Last 3 months headlines – Page 1136
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SRA revokes PC authorisations
The Solicitors Regulation Authority last week began revoking authorisations of firms that failed to complete their practising certificate renewals. As the Gazette went to press, 11% of expected applications had either been created and not finalised or not submitted at all. The figure is similar ...
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US seeks to join Venice Commission
The US has applied for membership of the Venice Commission – the Council of Europe-affiliated body that advises governments on legal and constitutional reform. The commission, formed to advise European countries undergoing the transition to democracy, has since extended its focus to include Africa and Latin America. ...
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QC faces jail after pocketing VAT for 12 years
A London silk faces jail after being convicted of a £600,000 VAT fraud. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practised from Thirty Nine Essex Street, was convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court (pictured) today of one count of cheating the public revenue, between 1 June 1999 and 24 ...
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Regulators’ approach to failures
We live in a free market economy. The Legal Services Act 2007 brings changed market forces to the legal services market and the Legal Services Board has a regulatory objective to encourage competition. Apparently well-capitalised new entrants or investors in existing ...
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‘Rolled-up’ hearing for RTA Portal challenges
A legal challenge to halt cuts to personal injury fees will be fast-tracked through the High Court, it was revealed today. The judicial review application by two claimant groups in opposition to new recoverable fixed costs in the RTA Portal has been listed for a ...
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Assessing costs: a nasty shock
With the Court of Appeal’s recent judgment in Henry, much attention has focused on the new costs budgeting rules coming in this April as part of the Jackson reforms. But there is another change on its way that will also affect lawyers and costs professionals quite significantly – and its ...
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Damages discounts may rise following new evidence - MoJ
Justice minister Helen Grant today said initial evidence may support a rise in the discount rate used to calculate deductions from compensation awards. The government has opened a second part to a consultation with the legal and insurance professions that began last year. It will run ...
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Charter firms improve their diversity profile
The partnerships of the firms that have signed up to the Law Society’s Diversity and Inclusion Charter are overwhelmingly white, heterosexual, male and able-bodied, new research has revealed. However, 70% of the firms that in 2012 completed the charter survey for the second successive year achieved ...
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Regulate will-writing but not estate administration, LSB recommends
The Legal Services Board will today recommend to the lord chancellor that will-writing activities, but not estate administration, should be regulated. It is the first time that the board has recommended bringing new activities under the scope of the Legal Services Act. The Law Society ...
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Why do firms run shy of campaigns?
The legal profession is often wary of the word ‘campaign’. Historically it was perceived as the preserve of those at the (often politically motivated) margins of the profession. Yet currently, we routinely advise our law firm clients on how to structure and deliver campaigns across a ...
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MoJ sets out rules for post-Jackson civil justice system
The Ministry of Justice today sets out in detail how the Jackson reforms will work when the majority come into force on 1 April. In a statutory instrument laid down in parliament, the department sets out the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules that will set out the ...
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Fosters veteran and the trial of Oscar Wilde
In Obiter’s roll of long-established practices, Norwich firm Fosters, founded 1761, is a stripling. However, partner Andrew Saul writes with another claim to fame: ‘We almost certainly have the oldest surviving former member of staff.’ Mary Snelling (pictured) joined Fosters on 1 December 1921 as shorthand typist and went on ...
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In the dark over Jackson
There are times as a journalist when it feels good to be the only one that knows something. Whether it’s an embargoed explosive report or an ‘off-the-record’ chat, knowledge is power. But there are some times when knowledge sits uncomfortably, when those who should know are ...
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Modern twist on Carmen
Thanks to everyone who entered our competition to update the storyline of Bizet’s Carmen for a modern, legally savvy audience. One entry stood out: ‘Carmen should be a life coach, Jose an environmental consultant and Escamillo could run a donkey sanctuary. When Carmen dumps Jose ...
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Time for ethics to fight back
by Louis Armstrong CBE, chairman, Professions for Good As a society we place our trust in a wide range of expert advisers, specialists and representatives to act in the best interests of both ourselves, and the organisations and communities we work and live in.
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Food for thought
The news that supermarkets have put withdrawn hamburgers back on the shelves reminds me of the days very early in my career when I did a bit of prosecuting for a small chain of supermarkets.
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Bypassing lawyers would save £1.5bn, insurer claims
Removing lawyers altogether from the small-claims process would save each motorist an average £60 a year on their car insurance premiums, a major insurer today claimed. In a report into the personal injury sector Aviva called for claimants to go directly to the ‘at-fault’ insurer rather ...
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Cobbetts’ debt recovery arm finds a buyer
Administrators today confirmed that the final unsold part of defunct law firm Cobbetts has been acquired.
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Doing the washing
There is said to be a small village where the only industry is one in which dwellers take in each other’s washing. The more I think about it the more likely that will happen to the solicitors’ profession. Not that we will take in each other’s laundry. No, nothing as ...