before Brexit.
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OpinionBOOK REVIEW: Constitutional Reform in Britain and France: from human rights to Brexit
Elizabeth Gibson-Morgan
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OpinionSystem failure
The government should acknowledge that court fees are a hidden tax – its deceit is made worse by deteriorating service levels.
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OpinionFlat fee is disproportionate
We are a small firm with two partners and no staff, and a turnover of less than £200,000. We are currently carrying out our renewal of Solicitors Regulation Authority registration and have come to the fees. We understand that a periodical fee has to be paid. However, we take great ...
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OpinionPrison shame
It is a source of immense pride to me and I am sure to many other Law Society members that solicitors such as the redoubtable Laura Janes continue to play a pivotal role in the endeavours of the Howard League for Penal Reform on behalf of the rights of offenders. ...
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OpinionProof point
I wanted to clarify one point in relation to your article about the standard of proof. You said that the ‘discussion paper… does not explicitly back requiring prosecutions to be proved “beyond reasonable doubt”’. This is not quite accurate. The Law Society is keen to hear members’ views. However, I ...