Last 3 months headlines – Page 1248

  • News

    Intolerant attitudes

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The view expressed by Simon Williams in his letter has worrying consequences. He effectively said that Lillian Ladele should have lost her job. Does he want a civil service in which no one is allowed to have any religious convictions? Because such a situation is not far off. What kind ...

  • News

    Intolerant attitudes

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The view expressed by Simon Williams in his letter has worrying consequences. He effectively said that Lillian Ladele should have lost her job. Does he want a civil service in which no one is allowed to have any religious convictions? Because such a situation is not far off. What kind ...

  • News

    Uncompromising truth

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The entire content of Nicholas Lakeland’s article rang true for me as an employment solicitor who advises on up to 8-10 compromise agreements a week. They are increasingly common and I repeatedly find myself having to explain to clients that I have a duty to ...

  • News

    Hillsborough highlights need to make inquiries more effective

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    by Dr Karl Mackie, chief executive/mediator at the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, London The shocking revelations of how the investigations were conducted into the Hillsborough disaster – and the delay of 23 years in uncovering the real issues – will only shake an increasingly disturbed ...

  • News

    Negative feedback over decision to publish complaints data

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The credibility of the Legal Ombudsman’s contention that the publication of complaints data is not about ‘naming and shaming’ was demolished within hours.

  • News

    Analysis of budgets can be useful in implementation of rights

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Work in a charity like Justice can get a trifle unremitting. But, just often enough to keep your spirits up, an invitation arrives out of the blue to something that looks worthwhile, or is at least set in an irresistible location (the combination of both is particularly cheering). Would I, ...

  • News

    Mortgage fraud solicitor jailed

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    A former criminal defence solicitor has been jailed for two years for her part in a £1.3m mortgage fraud in east London. Elena Quinlivan (pictured), 35, planned to build a rented property empire, using forged identity documents, bank statements and payslips, Southwark Crown Court heard. ...

  • News

    Don't get mad, get advice

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Provocative posters are being deployed by the Law Society in an advertising campaign urging people to ‘Ask A Solicitor’ when dealing with a crisis. Examples of such incidents include: relationship breakdown (illustrated with a car vandalised by a disgruntled partner); disputed inheritance (an antique sideboard ...

  • News

    LegalZoom in QualitySolicitors tie-up

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    US online legal services shop LegalZoom is to come to Britain later this year in partnership with UK network QualitySolicitors, the Gazette has learned. LegalZoom claims to be the most recognised legal brand in the US and the leading provider of online legal documentation services ...

  • News

    SRA courts troubled firms

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Law firms facing financial problems have been urged to contact the Solicitors Regulation Authority for support and advice. SRA supervisors are already getting in touch with practices that may need help, as part of the regulator’s new approach under outcomes-focused regulation. ...

  • News

    Surge in mis-selling claims

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Small businesses are rushing to file mis-selling claims against their banks before April, when the Jackson reforms make conditional fee agreements a less viable option. Campaigning organisation Bully Banks, which has been co-ordinating information and campaigns on allegedly mis-sold interest rate hedging products, has urged ...

  • News

    SRA planning surprise diversity swoops

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to make unannounced visits to 100 ‘randomly selected’ law firms to assess their compliance with mandatory diversity reporting requirements. The plan, announced at a Law Society Firms Diversity Forum meeting in Manchester last week, ‘went down like a lead balloon’, according ...

  • News

    Chancery Lane hits out at ‘potentially misleading’ complaints statistics

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    The Law Society has described as ‘partial and potentially misleading’ new data on complaints against named law firms published by the Legal Ombudsman this week. A table shows the collated names of 770 lawyers or law firms involved in complaints leading to a formal ...

  • News

    Firms risk missing PII deadline

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Law firms that have yet to secure professional indemnity insurance (PII) face the prospect of missing the 1 October renewal deadline, a leading specialist broker has warned. Simon Lovat, divisional director for UIB, said his firm had more than 1,000 unsecured law practices on its books. ...

  • News

    Memory Lane

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Law Society’s Gazette, September 1962 Father v Son An unusual encounter took place recently at Cardiff Magistrates’ court when a father and son, both of who are solicitors, appeared, respectively, for the defence and the prosecution. They are Mr Myer Cohen (admitted ...

  • News

    Turning on the charm

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    If brevity be the soul of wit, then the winners of the Association of Women Solicitors (AWS) excellence awards got it right in short order. At the ceremony at the Law Society last week, the acceptance speeches were sometimes just one sentence long and gave ...

  • News

    You'll never walk alone

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Never content to be bested by their Mancunian colleagues, lawyers in Liverpool have got together to organise the first Liverpool Legal Walk, on Thursday 4 October.

  • News

    Make that axe weep

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Lawyers and staff at national firm Weightmans swapped the courtroom and office for the stage last week, as they rocked out at the firm’s first music gig. The event, dubbed ‘Weightstock’, saw staff from the firm’s Birmingham, Manchester and Dartford offices pack the Liverpool O2 ...

  • News

    Ferret frolics

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    After a truly memorable summer of sport, this was surely the pinnacle. No sooner had Team Gazette waved the parade of Olympic and Paralympic athletes through London than we were on our way to another sporting spectacle: ferret racing. The ...

  • News

    Calling all motorheads

    2012-09-20T00:00:00Z

    Obiter had a driving lesson this week – first time behind the wheel since a small mishap with a driving test somewhere in south Cambridge (1993). One incentive to start over – on a hill, in London rush hour – comes with the news that the ...