All articles by Rachel Rothwell – Page 24
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News
Legal recruitment picks up for in-house and banking
The ‘war for talent’ is hotting up in the in-house sector, with companies increasingly entering into a bidding war for candidates, according to recruitment firm Badenoch & Clark. The recruiter’s executive director Lynne Hardman said that recruitment is also picking up in the banking sector and ...
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The Legal Services Board’s glowing view of ABSs is not realistic
Reading through the Legal Services Board’s draft business plan for 2011/12, I was stuck by the glowing vision it presented of the post-alternative business structure world. It seemed to me to be the type of gushing enthusiasm that you would expect from the government department ...
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Study to examine oversupply of LPC graduates
An in-depth study into education and training within the profession will address the current ‘mismatch’ between the number of Legal Practice Course graduates and training contracts, and will assess the role of paralegals, the Legal Services Board has said.
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Consumers back 'name and shame' complaints policy
Consumers are generally in favour of ‘naming and shaming’ law firms that are subject to complaints, but would only expect information to be published when a firm has had three complaints upheld against it in 12 months, according to research released today. The findings of a ...
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APIL chief urges government to give RTA portal a chance
The road traffic accident claims portal should be ‘given a chance’ before the government rushes to implement the Jackson civil justice reforms, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers warned last week. Muiris Lyons said that the RTA claims process, which was implemented on ...
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Rise in legal disputes between commercial landlords and tenants
The economic downturn has led to a surge in landlord and tenants disputes, court figures have shown. Figures obtained by legal publishers Sweet & Maxwell indicated that the number of legal disputes between commercial property landlords and tenants reaching the High Court in London jumped 43% ...
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Jackson reforms fail to account for RTA progress
The road traffic accident claims portal should be ‘given a chance’ before the government becomes distracted from the ‘bigger picture' by rushing to implement the Jackson reforms, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers warned last week. Muiris Lyons told an audience at APIL’s ...
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Pro bono figures are a credit to the profession
Last week’s report by the Law Society on pro bono activity by solicitors was a real credit to the profession. The study showed that private practice lawyers performed a whopping £475m of pro bono work in 2009/10, up 19% on the previous year. ...
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Research highlights gender differences in legal profession
An in-depth study by the Law Society’s strategic research unit has revealed a picture of a profession in which there is a high level of disparity between the sexes; a tendency to remain in the same job; and a high value placed on flexible working. The ...
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Legal services comparison website launched
The latest legal services comparison website to enter the market was launched by a Hertfordshire solicitor last week. Michael Welsh has launched fixed costs comparison site comparelegalcosts.com, which offers consumers a choice of three firms based on their postcode.
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Law Society launches legal aid campaign for the public
The Law Society is to launch a high-profile campaign, ‘Sound off for justice’, this week – aimed at harnessing public opposition to legal aid cuts. The initiative will seek to raise awareness of what the cuts could mean for members of the public, in advance of ...
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Are solicitors right to worry about publication of complaints?
Plans by the new Legal Services Ombudsman to publish details of complaints against law firms seem to be ruffling a few feathers in the profession. But while the Law Society has warned against the proposals on the basis that statistics show they would disadvantage certain sections of the profession, consumer ...
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LSC and consumer bodies call for complaints publication
The Legal Services Commission is pushing to obtain access to 'detailed information' about successful complaints made against solicitors, which it will use to assess the performance of its providers. Responding to a Legal Services Ombudsman (LeO) consultation of what information it should publish on the complaints ...
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Conveyancing Quality Scheme advertising campaign to launch
The Law Society is to launch a consumer-facing advertising campaign to promote its Conveyancing Quality Scheme this spring, it said last week. The campaign will feature online ‘pay per click’ banner advertising, as well as promotional material including posters and stickers which will be made available ...
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Where solicitors are going wrong in online wills
I had a meeting last week with Grahame Cohen, chief product and technology officer at Epoq – the company that writes software for many of the big brands now providing wills for consumers. I’ll confess that I was expecting something of a sales pitch from ...
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Twitter silence 'hurts brand'
Two-thirds of top-50 law firms have a Twitter account, but some may be 'damaging their brand’ by failing to actually tweet anything, a report has suggested. The study by web consultancy Intendance found that 66% of firms had set up at least one account on Twitter. ...
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Warning over 'regulatory ambush'
Lawyers could face a ‘regulatory ambush’ if a radical overhaul of the solicitors’ rulebook goes ahead without a ‘change in culture’ at the profession’s regulator, the Law Society has warned. In a response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Architecture of Change consultation, which closed last week, ...
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Law firms’ poor use of Twitter risks 'damaging their brand’
Two-thirds of top-50 law firms have a Twitter account, but some may be 'damaging their brand’ by failing to tweet anything at all, a report has suggested. The study by web consultancy Intendance found that 66% of firms had set up at least one account ...
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UK legal sector set to benefit from Hong Kong investment
A surge in foreign direct investment in Hong Kong presents key opportunities for the UK legal sector, Law Society president Linda Lee said last week on returning from a mission to the territory. Lee said Hong Kong could serve as a gateway to mainland China for ...
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Are solicitors really better at drafting wills?
The hot topic in the field of wills right now is clearly the issue of whether will-writing should become a reserved activity; something that is on the Legal Services Board’s work agenda.