Last 3 months headlines – Page 1333
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Lawyers divided on EU data rules
Proposed new data protection rules designed to cut red tape and save EU companies €2.3bn a year in administrative costs have met with a mixed reaction from UK lawyers. Under a directive due to be published this week some businesses would be liable to fines of ...
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LSC wins right to recover overpayments
The Legal Services Commission has won a test case against solicitors to recover overpayments. The High Court decision is likely to open the way to the commission recouping millions of pounds in payments made on account which were never properly accounted for. The solicitors concerned ...
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Entry for the Olympics
With the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games just around the corner, UK government agencies have been working in tandem with national and international Olympic committees to ensure that the much-anticipated events will run as smoothly as possible. One vital task in these preparations has been to set out the ...
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LSC offers final chance for family contracts
The Legal Services Commission has fended off the threat of litigation from firms that failed to get family and housing contracts, by announcing a licence-only tender to give firms a final chance to secure a contract. The Law Society welcomed the LSC’s ‘pragmatic and sensible’ decision, ...
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Abbey marriage
Fans of the award-winning television drama Downton Abbey will remember the moving scene when footman William, mortally injured in the first world war trenches, married scullery maid Daisy with his dying breath. The producers consulted the Law Society’s library on the rules around special licences ...
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Jurisdiction
Service out of the jurisdiction - Alternative forum available - Claimant bank alleging fraud by defendants Alliance Bank JSC v Aquanta Corporation and others: QBD (Comm) (Mr Justice Burton): 14 December 2011 ...
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Ban on PI adverts in hospitals 'unworkable'
Banning leaflets advertising personal injury lawyers and claims management companies from NHS hospitals is unworkable and counter-productive, the government has been warned. Health minister Simon Burns last week told English NHS hospitals it was ‘not acceptable’ to display adverts for law firms. He said patients should ...
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Call for inquiry over church child abuse 'cover-up'
Child protection lawyers have called for a public inquiry into an alleged cover-up by churches of widespread sexual and physical abuse of children in England and Wales. In a letter to The Times last week, they claimed that the implementation of new ‘safeguarding’ policies has been ...
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Leading firms ponder ABS options
At least 10 of the top 100 UK law firms are considering applying to become alternative business structures, the Gazette can reveal. International firm Kennedys and Midlands firm Browne Jacobson are among those to confirm this week that discussions are ongoing about a possible application - ...
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Business specialist launches franchise scheme
A south-east law firm which has won awards for its innovative approach to business advice has used its name to launch a new franchise. Acumen Business Law, based in Hove, East Sussex, will license firms to use the name Acumen Business Law Enterprise. Acumen’s managing ...
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Warning over BSB's 'cab rank' plans
The Legal Services Board has formally warned the Bar Standards Board over proposed changes to the bar’s ‘cab rank’ rule. It says in a letter that the LSB is ‘considering whether to refuse’ a rule change application submitted by the BSB in October 2011. The new ...
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News focus: lenders in the line of fire
A row over the effect of lenders’ conveyancing panel policies on consumer choice escalated this week, with HSBC denying a claim that it is forcing customers to use firms on its new panel. The bank, which has 10% of the UK mortgage market, prompted outrage earlier this month by announcing ...
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McNally’s end of peer show
Obiter has been impressed by the dedication shown by peers sitting late into the evening to speak out on the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. And spare a thought for justice minister Lord McNally of ...
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On a roll
Centenarian retired solicitor and Dunkirk veteran Neville Spencer is still on the roll - 80 years post-qualification. ‘Why not stay on the roll?’ he says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong!’ Spencer qualified in 1932, and a few years later ‘upped sticks’ and joined the Royal Warwickshire Regiment to fight in WW2. ...
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Home truths
What with one thing and another (see the news pages) our conveyancing colleagues are having a bit of a time of it at the moment. So Obiter wasn’t too surprised to receive a survey showing that only one third of them are satisfied in their area of practice.
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Let us not rush to judgement on outside investment
Many solicitors have deep-seated suspicions concerning the external finance that law firms are now allowed to seek out. This week that interest is focused on the pioneering acquisition - subject to SRA approval - of Liverpool firm Silverbeck Rymer by AIM-listed Quindell Portfolio. Some of ...
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Education is an entitlement
by Graham Clayton, director of the Steve Sinnott Foundation We debate it and argue over it. Almost everyone has a strong opinion about it. We certainly have a lot of legislation about it.