Last 3 months headlines – Page 1264
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Employment lawyers slam ‘out-of-the-blue’ reform plans
A group representing 6,000 employment lawyers has savaged government plans to cut red tape for businesses, claiming that they will prolong rather than settle disputes and stretch resources ‘beyond breaking point’. The Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) says that the proposals, in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform ...
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Insurance fund deal for mesothelioma victims
Insurers will pay £300m over the next 10 years into a scheme to support newly diagnosed victims of mesothelioma, the government confirmed today. The money will go into a new fund for the 3,000 victims across the UK who are unable to claim compensation because ...
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Supreme Court backs ‘unbeliever’ asylum right
The Supreme Court today unanimously upheld the right of asylum seekers not to be forced to hold, seem to hold or express a political opinion in order to protect themselves from persecution in their own countries. The judgment, for the first time, makes the law clear ...
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Lessons from the low-value RTA process
Last week the Ministry of Justice finally revealed Professor Fenn’s independent report on the operation of the low-value road traffic accident process. And it was rather disappointing. Fenn found that costs under the process, which uses an electronic portal, appeared to be 3-4% lower than previously, ...
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‘New litigation industry’ will deter investors, CBI warns
Government proposals for ‘opt-out’ class actions for consumers could spark a new ‘litigation industry’ around competition law and deter inward investment and growth, business lobby group the Confederation of British Industry warned today. Businesses need incentives such as reduced fines to participate in alternative dispute ...
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Medical report cost recovery in last-minute Jackson change
Concerns about impact on disabled claimants have forced a last-ditch change to the government’s civil litigation reforms. An equality impact assessment of the Jackson proposals revealed fears that claimants could be prevented from bringing a serious injury claim because of the cost of expert reports. Part ...
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Shoosmiths lets 86 go
National firm Shoosmiths has responded to a difficult financial year by announcing a total of 86 redundancies. The top 40 firm, where turnover dropped by 3% in 2011/12 to £84m, today confirmed 71 voluntary and 15 compulsory redundancies following a two-month consultation. ...
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Money laundering - at last, the evidence?
As the old saying goes, be careful what you wish for. Something is about to happen that some have requested for a long time. The Financial Action Task Force (FATF), the inter-governmental body which takes the lead in the global fight against money laundering, and which is the inspiration behind ...
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Are you deaf-aware?
My cousin committed suicide, aged 35. He took an overdose and left two children and a wife, but no note. My uncle’s theory was that he killed himself because he was going deaf. ‘Deafness isolates you,’ said my uncle, who himself wore a hearing aid. ‘It’s easy to become lonely ...
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Making Libor claims stick
Libor abuse is the latest of many sticks available to critics with which to flog the banking piñata, but as the Treasury Select Committee circled around former Barclays chief executive Bob Diamond on 5 July to take turns waving it his way, it became clear that the full details of ...
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Solicitor shot in Devizes has died
Police have confirmed that Wiltshire solicitor James Ward (pictured) has died following a shooting in his office earlier this month. The 58-year-old, principal solicitor at Morris Goddard & Ward, was shot at his desk in the firm’s Devizes office on 2 July. Wiltshire Police today confirmed ...
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Solicitors demanding referral fees could be ‘named and shamed’ by bar
Naming and shaming solicitors who seek referral fees for passing work onto barristers has been mooted by the Bar Standards Board in a bid stamp out the practice. The Bar Council has already taken advice on whether referral fees amount to bribes, though that advice has ...
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ABS offers barristers at £75 an hour
A new law firm which promises clients fixed fees and immediate face-to-face meetings with barristers has become the latest alternative business structure (ABS). Red Bar Law was formed in September last year and applied to the Solicitors Regulation Authority for ABS status in January. Today the ...
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‘Common sense’ test proposed for prosecutions
Prosecution decisions would have to be tested for ‘proportionality’ under a proposed revised Code for Crown Prosecutors published by the director of public prosecutions yesterday. The revised, ‘more succinct’, code would supplement the existing public interest test with a question about whether the likely outcome ...
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Society ‘dismayed’ at AML penalty stance
HM Treasury has decided to retain criminal penalties for breaches of anti-money laundering (AML) regulations and not to exempt even the smallest firms from the administrative burden of compliance. The decisions, published last week in the Treasury’s response to a consultation that began in 2009, have ...
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Deech hits back over bar tribunal ‘collapse’ claim
The chair of the Bar Standards Board (BSB) has defended the process for disciplining barristers following a claim that it is in a ‘state of collapse’ amid allegations of secrecy, maladministration and incompetence. Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Lady Deech said: ‘It is totally ...
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The incredible shrinking legal aid statistics
Worrying signs that clients could already be finding it harder to access legal advice, even before next year’s legal aid cuts come in to force, emerge from the latest annual statistics from the Legal Services Commission. The LSC’s annual report, published last week, reveals that the ...
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Borders agency slammed for under-performance
Members of Parliament today criticised the UK Border Agency (UKBA) for failing to clear a 276,460 cases backlog - equivalent to the ‘entire population of Newcastle upon Tyne’. The backlog includes 150,000 individuals in the migration refusal pool and 3,900 foreign national prisoners who should have ...
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Negligence
Causation - Breach of duty causing or contributing to damage Wilkin-Shaw v Fuller and Kingsley School: Queen's Bench Division (Mr Justice Owen): 28 June 2012 The Queen's Bench Division, ...