Last 3 months headlines – Page 1274
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2011 was a transformational year for regulation
In my column a year ago, I described the year ahead as pivotal for legal services. In the last 12 months we have introduced a radically new way of regulating legal services, including publication of a new Handbook. We prepared intensively for the licensing of alternative business structures (ABSs). And ...
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Matter of opinion
The City of London Law Society has issued a useful Guide to assist practitioners in providing English law opinion letters in financial transactions. The aim of the Guide (available at the website) is to save time and costs spent in discussing which law firm should provide an opinion letter, what ...
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SRA to consider dropping minimum wage for trainees
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to consult on whether to continue to set minimum pay rates for trainees. Current minimum salary levels for solicitors are £18,590 in central London and £16,650 outside, and have been frozen for the past two years. However the SRA board decided ...
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LSC blamed by Jewels for closure
A West Midlands family legal aid firm has blamed delays in payment by the Legal Services Commission for forcing it into administration. Jewels, founded in 1980 by sole director Mark Jewels (pictured), ceased trading on 28 December. The Lexcel-accredited firm, ...
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Immigration service users unaware of its closure
Clients of the Immigration Advisory Service (IAS) remain unaware that the not-for-profit provider went into administration six months ago and are still trying to gain access to its premises, the Gazette has learned. There is no guidance information on the locked doors of the central London ...
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Asbestos fund still on agenda, says government
The government has assured people suffering from asbestos-related disease that a ‘fund of last resort’ is still on the agenda, nearly two years after a report called for its creation. Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) minister Lord Freud is understood to be in ...
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David Cameron cannot impose ‘industry-led’ solutions on disputes
The British public’s relationship with ‘health and safety’ is complex. Health and safety ‘culture’ is blamed for stifling economic growth and preventing volunteers from engaging in beneficial civic and community activities. Yet when things go wrong, in care homes, hospitals, banks, or fun fairs, the cry goes up: where was ...
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Commission's conclusions should return assisted dying debate to moral realms
by Eduardo Reyes, Gazette features editor The report on assisted dying, produced by a ‘commission’ formed by thinktank Demos, and part-funded by author and campaigner Terry Pratchett, made headlines last week for stating that there were practical ways that the existing law on suicide could be ...
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Referral fees in spotlight as MPs slam cost of whiplash claims
MPs today call for the bar to be raised if claimants are to receive compensation for whiplash injuries following motor accidents. A report by the Commons Transport Committee into the cost of motor insurance concludes that the rise in personal injury claims is the ‘main reason ...
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Solicitor jailed for money laundering
A solicitor has been jailed for 12 months for money laundering, perverting the course of justice and prejudicing a money laundering investigation. Nicholas Heywood, 45, of High Bank Lane, Bolton, was sentenced at Chester Crown Court (pictured) on 11 January for facilitating the laundering of money ...
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McNally brushes off LASPO criticism as ‘report fatigue’
Justice minister Lord McNally (pictured) has dismissed a wave of criticism of the impact of legal aid cuts by saying the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill is starting to suffer from ‘report fatigue’.
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ABSs - unsettling times?
The new year begins (as 2011 ended) with a discussion of the impact of alternative business structures (ABSs) on the profession. At last, the Solicitors Regulation Authority is authorised to accept applications and license ABSs. It is reported that 10 firms have submitted applications so far. ...
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Firms in ARP given April deadline
Firms remaining in the insurance Assigned Risks Pool have been given until April to secure cover or to shut down. The Solicitors Regulation Authority has contacted each of the 31 firms which, of 3 January, were still open and covered by the ARP, and will make ...
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Court statistics ‘support case for reform’, government says
Care proceedings take on average more than a year to resolve, statistics released for the first time by the Ministry of Justice have revealed. New data on the average length of civil and criminal cases published this week from the third quarter of 2011 showed that care proceedings took an ...
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An obscene waste of money?
You might not want your wife and servants to watch them, but a jury at Southwark Crown Court has just decided that DVDs showing fisting and other hard core male-on-male sex action are not obscene under the Obscene Publications Act 1959. The failed prosecution arose in ...
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Can CFAs replace legal aid?
As housing and other social welfare lawyers face the prospect of legal aid being withdrawn from their sector under the government’s reforms, many are looking at whether their practice could adapt to operate under ‘no win, no fee’ agreements instead.
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Merger expectations grow among small firms
A third of small and medium sized firms expect to merge in the coming year as the trend to join forces continues, according to research by the Law Consultancy Network. The fourth set of six-monthly statistics complied by consultant Andrew Otterburn showed that 21 of the ...
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'Gang of Five' in late bid to halt civil litigation reforms
An alliance of lawyer pressure groups will this week make a last-ditch bid to halt the government’s civil litigation reforms.
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LeO should handle all complaints, says watchdog
The Legal Ombudsman should be given powers to handle complaints about all providers of legal services, the profession’s consumer watchdog said today. In the meantime, the scheme should be extended on a voluntary, 'stop-gap’ basis, to cover activities such as will-writing - an avenue that the ...
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Satellite jobs to go as Pannone aims south
National firm Pannone has announced that 12 jobs will be lost through the shutting of two satellite offices. The cuts will be a mixture of secretarial and fee-earning roles at offices in the Cheshire villages of Hale and Alderley Edge. Managing partner ...