Last 3 months headlines – Page 1089
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Redundancies at Direct Line
Up to 40 legal staff, including solicitors, have been placed at risk of redundancy after insurance giant Direct Line announced a major restructuring plan. The Gazette understands a mixture of fee-earners and back-office staff from national firm Parabis were told this morning they are affected. Based ...
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LETR: allow non-graduates direct access, says SRA chair
Law courses should be tailored to allow non-graduates a direct route into the solicitors’ profession, Charles Plant, chairman of the Solicitors Regulation Authority, said today. He was responding to the report of the Legal Education and Training Review, published this afternoon, which says more flexibility ...
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LETR: debt is the elephant in the room
Picture the scene – you walk into a party, nod at the elephant in the room (you and the elephant go way back), then steadfastedly refuse to talk to it until it’s time to leave, when you get your coat and wave a wordless goodbye. You couldn’t really get away ...
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LETR: legal executives welcome ‘mainstream recognition’
The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) welcomed today’s report of the Legal Education and Training Review – but said it had already embraced many of the report’s recommendations. In an initial response, Nick Hanning, CILEx president, said: ‘This is a valuable piece of work. ...
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LETR: law students not prepared for work, Society says
Potential entrants to the legal profession must be given more and better information before embarking on costly programmes of study, the Law Society said in response to the report of the Legal Education and Training Review. Chief executive Desmond Hudson (pictured) said there is an ...
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Taylor Wessing looks to cut a quarter of secretarial posts
More than a quarter of secretarial roles are at risk of redundancy at top-20 firm Taylor Wessing. The international firm wants to cut its London-based secretarial staff by 26 roles and has started a 30-day consultation process with affected staff. A spokeswoman for the firm said voluntary redundancy would not ...
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CPS under fire for failures in two serious cases
The Crown Prosecution Service has been criticised by two separate Crown court judges after sending an ‘incompetent’ advocate to prosecute a murder trial and for ‘lamentable failures’ that delayed a rape trial. In the first case, judge Richard Griffith-Jones, sitting at Warwick, ordered an investigation after a murder trial had ...
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Bar chief calls for royal commission
More than two decades after the Runciman Commission was set up following high-profile miscarriages of justice, the chairman of the Bar Council has called for a royal commission to conduct a root-and-branch review of the criminal justice system. Maura McGowan suggested that the system be reviewed holistically, as the government ...
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MPs demand an end to interpreters contract
A parliamentary debate last week heard calls for the ‘shambolic’ court interpreters contract to be scrapped, as the service continues to miss performance targets. During a debate on the Commons Justice Committee’s damning report on the contract, shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter cited a press report about a Lithuanian interpreter ...
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‘Last chance saloon’ on costs
A leading academic has warned solicitors that judges will grant no more latitude to those who default on their case budgets. Professor Dominic Regan of City Law School told the Liverpool Law Society conference that firms exceeding their budget will be ‘in the deepest of trouble’. Regan, who assisted Lord ...
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In-house concern over compliance message
Most legal and compliance departments in Fortune-1000 companies report that systems designed to boost ethical and compliant behaviour in the rest of the business are not being properly communicated. In 63% of companies, internal performance standards in these areas are ‘neither clear nor adequately expressed’. That is the conclusion of ...
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Solicitors warned following breach of confidentiality
The Court of Appeal has censured two solicitors and a barrister after an embargoed draft judgment was disclosed to third parties in breach of a court order. At the end of a hearing where the Crown unsuccessfully appealed against a ruling to stay criminal proceedings against Telford delivery driver Noshad ...
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More work, but conveyancers still cautious
Conveyancers have reported a 15% rise in work over the past year – although one in five fear the weak property market still poses a threat, according to a national survey. The poll of 320 solicitors and licensed conveyancers carried out by search provider SearchFlow found that 59% reported a ...
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How to spot solicitors’ involvement in ‘financial abuse’
Concern that a growing number of solicitors are unintentionally involved in the ‘financial abuse’ of their clients has prompted the Law Society to issue new guidelines. As a result of economic recession, social change and advances in technology the risk of financial abuse is increasing, Chancery Lane said. A practice ...
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Law Society hard-hitting PI campaign
A bold new advertising campaign by the Law Society beginning today focuses on the benefits to personal injury claimants of getting proper legal advice. The six-week campaign ‘deliberately takes a bold, humorous and memorable approach to convey an important message’, the Society said. The ‘Don’t Get Mugged’ campaign will feature ...
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Radio ad censured
A Cardiff personal injury firm has been told not to repeat a radio advertisement that encouraged people to make it ‘the second person’ they call after an accident. The Advertising Standards Authority said Secure Law’s advertisement was irresponsible and carried the implicit message that listeners should make a claim irrespective ...
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Malthouse to speak at Society marketplace event
Kit Malthouse, deputy London mayor for business and enterprise, will be the closing speaker at the Law Society’s International Marketplace 2013 conference in London on 9 July. The all-day event will highlight business opportunities in providing legal services for emerging markets in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Each session will ...
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Lawyering through the medium of dance
You would have thought Craig Holt, the mastermind behind the QualitySolicitors brand, would have enough on his plate keeping his 250-plus flock of branches in check. But apparently the pioneering brand whizzkid has time for a little covert calling as well. Holt and QS have been rather quiet in recent ...
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Where there’s a will, there’s a… won’t
Heartening news of a 29% productivity leap from our beloved consumer watchdog. The 2013 annual report of the Legal Services Consumer Panel runs to 36 electronic pages, up from 28 last year. That’s not all. Inside, Obiter reads that since 2011-12 the panel has ‘almost doubled the speeches and presentations ...
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A plum position
This week’s gardening tip from Obiter: tootle on your clarinet to encourage soft fruits to mature. The tip came via Worcestershire plum charmer Paul Johnson (pictured), who also happens to be a partner at Pershore firm Thomson & Bancks. His role, in between county court and employment tribunal cases, is ...