Last 3 months headlines – Page 1351

  • News

    Ministers back virtual courts

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Justice ministers have made personal appearances to give their backing to virtual courts and ‘live link’ communications between police stations and magistrates’ courts. Nick Herbert (pictured) and Jonathan Djanogly visited a police station in North Kent and a court in Chester last week to see the video technology in use. ...

  • News

    'Serious’ privacy breaches over prisoners' letters

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Legally privileged correspondence sent to prisoners is being compromised by solicitors failing to comply with procedures for addressing mail. The National Offender Management Service says there have been ‘many instances where correspon­dence from legal practitioners addressed or marked incorrectly has led to serious breaches of privacy’.

  • News

    News focus: Vince Cable’s employment law ‘bonfire’

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Business secretary Vince Cable’s speech announcing ‘radical reform to the employment law system’ reads oddly. It contains contradictions of the sort that do not usually make it into the final draft of a minister’s speech.

  • News

    Colombia 'anarchy' is risking lawyers’ lives

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    The ‘black hand’ of drug smuggling, violence and political corruption has penetrated every level of Colombian society and now wields greater influence than the state itself, according to one of the country’s leading human rights lawyers.

  • News

    Offshore law firms are reinventing themselves

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    No man is an island - as we all know from the poet, John Donne; which is why global offshore financial centres such as those in Bermuda and the Channel Islands have felt the effects of the recession as much, if not more, than their onshore counterparts. But it is ...

  • News

    The coalition has a clear agenda

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Contained in the raft of announcements by business secretary Vince Cable last week was the news that the Ministry of Justice will consult on the introduction of tribunal fees for employees who wish to bring a claim. Critics have argued that this will affect access to justice.

  • News

    Strike action disrupts courts nationwide

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Courts across England and Wales suffered disruption today as the public sector endured the biggest walkout for a generation. The Ministry of Justice said key services such as family courts and custody proceedings were prioritised following action by the PCS union. Picket lines appeared at ...

  • News

    Ken Clarke postpones legal aid reforms and tendering

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    The government has postponed the implementation of its legal aid reforms by six months and its consultation on price-competitive tendering for crime work by two years. In a written ministerial statement today, justice secretary Kenneth Clarke said the government will push back a consultation on ...

  • News

    Family division head seeks ‘immense’ culture change

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    Family judges need to undergo an ‘immense’ cultural change to help tackle delays in the family justice system, the head of the family division said this week. Giving the Bar Council’s Law Reform Committee lecture, Sir Nicholas Wall (pictured) said that ‘active case management and judicial ...

  • News

    Regulator will accept ABS applications from new year

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    The Solicitors Regulation Authority will begin accepting licence applications for alternative business structures from 3 January, it has announced. The order designating the SRA as licensing authority was laid before parliament today and will come into force on 23 December. The authority ...

  • News

    Firms merge to create new £30m practice

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    City firm Sprecher Grier Halberstam has announced a merger with national firm Martineau after months of talks. The new business - SGH Martineau - will create a team of 360 staff members, of whom 200 are fee earners and 62 are partners. The two firms had ...

  • News

    Jury system is under threat from irresponsible press, says Grieve

    2011-12-01T00:00:00Z

    The press testing the boundaries of reporting in criminal cases could undermine the jury system, the attorney general has warned. In a speech at City University on contempt and balancing the freedom of the press with the fair administration of justice, Dominic Grieve QC said he ...

  • News

    Legal aid cuts a ‘false economy’, warns Supreme Court justice

    2011-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Supreme Court justice Lady Hale (pictured) has warned that the government’s planned legal aid cuts are a ‘false economy’ that will have a ‘disproportionate impact upon the poorest and most vulnerable in society’. Hale told the annual Law Centres Federation conference last weekend that while ...

  • News

    Health and safety review shifts liability ‘onus’

    2011-11-30T00:00:00Z

    Employers who comply with health and safety rules should not be held legally responsible for all workplace accidents, according to a government-sponsored review. Commissioned by employment minister Chris Grayling, the report recommends an end to strict liability for bosses and shifting the onus onto employee responsibility.

  • News

    DAS takes 'leap forward' in online legal push

    2011-11-29T00:00:00Z

    Legal expenses insurer DAS has taken a step towards offering online legal services after buying web-based Everything Legal. The insurer, which has long held ambitions to become an alternative business structure (ABS), announced the acquisition of the Bristol-based company this week.

  • News

    ‘Alternative’ litigation funder to invest £100m in smaller-scale disputes

    2011-11-28T00:00:00Z

    A new-style litigation funder seeking to invest in high volumes of lower-value commercial cases launches today. Caprica, which styles itself as an ‘alternative litigation funding company’, said it would make third-party funding available to a ‘much-expanded’ range of cases, providing access-to-justice for smaller businesses in ...

  • News

    ‘Few’ solicitors understand e-disclosure, says Jackson

    2011-11-28T00:00:00Z

    Lord Justice Jackson has warned that ‘huge’ sums of money will be wasted if the legal profession gets electronic disclosure wrong. Delivering the seventh lecture on implementing his civil litigation reforms, the judge said effective training is ‘essential’ for solicitors, judges and counsel if the practice direction issued a year ...

  • News

    Lords revolt raises legal aid concessions hopes

    2011-11-25T00:00:00Z

    Hopes are emerging that the government will amend at least some of its legal aid reforms after peers voiced overwhelming criticism at the bill’s second reading. The Daily Mirror reported last week that justice secretary Kenneth Clarke has ditched the proposal to remove legal aid for clinical negligence claims. ...

  • News

    Youth Justice Board reprieved

    2011-11-25T00:00:00Z

    The government has abandoned plans to scrap the Youth Justice Board. Its demise was outlined in the Public Bodies Bill as part of the government’s ‘bonfire of the quangos’, but the plan faced strong opposition in parliament, and had threatened to derail the passage of the ...

  • News

    Would a US-EU trade deal be good for lawyers?

    2011-11-25T00:00:00Z

    I have written before about how the current economic crisis is leading to a radical rethinking of structures that impact on lawyers. Here is another initiative which could lead to significant consequences in years to come.