All articles by Rachel Rothwell – Page 34
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News
A bold step forward for the bar – or is it?
It has been a long time coming, but the Bar Standards Board finally made a decision last week to allow barristers to go into partnership, not only with each other, but even with those dreadfully commercial solicitor types. It may have taken five consultations and two years of deliberation, but ...
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New PC charges to benefit in-house lawyers
Changes to the practising certificate (PC) fee charging system will see around £16m transferred onto private practice solicitors, to the benefit of in-house and local government lawyers, under plans due to be unveiled by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. Under the new charging regime, 40% of ...
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City firms publish environmental performance
A group of 138 legal sector organisations including top City firms will publish a report on their climate change performance in a live webcast next week. The Legal Sector Alliance (LSA) report will show the extent to which members of the group have complied with ...
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Professional indemnity costs rise by £15m
Solicitors paid £15m more to insurers for professional indemnity insurance this year, Solicitors Regulation Authority figures have revealed. The cost of insuring the profession rose from £226m in the 2008/09 indemnity year, to £241m in 2009/10, a rise of 7%. Between them, ...
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Solicitors issue advice warning over child neglect cases
Solicitors representing children in cases of chronic neglect are being obliged to act without the advice of a guardian or social worker, lawyers warned this week. A shortage of guardians at the Children and Family Courts Advisory Service has led to courts directing solicitors to appoint ...
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Private equity investors focus on legal sector
Private equity investors are becoming much more interested in doing deals with law firms, a report on the Legal Services Act 2007 launched today has revealed. A study by public relations company Byfield Consultancy, in association with law firm Fox Williams, shows that private investors ...
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Law firms face hefty fines for data losses
Law firms could face a £500,000 fine if they lose unencrypted laptops or data sticks containing personal information, under new proposals. A government consultation sets out new powers for the information commissioner to levy hefty fines on organisations that breach the Data Protection Act 1998. ...
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Mid-tier corporate firms see profits plummet
Partner profits have plummeted by more than a quarter among a large swath of corporate firms as ‘acute pricing pressure’ and a fall in work take their toll on the bottom line, according to research by accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers published today. The PwC annual law firm benchmarking ...
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My experience as a conveyancing client
They say moving home is one of the most stressful things you can do in life. Having just moved house myself, I can understand why. But it did at least provide me with a useful insight into the conveyancing process from a client’s perspective. And I’m afraid the news isn’t ...
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Public unable to name a single law firm, research shows
More than 60% of the public cannot name a single law firm, according to research seen by the Gazette this week, even though 78% have used a solicitor before. However, more than half of those questioned said they would be happy to buy legal services ...
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Does the UK spend too much on legal aid?
England and Wales has ‘one of the highest per capita spends in the world’ on legal aid, the Ministry of Justice said this week. Well there’s no surprise there; that little snippet is regularly trotted out by the government when it is responding to Gazette reports on legal aid cuts.
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Court case results recording review shows error rate of 25%
HM Courts Service needs to improve the accuracy of its recording of case results ‘as a matter of urgency’, a report by HM Inspectorate of Court Administration (HMICA) found last week. The inspectorate said the Courts Service was not recording case results on the courts register ...
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News
APIL rejoins talks on extending fixed fees regime
The Association of Personal Injury lawyers has rejoined talks on extending the fixed fees regime in personal injury cases.APIL had walked out of the talks last month in an unprecedented move for the organisation. The Civil Justice Council is conducting a mediation process to produce industry-agreed ...
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Law Society slams legal aid ‘shambles’
Government policy on legal aid is a ‘shambles’ with no clear direction, the Law Society said this week. Chief executive Des Hudson said recent government announcements seemed to indicate that the Ministry of Justice is ‘jumping from one position to another’. The ...
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News
SRA to look at ‘radical reform’ of assigned risks pool
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is soon to launch a consultation on ‘radical reform’ of the assigned risks pool. It is understood that proposals for consultation could include changes to the conditions for entry or even the demise of the pool. There ...
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Claim of racial bias by insurers in indemnity cover
The Law Society is investigating allegations that professional indemnity brokers and insurers have discriminated against firms with African and Asian-sounding names, the Gazette has learned. The Society received a complaint to its professional indemnity insurance helpline from a solicitor in Birmingham, claiming that insurers were providing ...
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New rules will help clients to challenge solicitors’ bills
Solicitors will have to give clients more information about how to challenge bills under new rules to be introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. The SRA board will decide on specific wording which solicitors must include when they send a bill, to ensure that clients know ...
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‘Radical reform’ planned for assigned risks pool
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is soon to launch a consultation on ‘radical reform’ of the assigned risks pool, the Gazette can reveal. It is understood that proposals for consultation could include changes to the conditions for entry or even the demise of the pool. ...
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SRA rules out lowering premiums in assigned risks pool
The Solicitors Compensation Fund looks set to receive a £5m boost to its reserves which could ease the financial pressure on individual firms, under plans being put forward at the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s board meeting today. However, in a separate development the SRA has concluded that ...
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Family lawyer fears over guardians’ ‘dangerous’ caseloads
Leading family lawyer Christina Blacklaws has hit out at the ‘dangerous’ workload of employed guardians at the Children and Family Court Advisory Service (Cafcass). Her broadside came as the government prepared to announce a further £1.6m in funding for Cafcass’s London region this week, on condition ...