All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 80

  • News

    Recession fuels ADR rise

    2010-09-23T00:00:00Z

    The financial crisis triggered a surge in the number of disputes resolved by arbitration and mediation, with the UK performing well as a venue for hearing international cases, a study published this week found. The study, by membership body TheCityUK, discloses that the number of arbitrations ...

  • News

    Financial crisis sees dispute resolution surge

    2010-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The financial crisis has seen a surge in dispute resolution cases, with the UK performing well as a venue for hearing international disputes, according to a report published today. The report Dispute Resolution in London & the UK, compiled by membership body TheCityUK, shows the number ...

  • News

    Solicitors queue up to sue LSC

    2010-09-16T00:00:00Z

    Pressure is mounting on the Legal Services Commission over its handling of the tender for civil legal aid contracts, as it faces a growing number of judicial review challenges to the process, and talks with the Law Society broke down.

  • News

    Solicitor charged with theft

    2010-09-16T00:00:00Z

    A Lincolnshire solicitor has been charged with stealing over a quarter of a million pounds from her former clients. Jacquelina Laverick, who practised under the name Jacqui Johns, appeared at Grantham Magistrates’ Court last week charged with 11 offences of theft totalling more than £250,000, and ...

  • News

    The changing relationship between solicitors and barristers

    2010-09-16T00:00:00Z

    In the debate about how the legal regulators should amend practising rules to allow solicitors and barristers to operate in the new structures modelled in the Legal Services Act 2007, some predicted that the reforms could alter forever the identity of lawyers and lead to fusion – ending the distinction ...

  • News

    MoJ consults on bribery prevention procedures

    2010-09-15T00:00:00Z

    The Ministry of Justice has published draft guidance to companies on procedures to prevent bribery. The guidance is published under section 9 of the Bribery Act, which is due to come into force next April. The Bribery Act creates a new corporate offence of failure to ...

  • News

    Young legal aid lawyers call for quality

    2010-09-15T00:00:00Z

    The Young Legal Aid Lawyers group has called on the government to put quality of service at the heart of any new legal aid scheme to safeguard the rule of law. In a briefing paper to the Ministry of Justice, which is carrying out a review ...

  • News

    Tributes paid following death of Lord Bingham

    2010-09-13T00:00:00Z

    Tributes have been paid to Lord Bingham of Cornhill, the former lord chief justice and one of the pre-eminent judges of his generation, following his death on Saturday. He had been suffering from cancer and died at his home in Wales aged 76. ...

  • News

    LSC extends family contracts pending judicial review hearing

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Commission has confirmed that all current civil contracts will be extended for one month, after the Law Society won an expedited hearing of its judicial review last week. At a directions hearing last Friday, the High Court granted the Law Society’s application for ...

  • News

    LSC reverses contract decision following judge's warning

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Commission has averted one legal challenge to its tender process by awarding a social welfare contract to a Birmingham firm which sought a judicial review of the LSC’s initial decision not to make an award.

  • News

    Manchester CLAS will ‘eclipse’ small practices

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has warned that Manchester’s new community legal advice service (CLAS) will drive small legal aid firms out of the market, and make conflicts of interest hard to avoid. Following a tender process that overran by nearly two months, the Legal Services Commission and ...

  • News

    Scholarship to study law in France, Spain or Canada

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    Trainee and newly qualified solicitors have been given the chance to apply for a grant to study a postgraduate legal course in France, Spain or Canada. The Hubbard scholarship of up to £15,000 is available to trainees or newly qualified solicitors within three years of admission. ...

  • News

    Solicitors under fire from bar over referral fees

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    The new Criminal Bar Association chair has criticised solicitors for ‘abusing’ the referral fee arrangements for Crown court advocacy, claiming that solicitors are pocketing money for work done by barristers. In his first interview as CBA chair, Christopher Kinch QC told the Gazette: ‘The criminal bar ...

  • News

    Firm claims sex discrimination in legal aid tender

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    A London firm has claimed sex discrimination in judicial review proceedings challenging the Legal Services Commission’s refusal to award it immigration and community care contracts. Hereward & Foster issued proceedings in the Administrative Court on 7 September and has requested an expedited hearing. ...

  • News

    SRA pays out over £9m to former clients of Wolstenholmes

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority has so far paid out more than £9m to former clients of Cheshire firm Wolstenholmes. The SRA closed down the firm, which had offices in Cheadle and Birmingham, last year, on the grounds of suspected dishonesty and breaches of the solicitors’ accountancy ...

  • News

    Pro bono panel for 2012 Olympics

    2010-09-09T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society and Bar Council are to establish a joint pro bono panel of advisers for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Although City firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer is the official legal adviser to the London Olympics, the games’ organising committee has asked the two representative ...

  • News

    What about firms that can’t afford to promote social mobility?

    2010-09-08T00:00:00Z

    Accustomed as I am to receiving gloomy news about legal aid and vulnerable people being denied access to justice, a press release heralding a rare piece of good news brightened my inbox this week.

  • News

    LSC extends family contracts

    2010-09-06T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Commission has agreed to extend the family legal aid contracts for a month, as the Law Society won an application for an expedited hearing of its judicial review at a hearing last week. At a directions hearing at the High Court on Friday, ...

  • News

    LSC extends family contracts

    2010-09-06T00:00:00Z

    The Legal Services Commission has agreed to extend the family legal aid contracts for a month, as the Law Society won an application for an expedited hearing of its judicial review last week. At a directions hearing at the High Court on Friday, the court granted ...

  • News

    Barristers offer ‘lifeline’ to criminal solicitors

    2010-09-06T00:00:00Z

    Barristers’ chambers could provide a ‘lifeline’ to small criminal law firms, Bar Council chairman Nick Green QC has told the Gazette. ...