Last 3 months headlines – Page 1198
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‘Baby barrister’ threat to solicitors
Barristers with under three years’ practising experience will be able to take instructions directly from clients if the Bar Standards Board’s latest plan for the extension of public access rules is approved. The board heard last week that ‘baby barristers’ may be the only representation ...
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Law firm profit divide continues to widen
Revenue has fallen at a quarter of firms over the last year, and the gap in both profitability and growth in turnover between London and the rest of the UK continued to widen. In most firms headcount has remained static or fallen. These are the ...
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Magic circle retention rates hold up
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance has retained 48 of 62 trainees, a retention rate of 77%, it revealed this week, in a clutch of announcements of trainee retention figures at City and international firms.
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Victims face trek as violence courts shut
Court closures are forcing victims and witnesses in domestic violence cases to travel more than 50 miles to and from hearings, the ...
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Solicitors warned of divorce claims
Divorce solicitors could face thousands of compensation claims in cases where pensions were undervalued in a divorce settlement, a pensions consultant has claimed. Divorce LifeLine suggests that since pension sharing was introduced in December 2000, around 750,000 people, in half the divorces across the country, could ...
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Dramatic changes to family migration
On 11 June, the Home Office announced the latest round of changes to the UK Immigration Rules. The broad reforms aim to restrict the ability of non-European Economic Area (EEA) migrants to enter or remain in the UK under the family migration route, and to curtail the use of article ...
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Games masters
As you watch the Olympic opening ceremony tomorrow night, spare a thought for the thousands of backroom heroes who made the 2012 London Games possible. We refer of course to the legal teams and draftspeople behind the wall of enabling (and disabling) legislation put in place for the purpose of ...
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Latest flame
A third Olympic flame torchbearer from the legal profession has come to Obiter’s attention. Matt King, a trainee solicitor in the personal injury team at Stewarts Law was given the stint in Dunstable after being nominated by his grandad. A rugby accident at the age of 17 left King paralysed ...
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Co-op/Lloyds deal will treble the group’s banking presence and offer golden opportunity
BBC business editor Robert Peston hailed the Co-op’s acquisition of 632 bank branches from Lloyds as the ‘deal of the millennium’. It is hard to disagree, and not just because it picked them up cheap.
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Increasing selection in state schools the best way to improve legal diversity
by Lucinda Moule, managing director at legal recruitment agency Laurence Simons Elitism is a huge problem in the legal industry. Research by Laurence Simons in 2010 found that 15% of lawyers still come from public schools that educate only 2% of the population.
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Legal insurance should not confuse clients
If there are two words guaranteed to send any audience to sleep in an instant, they are these: Annual Report. By God, they are dull - I should know, I have written enough of the damn things. You know that very few people are going to read them but you ...
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Good ideas for hard times
Less than two weeks ago and fresh into my presidency the Gazette reported that I would be using LinkedIn as a way for the Law Society to hear about members’ ideas on how to face market challenges in our sector. Since then, I have been ...
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Win a stay in legal London's coolest hotel
Summer holidays are here, and once again Obiter faces the shame of not quite having got round to sitting down in front of the Olivetti to churn out a bestseller. Time to start thinking ahead, clearly - and Obiter believes readers should be doing the same.
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UK ‘miscarriages’ model rejected by South Australia
South Australia is now highly unlikely to adopt a UK-style Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), following a report by the parliament’s legislative review committee. The committee also cautioned against the creation of a CCRC at a national level.
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General damages to increase by 10%
The Court of Appeal today confirmed that general damages will increase by 10% for all judgments made after 1 April 2013. Senior figures at the judiciary said the judgment was being made several months in advance to provide 'simplicity and clarity'. The ...
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PII outlook ‘positive’ as new entrant targets small firms
A new entrant has joined the solicitor professional indemnity insurance market with a strategy to target small firms. Specialist broker Prime Professions has launched a new product offering access to A-rated insurer Axis Specialty to sole practitioners or firms with up to three partners. The insurer ...
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HSBC sets date for conveyancing panel
All firms that are members of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) will be put on HSBC’s conveyancing panel from 29 August, the Society and lender announced today. The move follows the deal agreed between the Society and HBSC in May, under which ...
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Dinner winner
The winner of the prize draw organised by Hiscox, the home insurance provider officially endorsed by the Law Society, is Alastair Laing from London. He will enjoy a private dinner party prepared by an expert chef to be shared with five of his guests.
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March of time
Government proposals to speed up criminal justice have had a mixed reception. However, wearing the hat of a retired old fogey, as well as of a concerned layman, I wonder if the criminal justice system is really working today.
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QC to be charged with failing to pay £600,000 in VAT
A QC is to face charges over an alleged £600,000 VAT fraud, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today. Rohan Anthony Pershad QC, who practises from London’s Thirty Nine Essex Street, will face one charge of cheating the public revenue. CPS central ...