Last 3 months headlines – Page 1112
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PCT: reverse psychology
Two questions. Question one: Have you signed the petition protesting about price-competitive tendering? Question two: Do you think it will make the slightest difference? I wonder if we have got it completely wrong in our protesting. The more we protest the less likely the protests ...
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Society warns against muddling funding for interventions
The Law Society has called for ‘proper transparency’ if regulators are to pay intervention costs out of compensation fund reserves. The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed on Wednesday it wants to cover an estimated £7m overspend on interventions this year by using money held in the compensation fund. The SRA says ...
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Aux murs, citoyens
Relations between the UK government and judiciary may not be perfect, but they’re probably better than over the channel where the French political class has been transfixed by the discovery of a ‘mur des cons’ in the headquarters of the Magistrates Union. The wall is ...
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Ability to defend clients in complex cases is being seriously eroded
by Anthony Barnfather, head of the regulatory team at Pannone After years of cuts and ‘stealth’ erosion, moves to slash almost a third from rates in very high-cost cases (VHCC) herald the death knell for effective defence representation in such cases – denying to individuals in ...
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Nervous shock and secondary victims
A secondary victim is someone who, when witnessing an accident, suffers injury consequential upon the injury, or fear of injury, to a primary victim. Because of the potential for multiple claims for damages arising out of a single accident, the courts have been anxious to restrict the numbers of claimants ...
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Chris Grayling: criminal ignorance
Chris Grayling’s comments about the restriction of legal aid for prisoner complaints are either another example of political posturing from the justice secretary or, more worryingly, show an alarming ignorance of how such cases have been funded for over three years.
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Competition flaw
There are a number of difficulties and risks associated with the government’s proposals on price-competitive tendering. I am sure that the representative bodies will do an effective job of highlighting many of these flaws. I wish to highlight a major operational risk.
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‘Client’ care
Adam Sampson (8 April) decries the use of the word ‘client’ in favour of ‘customer’. Despite him possibly confusing Julius Caesar with Cicero as a renowned lawyer in the Roman courts, Mr Sampson should be wary of rejecting the client relationship. In classical times there was a mutuality of obligation ...
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Qualified success
This profession has been squeezed to bursting point through government and consumer pressure. The new legal brands promise the world for half the price of ‘conventional’ firms, but how realistic is that? Efficiency through IT and management processes may allow legal services to be provided more cheaply, but the biggest ...
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Tendering proposals an ‘attack on justice’
Solicitors this week condemned the government’s proposed criminal legal aid reforms as impractical and an attack on the quality of justice. Richard Atkinson (pictured), chair of the Law Society’s criminal law committee, said plans to introduce price-competitive tendering for criminal defence work are ‘unworkable’ for firms ...
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ABS delay frustrating for Scottish lawyers
Firms in Scotland are growing increasingly frustrated by delays to the advent of alternative business structures north of the border, according to senior lawyers. The Law Society of Scotland confirmed last week that its plans to be an approved regulator of the new entities are on ...
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Firm defends police officer Kelly Jones in kerb claim
The personal injury firm at the centre of a media furore over a claimant police officer has insisted its client is right to press on with the case. National firm Pattinson & Brewer said Norfolk officer PC Kelly Jones is continuing with a claim against a ...
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Trust is ‘key to breaking South Africa legal market’
Long-term relationships are all-important when breaking into the South African legal services market, a UK lawyer has advised on the eve of a Law Society-led delegation’s visit to Cape Town. Kerry Underwood, senior partner of Hertfordshire firm Underwoods, who has been lecturing and practising in South ...
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Europe reviews cross-border claims
The European Commission is to review the operation of a cross-border claims service, after admitting it has failed to make an impression with consumers. The European Small Claims Procedure was launched four years ago to resolve cross-border disputes worth less than €2,000. ...
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Cutting fees already pared to the bone could be fatal to existing providers
Is it acceptable for the state to dictate who represents a criminal defendant? One cannot help but recall lurid headlines about US public defenders taking on too many cases to effectively defend their clients – or worse, falling asleep at counsel table during a death penalty trial.
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Judiciary ‘not ready’ for Jackson reforms
A High Court judge has told parties involved in some clinical negligence claims to ignore the Jackson reforms for at least six months. A practice note written last month and distributed to law firms by Master Roberts, one of two High Court clinical negligence masters, revealed ...
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Career breaks: return journey
Traditionally, practising lawyers follow a linear career path from trainee to partner. But does a career break, whether from choice (to go travelling, try something new or raise a family) or enforced (through redundancy, illness or addiction) have to break your career? A heavy emphasis on ...
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EU accession to the ECHR will change Euro legal framework
For as long as I have been a legal journalist, I have tried to explain to people that there are two separate European courts run by two unrelated European bodies. The 47-member Council of Europe administers the European Convention on Human Rights and supports a court in Strasbourg that decides ...
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Jackson reforms could take a bite out of balance sheets
by Alex Fox, a partner at Manches The Jackson reforms, which came into force on April Fools’ Day, provide that a defendant who rejects a part 36 offer is at risk of paying a penalty of up to £75,000, in addition to the usual interest and ...