Last 3 months headlines – Page 1208
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PC fee up 5%, Law Society council agrees
The Law Society council today approved a practising certificate fee increase of £16 for 2012/13. The fee for each solicitor will rise from £328 to £344. Individual Compensation Fund contributions rise from £60 to £92. The contribution for firms will increase from £722 to £1,340. ...
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Society advice on SRA diversity data
The Law Society has published a practice note to help firms and sole practitioners comply with regulatory new requirements to collect data on the diversity of their workforce. Data to be reported include job status and role as well as age, gender, disability, ethnicity, religion ...
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SRA rule change will increase choice but harm consumer
Choice is a wonderful thing. Living near Olympic Park I can currently choose between looking at adverts for Coke or McDonalds. Neither is likely, I imagine, to boost my chances of qualification for the 2016 Games. But what if increased choice means increased access to harmful ...
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NHS reveals £1bn litigation bill
Spending by the NHS Litigation Authority on negligence claims has passed the £1bn mark for the first time. Annual accounts for the 2011/12 financial year show that £1.095bn was spent on clinical claims by NHS trusts, foundation trusts and primary care trusts in England. A further ...
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Solicitor shooting: man charged
A man appeared in court today charged with attempting to kill a Wiltshire solicitor. Michael Chudley, 62, from Rowde, Wiltshire, was also charged with threats to kill, possession of a firearm with intent to cause fear of violence and carrying a firearm with criminal intent. At ...
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Merger mania continues as 22% of firms report tie-ups
Merger activity has remained strong among small and medium-sized firms, with nearly a quarter completing a merger in the past six months, research has revealed. The fifth in a series of six-monthly surveys of 50 law firms has shown that 22% had completed a merger in ...
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Simmons and Ashurst report higher profits
Simmons & Simmons and Ashurst have today become the latest top-100 firms to post robust trading results.
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A&O profits steady
More than 400 partners at Allen & Overy will earn at least £640,000 this year, the firm revealed as it kicked off the magic circle reporting season today. Allen & Overy’s results for the year ending 30 April show profits up by 7% to £486m on ...
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A lawyer should run Barclays
I think I have a solution to the crisis of confidence in our banks - starting with the current vacancy at Barclays, let us put lawyers at the helm of all the important ones. As what has gone awry in recent decades catches up with banks’ chief executives, do not ...
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Man shot in solicitors’ office
A man is in a life-threatening condition after a shooting at a solicitors’ office in Wiltshire. The victim suffered serious head injuries after a single shot was fired at Morris, Goddard and Ward in Devizes on Monday afternoon, a police statement said. He was airlifted to ...
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Profits leap at Clifford Chance
Magic circle firm Clifford Chance says it has defied market uncertainty to post a ‘strong performance’ for the last financial year. The firm today said that its 2011/12 profits leaped by 13% to £431m while revenues rose by 7% to £1.3bn. Profit per equity partner was ...
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Employment
Compensation - Unfair dismissal Konczak v BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd: Employment Appeal Tribunal: 3 May 2012 The Employment Appeal Tribunal allowed the employee's appeal against the employment tribunal's decision that ...
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Challenging the speed of change
A challenge has been laid down for solicitors firms. Ajaz Ahmed, co-founder of the award-winning Legal365, outlined what he believes firms need to do to compete in the changing legal services market. Speaking at the recent LawTech Camp London he urged: 'Reduce complexity; don’t sell law - sell solutions to ...
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High court slams means-test delays
The High Court has condemned the current system of means testing in magistrates’ court and called on the Ministry of Justice to take urgent action to cut ‘unacceptable’ delays. In a strongly worded judgment in relation to two European Arrest Warrant (EAW) cases, the president of ...
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Lawyers' paradise directive
There are around one million lawyers in Europe. If they all lived together in a single country, it would be more populous than three other EU member states (Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta). And of course the country’s name would be Paradise. I understand that the European Commission is ready to ...
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Three-way split for European patent court
A long battle over the jurisdiction and location of Europe’s new patent court appears to have been settled with a decision to split the court’s operations in three and separate it from the European Court of Justice. Ministers at last week’s Brussels summit agreed that the seat of the Unified ...
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In-house growing in appeal, says survey
Nearly two-thirds of private practice lawyers would consider moving in-house, according to research published today. The Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Law Department Study, responded to by 114 legal departments at companies in 17 countries, found that 53% had recruited lawyers during the first quarter ...
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Prisoners to be liable for victim surcharge
The government has outlined plans to fine all convicted criminals, including those jailed, to raise funds to help victims. It is already owed almost £600m in unpaid fines. The justice secretary, Kenneth Clarke, today announced plans to increase the amount paid by offenders to victims through ...