Last 3 months headlines – Page 1358
-
News
No go logo?
Given the rate at which the government has been slashing the legal aid budget, one could be forgiven for thinking that there are no law firms left out there offering a legal aid service. And indeed, that assumption is precisely what the Legal Action Group ...
-
News
Calendar cover up
It may be more than seven years since Helen Mirren and Julie Walters starred in the hit comedy Calendar Girls, but it is, it seems, the format that never dies. Solicitors at Black Country firm Waldrons are clearly fans of the film, having recently won ...
-
News
Hanger Sanger
When Obiter first saw this photograph of Simon Sanger-Anderson, partner at Exeter firm Tozers, he naturally assumed that the firm’s lift must have been running slow and the impatient solicitor had decided not to waste another six-minute billing unit waiting for it. But it turns ...
-
News
Targeting the judiciary
I was sorry to read of the recent death of the delightful judge Ann Goddard (pictured), writes ...
-
News
NI solicitors withdraw services over legal aid dispute
Criminal solicitors in Northern Ireland have withdrawn their services in Crown court cases in a dispute over legal aid fees. Their action follows the introduction of a payment regime that solicitors say cuts the fees paid for Crown court work by 54% in real terms. ...
-
News
Running in the family
Law Society president Linda Lee had the unusual pleasure this week of witnessing her own daughter, Gabrielle Maria Lee, admitted to the solicitors’ roll. While it is not often that a sitting president sees their own offspring admitted, it is not unprecedented, with former president ...
-
News
News focus: sole practitioners face 'perfect storm'
To paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the death of the sole practitioner appear greatly exaggerated. Despite their near-universal hostility to alternative business structures, delegates at last weekend’s SPG conference in Harrogate were surprisingly upbeat about the ‘perfect storm’ they must weather. ...
-
News
Comparisons between doctors and lawyers are outdated
by Beth Wanono, the outgoing Law Society Council member for students and trainees Jonathan Goldsmith drew an analogy between lawyers and doctors in his optimistic piece ‘Solicitors pass medical’.
-
News
Charges plans hardly take justice from Silent Witness back to Life On Mars
As Gazette online reported on Monday, the home secretary has announced plans for the power to decide charges for those suspected of crimes to be passed from the Crown Prosecution Service to the police in 80% of cases. Such plans, we are told, will save ...
-
News
Our overhaul of client financial protection is key to long-term sustainability
It is little surprise that our recent announcement about the overhaul of client financial protection arrangements has attracted much interest and debate in the media and among clients, practitioners and insurers. Last month, following extensive engagement and consultation, we announced a staged approach to ...
-
News
Coventry firm launches employment subscription scheme
A law firm has launched a subscription scheme to protect companies against the potentially ‘catastrophic’ costs arising from employment disputes. Coventry firm Band Hatton’s ‘Employment Protection Scheme’ (EPS) charges a set annual fee, which can be paid monthly to provide client businesses of all sizes with ...
-
News
If Question Time can give prisoners a voice, should government too?
You can picture the scene inside the BBC’s creative team meeting. ‘How can we boost the figures for Question Time next week?’ asks a producer, as he munches on a humus and taramasalata pitta on a bed of Guardian pullout pages. ‘Nick ...
-
News
Society issues warning over EU-wide contract law
A proposed new system of contract law that will apply to all 28 member states of the European Union risks adding ‘cost and confusion’ for legislators and businesses, the Law Society has warned. The European Commission (EC) is to push ahead with legislative proposals for an ...
-
News
Wragge & Co reports turnover boost
Birmingham firm Wragge & Co says it has emerged from tough times intact and with rising profits. The international company has posted a 16% rise in turnover for 2010/11, to £112m. Core areas, including corporate, banking and finance, intellectual property, real estate, ...
-
News
New guidelines bring in tougher sentences for burglars
Burglars will face tougher sentences with the impact on their victims at the heart of the process under proposals published today by the Sentencing Council. The draft guidelines, which cover the offences of domestic burglary, non-domestic burglary and aggravated burglary, introduce a single framework for Crown ...
-
News
Supreme Court rules on miscarriages of justice
A Supreme Court ruling that widens the definition of a miscarriage of justice has been hailed as a step in the right direction by campaigners. Judges ruled this week that victims of a miscarriage of justice did not have to prove their innocence to receive compensation. ...
-
News
LSB recommends new powers for solicitors’ regulator ahead of ABSs
The Solicitor’s Regulation Authority will be given new powers to operate a single compensation fund for alternative business structures and non-ABSs, if parliament follows a recommendation made by the Legal Services Board yesterday. The LSB also recommends that the SRA should be able to charge non-ABS ...
-
News
European Union is subject to Aarhus Convention, UN rules
Europe’s courts must stop barring citizens and non-governmental organisations (NGO) from challenging European Union decisions that affect the environment, a United Nations committee ruled last week.
-
News
Law Society warns health select committee over CFA reforms
The Law Society today told MPs that the government’s reforms to litigation funding will cause ‘rejoicing in the boardrooms of insurance companies’. Chief executive Desmond Hudson appeared before the Health Select Committee to tell MPs that coalition government proposals go too far. ...
-
News
Conveyancers council will authorise ABSs
The Legal Services Board has approved an application for the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) to become a licensing authority for alternative business structures. With this approval, the CLC becomes the first ABS licensing authority. Its scope is limited to probate, ...