Last 3 months headlines – Page 1345
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PC renewal deadline extended as SRA struggles
The Solicitors Regulation Authority has extended the deadline for practising certificate renewal to the end of February for all solicitors. The first renewals were due to be completed by Monday but delays caused by the new online mySRA system meant many solicitors had not been able ...
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Scots join outcry against HSBC panel
The Law Society of Scotland has called on lender HSBC to suspend its new conveyancing panel system, which it claims will cause chaos for hundreds of property transactions north of the border. The Society said only ‘a handful’ of law firms in Scotland are among ...
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Profits up in Scotland but small firms struggle
The Law Society of Scotland's annual Cost of Time survey has reported the first rise in profitability for law firms north of the border since 2008. Average profit per partner at Scottish firms totalled £71,000 in 2011, on a par with 2004 but well below the highs of 2005-08. ...
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Contingency plan
Reaction to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) has primarily focused on the reduction in availability of legal aid and the proposed ban on referral fees in personal injury cases. Surprisingly little attention has to date attached to clause 44 of LASPO, which will enable contingency ...
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Media is permeating the judicial process
The Supreme Court seems to have settled down well at its new home in Parliament Square. In the main courtroom, frosted glass has been installed on the doors behind the judicial bench so that spectators can no longer gaze into one of the judges’ rooms. The judges’ microphones are now ...
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Arbitration
Award - Enforcement - Parties disputing responsibility for collision during voyage charter West Tankers Inc v Allianz Spa and another: CA (Civ Div) (Lord Justices Carnwath, Lloyd and Toulson): 24 January 2012 ...
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The Rolls Building, London's trump card
London has long been regarded as one of the most popular venues for resolving international disputes, but the government - and the legal profession - hope that the opening of the Rolls Building as the world’s biggest commercial court will help cement the UK’s reputation as the key jurisdiction in ...
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Environment
Electricity - Supply - Feed-in tariff - Secretary of state proposing reduction in feed-in tariff for electricity produced by small solar panels R (on the application of Friends of the Earth Ltd) v Secretary of State for Energy and ...
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We share your frustration
Darren Isaacs is wrong to say there has been a marked increase in the past six months in the level of bills we are rejecting. The level of rejects has remained relatively constant.
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Banking on advice
Just as I was reading the article ‘Lenders in the line of fire’ a new client of mine rang and mentioned that she was going to get an HSBC mortgage. She was told by the HSBC branch in Belper, Derbyshire, that she had to use their panel solicitor, and only ...
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Future fusion
The president’s address on the future relationship between barristers and solicitors is wholly commendable, not least his suggestion that both solicitors and barristers undergo the same training.
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Not up to the job
It is good to see Anne-Marie Elliott sticking up for mental health lawyers in the face of corrosive criticisms of standards of advocacy at mental health review tribunals. I see Ms Elliott is herself an accredited representative. Complaints about poor standards, particularly those coming from the tribunal judiciary, almost always ...
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Loose connection
Could David Jones explain to defence solicitors how, in the new electronic age, one is supposed to let one’s client in the cells read the case against him? If this client should be remanded in custody, how does one provide the evidence to the client, electronically?
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MoJ interpreting hub a ‘false economy’
Concern is mounting that the Ministry of Justice's central contract for interpreting work could prove a false economy, incurring knock-on costs for criminal justice agencies.
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Rip it up and start again
The government’s announcement that it would prohibit referral fees may have caused initial joy among the many supporters of the Society’s policy that such fees should be banned. But a closer look at the amendments to the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill (LASPO) to achieve this policy ...
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Deadline looms for online PC renewal
More than one-third of solicitors had yet to start renewing their practising certificates online through the mySRA website by Tuesday of this week, the Solicitors Regulation Authority said. The deadline for the first batch of registrations is Monday (13 February).