All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 100
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News
Funding cuts proposed for police station work
The Ministry of Justice has announced a consultation on funding cuts for police station and Crown court work aimed at ‘rebalancing’ the £2bn legal aid budget in favour of civil help. The reforms outlined in the consultation paper include reducing the fees paid for police station ...
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News
Huge vote of confidence for conveyancing solicitors
Conveyancing solicitors were given a resounding vote of confidence by the public this week as unpublished research seen by the Gazette revealed ‘stratospheric’ levels of satisfaction among consumers. Some 93% of ...
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Solicitors condemn BVT pilot over 'unrealistic' timescale
Solicitors in the best value tendering pilot areas have written a hard-hitting letter to the Legal Services Commission condemning the ‘unrealistic and perilous’ timescale for the pilot, which will spell ‘disaster’ for firms. Half of the 141 firms with criminal contracts in Avon and Somerset and ...
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News
Britannia under fire from Chancery Lane
The Law Society has criticised Britannia Building Society and The Co-operative Financial Services (CFS) for failing to engage with it after the newly merged building society moved to axe 3,600 sole practitioners from its conveyancing panel. After being advised last week of the decision to ...
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News
Sole practitioners axed from Britannia/Co-operative panel
Co-operative Financial Services (CFS), which has recently merged with Britannia Building Society, is to axe 3,600 sole practitioners from its conveyancing panel, it has emerged. The Law Society has urged the CFS not to remove the large number of sole practitioners who had been on Britannia’s ...
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News
‘Rebalancing’ the legal aid budget
There is, it seems, no letup for criminal practitioners, with the MoJ’s announcement of further fee reductions last week.
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News
Bar Standards Board warning over ABSs
The Bar Standards Board (BSB) has said it would be ‘wrong’ to allow barristers to join alternative business structures (ABSs) without evidence of whether all forms of the new structure are ‘compatible with the regulatory objectives’ of the Legal Services Act 2007, or necessary for the benefit of consumers. ...
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News
SRA announces new Board appointments
The Law Society has announced the members of the new Solicitors Regulation Authority board who will take up their posts on 1 January 2010. The 13 appointments – seven solicitors and six lay members – have been made by an independent panel, chaired by the former ...
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Stephen Fry’s portrayal of a solicitor is a good advert for the profession
Channel-hopping the other evening I happened upon a programme on ITV in which Stephen Fry plays an affable country solicitor in the picturesque Norfolk town of Market Shipborough.
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News
Land registry sees 75% drop in income
The Land Registry’s annual report has revealed the impact of the faltering housing market on the government body, with its core business down by 75%. The Land Registry’s annual report published today shows that its income from fees for the year 2008/09 fell to £308m, compared ...
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News
Speaking out against injustice
With the myriad of domestic challenges facing the profession at the moment – from economic downturn to the potential impact of the legal aid reforms and the regulatory challenges flowing from the Legal Services Act, it is good to see that the Law Society has not closed its eyes to ...
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News
Co-op launches legal services promotion campaign
The Co-operative has launched a high-profile campaign to promote its legal services to the 17 million weekly shoppers in its food stores. The campaign, which includes in-store radio, till screen displays and door-to-door leafleting, will last nine weeks and aims to promote awareness of the range ...
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News
ITV and Lovells form pro bono partnership
ITV Legal has launched a new pro bono initiative with City firm Lovells as part of an innovative partnership programme with its panel law firms. The ITV Legal pro bono bank gives in-house lawyers at ITV the opportunity to take part in Lovells’ pro bono work. ...
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News
Legal Services Commission asks crime lawyers to join assessment pilot
The Legal Services Commission has called for more criminal lawyers to take part in its scheme to test different methods of assessing advocacy, after too few practitioners signed up. Piloting of the Quality Assurance for Advocates (QAA) scheme began in February at Crown courts in Birmingham, ...
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News
Legal aid providers offered free business and financial management training
The Legal Services Commission has announced a series of free training sessions in business and financial management skills for legal aid providers, which will begin in the areas where best-value tendering is to be piloted. The LSC’s ‘provider readiness’ team has commissioned accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers to create ...
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Bar Council accuses CPS of ‘Alice in Wonderland accounting’
The Bar Council accused the Crown Prosecution Service of ‘Alice in Wonderland accounting’ this week over the CPS’s claim to have saved millions using its own lawyers rather than external advocates. In its 2007/08 annual report, the CPS said it had saved £17.1m ...
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News
Practising certificate fee set to rise by 19%
The Law Society’s Council last week ‘reluctantly’ voted to increase the practising certificate (PC) fee by nearly a fifth. The 2010 fee will be £1,180, up from £995. The full contribution to the Compensation Fund will rise from £150 to £390. In ...
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News
Should the CPS be renamed the Public Prosecution Service?
Last week Keir Starmer QC held a press briefing to announce the publication of a colourful little pamphlet designed to inform the public about the future of the service he leads.
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News
Out-of-work lawyers lured by global volunteer projects
Out-of-work solicitors are turning to international volunteer projects to keep their hand in during the recession, according to a leading development charity. Challenges Worldwide, which recruits and trains volunteers with professional skills to work with partners in developing countries, has seen an upward trend in the ...
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News
Solicitors win best-value tendering battle but fears remain over pilots
Solicitors claimed to have ‘won a battle’ with the Legal Services Commission this week, as it announced it is to delay the rollout of best value tendering across the country by three years.