Last 3 months headlines – Page 1095
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Changes to public law
The pressures on the public purse as much as those of the present Conservative government have brought about yet more radical changes to public law proceedings. To echo the words of Sir James Munby, the president of the Family Division: ‘The family justice system is undergoing the most radical reforms ...
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Thousands of court workers to strike on Monday
More than 16,000 court and Crown Prosecution Service workers will stage a one-day strike on Monday, as campaigners against various government reforms step up their attack. Around 2,500 CPS employees who are members of the Public and Commercial Services Union will stage industrial action on Monday ...
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Law firms warned on debt recovery
Law firms involved in debt recovery work have been warned by the regulator to ensure they have proper control over what is being done in their name. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has seen an increase in cases where solicitors working with debt recovery companies are in ...
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Who will be our Lehman Brothers?
I was a reporter covering Canary Wharf when Lehman Brothers folded. As a journalist, it was one of those days you dream about – the disgruntled workers willing to tell you everything, the imagery of the staff leaving with hastily packed boxes. (We even found out ...
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Civil procedure: capacity and compromise
Civil Procedure Rule 21.10 provides that where a claim is made by or on behalf of a party who lacks capacity to conduct the proceedings (a child or protected party), no settlement of that claim shall be valid without the approval of the court. The issue before Bean J in ...
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Referral fees – a true picture
A recent Gazette article titled Referral guidance made a number of surprising claims. We felt they should not pass unchallenged, as they will undoubtedly have caused concern to some practising solicitors who are seeking to come to terms with the referral fee ban now that it is in place. ...
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Slackness over prisoner votes shows contempt
Parliament can move very quickly when it needs to. Laws can be passed within days if necessary - even hours. But the legislative process can move extremely slowly when political needs dictate. And that is what has happened to the issue of votes for prisoners.
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Competition law
The coalition government was just six months old when it announced a ‘bonfire’ of 192 quangos, among them the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading. Fast forward to 2013 and, albeit without much ministerial fanfare, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has a CEO-designate, Alex Chisholm. He is ...
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Stakes raised again as legal aid reforms loom
The profession’s increasingly vociferous campaign against the cuts outlined in the Transforming Legal Aid consultation reached a crescendo last week, ahead of tomorrow’s deadline for responses. Magistrates allege the changes could lead to situations where the only legally qualified person in court is the ...
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Hodge holds fire on ‘tax avoidance by lawyers’
The Commons public spending watchdog has no plans to call lawyers before its headline-grabbing inquiry into tax avoidance – at least before the summer recess. The public accounts committee, chaired by Margaret Hodge MP, has lacerated representatives from the Big Four accounting firms at recent hearings, ...
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Chancery Lane calls for 28-day police bail limit
The Law Society has called for a statutory 28-day limit on the amount of time suspects are kept on police bail. Over 57,000 people are on police bail in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, according to figures obtained by the BBC. ...
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Slaughter: further court closures will bring ‘chaos’
Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter has warned the government that a further round of court closures would be ‘reckless and chaotic’. Speculation is growing that the Ministry of Justice will soon announce at least 80 further court closures – mainly magistrates’ courts – to add to ...
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Claims against the NHS set to surge
Clinical negligence cases against the NHS increased by 18% in 2012/13, government figures have revealed. Statistics compiled by the Department for Work and Pensions found there were 16,006 cases registered with the compensation recovery unit last year, compared with 13,517 for 2011/12. ...
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No law recruits for college
The National College of Legal Training (NCLT) has blamed ‘poor market conditions’ and a slump in student numbers for its decision not to recruit for its Legal Practice Course (LPC) and Graduate Diploma in Law for 2013/14. However, the universities of Derby and the West ...
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Mental health therapy is part of the support from a growing number of law firms
The legal profession is not alone in dealing imperfectly with the mental health of its members. As comedian and writer Ruby Wax (pictured) noted, speaking at Herbert Smith Freehills last week to mark mental health awareness month, depression carries a stigma that can lose someone a job. In law it ...
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Legal firms struggling with new pensions scheme
A third of law firms are unsure how to handle the ‘tricky issues’ of compliance and administration surrounding auto-enrolment, the government scheme requiring employers to move workers into a pension plan, according to a survey. Failure to introduce a compliant scheme by your staging date ...
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Courts: going private is no panacea
by Francesca Kaye, president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association The government is right to be thorough in its determination to cut waste and excess in public services, and achieve greater efficiency, particularly in the current economic climate. However, the news that this quest may lead ...
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Blair's lord chancellor reforms ruining constitution
In his admirably lucid and revelatory account of the removal of Lord Irvine from the office of lord chancellor, and the destruction of the office itself, by his ungrateful pupil Tony Blair, Joshua Rozenberg has pinpointed a key moment in our recent legal history.
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Cocts management: unintended consequences
Recent changes to the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2013 are affecting the way solicitors and litigants approach cases concerning the management of costs. The recent changes include the small claims track limit being increased from claims valued up to £5,000 to claims valued up to ...
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Grayling’s legal aid ignorance
Now the cat is out of the bag. Chris Grayling told Catherine Baksi in her interview with him: ‘I don’t believe that most people who find themselves in our criminal justice system are great connoisseurs of legal skills…’