Last 3 months headlines – Page 1308
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Abuse of process
Striking out Action - Claimant bringing claim against defendant for collective enfranchisement Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v Friends Provident Life and Pensions Ltd: ChD (Mr Justice Arnold): 14 September 2011 ...
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Abuse of process
Striking out Action - Claimant bringing claim against defendant for collective enfranchisement Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v Friends Provident Life and Pensions Ltd: ChD (Mr Justice Arnold): 14 September 2011 ...
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Equalities and austerity cuts
The journey of Ulysses was classically eventful and hazardous. Local authorities seeking to effect necessary budget cuts can find their journey through the public sector equality duty and its predecessors equally challenging. Many local authorities, such as Birmingham, have fallen by the wayside, even though (as the old 1930s song ...
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Internet policing is ‘inevitable’
State-imposed control of the internet is ‘inevitable’ if the conflict between the right to privacy and a free press is ever to be resolved, lawyers and journalists suggested last week at a Law Society public debate. They also warned that the current press regulator is toothless ...
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City law firms cool on ABSs
City law firms do not generally see alternative business structures as attractive, because they are reluctant to cede control of the firm to source external funding that they do not need. This is one conclusion of the first of a series of studies looking at ...
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Pannone may spin off Affinity
Manchester firm Pannone may spin off its white label legal services arm when alternative business structures are permitted and allow companies using the service to invest and share profits in the business. Pannone launched Affinity Solutions in May, providing a ‘seamless’ consumer law service to non-legal ...
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What makes a reliable survey or piece of research?
Research studies and surveys of the legal sector have been a feature of business life for some time now - and any number can be expected in the run-up to, and beyond, the liberalisation of the legal services market. But can you trust the results of the surveys you read? ...
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Survey: UK cheapest for international arbitration
The UK is the cheapest and most popular venue for international arbitration, according to an authoritative survey published this week. Some 74% of party costs in international arbitrations are accounted for by external legal costs, and external fees are 26% higher in the rest of Europe, ...
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Fixed fees to be 'renegotiated’ after referral ban
Claimant lawyers’ legal fees under the Road Traffic Accident portal scheme will have to be renegotiated as a result of the forthcoming ban on referral fees, the Ministry of Justice confirmed to the Gazette today. An MoJ spokesman said the fees, which were calculated including an ...
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Lawyers must take the lead in reshaping our values
I like to think that, if you examine a section of society, you can deduce problems and solutions which apply more widely. So, in this year of impending financial collapse and of governments which are paralysed or uncertain, I shall look at current developments relating to lawyers across Europe, and ...
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Encouraging the use of mediation should be a core component of meeting client demand for value for money
by Suzanne Lowe, managing director of Talk Mediation and co-ordinator of the mediation pilot When I was in private practice in 1999, I voiced concern to one of the partners about the future direction of the firm. He asked me to attend one of the partners’ ...
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As a profession we are falling for the false perception that solicitors are inaccessible
The letter from Viv Williams of the 360 Legal Group (22 September) repeats the assumption that legal services need to be more accessible and friendly 'and that firms failing to adapt will get left behind'. I run a very small high street firm. We obtain constant ...
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Pots and kettles
I read Guy Platt-Higgins' comments about referral fees with interest (see [2011] Gazette, 22 September, 13). I should set out my stall. I am absolutely opposed to referral fees as I consider them incompatible with a profession that holds itself out as adhering to the highest ethical standards.
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IFA independence
The Financial Services Authority is in the process of adopting a new definition of independent financial advice. It has written to all of the designated professional bodies (DPBs), including the Solicitors Regulation Authority, inviting them to adopt different definitions for their own purposes if they consider this to be appropriate.
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Cashflow solution?
I read in the Gazette (news, 8 September, 4) that four high street banks have agreed to help law firms that are experiencing cashflow difficulties resulting from ongoing delays in payment from the Legal Services Commission. As a partner in a niche family law practice in ...
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Straw confident PI referral fees will be criminalised
Jack Straw is confident he will succeed in his high-profile bid to criminalise personal injury referral fees. The former justice secretary believes the government will amend its reforms of civil litigation to incorporate the sanction. The MP for Blackburn said yesterday that Labour’s legalisation of ...
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The upper house is prepared to contest legal aid reforms. Let us hope the lower house takes heed of its concerns
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Carlile QC has a good record as a defender of legal aid. In his interview with Gazette reporter John Hyde he expresses concern over the implications of the cuts and predicts a difficult ride for the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...
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Income rises at top 100 but ‘nervousness’ remains
Fee income at the UK’s top 100 law firms increased by 4% in the first quarter of the financial year compared with the same period in 2010, according to figures from Deloitte. But the business advisory firm warned that the figures mask continuing weakness in the ...
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Rioters and the quality of mercy
The spirit of forgiveness is abroad this September - but will it shine its light on the rioters who are appealing their ‘excessive’ sentences in the Court of Appeal? The spirit has already spun its benign magic on two crooks, letting them out of jail early, even though they had ...
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Memory lane
Law Society’s Gazette, 23 September 1981 Navy Nicknames I do not know how it may be nowadays, but when I was in the Navy there were a certain number of standard nicknames. A particular surname carried a nickname as a matter of ...