Last 3 months headlines – Page 1229
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Silverbeck to double workforce following acquisition
National firm Silverbeck Rymer has announced plans to more than double its size over the next year. The personal injury firm, bought by listed brand extension company Quindell Portfolio for £19.3m in January, will recruit 300 people to add to its current staff of 250. Around ...
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Existing sanctions sufficient for disclosure failures, judges rule
Senior judges today rejected the creation of additional sanctions for disclosure failures against either the prosecution or defence in criminal cases. A review of sanctions, requested by former lord chancellor Kenneth Clarke and carried out by Lord Justice Gross and Lord Justice Treacy, instead advocates updates ...
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Grayling ponders legal aid ban over prisoner votes
Prisoners may be refused legal aid to sue the government if parliament decides to defy the European Court of Human Rights over voting rights, the justice secretary said today. In a debate following a statement announcing a draft bill on the issue, Chris Grayling said ...
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Solicitors miss a beat
A rum lot, the new police and crime commissioners elected on record low turnouts last week. In terms of diversity of race and gender they make the senior judiciary look positively heterogeneous; but at least there is some variety in professional qualifications for the new post.
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Roll up for Stones gig
Not fade away – Obiter is old enough to remember when (pace the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) talk of the Rolling Stones and the law would involve lurid tales of confectionery bars and butterflies broken upon wheels.
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Memory lane
The Law Society’s Gazette, November 1952The service of the law by Sir Hartley Shawcross It was one of those first-class Pullman cars they have on these trains to Eastbourne. It was a crowded carriage as first-class carriages always are in these difficult times. Why is it ...
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Publicity order
Claimant submitting defendant failing to comply with publicity notice – Claimant applying for further order Samsung Electronics (UK) Ltd v Apple Inc: Court of Appeal, Civil Division (Mr Justice Longmore, Kitchin and Sir Robin Jacob): 9 November 2012 ...
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Firms named for ‘grave failures’ in immigration disclosure
Immigration solicitors will face disciplinary action if they fail to reveal ‘all material facts’ when applying to prevent removals, the president of the Queen’s Bench Division warned, naming three firms who had not to complied with disclosure duties.
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Doomsday for personal injury solicitors
So now we know the government’s vision for the future: personal injury work almost exclusively reserved for the few claims handlers that can do it in bulk and on the cheap. RTA claims on a factory line, out of the reach of solicitors, stacking up befuddled ...
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Lord chief justice to step down
Lord Judge, lord chief justice, announced today that he will retire at the end of September 2013. A Judicial Office statement said that the process to appoint his successor as senior judge of England and Wales will begin in early 2013. Igor ...
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Making justice systems more restorative - a view from the bench
What might a justice system which embodied restorative principles look like? What might be the judge’s view – the view from the bench - of a more restorative justice system?
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Saving face
You know the advertisements that I mean. Whilst plenty of cash has been splashed on some strong photography and ample media space – it is a shame that the best approach they could come up with was to disparage the competition. It seems some firms are ...
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Legal Aid Agency names new faces
Irwin Mitchell partner Andrew Lockley is among three non-executive board members appointed to the Legal Aid Agency, which replaces the Legal Services Commission from next April. Lockley (pictured) heads the public law team at Irwin Mitchell, where he has worked for the past 16 years. Lockley, ...
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Solicitors urged to ‘beat the rush’ on PC renewals
Solicitors are being encouraged not to leave practising certificate renewals to the last minute if they want them to be processed as quickly as possible. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has today written to local law societies pointing out that the volume of users presently ...
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An economic message for our regulators
Here are some statistics which may surprise you (apart from the first sentence): Based on 2010 estimates, the UK had the largest share of the European legal services market followed closely by Germany. In total the UK and German legal services markets accounted for just under ...
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Fury and bewilderment at plans to curb judicial reviews
Lawyers responded critically to the prime minister’s call today for measures to cut the number of applications for judicial review. Adam Chapman, partner and head of public law at national firm Kingsley Napley, described the focus on judicial reviews as ‘a peculiar target’ in the ...
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Society ‘looking at alternatives to client accounts’
The Law Society is looking at whether solicitors still need to have client accounts and what other options could be available to help cut the cost of regulation. Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson told the Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates annual conference on Saturday ...
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Should cyclists be treated differently?
by Malcolm Underhill, a personal injury specialist at IBB solicitors There has been much written about the number of cyclists injured on our roads, with campaigns to improve the lot of those who prefer two wheels, to four.
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RTA costs to be cut by £700
The government is set to slash £700 from the fixed recoverable costs for low-level claims handled through the RTA Portal scheme, the Gazette can reveal. According to figures released today by the Ministry of Justice, solicitors running claims valued at up to £10,000 will be able to claim £500 in ...
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Supreme Court justice calls for positive discrimination on the menu
Positive discrimination is the only thing likely to significantly accelerate the rate of progress towards a more diverse judiciary, a Supreme Court judge has suggested. Lord Sumption, who is also a former member of the Judicial Appointments Commission, said positive discrimination to increase the number of ...