All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 81
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News
Law Commission calls for greater use of civil penalties
The Law Commission has proposed a cut in the number of criminal offences for regulatory breaches. In a consultation published last week, the commission suggested that using civil penalties for technical breaches of farming, food safety, banking and retail laws would save the criminal justice system ...
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News
Ralli pursues group action for harassment against London firm
National firm Ralli is seeking to pursue a group action for harassment against London firm ACS Law in relation to the handling of file-sharing cases. Ralli has called for individuals to contact the firm if they have received what it claims are ‘bullying’ letters from ACS ...
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News
Lloyds Banking Group axes 2,500 firms from conveyancing panel
About 2,500 firms have been axed from Lloyds Banking Group’s conveyancing panel in its recent cull, the Law Society has estimated. Over the last month the group, which includes Lloyds TSB, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Birmingham Midshires, has reviewed its panel membership to remove firms ...
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News
LSC reveals winners of Manchester CLAS contracts
The Legal Services Commission and Manchester City Council have commissioned Manchester Citizens Advice Bureau in conjunction with Shelter, local law firms Glaisyers and Platt Halpern, and Cheetham Hill Advice Centre to run Manchester’s new Community Legal Advice Service. The service will operate from six sites and ...
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News
Law firms plan to escalate LSC tender challenge nationwide
The Legal Services Commission can expect a ‘nationwide’ challenge to the lawfulness of its recent tenders, according to an alliance of 12 family firms which plan to take the fight to the agency. The firms, based in London, Exeter and Hull, all failed to get new ...
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News
Law Society commences court action over tender process
The Law Society is taking the Legal Services Commission to court seeking a declaration that the family tender process and outcome are ‘unlawful’, and asking for a suspension of the new contracts. Chancery Lane has today formally commenced judicial review proceedings of the LSC’s recent tender ...
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News
High Court judge brands welfare tender ‘irrational’
A High Court judge has today branded some of the criteria used by the Legal Services Commission in its recent social welfare tender ‘utterly absurd and totally irrational’. Mr Justice Collins also said the ‘tick-box’ exercise adopted by the LSC was not appropriate for tendering to ...
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News
Law Commission consults on criminal law reforms
The Law Commission has proposed a cut in the number of criminal offences for regulatory breaches. In a consultation published today, the commission said using civil penalties for technical breaches of farming, food safety, banking and retail laws would save the criminal justice system £11m a ...
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News
High street firms ‘fear for the future’
The future of many high street firms could be in jeopardy unless they adopt a more customer-friendly approach to business, according to a new study. Some 87% of lawyers in sole practitioner and small firms already fear for their future, the analysis found, with many ...
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News
The age of criminal responsibility is much too low
Following the sentencing of two 11-year-old boys at the Old Bailey for the attempted rape of an eight-year-old girl, the Law Society has called for the age of criminal responsibility to be increased.
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News
Social welfare warning over Manchester CLAS delay
The delayed timetable for Manchester’s new Community Legal Advice Service (CLAS) will make it impossible for some clients to obtain advice on social welfare problems, the Law Society has warned. The Legal Services Commission told the Gazette it will announce the bidders who have won contracts ...
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News
Firms seek to launch High Court challenge to LSC tender process
Some 31 firms across the north-east have joined forces in a bid to launch a High Court challenge to the Legal Services Commission’s recent family tender process, the Gazette has learned. The group of firms in Teesside, Durham and Newcastle, led by Helen Scourfield, associate at ...
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News
Chancery Lane in legal bid over family tender
The Law Society is preparing a high court challenge against the Legal Services Commission’s family tender process. Chancery Lane today informed the LSC of its intention to seek a judicial review of the exercise, which has slashed the number of firms able to do family law ...
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News
JAG plan for advocate reaccreditation 'every five years'
All criminal solicitor-advocates and barristers including Queen’s Counsel would face compulsory reaccreditation every five years under proposals put forward by the Joint Advocacy Group (JAG) last week. The JAG was established by the Bar Standards Board, the Solicitors Regulation Authority and ILEX Professional Standards to develop ...
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News
Cashier stole £1.6m from Midlands law firm
A former cashier at a Midlands law firm has admitted stealing £1.6m from her employer. Louise Martini from Solihull pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and theft of £1.6m from the accounts of Solihull and Shirley firm Williamson & Soden, in a hearing at Gloucester ...
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News
Scrapping personal search fee will ‘benefit no one’, warn conveyancers
The government’s decision to scrap the fee for personal searches of the local land charges register will benefit no one and will add to the financial pressure on local government, lawyers have warned. Housing minister Grant Shapps announced last week that the government will abolish the ...
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News
Lawyers see 'explosion' in cohabitation cases
The recession has caused an ‘explosion’ in the number of cohabiting couples seeking advice on relationship breakdown, according to family lawyers who have called for the ‘complex’ laws applied to them to be updated. Vanessa Lloyd Platt, founder of London firm Lloyd Platt & Co, said: ...
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News
Duty solicitors face pay scrutiny
A proposal to change the way duty solicitor slots are allocated would ensure that duty lawyers are no longer ‘overpaid’, a leading criminal solicitor has suggested. The Ministry of Justice is understood to be considering altering the current arrangements, so that duty solicitor slots are ...
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News
LSC chief: family tender outcome 'unintentional'
The Legal Services Commission did not intend the outcome of the recent family tender which saw a 46% fall in the number of providers, its chief executive told the Gazette this week in her first press interview since her appointment. Carolyn Downs (pictured), a career civil ...
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Profile
Interview with LSC chief executive Carolyn Downs
Carolyn Downs, who took over as chief executive of the Legal Services Commission in March, gave an interview to the Gazette this week. It was her first media interview since taking over her role at the LSC. Here is what I asked her, and her full responses.