Last 3 months headlines – Page 1328

  • News

    On top form

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    I am just recovering from my first attempt at completing the criminal legal aid application forms CDS 14 and 15 on behalf of my client. That these convoluted affairs come with a 22-page guide to their completion, to extract virtually the same information as their predecessors, says it all.

  • News

    Call to account

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    I read with interest that the SRA had extended its operating hours to deal with the issues arising from this year’s online renewals process. Over the last three days, I have spent nearly two hours waiting on the phone to speak with someone at the SRA ...

  • News

    Where credit is due

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    While the online renewals process for practising certificates was confusing and highly stressful for many of us, the SRA deserves credit for the way in which some of its staff handled individual complaints and concerns.

  • News

    Download limit

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    The letter from the grandly titled ‘Programme Director, CJS Efficiency Programme’ at the CPS poses more questions than it answers. Downloading every case in a court building on to the computer of each prosecutor at a court building on a particular day places those prosecutors under ...

  • News

    Where lords fear to tread

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    The House of Lords debate on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill has featured a procession of eminent lawyers honing their advocacy skills. All of which has made it a formidable place for those without a legal background. Some noble lords have been ...

  • News

    Display of affection

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    The high street of Church Stretton, Shropshire, is just a little more romantic this week thanks to the efforts of local solicitors. Shropshire firm PCB Solicitors has a Valentine’s Day display, put together by administration assistant Jade Phillips. Jade does ‘a fantastic job’, solicitor Pauline Davies tells us.

  • News

    Solicitors enter Dragon’s Den

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    Gimlet-eyed multi-millionaires look on sceptically as you launch into your business pitch. Pulse tripping, you contemplate the excruciating embarrassment of freezing before the cameras and unseen millions gawping at their TV screens. Or maybe you manage to limp through to the end of your presentation only to hear your ambitions ...

  • News

    Coming clean

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    James Morton’s anecdotes on the evergreen topic of court dress code have provoked a few recollections of judicial observations.

  • News

    Poetic licence

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    One of Australia’s great literary hoaxes was played on the intellectual magazine ...

  • News

    The corporate market is changing and its firms need to adapt

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    As we report today, several years of harder economic times have effected a permanent change in the instruction choices of general counsel in our largest corporations. Even with improved budgets in 2011 and 2012, they are opting to grow headcount in-house, and achieve legal advice coverage through increased use of ...

  • News

    County Court reforms could cripple system

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    by Francesca Kaye, vice-president of the London Solicitors Litigation Association The ministerial foreword to the government’s response to the consultation Solving Disputes in the County Courts states: ‘An effective justice system is the cornerstone of a civilised society… upon which ordinary members of the public rely ...

  • News

    Commitment to human rights should begin in UK

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    Governments in the UK have traditionally exhibited a somewhat divided attitude to the use of torture. The trial of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1603 raised, in essence, the same issues as those in the more recent case of Abu Qatada, the cleric sought by Jordan. How fair can a trial ...

  • News

    BT Claims has taken part of the market by surprise

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    I thought the news that a BT subsidiary has applied to become an alternative business structure (ABS) was the most interesting so far in what is predicted to be a year of unprecedented change in the legal profession. Sure, it’s interesting that private equity money is ...

  • News

    What you can’t see will hurt you

    2012-02-16T00:00:00Z

    Here’s the problem, there’s a nagging uncertainty about ‘high street’ solicitors' firms. There is a lot going on but you haven’t quite seen a specific challenge or threat to your firm. Whatever the threats are, you can’t quite clarify the problem in terms of how you run your firm because ...

  • News

    Acting as a single joint expert

    2012-02-15T00:00:00Z

    The principle of single joint experts (SJE) has been in existence for many years now but how often is it used? In a straw poll conducted amongst my colleagues, it has seldom been adopted by our clients. It may be more commonly used in the types and/or sizes of cases ...

  • News

    Three kinds of 'liberty'

    2012-02-15T00:00:00Z

    It’s been a fraught and, in one instance, poignantly tragic month for three detained individuals who gained their liberty. We have had ‘fanatical hate preacher’ Abu Qatada’s release from jail after almost a decade’s detention without charge.

  • News

    Referral fee ban will trigger PI buyouts

    2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

    Personal injury firms will become takeover targets as claims managers and brokers prepare for the referral fee ban, according to a report published today by Deloitte. The business advisory firm predicted that those with the most to lose from a ban will use the new rules ...

  • News

    Keeping up appearances

    2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

    What is the test when a tenant applies to set aside a possession order made in their absence? Following Estate Acquisition and Development Ltd v Wiltshire [2006] EWCA Civ 533, [2006] All ER (D) 50 (a case of forfeiture of a lease), it seemed that the answer lay in rule ...

  • News

    LSC chair pledges to safeguard ‘high-quality’ legal aid system

    2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

    The legal aid system in England and Wales ‘compares favourably’ with any in the world, despite the proposed cuts, according to the chair of the Legal Services Commission. In a speech, Sir Bill Callaghan (pictured) told Liverpool Law Society: ‘Together the LSC and legal aid ...

  • News

    PM’s ‘summit’ on whiplash excludes legal profession

    2012-02-14T00:00:00Z

    Prime Minister David Cameron has been accused of sidelining the legal profession in talks about dealing with whiplash cases. Cameron met with the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and leading insurance firms on Tuesday for a much-publicised ‘summit’ over the rising cost of car insurance. ...