All articles by Rachel Rothwell – Page 34
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News
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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News
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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News
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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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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News
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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News
‘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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News
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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News
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 ...
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News
Can lawyers agree over contingency fees?
Contingency fees, which are widely used in employment tribunals but banned in other areas of law such as personal injury, have come to the fore recently as various bodies have submitted their responses to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation on the issue, launched in July.
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News
Law firm to offer all services online with new website launch
A north-west law firm will next week launch a website that offers the full range of consumer legal services 24 hours a day, for a fixed fee. Canter Levin & Berg claims to be the first firm to provide a full range of services online. ...
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News
Law Society acts on ‘inflated’ indemnity premiums
The Law Society has written to every professional indemnity insurer asking for an ‘urgent response’ to its concerns over the ‘hugely inflated’ premiums being quoted ahead of this year’s renewal deadline. The Society said calls to its dedicated professional indemnity insurance helpline indicated that insurers were ...
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News
Office for Legal Complaints consults on complaints
The Office for Legal Complaints (OLC) has published for consultation a revised version of its draft rules. The new rules reduce the timeframe it had originally proposed for clients to bring a complaint, in response to concerns from solicitors. Under the new ...
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News
Law firms 'over the worst' of recession, PwC report reveals
Large law firms have ‘weathered the storm’ of the recession, with profits up sharply since the start of the year, research by PricewaterhouseCoopers seen exclusively by the Gazette has revealed. PwC’s quarterly benchmarking survey showed an 18% rise in profits per equity partner (PEP) since January ...
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News
Should more cash be spent on ad campaign to help solicitors’ own brand?
When the Law Society ran an ad campaign last year, the reaction from the profession was pretty strong. While some supported it, the Gazette received a good number of letters questioning...
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News
Surge in online professional networking
Nearly a third of professionals have set up an online professional profile, research showed this week. A study of more than 2,000 professionals commissioned by business network LinkedIn showed that 29% now have an online business profile. More than one-fifth of those ...
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LSB cost deferral too late to affect PC fee
The Law Society is to offer the Legal Services Board early payment of the amount it must contribute towards the £19.9m setup costs of the board and the Office for Legal Complaints, in return for an early payment discount. The LSB announced last week that ...