Last 3 months headlines – Page 1135
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Interpreters contract: inept and dangerous
I write with regard to the court interpreter contract. Catherine Baksi is quite right still to be pursuing this particularly inept – and dangerous – example of outsourcing. Inept, since the terms of this monopolistic contract are holding the criminal justice system and we service providers to ransom.
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Lions led by donkeys
Those of your readers with a historical interest have no doubt heeded the conduct of the first world war generals. Strategy was decided ‘on high’. Little heed was paid to the men in the trenches. Policy came from an elite talking to itself. The verdict of history? Lions led by ...
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Air ambulance confusion
In the past few months the air ambulance community has discovered a problem where wills are being written listing the ‘Air Ambulance Service’ as a beneficiary. While the name ‘Air Ambulance Service’ has been used as a general phrase to describe services across the ...
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LSC drops legal aid contract changes
The Legal Services Commission has agreed to drop controversial changes to ongoing legal aid contracts following talks with the Law Society. The commission is tendering for new contracts in the runup to legal aid reforms coming into effect on 1 April and had sought to ...
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City firms eye China scheme
An initiative to promote business and legal ties between China and the UK has attracted leading City firms, its backers said this week. The UK-China Legal Partnership Initiative (LPI), to be formally launched this month, will run annual seminars, to be held alternately at China’s ...
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European AML directive ‘unlikely to be effective’
The fourth European money laundering directive, published last week, is likely to impose significant but ineffective burdens on solicitors over the ‘vexing issue’ of identifying beneficial owners, the Law Society has warned.
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Fraud hotline set up for homeowners
A fraud hotline has been opened by the Land Registry for homeowners who fear their property might be subject to a fraudulent sale or mortgage. It will allow owners who believe they may be victims to alert specially trained Registry staff. The Law Society said ...
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Cobbetts creditors must wait and hope
Further details have emerged of defunct firm Cobbetts’ financial troubles as administrators begin talks with creditors.
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Majority against IFA referral move
A decision to lift restrictions on referrals to independent financial advisers was made despite the majority of consultation respondents opposing the move, the Gazette has learned. The Solicitors Regulation Authority decided last November to allow solicitors to refer clients to any financial adviser regardless of ...
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The nature of Cobbetts’ rescue prompts questions
Four hundred jobs are to be saved at defunct firm Cobbetts, an outcome that sparked much back-slapping among the insolvency practitioners involved. KPMG will be counting its winnings, though the outcome is, of course, a rightful cause for celebration for the legal profession in general and those lawyers saved from ...
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Keystone offers £1 top-up insurance cover
Top-up legal expenses insurance cover with premiums that can be recovered after 1 April are being sold for just £1, the Gazette can reveal. After-the-event (ATE) insurer Keystone Legal is offering a product for cases insured by other legal expenses insurers that run out of cover, ...
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Francis report successfully points the way towards creating a safer NHS
by John Tingle, reader in health law at Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University The Francis report on the failings of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust represents a wake-up call to the whole NHS.
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Sri Lanka bars lawyers
The Sri Lankan government has refused to allow an international delegation of lawyers to visit the country to assess the rule of law and independence of the judiciary. One delegate, former Supreme Court of India chief justice J. S. Verma, said he had his entry ...
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Unsuitable assessment
I wonder how many COLPs and COFAs answered the ‘suitability test’ correctly? The form on page two asks the question ‘have you ever been convicted of a criminal offence not falling within section 1.1?’ The Solicitors Regulation Authority confirmed to me that any speeding conviction ...
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Cause for complaint
I note that one of the changes to the Legal Ombudsman scheme rules is to accept complaints from prospective clients who could reasonably have expected to receive a service. This appears to be inconsistent with the principles of risk management in Lexcel, whereby the risk manager ...
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Court mandarins imprisoned?
Relieved faces at HM Courts & Tribunals Service this week. The House of Commons justice committee has decided against what it called ‘further action’ over the service’s attempt to stop officials feeding the committee’s inquiry into the courtroom interpreter fiasco. However, the committee’s report says ...
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European court pursues eastern offenders
I have been taken to task by a Gazette correspondent (R Breeze) who wants a more balanced account of the role of the European Court of Human Rights: ‘We are left with… the perception of an unchecked, bureaucratic body that saps national sovereignty and dabs its paws at whatever it ...
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Keeping mum about hospitality
We would love to tell you all about the goings-on of Ministry of Justice officials. We’d especially love it if the official records showed individuals having cosy nights with the Association of British Insurers while they were formulating the latest squeeze on claimant lawyers. Sadly, we ...
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Maintenance pending suit applications
There are few reported cases in respect of maintenance pending suit applications. A recent example, however, was the appeal decision of Coleridge J in S v M [2012] All ER (D) 175 (Nov).
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Lawyers and the new money laundering directive
Well, at least one of my predictions from last week for 2013 has come true: the draft of the fourth money laundering directive was published a few days ago, as reported by the Gazette last