Last 3 months headlines – Page 1181
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Cabinet Office to tackle ‘excessive complexity’ of legislation
The rule of law is among the victims of unnecessarily complex legislation, the government’s chief legislation-drafter warns today. In a report examining the causes of complexity, Richard Heaton, first parliamentary counsel and permanent secretary at the Cabinet Office, says the ‘current degree of difficulty’ is neither ...
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Policing football matches: charges
The core authority in this area is Glasbrook Brothers Ltd v Glamorgan County Council [1925] AC 270.
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Arresting development
In the bad old days – which, for the purposes of argument, may be deemed to be the 1950s to the 1970s – justice may not have been certain but it was certainly swift. If he put his mind to it, an individual might appear and ...
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Legal Aid Agency plans for austere year
The Legal Aid Agency has set out its plan for coping with heavy budget cuts in the year ahead. In its first business plan, published today, the agency, which replaced the Legal Services Commission on 1 April, sets out its ambitions for 2013/14. ...
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Firms still failing to ask for client feedback, survey shows
Most law firms are failing to get proper feedback from clients after carrying out work for them, new research has found. A YouGov SixthSense survey of more than 2,000 adults found just 20% of those who had used law firms and solicitors in the last three ...
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Working with sign language interpreters
In our first article of the series we explored the complex nature of expert assessment of deaf clients. The use of an appropriate expert witness and the need for necessary adjustments to meet the individual needs of each deaf client were discussed. These adjustments are necessary to promote equity of ...
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Solicitor charged with fraud and money laundering
A solicitor has been charged with conspiracy to defraud UK investors of more than £5m. Solicitor Dale Walker of Kent firm Dale R Walker is one of eight men to have been charged by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) with conspiracy to defraud contrary to common ...
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Growth in solicitor numbers goes into reverse
The authoritative annual snapshot of the legal profession in England and Wales shows a dip in both the number of firms and private practitioners. The Law Society's Annual Statistical Report, published today, also shows the number of admissions and training contracts down to the lowest ...
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Alumni networks make sense
There have been numerous instances in recent times of employees taking to public forums and expressing less-than-glowing opinions about their former employers - and even in some cases going so far as to write a book about them. Views on working conditions are - let’s face it - fairly common ...
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MPs throw out health and safety liability move
MPs have rejected a House of Lords amendment that sought to cancel out significant changes to 39-year-old health and safety legislation. The government wants to change Section 47 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to remove the principle of strict liability and force ...
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SRA promises ‘reckless trading’ clampdown
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has promised tough action against failing firms that do not wind down efficiently, including putting conditions on the practising certificates of those responsible. SRA director Samantha Barass (pictured) told a conference on compliance today that the regulator is seeing increasing numbers of ...
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New entrants must have old principles, Townsend tells PI sector
Solicitors must not abandon their principles even if they are forming ventures with new entrants from outside the profession, the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s chief executive said today. Antony Townsend (pictured) told the annual Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) conference that the sector was ‘complicated’ by ...
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Grayling achieves the impossible
Criminal solicitors and barristers are slowly getting to grips with the enormity of the legal aid changes proposed by the Ministry of Justice in its consultation last week. Most were stunned by the plans, which went much further than even the most pessimistic had expected and seemed to have been ...
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Be proud and fight on, PI lawyers told
The incoming president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has told colleagues they have no choice but to fight on in the face of government-imposed reforms. Matthew Stockwell told the annual APIL conference at Celtic Manor near Newport yesterday that the claimant industry had failed ...
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Barristers to ‘strike’ on Monday
Crown court cases face disruption on Monday as barristers on the northern circuit plan to stay away from court and attend an all-day meeting in protest against the government’s planned changes to criminal legal aid. A spokesman for the circuit said members were balloted this week ...
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Silk quits Bar Standards Board in quality assurance protest
A senior silk has resigned from his position on the Bar Standards Board over the regulator’s support for the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA). Jonathan Kinnear QC, who been a senior member of the BSB’s professional conduct committee for the past five years, wrote to ...
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Criminal legal aid reforms restrict client choice
The government’s consultation paper ‘transforming legal aid’ does affect one transformation. It transforms people into mere economic units by denying them the simple human dignity of choice.
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The yes and no of Scottish independence
On 18 September 2014 two sets of nationalists – Scots and UK respectively – will be hoping their supporters vote in large numbers. Personally I think they’ll both struggle with turnout – given what’s at stake, these campaigns are oddly technocratic. The ‘yes’ campaign, perhaps ...
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Solicitor appears on £3.7m fraud charge
A Cheltenham solicitor and coroner has appeared in court charged with fraud and theft of more than £3.7m. Alan Crickmore, who until December 2012 practised from his firm Alan C Crickmore, was charged with 13 counts of theft, seven counts of fraud by abuse of his ...
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APIL can celebrate survival, if little else
Given that most of the planet has been wiped out by terrifying aliens, the film Independence Day ends on a remarkably happy note. President Bill Pullman rallies his troops and assures them the future is bright. You survived, he tells them, and that’s reason enough to celebrate. Now get digging ...