Last 3 months headlines – Page 1295
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PI lawyers hit back at media critics
Personal injury lawyers have criticised elements of the media for suggesting a multi-million pound compensation bill for councils is the fault of claimants. Press critics were quick to blame the so-called compensation culture after it was revealed that local authorities had paid out £75m to ...
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‘Pre-pack’ administrations rule changes face trouble
Businesses entering pre-packaged administrations (‘pre-packs’) have been grabbing headlines. Retailers Habitat UK, Alexon Group and Jane Norman are but a few high-profile examples. But there are examples in the legal sector too. Assets of top 50 law firm Halliwells were purchased by Hill Dickinson, HBJ Gateley Wareing and Barlow Lyde ...
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In a froth over prisoners’ voting rights
I have been following the debate about prisoners’ voting rights in the UK with growing incredulity.
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DLA Piper invests in ABS venture
A new entrant is set to launch on the UK legal sector in 2012 with financial backing from international firm DLA Piper. The firm has become the joint largest shareholder in holding company LawVest, although the size of the investment remains secret. ...
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Sole practitioners in last stand against ABSs
The Solicitor Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) will this week stage a last-ditch attempt to block legislation allowing the creation of alternative business structures. The group, which represents 4,500 solicitors across England and Wales, claims it is still possible to prevent so-called ‘Tesco law’ from coming into force. ...
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Referral fee ban will hit PI claimants - says MoJ assessment
Personal injury claimants could suffer from a ban on referral fees while insurers and lawyers would incur no extra costs, according to the government department proposing the ban. An impact assessment of the proposed ban, published today by the Ministry of Justice, admits that ‘overall claimants ...
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Trusted advisor
Judging from the reaction to my blog on the new outcomes-focused regulation the profession is not overwhelmingly optimistic about this. However, one positive thing to hang on to in troubling times is the solicitor’s traditional role as a trusted advisor and how that concept is enshrined in the new rules. ...
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Tabak: without prejudice
Judging by the mood on Twitter - not to mention comments on newspaper websites - the public is seething. People are obviously appalled by Vincent Tabak’s crime, but they are equally livid at the law - and, specifically, the judge who deemed inadmissible so much of the evidence about his ...
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Insolvency
Company - Administrator - Restrictions on power to appoint Minmar Ltd and another v Khalatschi and another: Chancery Division (Sir Andrew Morritt): 8 April 2011 The Chancery Division of the ...
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Record fall in applications for university law degrees
The biggest fall in university applications in more than 30 years has seen the number of candidates applying to study law drop by a record 5.2%, according to figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Last year 13,858 people applied to study law ...
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Employment
Statutory sick pay - Employer's liability Seaton v Revenue and Customs Commissioners: Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) (Sir Stephen Oliver QC and Edward Sadler): 22 July 2011 The Upper ...
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Paperless working concerns
As many defence practitioners will be aware, the Crown Prosecution Service is rapidly moving forward with its plans to achieve a paperless office through its Transforming Through Technology (T3) project. The impetus to achieve this ‘holy grail’ of the paperless office - first spoken of in the commercial world in ...
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Lawyers could avoid complaints by addressing simple quality issues
A year since we launched - and I suppose we have to accept that it is now officially the end of the beginning. Frankly, it is a bit of a shock to realise that we have been up and running for that length of time. It comes as an even ...
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A case where a solicitor is both funded and not funded leaves little incentive to risk representation
Now that there is no payment under legal aid for magistrates’ court work which is committed to the Crown court, I find myself in a practical equivalent of the paradox described by Schrödinger and his dead or alive moggy.
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Local government
Council tax - Rating - Rating list Wilson v Jo Coll (listing officer): Queen's Bench Division, Administrative Court (London) (Mr Justice Singh (judgment delivered extempore)): 13 October 2011 The Administrative ...
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Personal injury
Maintenance of action - Assignment of right of action - Claimant appealing Simpson v Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital NHS Trust: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Maurice Kay (vice-president), Moore-Bick, Dame Janet Smith): 12 October 2011 ...
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Balanced budget?
It is reported that the government plans to increase its foreign aid budget by a staggering 35% to countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, Ethiopia and Burma, where international aid officials concede that fraud and corruption have been endemic for years. It is plainly the case that ...
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Human rights
Right to peaceful enjoyment of possessions - Property - Devolution issues - Scotland AXA General Insurance Ltd and others v Lord Advocate and others (Scotland): SC (Justices of the Supreme Court - Lords Hope (deputy president), Brown, Mance, Kerr, ...
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Immigration
Leave to remain - Refusal of leave - Human rights - Right to respect for private and family life R (on the application of Aguilar Quila) v Secretary of State for the Home Department; R (on the application of ...