All articles by Paul Rogerson – Page 28
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News
Interpreting the interpreters’ strike
‘Know your own strength!’ the historian and intellectual E.P. Thompson told the biggest central London demonstration for years, on 25 October 1992. But we’ll never know whether the 150,000 who marched that day did know it, since they were protesting against the Major government’s emasculation of Britain’s coalmining industry.
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Law Society president: split in profession to end
The president of the Law Society expects the 180-year-old division between solicitors and barristers to wither away as a result of the reforms set in motion by the Legal Services Act. It is ‘inevitable’ the professions will ‘need to revisit the question whether [they] should continue ...
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'Gang of Five' in late bid to halt civil litigation reforms
An alliance of lawyer pressure groups will this week make a last-ditch bid to halt the government’s civil litigation reforms.
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Flexible working protocol launched
The Law Society has launched a flexible working protocol for legal firms, after research last year identified resistance to the practice is the ‘single most significant obstacle’ to women reaching senior roles. The protocol presents a clear business case for flexible working, including the retention of ...
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SRA to phase in online PC renewals
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to phase in its new online practising certificate registration and renewal system, following delays caused by implementation problems. Selected firms will begin using the new system this week, after the regulator decided that it does not plan to revert to paper-based renewals for 2011/12. A ...
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Plans to boost London-based firms abroad
New proposals to ‘cut through the regulatory maze’ inhibiting London-based international law firms and help them develop more unified global businesses have been published. The Solicitors Regulation Authority wants to give big cross-border practices more flexibility to operate in any form allowed in other countries, and also to incentivise foreign ...
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Ombudsman will name lawyers and firms ‘in public interest’
The Legal Ombudsman has taken the highly controversial decision to name lawyers and law firms in circumstances where there is a ‘pattern of complaints’ against them or when it is in the ‘public interest’ to do so. The regulator denied that its object is to ...
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Reforms will cut claims against NHS in half
Legal aid cuts and the Jackson reforms will slash the number of claims brought against the NHS by 50%, a senior member of the Civil Justice Council has predicted. Peter Smith, managing director of FirstAssist Legal Expenses Insurance, told Saturday’s Bar Conference that Jackson in particular ...
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Watchdog’s warning to legal regulators
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has today challenged regulators including the SRA to make the new compliance regime work, or face being replaced by a single regulator independent of the profession. In its response to a Legal Services Board consultation on the boundaries of ...
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Excellence Awards winners revealed
Jo Cooper, chair of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates, was this week named Law Society Gazette Legal Personality of the Year in the Law Society’s annual excellence awards. The accolade recognises Cooper’s sterling efforts in promoting the interests of solicitor higher court ...
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Lenders warned over panel charges
The Law Society has warned mortgage lenders against following the example of Santander by charging a fee for conveyancing panel membership. Chancery Lane told the Council of Mortgage Lenders that such a trend would make house buying more expensive, and could see solicitors applying for several ...
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Halliwells’ administration - nice work if you can get it
When I grow up I want to be an insolvency practitioner. That was my rather facetious thought upon reading BDO’s latest administrators’ report on the collapse of Halliwells. Nothing to do with the defunct firm’s travails as such – though since RBS is down over £15m it looks like taxpayers ...
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LSB launches investigation to consider regulation of will-writing and probate
The Legal Services Board is to launch a formal investigation that will consider regulation of will-writing, following a recommendation from its consumer watchdog. The regulatory overseer stressed, however, that ‘a monopoly for solicitors is not the answer’. In its second major piece ...
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Lenders vet solicitors on Google
Credit checking law firms and monitoring the timeliness with which they register charges are among measures being considered and in some cases adopted by lenders seeking to clamp down on mortgage fraud. One large lender is also demanding the introduction of a compulsory scheme under ...
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Striking contrast - white-collar militancy
In 1984 I was at secondary school in Wakefield, where the playing fields backed on to a training college for West Yorkshire Police. One afternoon, while meandering reluctantly to rugby practice, I encountered an extraordinary scene. Hundreds of uniformed police ...
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Law Society winds up final salary pension scheme
The Law Society is to wind up its deficit-stricken final salary pension scheme, a move that chief executive Desmond Hudson expects to save the organisation £12.5m a year from 2012. Agreement has been reached with global retirement and savings specialist MetLife for a buy-out of ...
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Profits rebound as legal firms slash overheads
Law firms are slowly rebuilding profitability and beginning to hire again, according to a respected annual bellwether of the sector’s financial health. Support staff numbers remain under pressure, however, and practices are bearing down heavily on non-salary overheads to boost the bottom line. ...
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News focus: sole practitioners face 'perfect storm'
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the sole practitioner appear greatly exaggerated. Despite their near-universal hostility to alternative business structures, delegates at last weekend’s SPG conference in Harrogate were surprisingly upbeat about the ‘perfect storm’ they must weather. ...
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Two new insurers set to enter solicitors’ PII market
Two new, A-rated insurers are poised to enter the professional indemnity insurance market, adding much-needed volume to a market that is again expected to be tough this year. Leading broker Richard Brown told the Sole Practitioners Conference in Harrogate yesterday that he is ‘90% of the ...
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Shadow justice minister attacks Jackson costs reforms
Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter (pictured) called on personal injury lawyers to get their clients involved in the fight to amend the government’s proposals on civil litigation costs. Solicitors have until 30 June to respond, and the Labour MP for Hammersmith stressed how difficult it is ...