All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 69
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News
High Court challenge to court closures
The High Court is set to hear the first of four legal challenges to magistrates’ courts closures, the Gazette has learned. A challenge to the closure of Sittingbourne Magistrates’ Court has been listed in May, and the High Court in Wales will list a hearing for ...
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MPs oppose legal aid cuts
Members of parliament have voiced opposition to the government’s proposed legal aid cuts, and warned that the cuts could lead to the closure of many legal advice centres. Fifty-one MPs responded to a survey conducted by consultancy DG Legal for campaign group Justice for All, including ...
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News
Future uncertain for Community Legal Advice Centres
The closure of Portsmouth Community Legal Advice Centre (CLAC) could signal the end of the one-stop-shop model once hailed as the ‘key’ to civil legal aid, solicitors have suggested. Portsmouth CLAC closed on 31 March, at the end of its three-year contract. The Legal Services Commission ...
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Legal Services Commission cuts 100 jobs
The Legal Services Commission has made around 100 of its 1,500 staff, including some senior figures, redundant in a bid to cut costs, the ...
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ASA rejects complaint about QualitySolicitors TV advert
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has rejected a complaint made by a Yorkshire firm about a television advert for law firm network QualitySolicitors. Williamsons in Hull had challenged the content of the advert, claiming that it was misleading. The advert showed an ...
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News
QualitySolicitors in WHSmith tie-up
QualitySolicitors has signed a deal with WHSmith enabling it to place a QS member of staff in 150 branches of the high street books and stationery giant, the Gazette can reveal. The deal will see QS open a ‘legal access point’ staffed by a local QS ...
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News
Luton solicitor's campaign set to change road safety law
A Luton solicitor has been instrumental in an apparently successful attempt to change road safety laws. Mark Wardrop, partner and head of litigation at Pictons in Luton, campaigned for the creation of a new offence of ‘causing death by dangerous or reckless cycling’ after acting for ...
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Conveyancing solicitors call for binding contracts
Conveyancing solicitors and estate agents have called on the property industry to develop legally binding preliminary contracts to reduce the number of house sales that fall through. At an event hosted by the president of the E-Homebuying Forum, Sir Bryan Carsberg, last week, representatives from ...
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Family lawyers welcome 'ambitious' Justice Review Panel plans
Family lawyers have welcomed the ‘ambitious’ proposals published by the Family Justice Review Panel last week, but warned that the changes will not work unless there is adequate funding. The Law Society and Family Law Bar Association supported the interim recommendations of the panel, which ...
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News
Carlisle solicitor admits fraud
A former Carlisle solicitor is awaiting sentence after admitting a £250,000 fraud. Pauline Lesley Butler, who worked as a sole practitioner at her firm Pauline L Butler in Carlisle, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court last week to charges of fraud and false accounting. ...
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News
Is the latest mediation drive just a cloak for legal aid cuts?
The government’s new mediation protocol came into force yesterday, requiring couples to attend a mediation awareness session before embarking on legal proceedings to resolve financial and children-related issues after divorce or separation. Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly has become a dedicated follower of mediation, heralding it as ...
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News
Public backs compulsory mediation assessments
Two-thirds of the public support the new enforced mediation assessments being introduced for divorcing and separating couples tomorrow, according to research published by City firm Charles Russell. Under the rules, which come into force on 6 April, couples seeking to take private law family cases to ...
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News
Society defends solicitors over legal aid
The Law Society president has reacted to negative news coverage concerning the growth in the number of solicitors. The Society president Linda Lee has written to the Daily Mail newspaper in response to an article published yesterday under the headline ‘Now we have more lawyers than ...
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News
CML predicts quality scheme will become ‘prerequisite’ for conveyancers
The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) is expected to become a 'pre-requisite' for membership of lenders' panels once it becomes established, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) said today. More than 700 firms have applied to join the quality assurance scheme since it launched in ...
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News
Criminal defence teams in Merseyside merger
Two well-known Liverpool firms have merged to create one of the largest criminal defence teams on Merseyside. Criminal law firm RM Broudie and the criminal law team at Jackson & Canter have joined forces to become RM Broudie Jackson & Canter – The Justice Partnership. ...
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News
Public law practitioners at ‘breaking point’
Public law solicitors are at ‘breaking point’ due to increased workloads and financial pressure, according to an authoritative report published this week. A study of how parents are represented in care proceedings, by academics at Bristol University’s school of law, found that solicitors acting for parents ...
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News
MPs call for rethink on legal aid
An influential committee of MPs has criticised the government’s ‘dramatic’ legal aid reforms and called on ministers to ‘refine’ their proposals. In a report published this week, the House of Commons Justice Committee recommended that the Ministry of Justice look at other ways to make the ...
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News
Legal aid firm merger to ‘embrace new opportunities'
Two high-profile legal aid firms are to merge this week to create one of the largest publicly funded criminal defence practices in the country, the Gazette can reveal. Noble, with offices in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Northamptonshire, will merge with Wembley and Watford firm Tank Jowett on ...
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News
Proposals address ‘scandalous’ delays in family proceedings
The Family Justice System is ‘not working’ with ‘scandalous’ delays which are harmful to vulnerable children and adults, according to the independent Family Justice Review panel. The panel’s interim report, published today, said the system needs significant reform to tackle delays and ensure the 500,000 children ...
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News
'Exhausted' lawyers in care cases need more support
A detailed and enlightening report on the representation of parents in care proceedings was published this week by academics at Bristol University law school. The study, by Julia Pearce and Professor Judith Masson, provides an interesting insight into the pivotal role played by lawyers in the ...