Last 3 months headlines – Page 1311
-
News
Medical accidents charity ponders judicial review bid
Opponents of the government’s Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill could launch another High Court challenge. Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) will decide this week whether to seek a judicial review to counter the removal of legal aid for clinical negligence cases. ...
-
News
Time for the SRA to rethink its policy of indiscriminate publication
In October 2009, the Gazette carried an article by me (tinyurl.com/63k79bj) in which I criticised the general policy of the Solicitors Regulation Authority to publish on its website the details of forthcoming disciplinary cases in the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.
-
News
Government’s replacement for control orders has come under critical scrutiny
What’s the difference between a control order and a terrorism prevention and investigation measure? The current equivalent of house arrest has a succinct but sinister-sounding title; its forthcoming replacement, though more explicit, is destined to become a near-acronym (TPIM, pronounced ‘T-pim’) and does not lend itself to the creation of ...
-
News
The number of training contracts has declined, but Acculaw offers another way into a tight market
There has been a predictably mixed reaction to the launch of new outsourced training provider Acculaw, a venture which could have a dramatic impact on training among City firms. One obvious response is to ponder why no one has thought of this before - or if they have, why the ...
-
News
The City can capitalise further on its reputation for legal services
by Stuart Popham, chairman of TheCityUK When I heard Kenneth Clarke say: ‘The City of London is a legal centre - not just a financial one,’ I raised a cheer.
-
News
Building a rapport
The last two years or so have been a problematic time for conveyancers as the effects of the recession have seen a fall in transactions, a severe and continuing hardening of mortgage-lending availability and terms, and continuing problems for solicitors in securing access to lenders’ residential conveyancing panels.
-
News
Jug your memory?
Obiter loves the Antiques Roadshow, though it is wonderfully disingenuous. Tweed-clad residents of the shires slyly profess to a fascination with ancient bric-a-brac, when all most of them are really interested in is whether their late auntie’s mysterious objet d’art is a hidden masterpiece that can be flogged to pay ...
-
News
Law firms sign up to equal pay reporting
National firm Eversheds (pictured) and northwest firm DWF have become the country’s first law firms to join a government scheme to publish gender equality data. News that the two firms have signed up to the Home Office’s Think, Act, Report scheme follows a Legal Services Board ...
-
News
Report card
The annual report of the Ministry of Justice is worth a good ferret, as there are always gobbets to be unearthed among the notes to the accounts. The nation’s magistrates might be concerned to note that HM Courts Service posted a massive £153m overspend, reflecting a newly discovered deficit in ...
-
News
Ready to rock, paper, scissors
Kenneth Clarke is an impatient man, and not just when he’s waiting in the queue for the Commons canteen. The justice secretary wants cases to be wrapped up much quicker in the future – and we think we may have a solution for him right here ...
-
News
‘Mad Fred’ Rondel
By the time I met Norbert ‘Mad Fred’ Rondel, the club owner acquitted of organising the robbery which led to the Spaghetti House siege in 1975, he was a relatively benign old man selling second-hand cars in Lambeth. Could I find him a computer to help with the resurrection of ...
-
News
Charity in legal aid challenge on clinical negligence
Action Against Medical Accidents has launched a legal challenge against the government’s controversial plans to scrap legal aid for clinical negligence cases. The charity has issued judicial review proceedings, arguing that the Ministry of Justice's decision to remove such cases from scope is irrational and unfair. ...
-
News
Telephone gateway plan could face judicial review
Government plans to introduce a mandatory telephone gateway to the civil legal aid scheme are facing a legal challenge which is supported by The Law Society. The Public Law Project, acting on behalf of ten specialist legal aid firms, has issued an application for permission to apply for a judicial ...
-
News
Advocacy accreditation will be implemented ‘circuit by circuit’
The controversial Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) will be implemented in stages, but there will be no pilot, it has emerged. A report to the Bar Standards Board indicated that consideration was being given to piloting of the scheme, which is due to ...
-
News
Letterhead change
Elizabeth Muirhead’s letter questions the need for firms to change their letterheads, websites and emails to say ‘authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority’ from 6 October, when our new Handbook and Code of Conduct come into effect. The reason for the change is to ...
-
News
Family bar warns of ‘bleak’ future at national meeting
Family barristers have warned of a ‘bleak’ future for family justice if the government’s legal aid cuts are implemented as planned. At a national meeting last weekend, the Family Law Bar Association said the reforms set out in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders ...
-
News
Claimants will ‘never see’ ten per cent damages uplift
Government plans to introduce a 10% uplift on general damages have again been called into question, amid concern that they are reliant on the co-operation of insurers. The increase, recommended by Lord Justice Jackson in his review of civil litigation costs, was intended in part to ...
-
News
Dundas & Wilson in merger talks
Edinburgh-headquartered Dundas & Wilson, one of Scotland’s so-called ‘big four’ law firms, has has begun merger talks with London-based Bircham Dyson Bell. In a joint statement released on Tuesday by the managing partners of each firm, the pair confirmed that talks have begun which may lead ...
-
News
ABSs ‘not attractive’ to City firms, new research suggests
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 ...
-
News
EU-wide training: the impossible dream
What would you do if you had to draw up a plan for training 1.4 million legal personnel in European Union law in 27 member states? You would either run for the exit, or make a hopeful start somewhere.