Last 3 months headlines – Page 1173
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Quindell snaps up second law firm
One of the biggest new entrants to the legal services market has added to its growing stable with the acquisition of personal injury firm Pinto Potts. AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio announced the takeover this morning to the stock exchange and confirmed it has bought the firm for ...
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Survey tells tale of bullying, harassment and discrimination
One in six solicitors has been bullied in the workplace, according to research by the Law Society. Preliminary findings of the Society’s 2012 omnibus survey of the profession reveal that 17% of solicitors say they have been bullied at work. The percentage is higher for ...
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Bar says no to plea-only advocates
The Bar Council has strongly opposed the creation of a category of ‘non-trial’ advocates in the planned advocacy accreditation scheme. The ‘plea-only’ category – originally proposed by solicitor advocates – would put the public at risk and undermine public confidence in the profession and criminal justice system, the council says ...
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Self-defence plans invite vigilantism
by Miranda Ching, an Associate at Peters & Peters LLP This week, the justice secretary and the prime minister announced at the Conservative party conference that the law in relation to rights of homeowners to defend themselves against burglars should be changed.
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Claims manager jailed for insurance fraud
The manager of a claims management company who processed fraudulent insurance claims has been jailed for 21 months. Asif Mallu, 38, organised 10 claims between May and December 2005, making more than £12,000 through solicitors’ referral fees, courtesy car hire and the recovery of vehicles involved. ...
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PI firm buys debt recovery service
National firm Irwin Mitchell has announced it is to acquire a debt recovery company and to apply to license it as an alternative business structure. Oxfordshire-based PDP Management Services will operate as a subsidiary of Ascent, which is in turn a subsidiary of personal injury ...
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Let’s move on from LASPO, McNally urges legal aid lawyers
Wealthy defendants in criminal cases may be allowed to fund their defences with money released from seized assets, the new legal aid minister Lord McNally said today. McNally told the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group annual conference that Chris Grayling, the justice secretary, had asked him ...
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Employment
‘Worker’ - Orders in family proceedings - Limited liability partnership Bates van Winkelhof v Clyde & Co LLP and another: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Lloyd, Richards, Elias): 26 September 2012 ...
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Berezovsky gets £35m costs bill
Russian oligarch Boris Berezovsky (pictured) has been ordered to pay £35m to cover the defence costs of his failed claim against Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.
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Understanding addiction
Addiction is not the preserve of the working classes and no respecter of wealth or status, and most family lawyers at some point in their career will come into contact with clients who have addiction issues.
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Help ease the burden
In her article ‘Should pro bono be compulsory?’, Lia Moses refers to the New York State Bar requirement for all lawyers to carry out 50 hours of pro bono work before qualifying. Maybe even qualified solicitors should do 50 hours per annum? She urges us to fill in the questionnaire. ...
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SRA doublespeak
I note from your pages that the SRA has a ‘director of inclusion’ (for which post we in the profession presumably pay). It is difficult to imagine a more Orwellian title. I await to hear that we also have a ‘director of truth’ and a ‘director of love’, that doublespeak ...
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Arresting solution
By 2014 the UK must decide how far to be involved in EU crime co-operation measures, most notably the European arrest warrant (see ‘Nationwide alarm at EAW opt-out plan’). Whether the UK should continue to operate the arrest warrant system is not an easy decision and not one to be ...
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Centre caught out
I was concerned to read that the new County Court Money Claims Centre has complained that law firms are delaying the processing of thousands of claims at the new centralised facility in Salford, as reported in the Gazette on 27 September.
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Doing it yourself: the task for COLPs and COFAs
When a solicitor drove off with a client’s file on the roof of their car and it was lost, reporting it as a ‘massive’ breach of the Code of Conduct was never in doubt for compliance and risk director Adele Jones.
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Grayling dishes out tough justice
Repeat violent or sexual offenders will receive mandatory life sentences under a party conference-pleasing set of measures announced by the new justice secretary, Chris Grayling, on Tuesday. Grayling (pictured) also said the Conservatives would go into the next election with ‘a clear plan for change ...