Last 3 months headlines – Page 1239
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Help ease the burden
In her article ‘Should pro bono be compulsory?’, Lia Moses refers to the New York State Bar requirement for all lawyers to carry out 50 hours of pro bono work before qualifying. Maybe even qualified solicitors should do 50 hours per annum? She urges us to fill in the questionnaire. ...
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SRA doublespeak
I note from your pages that the SRA has a ‘director of inclusion’ (for which post we in the profession presumably pay). It is difficult to imagine a more Orwellian title. I await to hear that we also have a ‘director of truth’ and a ‘director of love’, that doublespeak ...
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Arresting solution
By 2014 the UK must decide how far to be involved in EU crime co-operation measures, most notably the European arrest warrant (see ‘Nationwide alarm at EAW opt-out plan’). Whether the UK should continue to operate the arrest warrant system is not an easy decision and not one to be ...
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Centre caught out
I was concerned to read that the new County Court Money Claims Centre has complained that law firms are delaying the processing of thousands of claims at the new centralised facility in Salford, as reported in the Gazette on 27 September.
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Doing it yourself: the task for COLPs and COFAs
When a solicitor drove off with a client’s file on the roof of their car and it was lost, reporting it as a ‘massive’ breach of the Code of Conduct was never in doubt for compliance and risk director Adele Jones.
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Grayling dishes out tough justice
Repeat violent or sexual offenders will receive mandatory life sentences under a party conference-pleasing set of measures announced by the new justice secretary, Chris Grayling, on Tuesday. Grayling (pictured) also said the Conservatives would go into the next election with ‘a clear plan for change ...
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Solicitors cool on Conservatives' employee share scheme
Chancellor George Osborne’s plan for employees to exchange legal rights for tax-free shares in their workplaces has received a cool reception from employment lawyers. In his speech to the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Osborne said that under the ‘voluntary three-way deal’ employees would ‘replace ...
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Online legal comparison pioneer to unveil site revamp
Legal services comparison site Wigster is planning a high-profile relaunch following the appointment last week of entrepreneur Matthew Briggs (pictured) as a director. Briggs, who is chief executive of the online claims management business Claims.com, was previously the non-lawyer chief executive of personal injury firm ...
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IBA 2012: Robinson urges lawyers to join climate fight
The International Bar Association has heeded a call from former Ireland president Mary Robinson (pictured) to join the fight against climate change. At its conference in Dublin, the organisation confirmed it will set up a taskforce to help fulfil the agreement reached at the UN ...
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Add-backs and costs
Add-back arguments in financial order proceedings tend to arise in two situations: in respect of costs, where one party has incurred significantly higher costs than the other; and where one party has dissipated assets and those assets should be added back to that party’s share. ...
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My priorities for Chris Grayling
by Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, Law Society president When Chris Grayling was appointed lord chancellor and justice secretary, much was made of the fact he was not a lawyer.
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No case to answer? Private prosecutions and prospects of conviction
When should you be allowed to bring a private prosecution? The very idea that a private individual may be able to initiate the state’s powers to prosecute and punish offenders may strike some people as strange. Isn’t that the job of public prosecutors, such as the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS)?
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Missed moments
Lord Denning suffers a moment of self-doubt. An event which, along with Black Bess turning king’s evidence and DH Lawrence rewriting ...
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Car crash coverage
Obiter was intrigued to read the Daily Telegraph’s advertisement feature on 'what to do if you're in a car accident' last week. Sponsored by personal injury firm Lawyers4U, the article sympathises that being in an accident ‘can be a huge shock and it can often ...
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Happy feet
Senior members of Liverpool’s legal community led 19 teams and over 100 walkers on the city’s first legal walk. The Honorary Recorder of Liverpool, HHJ Clement Goldstone QC, and Steve Cornforth, president of Liverpool Law Society, took part in the three-mile walk from the Pier Head. The event was in ...
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PC lessons have been learned
Ensuring that the 2012 round of practising certificate (PC) renewals is a smoother and more reliable experience than last year’s has been top of the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s agenda. We recognise that the last renewals round caused serious inconvenience for many who engaged in the process and this was not ...
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Unhappy consumers ‘intimidated by jargon’
Legal services consumers feel intimidated by jargon when they make complaints to law firms and for that reason are more likely to take their complaint to the Legal Ombudsman, research has found. A survey published today of more than 1,000 people who had complained to the ...
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Civil procedure rules
A previous article summarised the new Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Part 81. This article summarises the further changes effected by the Civil Procedure (Amendment No 2) Rules 2012 (SI No. 2208) and Update 59 which came into force on 1 October. ...