Last 3 months headlines – Page 1243
-
News
Civil justice advisers condemn PI fixed fees as ‘unrealistic’
Fixed-fee proposals for personal injury work are unrealistic and should wait until at least 2014, the Civil Justice Council (CJC) has advised. The independent advisory body chaired by the master of the rolls has told the government it should hold back from new costs plans before ...
-
News
DWF rides to rescue of Cobbetts
National firm DWF has announced its intention to acquire troubled firm Cobbetts.
-
News
Advocacy quality scheme set back to September
Introduction of the controversial quality assurance scheme for advocates (QASA) has been delayed by nine months, the joint advocacy group (JAG) responsible for the scheme admitted today. Under the revised implementation timetable, published by the three legal regulators charged with designing QASA, a handbook on the ...
-
News
Ombudsman predicts more cases as compensation limit rises
The Legal Ombudsman is expecting to increase the number of investigations it carries out under new powers coming in to force today. The new rules lift the ceiling on compensation awards from £30,000 to £50,000 and allow the ombudsman to accept complaints from prospective as ...
-
News
Ask the staff
The annual civil service people survey is a great annual diversion, juxtaposing low levels of staff satisfaction and confidence in the Ministry of Justice’s leadership on the one hand, and hyper-positive confidence of senior management spin on the other. This year my colleague Catherine Baksi reported it as news - ...
-
News
A dissenting Judge
Lord Judge, as we all know, has a wonderfully apt name. Not as good as the anaesthetist from Essex called Doctor De’ath but certainly enough to raise a smile. However that’s not the main reason why I’ll miss the Lord Chief Justice when he hangs up the gown and retires ...
-
News
Call for care failings disclosure laws
NHS trusts and their lawyers should be forced by law to reveal when care providers have made serious mistakes, campaigners have said in the run-up to the report of the inquiry into alleged failings at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. Peter Walsh, chief executive of ...
-
News
Leniency for whistleblowing? This is not the NYPD
Call me a stooge if you like, but I reckon the Law Society is bang on the money with this one. Yesterday it emerged that Chancery Lane is opposed to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s plan to offer whistleblowers leniency if they shop their partners in crime. ...
-
News
Injunction
Conflict of laws – Foreign proceedings – Restraint of foreign proceedings Malhotra v Malhotra and another: Queen's Bench Division, Commercial Court: 30 October 2012 The claimant sought the continuation of ...
-
News
A review of the 2012 changes to criminal law
Two major cases regarding case management were decided in 2012. In R (on the application of Drinkwater) v Solihull Magistrates’ Court [2012] EWHC 765 (Admin), the court had to consider whether a trial should be adjourned or go ahead in the absence of a defendant. Following the decision in R ...
-
News
Smaller firms can thrive by turning size to their advantage
Sarah Harman’s comment that ‘the days of the small practice are numbered’ (My Legal Life, 14 January) is simply wrong. The days of the small general practice reliant predominantly on legal aid may well be coming to an end, but small specialist practices are unquestionably in a hugely competitive and ...
-
News
Help is at hand for addiction
In 2006 I got a job with a City firm. It proved to be very stressful and within months my occasional recreational use of drugs had turned into a full-blown addiction. I found myself deeply in debt and alienating my family and my firm.
-
News
No magic bullet cure for cancer
Having studied Lord Saatchi’s draft Medical Innovation Bill, I was pleased with Robert Illidge’s thoughtful perspective. As a retired NHS consultant and an expert witness with experience of medical negligence from both sides (and at the risk of becoming frightfully unpopular), I would suggest that entrusting only the medical profession, ...
-
News
Legal advice agencies hit by funding cut
Organisations helping not-for-profit agencies and litigants in person have been dealt another blow by the decision to axe Community Legal Service grants. After consultation, the Legal Services Commission announced this week that funding to the Advice Services Alliance, Law Centres Network and the Royal Courts ...
-
News
Business leaders have grown ‘diversity weary’
Managers of leading professional firms are growing ‘diversity weary’, according to the organisers of a poll of business leaders. Research commissioned by City firm Reed Smith found concerns that ‘a flurry’ of initiatives to encourage more women into senior roles could lead to a backlash. ...
-
News
Family justice ‘wish list’
Children caught up in the family justice system want their cases dealt with faster and with greater support throughout the process, according to a board made up of 32 young people with direct experience of the system or an interest in children’s rights. The Family ...