Last 3 months headlines – Page 1261
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Brady advocate bailed following TV revelations
Police have arrested the mental health advocate of Moors murderer Ian Brady following her disclosure that he gave her a letter that may reveal the whereabouts of a child’s body missing since 1964. Jackie Powell, 49, was arrested this morning on suspicion of preventing the burial ...
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American bar closes door on 'lowest common denominator' ABSs
Leading US lawyers have voted down a proposal to rule out all further studies on non-lawyer ownership of firms – while indicating that alternative business structure (ABS) arrangements remain firmly off the agenda for now.
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Dog day resolutions
Welcome to the silly season. Charles Dickens once observed: ‘It is the long vacation in the regions of Chancery Lane. The good ships Law and Equity, those teak-built, copper-bottomed, iron-fastened, brazen-faced, and not by any means fast-sailing clippers, are laid up in ordinary. The Flying Dutchman, with a crew of ...
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Title fraud
The Land Registry (LR) claims that property worth an estimated £50m has been ‘saved’ by its fraud prevention measures (see Fighting Fraud). An achievement, indeed, but one for which any tendency to self-congratulate should be tempered by the less flattering statistic that within the space of two years LR’s provision ...
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Surge in demand for law degrees as A-level pupils get results
Two privately owned law schools have bucked the UK-wide trend of fewer students applying for university places by reporting a ‘surge in applications’ for their LL.B law degree courses. Meanwhile, as 335,000 pupils in England, Wales and Northern Ireland receive their A-level results today, the Joint ...
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Clarke looks again at discount rate deductions
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has opened talks with the personal injury sector amidst concerns that claimants are missing out on their rightful compensation. Clarke and his equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland are looking again at the discount rate; the amount deducted from settlements on the ...
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Death threats by text
The death threat had been sent by text to the mobile telephone of a lawyer in Colombia. Translated from the Spanish and sanitised for the firewalls, it said: ‘Hi, b*stard dogs. You have already done your bit, now it’s our turn. Get all those b*stards together for your and your ...
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High court declines JR of assisted suicide law
The High Court has told two men suffering from ‘locked-in syndrome’ that their legal challenges to the ban on voluntary euthanasia have been rejected. In judgment today, the court said that it recognised that the men’s cases raised difficult ethical, social and legal issues, and expressed ...
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Only parliament can help Tony Nicklinson
If Tony Nicklinson had the ability, he would take his own life. The father-of-two says his current existence, paralysed from the neck down and communicating through blinking, is intolerable. Without the physical capability, he will need someone to assist him, but the law will not grant ...
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Disability pioneer Morris dies at 84
The campaigner who almost single-handedly made it a duty of local authorities to assist disabled people with a range of free services has died aged 84. Lord Morris of Manchester (Alf Morris) was a Labour MP under prime minister Harold Wilson when in 1970, in the ...
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If you can’t do, learn
Have you ever wondered how a lawyer who practises in, say, commercial law would ever be able to help an individual with the sorts of legal issues encountered by someone with sufficiently limited means to qualify for pro bono assistance? At LawWorks we do, in fact, ...
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LSB confirms PC fee rises
The Legal Services Board today confirmed its acceptance of higher practising certificate fees for 2013, as agreed by the Law Society’s Council in early July. The practising certificate (PC) fee for 2013 will increase by 5%, from £328 to £344, following a reduction of 23% from 2011 to 2012. ...
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Two-year PII deals gain in popularity as 2013 uncertainty looms
An underwriting agency specialising in two-year insurance deals is targeting £25m of business for this year’s professional indemnity insurance (PII) renewal period. Indemnity Risk Solutions says law firms will be looking for longer-term options in advance of the phasing out next year of the assigned risks ...
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Law Commission takes aim at multiple wildlife statutes
Wildlife law could be modernised to balance the conflicting priorities of managing wildlife for sport with protecting and conserving it under Law Commission proposals published today. The aim is to simplify the current legal framework, which includes statues dating back to the 1831 Game Act, ...
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Ten reasons not to go on holiday
You can work on indemnity insurance proposal forms that are being sent daily by email, post, dx and by hand. Or alternatively use them to redecorate your office. You may miss your best ever case and your only chance to make legal history. Or you may ...
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Selection in state education
In the Gazette of 26 July, Lucinda Moule called for more selection in state education to improve social mobility. She is wrong. International evidence shows that selection depresses social mobility, while increasing segregation and the gap in achievement between rich and poor. Selection never was a ...
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Take responsibility to help train our successors
So, it's not exactly surprising news, then? Apparently only 100 or so solicitors have so far bothered to reply to the Legal Education and Training Review (LETR). Admittedly, the consultation document took over half an hour to complete, but shows that most solicitors simply do not ...
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News
Ten reasons not to go on holiday
You can work on indemnity insurance proposal forms that are being sent daily by email, post, dx and by hand. Or alternatively use them to redecorate your office. You may miss your best-ever case and your only chance to make legal history. Or you may ...
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Doctors blame 'no win, no fee' for rise in legal actions
Doctors are facing unprecedented increases in claims for compensation for clinical negligence, according to the head of the Medical Defence Union. The mutual organisation, which indemnifies clinicians against claims, has revealed plans for a campaign to persuade ministers to cut the costs of damages awards. ...