All articles by John Hyde – Page 339
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News
Wotton urges US to accept ABSs
Law Society president John Wotton will today urge the US to embrace the era of alternative business structures.In a speech to the American Bar Association (ABA) in New York, Wotton is expected to speak of the opportunities for solicitors through non-lawyer ownership of firms.
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Insurers under fire for ‘wasted costs’
The incoming leader of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers will go on the attack against insurers this week. Karl Tonks, incoming president of APIL, will use his inaugural speech on Thursday at the group’s annual conference to call for fairness in the civil litigation system. ...
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ABA rebuffs proposal for non-lawyer ownership
The American Bar Association has rejected any proposal to change its ban on non-lawyer ownership of firms. The ABA Commission on Ethics 20/20 decided last week to uphold the prohibition after a three-year of consultation with the profession.
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Hundreds of CMCs ‘cancelled’ by MoJ
The Ministry of Justice has closed down about one in five claims management companies in the past year, according to figures obtained by the Gazette. A freedom of information request to the MoJ’s Claims Management Regulation department has revealed that 734 businesses were ‘cancelled’ in ...
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Law firm is business loan pioneer
An East Anglian high street firm is one of the first businesses in the country to secure a loan through a new government-backed financing scheme. Tees Solicitors, which has six offices across four counties, has obtained £2m from Barclays under the National Loan Guarantee Scheme announced ...
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News
Asbestos victims hit by legislation delay
The government has admitted that a 2010 act designed to help people gain compensation for industrial diseases is unlikely to be implemented until 2013. The Third Parties (Rights Against Insurers) Act was pushed through two years ago to update legislation dating from 1930. It gave claimants, ...
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Lit funder’s profits up
A leading US litigation funder has announced £10m profits ahead of its expansion into the UK market. In its financial results released this week, Burford Capital revealed it committed around £113m to 19 new investments during 2011. Since being launched in September 2009, the group has ...
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News
Custodial sentence for holiday juror
A juror who pretended to be ill to go on holiday has been jailed for 56 days. Janet Chapman had telephoned the court during a four-week trial to say she would miss two weeks because she was suffering from sciatica. But Chapman had phoned in the ...
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Fury like a courtroom scorned
Sitting on a jury seems an increasingly precarious business. Janet Chapman this week joined the growing list of jury members who have taken the short jump across to the dock. Her crime was so ridiculous it reads like a rejected Shameless episode. Chapman had faced three ...
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News
LSB defies calls to 'change direction'
The Legal Services Board super-regulator looks set to defy calls from the profession to scale back its role. In a review published yesterday of the five years since the Legal Services Act, the board says there is ‘no need at this stage for a change ...
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News
Asbestos ruling ‘will not open floodgates’
A leading trade union lawyer has dismissed expectations that a Supreme Court ruling will prompt a rush of asbestos-related litigation. The 'trigger case' judgment last week ruled in favour of allowing insurance claims by families of people who died after exposure to asbestos. Following the ruling, ...
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News
SRA to shut 15 ARP firms
A total of 15 firms will be closed down after failing to find an escape route from the assigned risks pool. The firms will be shut after failing to secure professional indemnity insurance on the open market by the 1 April deadline, the Solicitors Regulation Authority ...
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News
LeO unveils complaints publication policy
The Legal Ombudsman is to publish the total number of complaints processed against law firms – but not the details of what they have done wrong. The consumer watchdog starts collating complaints from today, ready to publish them for the first time in July. ...
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Complaints publishing feels like a fudge
At what point does a compromise become a fudge? Without doubt, the Legal Ombudsman had a difficult task on its hands deciding how to publish details of complaints. The status quo of printing anonymised case studies was generally accepted to be counter-productive ...
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SRA ponders £250m fine limit for firms
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is looking to close a loophole that restricts its fining powers for firms other than alternative business structures. The Legal Services Act 2007 allows the SRA to fine ABSs up to £250m, compared with a limit of £2,000 for traditional law firms. ...
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News
Political split on Welsh jurisdiction
Welsh secretary Cheryl Gillan (pictured) has said there is ‘no need’ for a distinct Welsh legal jurisdiction as the country begins a debate on separation from England. The Welsh government began a consultation this week on creating a new legal system. First minister Carwyn Jones is ...
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News
Legal services outperform groceries at the Co-op
Legal services provided a better profit margin than traditional retailing activities at the Co-op last year. The group reported this morning that operating profits from its legal services rose by 15% during 2011, far outperforming the business as a whole. Co-operative Legal Services (CLS), which ...
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News
Firms ‘must diversify to survive’ urges City investor
A City investor in the legal profession has urged firms to diversify if they want to survive. Rob Terry, founder and chief executive of the Quindell Group, which moved to acquire Liverpool personal injury firm Silverbeck Rymer in January, said multi-disciplinary practices are the best ...
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News
Fraud fears over RTA portal fee cap
Claimant solicitors have reacted with concern to government proposals to cap at £300 the fee for low-value road traffic claims handled through the RTA portal. The proposal emerged at roundtable discussions on the future of the portal with justice minister Jonathan Djanogly (pictured) last Thursday. ...
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News
Supreme Court opens the way to thousands of employee asbestos claims
Campaigners were today celebrating a UK Supreme Court ruling that insurance policies cover asbestos-related disease even after employees have left their job. Insurance companies had sought to limit their obligations to indemnify employers against liabilities towards staff who contracted mesothelioma. In effect, ...