Last 3 months headlines – Page 1361
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Jackson keeps a firm hand on the tiller
Last Monday, a group of leading experts in civil justice - many of them solicitors - gathered for a comprehensive discussion on some of the crucial detail concerning the rules required to implement Lord Justice Jackson’s radical reform of civil litigation costs. With the reforms ...
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‘Whole generation’ of lawyers could disappear post-LASPO
Government proposals to slash legal aid have passed through the Commons, amid suggestions the legislation will wipe out specialist lawyers. The bill will now move to the Lords, following a heated debate during which opposition MPs also rejected the suggestion that lawyers are only interested in self-preservation. ...
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Guarded welcome for family justice review
Lawyers and judges have welcomed proposals to end the ‘culture of delay’ in the family justice system, published in the Family Justice Review’s final report. One of the key recommendations of the review panel, chaired by David Norgrove, is to set a statutory six-month limit on ...
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Straw’s bid to make referral fees a criminal offence fails
Conservative MPs have voted down Jack Straw’s attempt to make referral fees in personal injury cases a criminal offence. The former justice secretary tabled an amendment to the ban, included as part of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, which was debated in ...
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Courts for the foreign rich, not the indigenous poor
As the bill slashing civil legal aid speeds through parliament, a leading academic has exposed the ‘doublethink’ of the government, which appears to have one set of rules for the rich and another set for the poor. Dean of Laws at University College London, Professor Dame ...
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Jackson: civil justice reforms are balanced
‘Lawyers leave no stone unturned when it comes to arguing about costs,’ the architect of the civil justice reforms being introduced by government said this week.
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PI lawyers hit back at media critics
Personal injury lawyers have criticised elements of the media for suggesting a multi-million pound compensation bill for councils is the fault of claimants. Press critics were quick to blame the so-called compensation culture after it was revealed that local authorities had paid out £75m to ...
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‘Pre-pack’ administrations rule changes face trouble
Businesses entering pre-packaged administrations (‘pre-packs’) have been grabbing headlines. Retailers Habitat UK, Alexon Group and Jane Norman are but a few high-profile examples. But there are examples in the legal sector too. Assets of top 50 law firm Halliwells were purchased by Hill Dickinson, HBJ Gateley Wareing and Barlow Lyde ...
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In a froth over prisoners’ voting rights
I have been following the debate about prisoners’ voting rights in the UK with growing incredulity.
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DLA Piper invests in ABS venture
A new entrant is set to launch on the UK legal sector in 2012 with financial backing from international firm DLA Piper. The firm has become the joint largest shareholder in holding company LawVest, although the size of the investment remains secret. ...
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Sole practitioners in last stand against ABSs
The Solicitor Sole Practitioners Group (SPG) will this week stage a last-ditch attempt to block legislation allowing the creation of alternative business structures. The group, which represents 4,500 solicitors across England and Wales, claims it is still possible to prevent so-called ‘Tesco law’ from coming into force. ...
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Referral fee ban will hit PI claimants - says MoJ assessment
Personal injury claimants could suffer from a ban on referral fees while insurers and lawyers would incur no extra costs, according to the government department proposing the ban. An impact assessment of the proposed ban, published today by the Ministry of Justice, admits that ‘overall claimants ...
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Trusted advisor
Judging from the reaction to my blog on the new outcomes-focused regulation the profession is not overwhelmingly optimistic about this. However, one positive thing to hang on to in troubling times is the solicitor’s traditional role as a trusted advisor and how that concept is enshrined in the new rules. ...
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Tabak: without prejudice
Judging by the mood on Twitter - not to mention comments on newspaper websites - the public is seething. People are obviously appalled by Vincent Tabak’s crime, but they are equally livid at the law - and, specifically, the judge who deemed inadmissible so much of the evidence about his ...
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Insolvency
Company - Administrator - Restrictions on power to appoint Minmar Ltd and another v Khalatschi and another: Chancery Division (Sir Andrew Morritt): 8 April 2011 The Chancery Division of the ...
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Record fall in applications for university law degrees
The biggest fall in university applications in more than 30 years has seen the number of candidates applying to study law drop by a record 5.2%, according to figures released by the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service. Last year 13,858 people applied to study law ...
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Employment
Statutory sick pay - Employer's liability Seaton v Revenue and Customs Commissioners: Upper Tribunal (Tax and Chancery Chamber) (Sir Stephen Oliver QC and Edward Sadler): 22 July 2011 The Upper ...
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Paperless working concerns
As many defence practitioners will be aware, the Crown Prosecution Service is rapidly moving forward with its plans to achieve a paperless office through its Transforming Through Technology (T3) project. The impetus to achieve this ‘holy grail’ of the paperless office - first spoken of in the commercial world in ...
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Lawyers could avoid complaints by addressing simple quality issues
A year since we launched - and I suppose we have to accept that it is now officially the end of the beginning. Frankly, it is a bit of a shock to realise that we have been up and running for that length of time. It comes as an even ...
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A case where a solicitor is both funded and not funded leaves little incentive to risk representation
Now that there is no payment under legal aid for magistrates’ court work which is committed to the Crown court, I find myself in a practical equivalent of the paradox described by Schrödinger and his dead or alive moggy.