Last 3 months headlines – Page 1092
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Wiltshire solicitor’s murderer jailed for 28 years
A disgruntled litigant has been sentenced to 28 years in jail for the murder of Wiltshire solicitor Jim Ward. Michael Chudley, 63, shot Ward with a sawn-off shotgun on 2 July last year at the MGW Law building in Devizes. Chudley had ...
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Neuberger defends judges’ right to speak out on cuts
Lawyers and judges have a duty to help the justice system work - and could learn from eBay’s online dispute resolution procedures, according to the president of the Supreme Court. In a wide-ranging speech at the Institute for Government thinktank last night, Lord Neuberger gave a ...
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Consumer panel promises ‘long game’ on will regulation
The Legal Services Consumer Panel has claimed credit for changing the climate of opinion on the regulation of will-writing – despite the government’s outright rejection of the idea last month. The quango’s annual report, published today, lists will-writing as one area where it had an ...
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A car crash of a hearing
When insurers, lawyers and claims management companies are quizzed about who is to blame for the apparent epidemic in whiplash accident claims, it is obvious who will emerge as the culprit.
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Hundreds face ‘unrated cycle’ as Balva fails
Hundreds of law firms who insured with failed Latvian insurer Balva face being caught in an ‘unrated cycle’ after offers from other unrated insurance providers. The Law Society today warned that members are being offered to transfer policies across to unrated insurer Berliner Versicherung Aktiengesellschaft, by the same broker that ...
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HRA applies to soldiers on duty, Supreme Court confirms
The solicitor leading the case for the families of soldiers killed on duty in Iraq has welcome today’s Supreme Court judgment that gives them the right to claim against the UK government. Susan Smith (pictured, centre), Colin Redpath (pictured, left) and Karla and Courtney Ellis, known ...
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Legal Charities Garden Party 2013
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Salford civil claims process ‘improving’, manager claims
A senior civil servant from HM Courts & Tribunals Service has insisted that the performance of the Salford civil claims centre is improving – while admitting the IT system is still ‘rubbish’. Jonathan Wood, national business centres cluster manager, told the Law Society civil justice section ...
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Time limits mooted for pre-Jackson ATE
The glut of after-the-event insurance deals signed before 1 April to take advantage of the old rules on recoverability could have time limits imposed on them, it emerged at the Law Society’s civil justice section conference yesterday. Solicitor David Greene said he understood that Lord Justice ...
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Bar complaints-handling ‘prompt, thorough and fair’ says report
The Bar Standards Board’s handling of complaints against barristers has received a clean bill of health in an independent report published today, which praised the process as ‘prompt, thorough and fair’. The report, by independent observer Isobel Leaviss, commended the board for its fair, consistent and ...
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Tips for the future lobbyists’ register
The prime minister recently announced plans for a statutory register of lobbyists, with a bill to be published by the end of July. I don’t know whether the bill will include lawyers within its definition of lobbyists. I guess so, although I don’t want anything I say to be taken ...
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Grieve’s two-tier arrogance
Lawyers advising or representing the government are paid significantly higher fee rates than legal aid lawyers representing ordinary citizens. What is the rationale for this? Both are essentially publicly funded lawyers, with their fees paid by the taxpayer.
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Indonesia: treasure islands
Indonesia’s rise as a major industrial power is attracting foreign investors and an increasing number of international law firms. South-east Asia’s biggest economy has been expanding steadily over the past decade. Growth was 6.2% in 2012, and although it slowed down in the first quarter of 2013, the archipelago remains ...
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Legal services orders
Since 1 April the family courts have had the power to make a legal services order, which is a new form of interim order compelling one spouse to make provision for the other’s legal costs. Although on the face of it, it is a significant change to the courts’ powers ...
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Courts: the US should be a warning
Unfortunately, I did not read John Hyde’s web article ‘What’s so bad about privatising our courts?’ until the comments had closed. However, as a former law student and now a researcher in criminology, I have the following thoughts to offer.
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Alternative to PCT
If Mr Grayling wants a ‘stunning’ alternative to price-competitive tendering, then why not: Charge and collect fees at all levels of legal aid, police stations and criminal courts (including court duty solicitors) on the basis of a contribution proportionate ...
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Consumer help
The chair of the Legal Services Board, David Edmonds, has written to all approved regulators urging them to do more to help consumers play a ‘more active, empowered role’ in the legal services market, by providing clear ‘performance information’. It is not appropriate for regulatory bodies ...
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Consumer help
The chair of the Legal Services Board, David Edmonds, has written to all approved regulators urging them to do more to help consumers play a ‘more active, empowered role’ in the legal services market, by providing clear ‘performance information’. It is not appropriate for regulatory bodies ...
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News
RTA ‘industry’
No, Mr Torr, you are wrong. I have received many telephone calls telling me that I have been involved in an accident and offering to give me advice, when there has been no accident at all. I have certainly never ticked a box on a survey that is at all ...
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Professions and industrial workers - vital distinction
It is not just a question of ‘what’s in a name’. There is a real ethical difference between professionals and industrial workers. If society does not recognise this or we, as professionals, do not defend this difference, we are in danger of sliding behind the doors of a Stalinist state.