Last 3 months headlines – Page 1224
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News focus: progress report on legal profession
The Law Society’s 28th Annual Statistical Report might appear to be a rather desiccated agglomeration of facts, tables and bar charts. It is not an avowedly political document and, for that reason, raises more questions than it answers. As a snapshot of changing trends in the profession, however, the survey ...
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Travellers, homelessness and bricks and mortar
Basildon Borough Council did not act unlawfully when offering bricks and mortar accommodation to homeless former Dale Farm travellers. So found the Court of Appeal on 21 March 2012 in Sheridan and others v Basildon Borough Council [2012] EWCA Civ 335, which also usefully considered the extent of a housing ...
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Giving hard-up graduates hope
I have read the various exchanges, following the initial open letter on the Gazette website from the (clearly desperate) Legal Practice Course graduates. The issue, from my perspective, is not the minimum wage applicable to trainee solicitors, but more the lack of training contracts compared with the number of ‘qualifying’ ...
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Doing the deed
Increasingly, original title deeds are disappearing and we are ever more dependent on obtaining copies from the Land Registry. Yet again this morning an office copy lease has arrived with the plans uncoloured and a power of attorney which had no relevance included as a page of the lease. I ...
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Naive strategy
The government intends to clamp down on compensation claims arising from road traffic accidents. Apparently, the government regards solicitors as the ‘bad guys’ and insurers as the ‘good guys’.
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The joy of tech
Young Mr McVeighty should take heart and embrace a laptop. Ten years ago, I thought that I would be able to retire without touching a computer. I am now a converted enthusiast.
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No quarter asked
In response to the letter ‘Advice warning’, may I add a fourth reason? That is the fact that your own client will complain bitterly if they see you giving quarter to the enemy.
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Great dictator
A veritable army of grave-looking gentlemen in grey suits fetched up at the Royal Festival Hall last week for Russell-Cooke’s solemn event ‘Enforcing Regulatory Standards in a Liberalised Market’. Appropriately, the profession’s über-regulator, Legal Services Board chair David Edmonds CBE, topped the bill.
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Straw flogs
Ex-justice secretary Jack Straw has earned more than a few bob since leaving office, as we first reported last week. But lest you got the wrong impression, the Blackburn MP’s extra-parliamentary activities have not been limited to worthy (if perhaps a tad prosaic) appearances in the Lancashire mill towns. Oh ...
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Criminal law solicitors' director: value of justice ‘deteriorating’
The ‘march of managerialism’ and a desire to speed up proceedings have led to a drop in the value put on justice by the government and society, according to the retiring director of the Criminal Law Solicitors Association. Rodney Warren (pictured) has announced that he will ...
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Society ponders non-solicitor representation
Admission of non-solicitors to the Law Society has returned to the agenda following conference speeches by the president and his successor-but-one.
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ALS interpreters contract facing renewed scrutiny
The deal between the Ministry of Justice and the private company contracted to provide court interpreters is to face scrutiny from parliamentary watchdogs, as cases continue to be disrupted by poor performance and non-attendance of interpreters.
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Sky targets new court filming rights
A TV executive campaigning to lift the ban on cameras in criminal courts has said the limited rights announced in last week’s Queen’s speech will not end the battle for access. ‘We’re obviously interested in discussing what extras we can do down the road,’ Simon Bucks, associate editor at Sky ...
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ABS applicants billed thousands for consultancy
Alternative business structure hopefuls are being invoiced thousands of pounds for consultants to handle the financial minutiae of their applications to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, the Gazette has learned. The SRA says it has hired specialists to supplement its 25-strong team dedicated to vetting ABS applications. ...
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Mediations on the up, audit reveals
The number of civil and commercial mediations has grown by one-third and their value by almost a half over the past two years, an authoritative study reveals this week. The Mediation Audit 2012, the dispute resolution body CEDR’s fifth biennial survey of civil and commercial ...
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French stick
Obiter had never understood why a bar president in France is called ‘le batonnier’ or ‘stick-person’. Unless it’s a reference to a slightly bigger version of a baguette called a ‘baton’, but that seems unlikely. And then enlightenment dawned when he met the president of the Paris bar, Christiane Féral-Schuhl ...
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Solicitor, are you?
'Solicitor, are you? I 'ad one of them law commissioners in the back of my cab the other day. You'll never guess what those stupid baskets - pardon my French - are up to now? They’ve only gone and launched a consultation on taxi and private hire services.
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, May 1982 Letters to the editor (There is a) widely held view that all solicitors, regardless of specialisation or geographical location, are ‘on the gravy train’. This view has been deliberately and successfully peddled for a number of years ...