All articles by Catherine Baksi – Page 99
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News
'Scrap training contract for unreserved work', thinktank urges
An influential thinktank has proposed scrapping the training contract for non-reserved work as part of a radical overhaul of the qualification process. The College of Law’s Legal Services Policy Institute advances far-reaching proposals for change in a strategy document to be published this week. ...
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Solicitors raise confidentiality concerns in virtual court pilot
Police station interview rooms used by defendants in the virtual court pilot are not soundproof and put confidentiality at risk, criminal practitioners have warned. Bruce Reid, a freelance solicitor-advocate, represented a defendant in custody at Brixton Police Station via the videolink from Camberwell Green Magistrates’ Court. ...
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News
Barristers to form ‘procurement companies’ for block contracts
A Bar Council taskforce has put forward proposals for barristers or groups of chambers to form procurement companies to contract as a block for publicly funded advocacy work. The structure would give barristers greater power in negotiating contracts and allow the bar to take advantage of the practice changes permitted ...
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Barristers and the Legal Services Act: will the bar modernise in time? Does it even need to?
It is almost five years since Sir David Clementi rocked the legal establishment with his report on the regulatory framework for legal services. Since then, debate on the product of that report – the Legal Services Act 2007 – and the impact on the profession of new legal disciplinary partnerships ...
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SRA unveils mortgage fraud probe
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to examine the role played by solicitors in mortgage fraud as it marshalls its resources to tackle the escalating problem. The SRA claimed its investigations have already led to frauds worth several million pounds being thwarted. Over ...
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News
Aspiring judges are quizzed on race
Applicants for judicial office are facing aggressive questioning about their attitudes to race, an approach which has in some cases caused offence, the Gazette has learned. One white male barrister was asked if he was ‘racist’ as an opening question, while another was quizzed about why ...
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News
What is going on at the LSC and the MoJ?
The latest announcement by the Legal Services Commission delaying the tendering process for the new criminal contracts for at least two months probably comes as a relief to many practitioners, particularly those in the best value tendering pilot areas.
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News
Junior lawyers on community mission to Borneo
The Junior Lawyers Division (JLD) has teamed up with volunteering charity Raleigh International to develop a unique annual public service project in Borneo. Junior lawyers from the UK will work with a local community in the south-east Asian island of Borneo on infrastructure projects to build ...
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News
Best value tendering pilot deferred
Tendering for all criminal contracts, including the best value tendering (BVT) pilot process, has been deferred for at least two months, the Legal Services Commission announced today. Tendering for the 2010 criminal contracts was due to begin in October, but the LSC has put the date ...
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News
Defendants on videolink 'get raw deal', warn solicitors
Defendants who appear in court via videolink are being ‘treated differently’ from those who appear in person, solicitors have warned, with a much higher proportion going unrepresented. The pilot virtual court, whereby defendants make their first appearance in court via videolink from a police station, has ...
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News
SRA considers foreign lawyer language test
Foreign qualified lawyers seeking to practise in England and Wales may have to pass an English language test under proposals to be considered by the Solicitor’s Regulation Authority board this week. The SRA’s education and training committee has put forward the recommendation as an amendment to ...
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News
CFS panel cull deferred pending talks
The Law Society has secured a two-week stay of execution for sole practitioners in a ‘first round’ of negotiations over the decision to axe 3,600 practitioners from the conveyancing panel of the newly merged Britannia and Co-operative Financial Services (CFS). Sole practitioners will remain on the ...
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News
Supreme Court emblems cost taxpayer £50k
The Treasury’s coffers may presently echo to the ghostly rustle of rolling tumbleweed, but no expense has been spared for Britain’s new Supreme Court. Taxpayers have paid nearly £50,000 for the design of not one but two emblems for the institution, a freedom of information request has revealed. ...
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Chancery Lane attacks 'deeply flawed' MoJ legal aid proposals
The Law Society has called on the Ministry of Justice to clarify its ‘incoherent’ and ‘deeply flawed’ consultation on criminal legal aid cuts. In a hard-hitting letter to legal aid minister Lord Bach, Law Society president Robert Heslett said the vagueness and uncertainty of the paper ...
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News
Separating couples may be forced into mediation under MoJ plan
Divorcing and separating couples could be compelled to consider mediation before going to court under plans being examined by the Ministry of Justice. At present, only parties who are funded by legal aid are obliged to consider mediating. Justice minister Bridget ...
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News
Freedom of information data show fall in cost of police station work
The government was accused of ‘reckless’ and ‘savage’ cuts to criminal legal aid this week, as information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act (FoI) seen exclusively by the Gazette cast doubt on the need for the reductions. The Ministry of Justice said the cuts ...
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News
Law Society claims Co-op panel cuts may be indirect discrimination
The Law Society has alleged indirect discrimination in the newly merged Britannia Building Society and Co-operative Financial Services’ (CFS) decision to axe the 3,600 sole practitioners from Britannia’s conveyancing panel. The Society said the move would have a disproportionate impact on ethnic minority lawyers, and criticised CFS for failing to ...
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News
Solicitors offer air miles for legal work in new loyalty card scheme
An alliance of solicitor firms is to offer clients a ‘loyalty card’ rewards system in an innovative bid to square up to the threat from big brands entering the legal services market, the Gazette can exclusively reveal. QualitySolicitors.com will launch a loyalty card this month which ...
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News
Bar regulator rapped by Legal Services Board over ABSs
The bar’s regulator has been accused of engaging in a ‘sterile debate’ over alternative business structures by oversight body the Legal Services Board. The LSB’s broadside came following the BSB’s decision to commission research by economic analysts on the potential effects on the market and consumers ...
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News
Advice scheme launched for vulnerable young people
The Children’s Society has launched an innovative pilot internet and telephone service offering legal advice to young people in Lambeth and Camden in London, and in Colchester, Essex. While available to all, Lawyers for Young People is principally aimed at ensuring the most vulnerable get access ...