All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 108

  • News

    Solicitors need bench support

    2009-01-15T00:00:00Z

    The Lord Chief Justice (pictured) has urged the profession to support solicitors who want to pursue a judicial career to help more make it to the High Court bench. Of the 110 High Court judges in post as of April 2008, only one was a solicitor. ...

  • News

    Overwhelming demand for family advice leads to helpline expansion

    2009-01-15T00:00:00Z

    Advice on family law is to become a permanent feature of the Community Legal Advice service as part of an expansion of the helpline’s remit and service hours. The Legal Services Commission this week launched a tender for law firms or not-for-profit organisations to provide ...

  • News

    Fees scheme may defuse VHCC row

    2009-01-08T00:00:00Z

    A breakthrough in the dispute threatening to disrupt trials of very high cost criminal cases (VHCCs) could be in sight following the publication of new funding proposals. The Legal Services Commission is proposing to set up separate payment schemes for litigators and advocates, moving away ...

  • News

    Dire warning for conveyancers

    2009-01-08T00:00:00Z

    Survival will be the ‘name of the game’ in conveyancing over the next year, as practitioners forecast falling sales and more job cuts, with medium-sized firms hardest hit. Peter Rodd, chairman of the Law Society’s property section, predicted ‘a dire market without any sign of improvement ...

  • News

    Culture shift needed to ease bench route

    2009-01-08T00:00:00Z

    The tribunals system offers valuable opportunities for solicitors to get a foot on the judicial ladder, but a ‘culture change’ within firms is needed before more can make it onto the bench, a senior solicitor judge has told the Gazette. Gary Hickinbottom, the Deputy Senior President ...

  • News

    Mediators need time to consider regulation proposals

    2008-12-18T00:00:00Z

    Proposals for a regulation regime for mediation faltered last week when mediators told the Civil Mediation Council (CMC) they need more time to consider ‘ambitious’ plans. However members of the organisation, which represents civil and commercial mediators, approved a scheme to register workplace mediators to ...

  • News

    Bar paves the way for joint practices

    2008-12-18T00:00:00Z

    The Bar Standards Board (BSB) is paving the way for barristers to go into practice with solicitors, but will leave regulation of the new legal disciplinary partnerships (LDPs) to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). In its second consultation on the implications of the Legal Services Act ...

  • News

    Legal aid advocates to face quality assurance test

    2008-12-18T00:00:00Z

    Quality inspections for publicly funded criminal defence advocates are on the horizon under plans unveiled by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission said it would test a ‘quality assurance scheme’ on some 250 barristers and solicitors at Crown Courts from February next year. ...

  • News

    E-working compulsory from 2010

    2008-12-18T00:00:00Z

    Electronic working will be compulsory for civil legal aid providers from 2010 under plans announced by the Legal Services Commission (LSC) this week. The commission’s Delivery Transformation programme aims to save £7m a year. It will expand the use of online billing, ensure that ...

  • News

    Bar chief in plea for unity

    2008-12-11T00:00:00Z

    The incoming chairman of the Bar Council has made a plea for unity between the two branches of the profession as they face a continued squeeze over legal aid fees. In an interview with the Gazette, Desmond Browne QC said: ‘There must not be internecine ...

  • News

    Bar raises court fears

    2008-12-04T00:00:00Z

    The Bar Council has alleged that Crown Court cases are being disrupted because barristers are being forced to undertake litigators’ work when solicitors fail to attend hearings. In a letter to the Legal Services Commission’s Criminal Defence Service, the chairman of the council’s remuneration committee, ...

  • News

    Solicitors warned over property competitions

    2008-11-27T00:00:00Z

    Solicitors advising clients who are selling their homes through ‘house competitions’ must act with caution to avoid falling foul of the gambling laws or complicity in fraud or money laundering, the Law Society has warned. The collapse of the housing market has prompted a growing number ...

  • News

    QC review by Nichol

    2008-11-20T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society and Bar Council have appointed Sir Duncan Nichol to review the operation of the Queen’s Counsel (QC) appointments system, three years after its introduction. The independent selection panel, developed by the two professions, replaced a process run by the former Department for ...

  • News

    Proof of identity rules will hit home hard

    2008-11-20T00:00:00Z

    Conveyancing could grind to a halt under new Land Registry rules for requiring proof of identity, the chairman of the Law Society property section, Peter Rodd, has warned. Solicitors should be ‘very cautious’ about dealing with new forms which could expose them to liability. New ...

  • News

    Warning over video link for defendants

    2008-11-20T00:00:00Z

    Government plans for defendants to make their first appearance before magistrates’ courts via video from the police station will lead to more people being remanded into custody, practitioners have warned. The Office for Criminal Justice Reform (OCJR) plans to test a ‘virtual court’, intended to save ...

  • News

    Random selection call

    2008-11-20T00:00:00Z

    Judicial panels hearing cases before the new UK Supreme Court should be picked at random rather than by the opaque procedure used by the House of Lords, a leading silk suggested this week. Lord David Pannick QC criticised the current system under which even Law Lords themselves do not know ...

  • News

    Fee-cap 'outrage'

    2008-11-13T00:00:00Z

    Practitioners have condemned as ‘outrageous’ government proposals to cap payments for acquitted defendants’ legal costs that would leave innocent people out of pocket. The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) last week published a consultation on reform to the system of reimbursing the legal costs of people acquitted ...

  • News

    Courting the regions

    2008-11-13T00:00:00Z

    Claimants will no longer be forced to come to London to have administrative cases heard, under plans to improve access to justice due to be announced by the Ministry of Justice. The Gazette has learned that four regional centres of the Administrative Court are to open ...

  • News

    Review: The Barristers

    2008-11-13T00:00:00Z

    The BarristersBBC2, 9pm, 14 NovemberThe Open University, BBC Three years ago the BBC thought it would be a good idea to make a solicitor’s office the subject of a fly-on-the-wall documentary. No Win, No Fee portrayed the colourful personal injury practice at Manchester firm Amelans. This year it’s the turn ...

  • News

    Legal aid burden

    2008-11-13T00:00:00Z

    Job cuts at the Legal Services Commission (LSC) could increase administrative burdens on legal aid solicitors, practitioner groups have warned. The LSC announced last week it is to shed 600 posts, reducing its workforce to 1,100, and close seven of its 13 offices. ‘More efficient processes ...