Last 3 months headlines – Page 1210
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Progress report on Lord Justice Jackson's civil justice reforms
In public, Sir Rupert Jackson (pictured) is circumspect about the government’s implementation of civil justice reforms based on his report. In private, he could be forgiven for feeling disappointment over the execution of changes to which he has lent his name. In addition to time ...
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Criminal justice system is failing asylum seekers and refugees
by Tabitha Bushill, legal director at the Howard League for Penal Reform The Gazette recently highlighted miscarriages of justice claims over legal advice failings. The Howard League for Penal Reform shares concerns raised, but feels greater responsibility falls to the Crown Prosecution Service and other responsible ...
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CML moves to pool data on mortgage lender panels
Work is under way on the development of a system for sharing data about members of mortgage lenders’ conveyancing panels, to ease the administrative burden on solicitors, the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) revealed last week. Paul Smee, the CML’s director general, told a Conveyancing ...
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Incoherent legacy of Jackson's civil justice reforms
The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act is now law. With so little conceded to critics, those who opposed it with such energy could be forgiven for feeling resigned to their worst fears being realised. But as we report in this week’s feature, ...
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Hart waves Welsh flag to boost legal jobs
The Welsh government will today launch a long-term strategy to attract thousands of new legal jobs to the country. Business minister Edwina Hart is targeting international, London-based law firms, which she will urge to consider Wales as the ‘business location of choice’ for expansion and ...
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New technology forces legal profession into uncharted territory
Cloud computing is a form of outsourcing. There is legal process outsourcing where, classically, a large law firm sends some legal work to India where it will be undertaken more cheaply. And there is non-legal outsourcing – such as cloud computing – where a back-office function, such as file storage, ...
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Chancery Lane unveils composite PII form
The Law Society has asked brokers and insurers to adopt a composite proposal form for professional indemnity insurance (PII) in an effort to simplify the process of obtaining multiple quotes. The Society said it had secured support for its composite form from ‘some of the major ...
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Family bar chief calls for divorce law reform
Divorce laws should be reformed to provide a default regime for the division of assets when relationships break down, the chief of the family bar has suggested. Nicholas Cusworth QC (pictured), chair of the Family Law Bar Association, told the Gazette that greater certainty over ...
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Mis-selling claim papers sent to FSA
Court papers from an ongoing interest rate swap mis-selling claim obtained by the Gazette have been submitted to the Financial Services Authority (FSA) by the MP leading parliamentary scrutiny of the products’ sale to UK businesses.
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ECtHR whip-round for extra lawyers to clear backlog
The European Court of Human Rights has appealed for voluntary contributions from member states to pay for extra lawyers to clear its backlog of cases – but no state has yet agreed to chip in. The Council of Europe and the court’s president announced the ...
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Classified results
It’s late June and they’re bustin’ out all over. Law firms’ annual results, of course. This is the time of year when City firms release the previous year’s figures for turnover (not very interesting), profit (quite interesting) and profit per equity partner (admit it: the bit you really want to ...
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Flash Gordon
Describing solicitor Jeffrey Gordon (pictured) requires some impressive numbers. He was admitted in 1956 after five years of articles, which means the 78-year-old has been working in the law for 61 years. He has run more than 100 marathons, including all 32 London marathons, and he has run the London ...
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Win Legally Blonde tickets
The award-winning hit Legally Blonde The Musical is on tour. Directed by Tony and Olivier Award-winning Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray), Legally Blonde The Musical is the best show in town – case closed. Obiter has three pairs of tickets to ...
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Land ahoy
Land Registry is the latest body to come under the spotlight of the government’s Red Tape Challenge, aka ‘Give the impression that we’re doing something to help the economy’. In theory, 25 regulations are under scrutiny for being otiose or in need of reform. But Obiter hears that land registration ...
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Form guide
If ever there is a case for triple checking (what we sociologists call ‘triangulation’) what a client tells you, it is over the question of his criminal convictions, writes James Morton.
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Herbert Smith merger creates ‘truly global’ giant
International law firm Herbert Smith is to merge with Australian firm Freehills to create one of the world’s largest firms. The new firm, Herbert Smith Freehills will, subject to regulatory approval, launch on 1 October, Herbert Smith said today. It will have 2,800 lawyers, including ...
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LASPO: we are all in it together
Recently the number of requests from individuals in need of pro bono assistance seems to have rapidly risen. I hear from colleagues that the situation is similar for other pro bono projects, and there seems to be a general consensus within the sector that when the Legal Aid, Sentencing and ...
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Injustice and vulnerable defendants
Vulnerable defendants are not getting fair trials and should have the benefit of the sort of special measures available to vulnerable witnesses in criminal trials, the Prison Reform Trust (PRT) suggests today.