All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 77
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News
Drafting error fears over Equality Act
A drafting error in the Equality Act 2010 makes enforcing compromise agreements to settle discrimination and equal pay claims impossible, the Law Society warned last week. Chancery Lane has requested an urgent meeting with the Government Equality Officer (GEO) to resolve the issue. In order to ...
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Law Society calls for reform of murder sentencing
The Law Society has called on the government to look at introducing a three-tier system of sentencing for murder, after research published today revealed a lack of public support for the current mandatory life sentence. The report, by Barry Mitchell of Coventry University and Julian Roberts ...
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Solicitors sue police and Prison Service
Three solicitors are suing the police and Prison Service after being arrested and detained for storing a dictation device and memory sticks in the wrong lockers during prison visits. The three lawyers were among five solicitors who were held at HMP Brixton in unconnected incidents, following ...
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Freeman tops ranking of high-profile solicitors
Defence lawyer Nick Freeman topped the rankings for the solicitor most frequently mentioned in the national press over the last year, according to figures compiled by Sweet & Maxwell. Freeman (pictured), founder of Manchester firm Freeman & Co and known as ‘Mr Loophole’, was the most ...
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Solicitor jailed for fraud
A Canterbury solicitor has been jailed for five years after pleading guilty to 14 fraud-related offences. Derek Speed, a former probate solicitor at Kent firm EMD Law, was sentenced last week after admitting the counts of fraud at Maidstone Crown Court.
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Watchdog raps costly CPS failures
Failings at the Crown Prosecution Service and police are costing the taxpayer £600,000 a year in abandoned trials and preventing cases from being brought before the courts, a CPS inspection report found this week. One eminent solicitor warned that the report showed a criminal justice ...
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Senior judge slams court closures
The senior presiding judge for England and Wales has criticised the government’s plans to close 157 courts, in a consultation response intended to reflect the views of many judges and magistrates. Lord Justice Goldring (pictured) said he was ‘particularly concerned’ about the impact of the proposed ...
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Children 'at risk' over court fees
Solicitors have warned that local authorities may be deterred from placing vulnerable children into care, following the government’s decision not to scrap the controversial court fees paid by councils in care and supervision cases. In a ministerial statement last week, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said the ...
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News
Profession facing 'demographic time bomb'
Legal aid lawyers have warned of a ‘demographic time bomb’ facing the profession as the number of young criminal defence lawyers declines as a result of uncertainty over the future of criminal legal aid. Law Society head of legal aid Richard Miller said the number of ...
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News
Where will the legal aid lawyers of the future come from?
As uncertainty over the future of legal aid contracts deters firms from taking on the expense and commitment of traineeships, one wonders who is going to train the next generation. Two weeks ago, I attended the Legal Aid Practitioners Group annual gathering in Leeds. Given the ...
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News
LSC rules out appeal against family tender judgment
The Legal Services Commission has announced that it will not appeal against the High Court’s judgment following the Law Society’s successful challenge to the family tender process. It said any appeal would only prolong uncertainty over the future of the family contracts, causing difficulties for ...
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News
New advocacy proposals 'prejudice' solicitors
A proposed new quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates could prejudice solicitors because it places too much weight on the views of judges, an advocates group has warned. The Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) has voiced concerns about the ‘over-reliance’ on judicial evaluation proposed ...
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News
Supreme Court backs right to police station advice
Defence lawyers have welcomed a Supreme Court ruling confirming the right to legal advice at the police station, and warned that the Ministry of Justice will have to ‘think carefully’ before introducing any reform that seeks to limit it. Giving judgment in an appeal from the ...
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News
Lawyers call for details of £350m legal aid budget cut
Lawyers have called on the Ministry of Justice to give details of how it intends to cut £350m from the legal aid budget, following the outcome of the government’s spending review, announced last week. Chancellor George Osborne told the House of Commons that the MoJ’s current ...
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News
New advocacy proposals ‘prejudice’ solicitors
A proposed new quality assurance scheme for criminal advocates could prejudice solicitors because it places too much weight on the views of judges, an advocates’ group has warned. The Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) has voiced concerns over the ‘over-reliance’ on judicial evaluation proposed ...
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News
Support victims of rape, says Stern
The government must support the victims of serious violent crime despite financial constraints following its spending review, Baroness Stern said last night. The crossbench peer, who led the independent review into how rape complainants are treated by public bodies, said justice had to be balanced, and ...
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News
Children at risk over court fees
Solicitors have warned that local authorities may be deterred from placing vulnerable children into care, following the government’s decision not to scrap the controversial court fees paid by local authorities in care and supervision cases. In a written ministerial statement yesterday, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) ...
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News
Conveyancing quality mark launched
The Law Society has launched a conveyancing quality scheme (CQS) designed to give clients a recognisable quality mark for firms providing a high standard of service. The scheme is based on a new Law Society transaction protocol, which will introduce consistent standards to speed up the ...
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Huge court closure response, says Djanogly
A Ministry of Justice consultation proposing the closure of 103 magistrates’ courts and 54 county courts has received a huge number of responses, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly told the House of Commons’ Justice Committee this week. The minister said that the MoJ had received ...
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Price competition 'very possible' in criminal legal aid tendering
The chairman of the Legal Services Commission has indicated that it is ‘very possible’ that the Ministry of Justice will introduce price competition in the tendering process for criminal legal aid contracts, and predicted greater competition for criminal contracts when barristers bid for work through ProcureCos. ...