All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 74

  • News

    Solicitor Deal to head Appeals Unit

    2011-01-26T00:00:00Z

    Solicitor Angela Deal (pictured) is to head the new specialist Appeals Unit launched today by the Crown Prosecution Service. The Appeals Unit, which is part of the Special Crime Division at CPS headquarters, was initially set up in June 2010, but has been taking on ...

  • News

    Legal aid cuts - what are the alternatives?

    2011-01-26T00:00:00Z

    In its impact assessment on the legal aid green paper, the government notes that people who no longer receive legal aid may tackle disputes differently or - as seems more likely in many situations - may decide not to tackle an issue at all. Ministers accept ...

  • News

    Bar Council seeks to raise its profile in Russia

    2011-01-21T00:00:00Z

    The Bar Council has announced it is to send a delegation to Moscow and Kiev to raise its profile in the former Soviet republics. The trip next week, which will be led by bar chairman Peter Lodder QC, is supported by the British embassies in Russia ...

  • News

    Law firm creates ‘accident app’

    2011-01-21T00:00:00Z

    A 150-year-old Manchester law firm has created an iPhone ‘accident app’ which it claims could revolutionise the personal injury claims process. Croftons has released the iPhone app to help claimants gather accurate evidence and information after an accident at work or on the road, and provide ...

  • News

    Litigants in person set to rise

    2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has warned that the courts could be ‘thronged by countless individuals unable to have a lawyer, like a scene from Pickwick Papers’, if the government presses ahead with legal aid reforms without conducting research on the likely effect on the number of litigants in person. ...

  • News

    'Greedy' solicitor jailed for theft

    2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

    A Lincolnshire firm has been praised by a judge for the ‘exemplary’ way it investigated a series of thefts by a solicitor, who was jailed last week. Jacquelina Laverick, who was head of the wills and probate department at the 200-year-old firm, stole cash from ...

  • News

    Small firms seek to consolidate

    2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

    Leading consultants are predicting a ‘surge’ in mergers by small firms over the next 12 months. A six-monthly survey carried out by consultant Andrew Otterburn (pictured) on behalf of the Law Consultancy Network, seen exclusively by the Gazette, has revealed a 69% increase in the number ...

  • News

    Aspiring judges to get support

    2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society and Judicial Appointments Commission [JAC] will today launch a joint plan to support solicitors who want to become judges, after an analysis of the appointment of solicitors as judges over the past 10 years.

  • News

    LSC pledge on matter starts for legal aid work

    2011-01-20T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Commission has begun allocating new matter starts for family legal aid work to firms on the basis of the amount they received last year, it said last week. Since the High Court ruling that quashed the outcome of the LSC’s family tender in ...

  • News

    Legal services reforms to ‘influence worldwide markets', says IBA

    2011-01-19T00:00:00Z

    Full implementation of the Legal Services Act 2007 could ‘substantially influence’ legal markets around the world, according to the new president of the International Bar Association. Akira Kawamura (pictured), partner at Japanese firm Anderson Mori & Tomotsune, last week became the twenty-second IBA president and the ...

  • News

    Family lawyers hail new code

    2011-01-13T00:00:00Z

    Family lawyers have welcomed last week’s publication of the long-awaited Family Procedure Rules 2010, which will come into force on 6 April. The new code, published by the Ministry of Justice, provides a single set of rules for proceedings in the magistrates’ court, county court and ...

  • News

    Calls to rethink telephone gateway for civil legal aid

    2011-01-13T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society and other representative groups have called for a ‘fundamental rethink’ of ‘radical’ government proposals to introduce a telephone gateway for all civil legal aid services. The impact assessments published with the government’s recent legal aid green paper estimate that the introduction of a ...

  • News

    Website pioneers advice auction

    2011-01-13T00:00:00Z

    A Cheshire solicitor has launched a website giving legal advice over the internet to members of the public, who can decide how much they want to pay for it. The site, www.expert-answers.co.uk, was created by property partner James Mather at Ellesmere Port firm Berkson Wallace.

  • News

    ‘Not just peanuts’ campaign to support legal advice charities

    2011-01-12T00:00:00Z

    The Access to Justice Foundation will today launch a national campaign encouraging law firms to release unclaimed money from their client accounts to help support free legal assistance in their local community. The charity’s ‘It's Not Just Peanuts’ campaign is targeting amounts of less than ...

  • News

    Law Commission consults on pre-nuptial agreements

    2011-01-11T00:00:00Z

    The Law Commission has today published a consultation on the future of pre-nuptial agreements, seeking views on whether couples should be able to make binding agreements governing financial arrangements if their relationships end. The paper puts forward a range of options for reforming the law of ...

  • News

    Profession under stress, helpline reveals

    2011-01-07T00:00:00Z

    A charity that provides support to solicitors has identified high levels of stress among the profession. Telephone helpline LawCare recorded the second busiest year in its 13-year history. The advice line opened 517 new case files in 2010, down from the ...

  • News

    Family procedure rules published

    2011-01-07T00:00:00Z

    The Ministry of Justice has this week published the long-awaited Family Procedure Rules 2010, which will come into force on 6 April 2011. The new code provides a single set of rules for proceedings in the magistrates’ court, county court and High Court, along the model ...

  • News

    Can cuts to legal aid still be halted?

    2011-01-07T00:00:00Z

    Next week sees the launch in the House of Commons of Justice for All, a broad coalition of over 1,000 legal and advice groups, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public. It has been set up in response to the government’s proposed ...

  • News

    New Year honour for LSC chief

    2011-01-06T00:00:00Z

    The chief executive of the Legal Services Commission and the pro bono leader at City firm Hogan Lovells were among those recognised by the Queen in the New Year’s honours list. Hogan Lovells pro bono manager Yasmin Waljee received an OBE for services to the Muslim ...

  • News

    ‘Big fall’ in number of conveyancing practices expected

    2011-01-06T00:00:00Z

    Property specialists are predicting a ‘significant’ fall in the number of conveyancing firms in 2011, as regulatory pressures on the profession rise and transaction volumes drop. Eddie Goldsmith, chair of the Conveyancing Association and a partner at London firm Goldsmith Williams, predicted that two-thirds of firms ...