Last 3 months headlines – Page 1200
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Status quo is best for Wales
Sometimes, no matter what the Scouts say, it’s best not to be prepared. I spent much of my journey to Wales this morning writing a brilliant piece on why Wales was making a mistake going it legally alone by setting up a separate jurisdiction. As it ...
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Fears grow for missing Syrian lawyer
Fears are mounting for Syrian human rights lawyer Khalil Matouk, who has been held incommunicado at an unknown location since his arrest last October, an independent human rights organisation has told the Gazette.
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LETR report not expected until May
Publication of the final Legal Education and Training Review (LETR) report, originally due at the end of last year, is now not expected until May, the Gazette has learned. The LETR report, commissioned by the Bar Standards Board, ILEX Professional Standards and the Solicitors Regulation ...
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Neuberger speaks out on judicial review
The president of the Supreme Court has expressed concern about the government’s plans to limit the number of judicial reviews. Giving evidence to the House of Lords constitution committee last week, Lord Neuberger said: ‘Any attack on judicial review, or any attempt to limit it, ...
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Firms warming to outcomes-focused regulation, says the SRA
Firms believe outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) ‘costs too much money and takes too much time’ – but they are warming to it, the Solicitors Regulation Authority reports today. A survey of 1,000 firms on the impact of the first year of OFR shows that half of respondents ...
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Society council should reflect profession’s diversity
By Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, president of the Law Society I introduced a debate at the 6 February Law Society Council meeting on how the council can better represent the profession.
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Lawyers slam Theresa May’s ‘populism’ on immigration
Immigration lawyers have rejected Theresa May’s ‘populist’ assertion that judges are misinterpreting the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and wrongfully allowing overseas offenders to escape deportation. The home secretary (pictured) has claimed that the courts are wilfully going against parliament’s wishes by refusing to ...
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QS firms poised for ABS status
Several QualitySolicitors firms are considering moving to alternative business structure status, the group revealed today. Midlands firm QS Parkinson Wright today became the second of its stable to be licensed as an ABS by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. It joined four other ...
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Cable hails unified patent court boost
Business secretary Vince Cable today finalised the deal for a new London-based unified patent court, which he said will deliver a £200m-a-year boost to Britain’s legal sector. The new court and patent system creates a one-stop shop for pharmaceutical, medical technology, hygiene and chemicals companies wanting ...
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Bar reviews conduct regime over ethnic disparities
The Bar Standards Board has commissioned a review of its professional conduct complaints processes, to examine if there is any bias in the way that black and minority ethnic (BME) barristers are treated. The move follows an internal report that showed BME barristers were over-represented ...
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Cobbetts’ demise and resurrection – the full story
Unsecured creditors of Cobbetts are likely to recover just 2p in the pound following the ‘pre-pack’ deal that saw the collapsed firm acquired by DWF, the Gazette can reveal. Owed an estimated £41m, creditors are not expected to receive any money for some years. According ...
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No new money for defence in Green’s digital justice plan
Overlooked defence lawyers are central to criminal justice reform but will get no funding to help them engage in digital working, the justice minister said yesterday as he outlined plans to overhaul a system beset by ‘unforgivable’ delays. Damian Green (pictured) told an event organised by ...
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Compliance – catalyst for consolidation?
Will 2013 prove to be a happy new year for ALL small and medium-sized practices? We are now into a new era of outcomes-focused regulation (OFR) and the vast majority of firms have their compliance officers for legal practice (COLPs), and finance and administration (COFAs) in place, with the exception ...
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No mean feet
The high-end firms and corporate counsel who rely on slices of Barclays’ £100m annual legal spend will be poring over the bank’s strategic review, published last week. Obiter’s message is: put down the 103-page report, cast your eyes away from the PowerPoint graphs and read the code with us. ...
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Iron Duke says thanks
More exhibits for Obiter’s collection of long-established firms. In its 227th year is Stratford-upon-Avon firm Lodders Solicitors, which opened for business in 1786 in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. In 1834, according to partner Alastair Frew, the firm received a letter of thanks from the Duke of Wellington, ...
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Memory lane
The Law Society’s Gazette, 20 February 2003Fixed fees fights Solicitors could find themselves embroiled in a new wave of hostility and test litigation over costs if there is no progress on extending fixed fees to post-issue. The warning comes as the government begins work on introducing ...
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Once more into the electronic justice breach
‘So far, a pilot of an all-electronic criminal justice system is working in only one of England’s 42 criminal justice areas. Getting the rest up to speed by 2008 will be a delicate task.’ That classic example of understated fence-perching journalism appeared in the Guardian newspaper in 2003. I recall ...
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Bar goes ahead with aptitude test for entrants
Prospective barristers will have to take an aptitude test as part of their application to bar school, the Bar Standards Board confirmed. All students applying for a place on the bar professional training course (BPTC) will have to take the test, at a cost of ...
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Impact of wellbeing on performance
Two phenomena are affecting the legal world; productivity and talent retention. The Gazette has widely reported on increasing cost-pressures for high street firms (practising certificate price rises, cuts to public funding for legal aid), as well as talent retention (both lawyers and support staff) in firms both large and small.