Last 3 months headlines – Page 1318
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Salford claims centre plagued by complaints
Complaints continue to pour in about the new centralised facility for handling civil claims, with under two weeks to go before the centre is set to become fully operational. A solicitor told the Gazette he was still ‘reeling from the nightmare’ of dealing with the County ...
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Thousands miss PC renewal deadline
Thousands of solicitors appear to have failed to apply in time for practising certificates this year, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has confirmed. The deadline for applications, extended because of difficulties with the mySRA online application system, passed last Friday.
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Clarke defends secret trials
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has defended plans to extend secret trials across a range of proceedings in the civil courts, arguing that a ‘unique and unprecedented’ terrorist threat means that evidence affecting national security can be safely disclosed only behind closed doors. A measure in the ...
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ALS offers cash to beat interpreting boycott
The company running the controversial new courtroom interpreting service is offering cash incentives to interpreters who recruit friends, the Gazette has learned, as it emerged than nine out of 10 court interpreters are boycotting the service.
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Society slams tribunal fee plans
The Law Society has condemned as creating a barrier to justice government plans to introduce fees for taking claims to employment tribunals and employment appeals tribunals. The government is consulting on charging fees in order to transfer costs of running the employment tribunal system to ...
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Quality test 'should not protect barristers'
Controversy about the use of judicial evaluation in a new scheme to assess the quality of advocates has escalated, with solicitors’ bodies warning that the scheme could become a means to protect barristers.
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Court upholds wasted costs order
The Court of Appeal has upheld a wasted costs order against a Buckinghamshire firm, ruling that it was ‘complicit’ in its client’s ‘manipulation’ of the court process by failing to give reasons for opposing a hearsay notice in a criminal trial.
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Ticking all the right boxes
If the local plod happened to ask about your attitude to law-breaking, you would probably not confess to a list of crimes before knocking the bobby’s helmet off and doing a runner.
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Roll of honour
Yep, they’re definitely getting younger. James Liasis (pictured), a newly qualified solicitor with London criminal defence firm O’Keeffe’s, reckons he may be the country’s youngest higher rights advocate. He qualified last month at the age of under 24 years and 200 days. ‘I was allowed ...
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The ex factor
Think of a football sugar daddy and a Russian oligarch or wealthy Arab springs to mind. But in Devon, it is a law firm that is funding one club’s battle against relegation. South-west firm Follett Stock has already sponsored Exeter City for two years, but wanted an even greater input ...
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Risky game in Whitehall?
Speaking in the gilded splendor of London’s Lancaster House last week, attorney general Dominic Grieve QC (pictured) shared some advice given to him by his predecessor when he took up the post. Labour’s Lady Scotland told him that he would do fine if he developed the ability to look ministerial ...
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Labour peers seek to halve portal fees
Labour peers have tabled proposals in the Lords to halve the fixed fees solicitors can claim from the low-value RTA Portal. Lord Beecham and Lord Bach (pictured) put down amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill for debate on Monday. The changes ...
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‘Vigorously’ defend cases after reforms, Djanogly tells insurers
Justice minister Jonathan Djanogly has told insurers he expects them to ‘vigorously defend’ cases after civil litigation reforms are enacted. Djanogly told an insurance industry conference last week that civil justice reforms will provide a more level playing field between claimants and defendants. ...
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Liverpool Victoria wins bogus accident case
A leading insurer has secured the first known successful prosecution of a claimant who completely fabricated a car accident. Liverpool Victoria, which uses the trademark LV=, brought contempt proceedings against individuals who had reported a crash in Birmingham in 2008 and failed to attend court ...
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Fiji hits back at scathing report
Fiji’s attorney general has launched a personal attack on the author of a report which claimed to expose a serious deterioration in the rule of law in the country. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum (pictured), the second most powerful member of Fiji’s government, described the report as a ‘joke’ ...
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Flexible working 'crucial for women lawyers'
Almost all women lawyers believe that flexible working practices are key to women winning senior roles in law firms, an international survey suggests. Some 85% of respondents to the survey, commissioned by LexisNexis and the Law Society, said that the level of commitment required to reach ...
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The public element of the legal economy is already ‘running hot’
Justice secretary Kenneth Clarke opined this week that he did not know ‘why’ legal aid was so expensive. Considering ‘if’ it is expensive would be a more pertinent point. By most measures in a western economy the healthy balance between private and public is about ...
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Lawyers must engage with Occupy issues
by Melanie Strickland, a solicitor and Occupy London supporter Remember To Kill a Mockingbird’s Atticus Finch? The white lawyer who defends an innocent black man facing a rape charge, which he will inevitably be convicted of because it’s the deep south and the jury is racist? ...
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LASPO suffers three more defeats in Lords
The government lost three more votes on its planned legal aid reforms in the House of Lords yesterday, but narrowly staved off an amendment that would have kept public funding for all clinical negligence cases. In the second day of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment ...