All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 96
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News
Education and training is about much more than CPD
As the legal landscape changes, lawyers are finding that it is no longer good enough for them to be just good lawyers – they must also run their firms more effectively and understand their commercial clients better. As Maureen Miller, the Law Society’s head of membership services, points out: ‘It ...
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New matter starts shortage reaching ‘crisis level’
Lawyers’ groups have warned that firms will be forced out of business and vulnerable clients turned away as the shortage of new matter starts for social welfare work hits ‘crisis level’. Carol Storer (pictured), director of the Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG), has called on the ...
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CPS consults on its ‘minimum standards’
The Crown Prosecution Service has launched a consultation asking the public for views on a set of proposed minimum standards that prosecutors should achieve at each stage of the prosecution process. The document sets core quality standards for prosecutors across 12 key areas of their work, ...
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Cafcass judicial review threat
A Somerset solicitor is set to launch a judicial review action against the Children and Family Courts Advice and Support Service (Cafcass) because of its ‘unacceptable delays’ in appointing children’s guardians and family court advisers. Martin Davis, director of the family department at Somerset firm Battens, ...
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LawNet to strengthen solicitor ‘brand’ with new website
A national network of independent law firms has launched an online consumer marketing initiative to help secure work referrals and give the firms a strong internet presence. The 65 firms that make up LawNet have banded together to launch a legal referral and advice website, called ...
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Bar Standards Board sanctions legal disciplinary practices
The Bar Standards Board gave the green light for barristers to go into practice with solicitors last week, but proposed an extension of the cab-rank rule to all advocates including solicitors. At a meeting last week the BSB decided that barristers could join legal disciplinary partnerships ...
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Report slams LSC over criminal legal aid
More than a quarter of firms will walk away from criminal legal aid work in the next five years, a report slamming the Legal Services Commission’s poor administration has revealed. The report by public spending watchdog the National Audit Office (NAO) showed that one in six ...
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Contract awarded for Yorkshire advice network
The East Yorkshire Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has won the contract to run the first Community Legal Advice Network (CLAN), in a partnership with local law firm Switalskis. The CLAN, funded by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), is due ...
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First community advice network to open in East Yorkshire
The East Yorkshire Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) has won the contract to run the country’s first Community Legal Advice Network (CLAN), in a partnership with local law firm Switalskis. The CLAN, funded by East Riding of Yorkshire Council and the Legal Services Commission (LSC), is ...
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Bar Standards Board opens door to joint practices
Barristers and solicitors will be able to go into practice together as a first step on the post-Clementi road, following a historic meeting of the Bar Standards Board last night. The board met to consider recommendations from its working group on alternative business structures to determine ...
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Jack Straw urges magistrates to keep cases in own court
Justice secretary Jack Straw has called on magistrates to deal with more cases themselves rather than sending them on to the Crown court. Speaking at the Magistrates’ Association conference in Birmingham, Straw noted that the number of cases in the magistrates’ court fell by 9% in ...
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Solicitors blamed for delays in conveyancing process
Homebuyers and sellers have blamed solicitors more than estate agents for delays during the conveyancing process, according to research published by the Office of Fair Trading. The consumer watchdog published four reports undertaken as part of its market study into home buying and selling. One showed ...
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News
Bar Standards Board opens door to joint practices
Barristers and solicitors will be able to go into practice together as a first step on the post-Clementi road, following a historic meeting of the Bar Standards Board last night. The board met to consider recommendations from its working group on alternative business structures to determine ...
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News
Conservatives pledge to apply brakes to alternative business structures
A Conservative government would seek to slow down the introduction of alternative business structures, shadow justice minister Henry Bellingham revealed last week. Describing ABSs as ‘one more assault on the high-street solicitor’, Bellingham (pictured) predicted that big names would enter the market and cherry-pick the more ...
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The best advice on how to prepare for a legal services revolution
As firms begin to emerge from the recession in 2010, they may feel they want to get their breath back before tackling the next challenges that face them. But as any law firm consultant will tell you, now is the time to get lean, efficient and in shape to deal ...
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Legal Services Board issues proposals on ABS regulation
The Legal Services Board has published a consultation paper outlining the core principles it expects all licensing authorities (LAs) to use in regulating alternative business structures, as it moves towards the next stage in liberalising the delivery of legal services. The paper proposes removing restrictions that ...
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Justice comes at a price, you know
The Ministry of Justice, legal aid minister Lord Bach in particular, have made much over recent months of the importance of ensuring that vulnerable people affected by the recession have access to the legal advice and assistance they require.
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Coroners reforms receive royal assent
The Bar Council and the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) have today welcomed changes made to the Coroners and Justice Bill, which received royal assent yesterday. The Ministry of Justice said the act will provide better protection for victims and witnesses during criminal investigations, more consistency in ...
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‘Dire need’ for solicitors to undertake pro bono work
There is a ‘dire need’ for solicitors to undertake pro bono work, legal aid minister Lord Bach admitted this week. Addressing Monday’s joint national pro bono conference in London, which kicked off National Pro Bono Week, Bach suggested there should be a ‘professional expectation’ ...
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Call for better career information for law students
The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) called for law students to be given better information about their career prospects to avoid disappointment as the number of people choosing a law degree hit a new high. Provisional figures from UCAS, the organisation that runs the university and college ...