All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 66
-
News
Online costs help for legal aid lawyers
An innovative IT project aimed at legal aid lawyers could help solicitors reduce costs, barristers set Matrix Chambers claimed last week. The chambers has set up LegalAidLink (LAL), a website enabling legal aid providers to establish private online communities in which they can interact securely and ...
-
News
Clarke rules out further raid on legal aid pot
Kenneth Clarke today ruled out further legal aid cuts in addition to those already signalled, following the apparent u-turn earlier this week over his proposed sentencing reforms. Speaking to the Law Society’s Junior Lawyers Division today, the justice secretary confirmed that ‘the flurry of nonsense’ in ...
-
News
Gutted law firm reopens after 10 days
An Essex firm that was devastated by fire last month managed to open for ‘business as usual’ just 10 days later. Jefferies in Westcliff on Sea had its office destroyed on 8 May when a blaze ignited at the retail outlet beneath it. ...
-
News
What’s behind the delay in publishing the Justice Bill?
So when is the government going to publish its Justice Bill, containing the legal aid reforms, Jackson proposals on civil litigation funding and sentencing reforms? This is the question to which everyone wants an answer. Speculation on the date has been ...
-
News
Co-op offers legal services through bank branches
The Co-operative has this week become the first high street bank to offer legal advice to its customers. The Co-operative Group, the UK's largest mutual business, has begun a pilot scheme to deliver legal advice through three Bristol-based branches of Britannia. The ...
-
News
Government seeks children’s views on justice system
The Family Justice Review Panel has invited children to give their views on reforming the court service so that it better meets their needs. Roger Morgan, the Children’s Rights Director for England, has drawn up a young people’s guide to the family justice review, published today. ...
-
News
It’s time to change barristers’ CPD
The Bar Standards’ Board’s annual Clementi debate took place last week. With the recent publication of the bar’s consultation on continuing professional development (CPD) and the joint review of legal education by the three regulators currently underway, the topic for this year’s debate was the future of CPD for barristers ...
-
News
Solicitors acquitted of mortgage fraud
Three solicitors have been acquitted of involvement in an alleged £50m commercial mortgage fraud, while the jury was unable to reach a verdict in relation to three others. Hardeep Sodhi, who at the time of the alleged offences was a solicitor at Birmingham firm Patwa; Simon ...
-
News
Law firms running out of time, warns Mayson
Time is running out for law firms that have not yet considered the changes they should make to compete with new entrants to the legal market, a leading commentator has suggested. Speaking at the Law Society’s Law Management Section conference, Stephen Mayson, director of the Legal ...
-
News
Fingerprint standards questioned by Court of Appeal
The Court of Appeal has called for an examination of the quality standards of fingerprint experts. The court last week quashed the conviction of Peter Kenneth Smith from Nottinghamshire for the murder of his neighbour Hilda Owen in 2007, after doubt was cast on the reliability ...
-
News
National protests against legal aid cuts
Legal aid campaigners are to step up the pressure on government by holding marches across the country tomorrow in protest at the legal aid reforms to be outlined in the Justice Bill, expected next week. The ‘day of action’, organised by Justice for All and ...
-
News
Firms without CQS quality mark ‘risk being left behind’ - Society
As firms begin thinking about renewing their professional indemnity insurance, the Law Society has warned conveyancing solicitors to ignore its new Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) ‘at their risk’. Since the application process launched in January, almost 1000 firms have applied and 202 have ...
-
News
Legal aid faces threat of further cuts following rape backlash
The government is considering fresh legal aid cuts because Kenneth Clarke's politically maladroit remarks about rape sentencing have jeopardised its bid to save money by cutting the prison population, it has been suggested to the Gazette.
-
News
High Court delays judgment over Sittingbourne court closure
The High Court has reserved judgment in its judicial review of the Ministry of Justice’s decision to close Sittingbourne Magistrates Court. The court will close for business tomorrow, but the legal challenge to that closure, brought by Kent firm Robin Murray & Co, was heard yesterday ...
-
News
Magistrates drop court closure challenge
Sedgemoor magistrates have dropped legal action seeking to prevent the closure of their court after having ‘lost faith in the system’. The decision leaves the Ministry of Justice facing three actions over its programme of court closures. Mike Dodden, former chairman of ...
-
News
Solicitors Regulation Authority under attack from insurers
Insurers have criticised the Solicitors Regulation Authority for being too slow to act when law firms breach the rules. Speaking at the Law Society Property Section’s annual conference in London last week, Andrew Nickels, risk manager at Zurich Professional, claimed the SRA fails to take action ...
-
News
LSC big firm meetings 'unfair', small practices allege
Small legal aid firms accused the Legal Services Commission of breaching its duty of fairness this week, as it emerged that the LSC had scheduled two meetings in recent days exclusively for large firms, in the run-up to the government’s best value tendering (BVT) consultation. ...
-
News
Essex legal aid firms to merge
Two established Essex firms will on 1 July become the latest legal aid firms to merge. Fisher Jones Greenwood, which has offices in Colchester, Chelmsford and Clacton-on-Sea, will join forces with Chelmsford firm Budd Martin Burrett in the fourth major legal aid firm tie-up this year. ...
-
News
Solicitors face 'challenge' from Council for Licensed Conveyancers over ABS
The solicitors’ profession faces an ‘interesting challenge’ following the Legal Services Board’s recent stamp of approval for the Council for Licensed Conveyancers to become a regulator of alternative business structures, a leading market commentator has suggested. Stephen Mayson of the Legal Services Institute said that ...
-
News
European Court opens up access to notary profession
The European Court of Justice has paved the way for UK solicitors to practise as notaries across the European Union. It ruled yesterday that six member states - Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Greece - had breached the law by restricting access to the notary ...