All articles by John Hyde – Page 356
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The Big Society, votes and the law
Maybe it’s the rain, maybe it’s the lack of cricket in the Test match, but I’m in a wretched mood today. But the government, at least, has given me something to get my teeth into with two law-related stories catching my eye. Let’s start with justice ...
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DLA Piper boss’s warning for legal sector
The head of global legal giant DLA Piper warned this week that a ‘paradigm shift’ is about to hit the sector. Sir Nigel Knowles (pictured), joint chief executive of the firm, predicted many firms will flounder in the next 10 years after alternative business structures (ABSs) ...
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DLA sees profits climb amid expansion drive
Global law firm DLA Piper saw its profitability improve sharply in 2010, though income was flat. The firm, which has over 4,200 lawyers in 30 countries, recorded a 5.9% rise in profits to £503m on income up just 1% to £1.27bn. It declined to disclose average ...
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Magistrates resign as courts close
Resignations from the magistracy have increased by 18% since the announcement of court closures, according to government figures. Responding to a written question tabled by Mike Wood, MP for Batley and Spen in West Yorkshire, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly revealed that 487 magistrates had resigned from ...
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Split juries into smaller groups, psychologists argue
Juries should be split into three groups of four to allow every member an equal chance to participate, a new study has suggested. Researchers from the psychology department at the University of Portsmouth found that in large groups, many people feel intimidated to speak out and ...
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£20,000 law firm donation kickstarts head injury fund
A fund for families of people with head injuries has been kick-started by a £20,000 grant from a litigation law firm. The long-established Stewarts Law Foundation, a charity fund founded by the firm’s partners, donated the money to the Headway Emergency Fund earlier this month. ...
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New CLLS chair vows to uphold English law ‘brand’
The new head of City of London Law Society (CLLS) has vowed to uphold the English ‘brand’, already so prominent throughout the world. Alasdair Douglas has been confirmed as the new CLLS chair, representing law firms that employ 14,000 solicitors and have an annual turnover of ...
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Judges should not sit in judgment over advocates
I had a turbulent seven-year relationship with my old English teacher. He had a pompous air of superiority, talking to pupils like Mr Bumble addressing the orphans and wistfully dreaming of the university professorship he surely craved but never achieved. Worst of ...
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Patient data leaked to personal injury claims worker
A claims company employee has been fined after using his former girlfriend to obtain patients’ confidential records. Martin Campbell (pictured) was supplied with the personal data of 29 people by his then partner Dawn Makin, who worked as a nurse at walk-in health centres in Bury. ...
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Tighten rules to protect young witnesses, say charities
Children’s charities have called for ground rules to be enforced in court to prevent the exploitation of young witnesses. A report released this week by the NSPCC and Nuffield Foundation found that inadequate procedures and a lack of training for legal professionals were having detrimental effects ...
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Lawyers charging consumers for complaints - research
Lawyers are failing to advise consumers how to go about making complaints and in some cases are charging people for complaining, research by the Legal Services Board (LSB) has found. A survey of dissatisfied legal customers by YouGov revealed more than half were never told about ...
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Jackson reforms could trigger business debt headache
Insolvency experts have warned that civil litigation funding reforms could deter small businesses from trying to reclaim debts. Provisions in the government’s forthcoming Justice Bill will prevent successful claimants from recouping their solicitors’ success fee from losing defendants, or recovering an after-the-event insurance premium. ...
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Solicitor-advocates seek to block evaluation scheme
Solicitor-advocates will make a last-ditch attempt in the coming weeks to halt plans for compulsory evaluation of their performance by judges. Up to 1,400 advocates who handle criminal cases are set to be formally assessed from next spring as part of the Quality Assurance Scheme for ...
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Government seeks views on stripping back Equalities Act
The government has today begun the process of stripping back unwanted elements of the Equalities Act. The Home Office claims that last year’s legislation scrapped 100 sets of regulations in an effort to lighten the burden of red tape on businesses. But ...
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Ranks of corporate counsel swell as work retained in-house
More than one in 10 City lawyers are now working in-house as law firms face an increasing squeeze from the commercial sector, according to research by a recruitment consultancy. Between 2000 and 2010, the number of solicitors in commercial organisations and financial institutions rose by 140%, ...
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Half of accident victims do not claim
The UK may not have the ‘compensation culture’ that so many commentators claim, new research has suggested. A study conducted by the website personalinjurylawyers.co.uk has found that almost half of respondents who had been the victim of an accident never went on to claim compensation. ...
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Clifford Chance announces pay increases
Magic Circle firm Clifford Chance has announced salary increases for its senior lawyers, but a pay freeze for trainees and newly-qualified solicitors. The Canary Wharf-based firm will pay lawyers with three years’ experience a salary of £85,500, up by £1,000 on last year. ...
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Lawyers are members of ‘rich minority’, say unions
Unions have held up the wages paid to members of the legal sector as proof of Britain’s growing earnings chasm. The TUC has today published a report that states that judges, barristers and solicitors have seen their salaries more than double since 1978 in real terms. ...
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Calls for change on drug policy are whistling in the wind
Trying to extrapolate a liberal drug policy from David Cameron is like punching fog: a gargantuan effort for no reward whatsoever. There is more chance of the Prime Minister running naked through Downing Street with ‘big society’ tattooed on his chest than there is of him ...
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Norton Rose in overseas mergers
City firm Norton Rose was this week expected to confirm mergers with firms in South Africa and Canada. The enlarged group will rank among the top-10 legal practices in the world by headcount when it completes a link-up with Canada’s Ogilvy Renault and Deneys Reitz in ...