Last 3 months headlines – Page 1265
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Good advice?
The Gazette of 19 January contained two separate items that can be usefully linked: one a call to help the public, the other a warning of how such help can be turned against us.
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Sharp practice
In Law Society v LSC et al [2010] EWHC 2550 (Admin) the court acknowledged that solicitors working in the Family Court were ‘a band of skilled and dedicated lawyers working for little reward’. Your edition of 12 January records the entry into administration of Jewels, ...
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Fury over ‘chaos’ in central civil claims processing
A ‘totally chaotic’ scheme to slash costs and processing times for civil claims has prompted around 100 individual complaints to the Law Society’s council member for civil litigation. The complaints concern Salford Business Centre (SBC), also known as the National Civil Business Centre, which is HM ...
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Morale low among Ministry of Justice staff
Evidence of poor morale among staff at the Ministry of Justice has emerged from the civil service’s annual ‘people survey’. Among its findings is that staff at the ministry and its agencies have no confidence in decisions made by senior managers. Only 32% of respondents would recommend the MoJ as ...
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Human rights
Public order - Freedom of association and assembly - Defendant protestors setting up camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral City of London Corporation v Samede and others: QB (Mr Justice Lindblom): 18 January 2012 ...
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Law Society outlines initiatives to reinforce access to justice
The Law Society vice-president has outlined initiatives to bolster access to justice following the government’s proposed legal aid reforms - but stressed that Chancery Lane has not given up its opposition to the cuts. Lucy Scott-Moncrieff (pictured) told the Gazette that the Society has given ‘a ...
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SRA sorry for online delays
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has apologised for further delays to online renewals of practising certificates as it starts to clear a backlog of applications. The SRA’s new mySRA system, which replaces paper forms and cheques, has been the subject of widespread criticism in the profession.
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Compensation awards restored to solicitors
The body that pays compensation to victims of violent crime has backed down in the face of a judicial review challenge and restored its policy of paying awards directly to solicitors. In a related development, it is also to allow legal fees to be paid out ...
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The ‘golden rule’
Wharton v Bancroft and Others [2011] EWHC 3250 Ch: this case is a typical example of the strong feelings that can arise where a parent leaves the estate to a subsequent spouse, disinheriting the adult children.
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Restrict title to fight fraud, Land Registry urges
Property owners are being encouraged to register a restriction requiring a solicitor to certify their identity as homeowner before their property can be sold, in the Land Registry’s latest move against property fraud. From this month, the Registry’s Form LL restriction will be free for absent ...
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Firms warned over letters to Citizens Advice clients
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has warned firms that they could risk breaching the code of conduct by contacting individuals directly on behalf of clients if those individuals are represented by Citizens Advice.
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Deech: barristers and solicitors should share training
Barristers and solicitors should share most of their training, the chair of the Bar Standards Board has proposed. Lady Deech (pictured) told students at Oxford University last week that the new structures in which lawyers can practise, and the severe shortage of pupillages, have called into question the way both ...
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National Civil Business Centre and county court claims
Normally changes to the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) made in December come into force the following April. However, the Civil Procedure (Amendment No 4) Rules 2011 (SI 2011/3103) made on 21 December 2011, come into force on 19 March. They deal with one topic only, namely the establishment of the ...
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Top Lib Dem was given the task of taking the pain for Conservative-led reforms
The Scots don’t play much cricket. But Lord Wallace of Tankerness, former Lib Dem leader north of the border and now advocate general for Scotland, showed he can wield the straightest of bats during the lords debate on part 2 of LASPO. The courtliness of ...
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Lifting the lid on ‘hackgate’
by Gill Phillips, director of editorial legal services at Guardian News & Media Ltd As we all now know, News International last month settled 37 of the civil claims brought against News Group Newspapers (NGN), the publisher of the now defunct News of the World
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Is the legal profession looking at fission or fusion?
Last week I gave the President’s Oxford lecture at the Saïd Business School. It was a great privilege to be able to address a very distinguished audience on the long-term future of our profession. I felt compelled to ask what implications the freedom of barristers and solicitors to practise together ...
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An ABS game-changer as UK says g’day to Aussies
Those Aussies just can’t resist a bit of competition. From their cricket team beating us with depressing regularity in the 1990s to Paul Hogan ('you call that a knife?'), it seems a nation devoted to one-upmanship. So we shouldn’t be too surprised to see an Aussie ...
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Judge for yourself
The Law Society put together a stellar panel for the launch of its advocacy section, or the fifth inn, as president John Wotton called it. The lineup included the lord chief justice, Lord Judge (pictured), master of the rolls Lord Neuberger and president of the Queen’s bench division Sir John ...