Last 3 months headlines – Page 1088
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I have seen the future and it didn't work
In autumn 2005, on a visit to the Home Office’s shiny new headquarters near Millbank, I enjoyed a demonstration of an all-singing, all-dancing joined-up criminal justice IT system. The ‘walk through’ was to show off a £2bn programme to join up police forces, prosecutors, the courts and prison and probation ...
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Property tribunals combine in new first-tier chamber
A new consolidated property tribunal came into existence today with a single set of procedural rules aimed at simplifying the process. The First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber – which combines the Residential Property and Agricultural Land Tribunals together with the adjudicator to HM Land Registry – ...
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Anger as MoJ accused of deleting legal aid consultation responses
The Ministry of Justice has claimed that an ‘email glitch’ is to blame for many barristers and solicitors receiving a message telling them that their response to the Transforming Legal Aid consultation has been ‘deleted unread’. The Gazette, together with the Law Society, Bar Council and other practitioner groups, have ...
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City lawyers join fight against legal aid cuts – finally
City law firms have joined the attack on the government’s legal aid cuts, warning that they ‘pose a potentially irreversible risk to the standards and reputation of English justice’. In a letter to the Law Society, the chairman of the City of London Law Society Alasdair Douglas criticised the ‘grossly ...
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MASS calls for blanket inducements ban
The group representing RTA claimant solicitors has said it is ‘disappointed’ that inducements for claims will not be banned. Last week the Solicitors Regulation Authority stated there was no reason to outlaw cash or gift enticements to potential claimants. The Motor Accident Solicitors Society today entered the debate and called ...
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Privilege fears over deferred prosecutions
The Crown Prosecution Service has used new draft guidelines on deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs) to weaken the privileged status of legal advice, a leading City fraud and investigations lawyer has warned. Simmons & Simmons partner Stephen Gentle told the Gazette: ‘The consultation on DPAs stated that the "Code of Practice ...
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Data mining: what happens next?
Although I try to vary the topic covered each week, to show the range of issues being dealt with at European or international level, I do not apologise this week for going back to a subject that I have covered recently: the fall-out from the data mining revelations by the ...
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Ban inducements to help genuine accident victims
Earlier this month the Transport Select Committee held the last hearing of its inquiry into whiplash. This followed the Ministry of Justice consultation covering similar ground and which proposed the raising of the small-claims limit for whiplash claims from £1,000 to £5,000. The pressure for reform ...
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Want to be a partner? Borrow against rising house prices
A loan provider is offering finance to solicitors aiming to become equity partners in law firms – in exchange for a stake in the rising value of their home. Castle Trust, which was set up with backing from private equity giant JC Flowers, says there is ...
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Bar gets into shape for ABSs
The Bar Standards Board is simplifying criteria for approving new business entities, ahead of an application to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures. Several compulsory rules are to be made discretionary to make the authorisation regime more ‘agile’. These currently oblige entities to have: ...
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Ministers find £160m for Wi-Fi transformation of justice
The government has pledged £160m to fulfil ambitious plans to make courtrooms fully digital by 2016, ending the criminal justice system’s ‘outdated’ reliance on paper. Justice minister Damian Green this morning outlined a plan Transforming the Criminal Justice System covering initiatives ranging from increased use of ...
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Sentencing guidelines will prioritise victims
Proposed new sentencing guidelines for financial crimes published today encompass bribery and money laundering for the first time, while setting out to prioritise the impact on the victim. The guidelines, which will replace existing guidance published by the Sentencing Guidelines Council in 2009, also cover ...
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Public less likely to trust lawyers
Declining public confidence in the professions continues to take its toll on lawyers, according to an annual survey commissioned by watchdog the Legal Services Consumer Panel. A YouGov survey of 1,702 adults found that 42% trust lawyers to tell the truth, down from 47% in 2011. ...
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New consultation on hate crime
The Law Commission has published a consultation on extending the law on hate crimes to cover sexual orientation, transgender identity and disability. The Crime and Disorder Act 1998 allows for aggravated offences, including assault and criminal damage, if race or religion have motivated or formed part ...
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Judicial oversight promised for white-collar prosecution deals
US-style deals to defer prosecutions for offences such as corporate bribery will be transparent and supervised by a judge under a code of practice for prosecutors published today. Deferred prosecutions, under which a prosecution for corporate crime is suspended in return for a promise of ...
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Inducements: damage limitation
Let’s make this clear: inducements to purchase a service or product are a fundamental and legitimate part of business. I’m still with the same bank that offered me free cash back in freshers’ week at university, and I’ll bet many others are in the same boat. ...
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Watchdog: reform ‘unnecessarily complicated’ election law
Moves to rationalise the 25 separate pieces of legislation that govern national elections received the support of the electoral watchdog today. A report ‘Reflections on a new structure for the United Kingdom’s electoral law’, published by the Electoral Commission, argues that the ‘voluminous, complex and ...
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LSC running costs rose as legal aid shrank, report reveals
The amount spent on legal aid and the number of people helped dropped over the past year - but the cost of administering the Legal Services Commission went up, according to the commission’s final annual report. The report, published yesterday, is the first in five years ...
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Judges look again at £2m claims exemption
Exempting mandatory costs budgeting for claims in excess of £2m may be ‘unnecessary and inappropriate’, a newly established sub-group of the Civil Procedure Rule committee has suggested. An intervention from the Judicial Office in February ensured that high-value commercial cases would be exempt from impending Jackson ...