Opinion – Page 15

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Courts not fit for purpose

    20 November 2017

    System is grinding to a halt.

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Blame game

    20 November 2017

    I suppose it rarely crosses the minds of property or commercial lawyers that they may create enmities sufficient to provoke violence. For criminal lawyers, there is the reassurance that they are on the side of those who might harbour and carry out violent acts. For the family lawyer it can ...

  • Emily Lui
    Opinion

    Goodwill agreements: appealing in principle but unworkable in reality

    2017-11-14T16:08:00Z

    Government could face financial backlash if proposed principle is too binding in practice.

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Flexible hours can’t always work

    13 November 2017

    Proposals to increase the diversity of the profession are sometimes incompatible with the day-to-day realities of legal practice

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Who speaks for me?

    13 November 2017

    Diversity is obviously commendable, but what about the working-class white male?

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​In good health

    13 November 2017

    Firms taking the lead with increasing mental health awareness.

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Closing time

    13 November 2017

    Eduardo Reyes makes a number of valid points in ‘How to close a law firm’. In my experience, it is never too soon for smaller firms to address this issue because by doing so their exit options are massively increased. I recommend that all firms give themselves at least five ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Purple lifeboat holed

    6 November 2017

    The ‘real’ daily rate for a deputy district judge has effectively made the role an expensive hobby. If this continues standards will only fall

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Mediation misunderstood

    6 November 2017

    I read with interest John Hyde’s ‘The mediation dilemma’. I retired from private practice in April to focus on my mediation practice. I have seen mediation from two perspectives – that of the solicitor advising his client and then as mediator. I am not sure that some lawyers see the ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    Arrest report

    6 November 2017

    The Home Office recently reported that the total number of arrests has fallen from 1.5 million in 2008 to 779,660 in 2017 (a total drop of 48%). In fairness to the police, it should be acknowledged that making an arrest is not a prerequisite for an offence to be properly ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​People power – the new normal

    30 October 2017

    Law firms that put intellectual capital before personal gain should be applauded. Accepting a lower return is a price worth paying

  • Letters
    Opinion

    Chain reaction

    30 October 2017

    ‘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 ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    Heavy price of 'efficiency'

    30 October 2017

    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 ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    The force is against you

    30 October 2017

    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 ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    It all adds up

    30 October 2017

    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? ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    System failure

    23 October 2017

    The government should acknowledge that court fees are a hidden tax – its deceit is made worse by deteriorating service levels.

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Flat fee is disproportionate

    23 October 2017

    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 ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    Prison shame

    23 October 2017

    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. ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    ​Proof point

    23 October 2017

    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 ...

  • Letters
    Opinion

    Too few judges

    23 October 2017

    It is a strange little world, that of the deputy district judge, particularly those retired who come back and sit a few times a month. Every month a list is sent out of perhaps a hundred unfilled court sittings around the country. It is first come, first served for venues. ...