Last 3 months headlines – Page 1155
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The SRA and referral fees
I attended the SRA's seminar on referral fees on 19 November. It was part of its consultation exercise on implementing the poisoned chalice of the ban on referral fees for personal injury cases. It was well attended and the SRA ought to take credit for listening to the worried and ...
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No legal aid cuts for social welfare appeals
The government suffered a rare ‘fatal defeat’ in the House of Lords last night on a regulation that would have denied legal help to people appealing welfare benefits on a point of law in first-tier tribunals. It also agreed to amend a regulation which opponents ...
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LSB ‘still needed’, government tells the Lords
The government has dismissed peers’ calls for the urgent scaling back of the Legal Services Board and described current arrangements as ‘fit for purpose’. Baroness Deech, chair of the Bar ...
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A professional lesson from Belarus
There is a country in Europe, bordered by three member states of the EU (Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), where lawyers suffer grievously for carrying out their professional duties - Belarus, often called Europe’s last dictatorship.
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Quindell snaps up law firm and claims manager in £60m deal
Fast-growing new legal entrant Quindell has announced a deal worth more than £60m to buy a leading claims management company and a law firm. AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio, which has already bought two law firms this year, today confirmed an agreement with Abstract Legal Holdings, the parent ...
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Portal and fixed fees – the consequences?
by Julie Carlisle, an associate at Henmans LLP Paul Evans of AXA tweeted recently in support of the government’s proposals for reduced portal and fixed fees: ‘Stripping out lawyers... obscene profits for whiplash claims will lead to lower premiums - good news for honest drivers.’
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Commission to probe impact of legal aid cuts
Campaigning charity the Legal Action Group has set up a commission to examine the impact of the legal aid cuts and develop a strategy to help ensure public access to justice. The Low Commission on the Future of Advice and Legal Support is chaired by crossbench ...
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Scottish society takes high road to ABS-style licensing
The Law Society of Scotland could license new legal businesses by spring after submitting its application to regulate the new entities. The society applied to the Scottish government to become an approved regulator of new licensed legal service providers (LPs), the Scottish equivalent of alternative business ...
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Bill would spare ‘innovative’ doctors from negligence risks
Conservative peer Lord Saatchi has introduced a bill that would exempt doctors from being held liable for clinical negligence if they ‘innovate’ during cancer treatment. Saatchi (pictured) brought forward the Medical Innovation Bill after his wife, the writer Josephine Hart, died from peritoneal cancer in June ...
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SRA awaiting 19,000 renewal applications with only two weeks to go
More than half the expected applications for practising certificate renewal are still to be received with just two weeks of the process remaining. The Solicitors Regulation Authority today revealed that more than 18,000 bulk or single applications are completed or nearing completion, out of an expected ...
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Danny Nightingale hysteria sets worrying precedent
No one could fail to be moved by the pictures of Danny Nightingale reunited with his family yesterday. Most happy of all, I suspect, were the tabloid newspapers who lapped up the story with relish and conveniently found a reason to relegate the Leveson report to the inside pages.
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Government launches £300,000 web app for divorce
Separating parents will be able to find free advice and guidance through a web app released this week by the government. ‘Sorting out Separation’ provides information about all aspects of separation, from how to avoid a separation to coping with the emotional impact of breaking ...
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Mediators honoured in CEDR awards
Magic circle firm Linklaters was among the winners of the biannual CEDR (Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution) awards presented last night in London. It won the award for alternative dispute resolution and civil justice innovation for setting up the Commercial Mediation Group in January this year. ...
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Employment
Unfair dismissal – Determination whether dismissal fair or unfair – Reasons justifying dismissal – Range of reasonable responses test Turner v East Midlands Trains Ltd: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Maurice Kay VP, Lord Justice Elias and Sir Stephen ...
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Human rights
Right to a fair hearing – Access to a court – Claimant being subject of civil restraining order Senior-Milne v Secretary of State for Justice: Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court (London) (Mr Justice Coulson): 30 October 2012 ...
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Is Stop Delaying Justice! working?
Howard Riddle, the senior district judge and chief magistrate, recently delivered an update in the Gazette on the Stop Delaying Justice! case management initiative. Judge Riddle has done an amazing job in trying to limit the adverse impact of Ministry of Justice/HM Courts and Tribunals Service policy towards the courts ...
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What is a disease?
A primary flaw in the Jackson reforms’ vision of the personal injury landscape is a profound inability to comprehend that the value of a claim in damages is but one of the variables which has to be assessed when applying the proportionality principle. In the UK, fault has to be ...
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Forging new links
I have recently returned from a fascinating visit to the People’s Republic of China where I and my colleague, Judy Ramjeet, lectured to a university and met Chinese lawyers. We were warmly greeted and the subjects upon which I spoke were received with courtesy and active interest by students, academics ...
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Brave new world?
Ruth Wayte of the Legal Services Commission is excited about the Co-op’s recent bidding. ‘Advice deserts will cease to be a problem,’ she trills. These are of course advice deserts that have been carefully created by the LSC, and by the Legal Aid Board before ...
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Insurers annex civil justice
To survive and thrive, a legal system must be respected by all sides. However, this principle is surely now under challenge by the fixed payment system being introduced for personal injury work. So misconceived is the principle of fixed costs, and so low are ...