All articles by Rachel Rothwell – Page 31
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News
MoJ publishes details of firm meetings to promote transparency
The Ministry of Justice has published details of the law firms and other external groups it held meetings with in the last quarter of 2009, as part of a new policy of greater transparency. The document reveals that lord chancellor Jack Straw met nine large legal ...
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‘Tesco law’ will put an end to hourly billing, says Lord Neuberger
‘Tesco law’ will put an end to hourly billing and lead to ‘fixed price deals’ for litigation, the master of the rolls Lord Neuberger predicted last week. Speaking at the Personal Injuries Bar Association conference, Neuberger said that the Legal Services Act 2007 would do much ...
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Top firms fear fee pressure
Commercial law firms see downward pressure on fees as the greatest threat to their profitability in the year ahead, research has revealed. A survey of finance directors at the top 100 law firms, commissioned by publisher Sweet & Maxwell, showed that 60% thought fee pressure would ...
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One in five consumers surfs internet to find a solicitor
The internet has become the second most popular means of finding a solicitor for conveyancing or advising on a will, research seen exclusively by the Gazette has shown. A YouGov poll of 2,266 people commissioned by online solicitor directory legallybetter.com revealed that personal recommendation remains by ...
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Public sector faces high level of employment claims
Some 37% of employment appeal cases are against public sector organisations, despite such bodies employing only 22% of the workforce, research by Milton Keynes firm EMW Picton Howell has shown. The firm's analysis of national statistics and information from the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) showed that ...
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Who will take up external investment?
The Gazette revealed this week that law firms are already getting well into discussions with external investors in readiness for when the rules change in October 2011, and indeed some are even going as far as to...
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Staff cuts bolstering revenues in mid-tier corporate firms
The ‘pressure is still on’ mid-tier corporate firms, research by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers has shown, despite strong revenue figures for the last quarter. The latest figures from PwC’s quarterly law firm benchmarking survey indicate that, although revenues held up well during the traditionally quiet period to ...
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Firms enter into ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ with investors
Law firms are entering into ‘gentlemen’s agreements’ with investors in anticipation of the rule changes that will allow them to sell equity stakes in their businesses from October 2011, a leading consultant told the Gazette this week. Giles Murphy (pictured), head of assurance and business services ...
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Recruitment freezes in local government
Local government legal departments are instigating recruitment freezes ahead of public sector budget cuts, while there has been a surge in demand for legal aid lawyers in immigration, family and criminal work and an upturn in corporate law hires. Colin Loth, manager of the legal teams ...
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Lawyers work ‘extreme’ overtime, study reveals
Lawyers are among the most likely workers to do ‘extreme’ unpaid overtime, figures have revealed. Research by the Trades Union Congress found that 18% of legal professionals did more than 10 hours of unpaid overtime a week. The study found that ...
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News
Solicitors ‘key’ to increasing judicial diversity
Persuading more solicitors to apply for judicial posts is ‘absolutely key’ to increasing diversity in the judiciary, the chairwoman of the Advisory Panel on Judicial Diversity told the Gazette this week, as the panel published a raft of recommendations aimed at improving diversity on the bench. ...
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News
SRA approves sweeping changes to practising fee charging regime
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has this week approved sweeping changes to the way the practising certificate (PC) is charged, which will come into force this October. The SRA board has pressed ahead with a new charging regime that will shift more of the PC fee burden ...
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News
Injured person ‘forgotten’, says APIL
The personal injury claims process has lost sight of the injured person, the president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has said. Speaking at the APIL president’s lunch, John McQuater said a good claims system needed to strike ‘the right balance’ for injured people and ...
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News
Solicitors should report insolvency risk to SRA, recommends KPMG
Solicitors should be under a duty to notify the Solicitors Regulation Authority when they get into financial difficulties, a report to the SRA board by accountants KPMG has recommended. The report also proposes that there should be a new core duty on financial management as part ...
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News
High Court decision deals blow to claims industry
A recent High Court decision has put ‘another nail in the coffin’ of a lucrative industry for hundreds of law firms bringing consumer credit claims, a leading litigation expert has told the Gazette. David Greene, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association, said a series ...
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News
Civil proof standard for disciplinary matters: just one problem
As we reported last week when the SRA takes on its Legal Services Act powers to conduct disciplinary matters itself – for lesser offences worth a maximum fine of £2,000...
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News
Civil proof standard for disciplinary matters: just one problem
As we reported last week when the SRA takes on its Legal Services Act powers to conduct disciplinary matters itself – for lesser offences worth a maximum fine of £2,000...
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News
Allen & Overy launches in Australia
Magic circle firm Allen & Overy announced the launch of an Australian practice today. The firm has appointed 17 new partners, with 14 based in Sydney and three in Perth. It said analysis of the Australian market had shown there was space ...
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News
MPs attack ‘lax’ Legal Services Commission
The Public Accounts Committee has today lambasted the Legal Services Commission for its handling of legal aid funds. Committee chairman Edward Leigh MP said financial controls at the LSC were ‘lax’, noting that ‘it does not know enough about the costs and profitability of firms to ...
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Why burnt-out lawyers are bad for business
Tough times call for tough measures, and there is no doubt that firms have had to bite the bullet last year, letting go of large numbers of staff in the hardest hit areas such as property and corporate. The fall-off in work made redundancy programmes inevitable.