All articles by John Hyde – Page 331
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News
Admiral reveals referral fee income
Insurance giant Admiral has revealed that it rakes in £7 in personal injury referral fees for every vehicle it covers. The figure appears in the company’s half-year financial report, which lists modest increases in ‘other revenue’, including income from referral fees. Admiral insures 3.5m cars in ...
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Accutrainee welcomes first recruit
A groundbreaking scheme that finds trainees and seconds them to law firms on a temporary basis has welcomed its first recruit. Flora Hussey has become the first trainee to sign up to Accutrainee since it was launched last September. Trainees are taken on by Accutrainee but ...
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Summertime blues as 250 law firms shut
More than 250 law firms have ceased conducting business since the start of summer, but observers are divided on whether the trend is the first sign of long-awaited consolidation or a statistical blip. Data published this week by the Solicitors Regulation Authority show a total ...
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Find your own referral-fee workarounds, SRA tells firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned that it will not provide law firms with ‘safe harbour’ guidance to deal with the forthcoming referral fee ban. In a discussion paper released yesterday, the regulator says solicitors and firms should be able to work out from the legislation ...
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Fresh faces at justice ministry after reshuffle
A criminal law barrister and former Labour-supporting law firm founder are among the new faces at the Ministry of Justice after a sweeping reshuffle of ministerial posts. After replacing Kenneth Clarke with Christopher Grayling as justice secretary, Downing Street confirmed this morning that ministers Crispin Blunt, ...
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SRA considers lighter touch for whistleblowers
Whistleblowers who give evidence against colleagues suspected of misconduct may be offered a more lenient punishment for their own involvement under new Solicitors Regulation Authority guidelines. The regulator is this week expected to approve proposals to offer mitigation to witnesses who come forward.
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Cameron turns right in sweeping justice reshuffle
Prime minister David Cameron has confirmed that Chris Grayling will become justice secretary in what was emerging as a comprehensive clear-out of ministers at the Ministry of Justice. Earlier today Kenneth Clarke became a high-profile casualty of Cameron’s first major reshuffle since coming to office. ...
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Insurers fight uplift ruling
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) has appealed against the Court of Appeal’s decision to increase general damages. Three senior judges ruled in July that a 10% uplift to be applied to all personal injury awards from April 2013 applies also to cases launched before that ...
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Oligarch case judge laments ‘heavily lawyered’ approach
The judge presiding over the acrimonious High Court battle between Russian oligarchs has criticised the ‘heavily lawyered’ nature of the case that undermined witness statements.
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August sees spurt of ABS activity
More than a dozen alternative business structures were approved in August in the busiest period of licensing activity yet. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has approved 13 new ABSs since 1 August, taking its total up to 27. Irwin Mitchell was the highest-profile new entrant. The ...
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Sampson in the lions' den
In the race to Room 101, claims management companies (CMCs) are rivaled in the public mind only by chuggers and those ‘freshen up’ toilet attendants. But unlike those second two groups, there is never the satisfaction of telling them in person where to go. The most ...
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Co-op, like Man Utd, gets an early wake-up call
There will be people looking at Co-op Legal Services’ interim financial results with the same glee as football fans savouring Manchester United’s defeat on Monday. United were the big spenders, the brand leaders, the swaggering, bold, competition-crushing favourites, brought down a peg or two. Victory for ...
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Investment drive hits profits at Co-op Legal
Operating profits for Co-operative Legal Services (CLS) fell year-on-year by 63% during the first half of 2012, the organisation revealed today. In its half-year financial report, the Co-operative Group says its legal services arm made a profit of £700,000 as it spent heavily on recruitment and expansion. ...
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Petition fights clinical negligence clawback
Campaigners for accident victims have launched a petition to stop a levy being taken from successful claims funded through legal aid. The Ministry of Justice intends to impose the Supplementary Legal Aid Scheme (SLAS) from April 2013, to allow for up to 25% of damages awards ...
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Oral contracts to be banned in claims clampdown
Claims management companies (CMCs) will be forced to end oral contract arrangements under rules proposed by the Ministry of Justice today. The MoJ’s Claims Management Regulator (the regulator) will insist that CMCs have to agree contracts with clients in writing before any fees can be taken. ...
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News
ABSs: a veritable ‘who’s that?’
Watching the trickle of new alternative business structure licence announcements has been like the opening night of Celebrity Big Brother. We’ve had a couple of famous faces we knew about in advance and a few surprises, but mostly it’s been a case of running to Google to find out who ...
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ABSs ‘put 2,000 firms at risk’
More than 2,000 law firms are at risk of failure in the next year because of competition from alternative business structures (ABSs). That is the claim of insolvency trade body R3, after studying data from Bureau van Dijk’s ‘Fame’ database. The figures, which place existing businesses ...
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News
We’ll publish all on complaints, LeO states
The Legal Ombudsman has reaffirmed its commitment to making public complaints data about lawyers and firms despite a delay in publication. Chief Ombudsman Adam Sampson (pictured) said the first quarter’s data – including around 900 decisions – will be published ‘sometime in the autumn’.
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MoJ improving – but financial performance ‘unacceptable’, MPs say
The Ministry of Justice is blighted by poor financial management and a lack of expertise for drawing up outsourcing contracts, a select committee states today. A report by the Justice Select Committee says while improvements had been made in structure in the five years since the ...
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American bar closes door on 'lowest common denominator' ABSs
Leading US lawyers have voted down a proposal to rule out all further studies on non-lawyer ownership of firms – while indicating that alternative business structure (ABS) arrangements remain firmly off the agenda for now.