Last 3 months headlines – Page 1369
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Off their trollies
The Family Justice Review Panel pulled no punches when it delivered its interim review on the family justice system last week. After spending a year gathering evidence by visiting courts around the country, it discovered a court process riddled with ‘scandalous’ delays, and concluded that the ...
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Sharp practice
While a cutting exchange of words between rivals may occasionally be de rigueur at a law firm party, actual fisticuffs are rare. Obiter was alarmed, therefore – while serenely quaffing a refreshing champagne and raspberry cocktail at the Savoy hotel last week (home to Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer’s Olympics media reception) ...
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Legal Ombudsman is 'consumer-unfriendly'
The Legal Ombudsman was last week accused by a consumer watchdog of capitulating to ‘spurious objections from the legal profession’, after announcing plans for a ‘staged approach’ to publishing information about complaints against law firms. In the first part of a three-stage approach, LeO has begun ...
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Family lawyers welcome 'ambitious' Justice Review Panel plans
Family lawyers have welcomed the ‘ambitious’ proposals published by the Family Justice Review Panel last week, but warned that the changes will not work unless there is adequate funding. The Law Society and Family Law Bar Association supported the interim recommendations of the panel, which ...
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Money laundering rules to be relaxed for solicitors
Solicitors will no longer need to fear criminal conviction for minor due diligence errors such as keeping an out-of-date passport on file, the Law Society said last week, as the government announced plans to reduce the regulatory burden attached to anti-money laundering obligations. Chancery Lane said ...
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Legal Services Board rebuffs Djanogly on ILEX rights
The Legal Services Board has dismissed a call by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly for it to consult more widely on proposals to extend the rights of legal executives to conduct litigation and appear in court. Last week, Djanogly told the House of Commons that an application ...
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Carlisle solicitor admits fraud
A former Carlisle solicitor is awaiting sentence after admitting a £250,000 fraud. Pauline Lesley Butler, who worked as a sole practitioner at her firm Pauline L Butler in Carlisle, pleaded guilty at Carlisle Crown Court last week to charges of fraud and false accounting. ...
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Luton solicitor's campaign set to change road safety law
A Luton solicitor has been instrumental in an apparently successful attempt to change road safety laws. Mark Wardrop, partner and head of litigation at Pictons in Luton, campaigned for the creation of a new offence of ‘causing death by dangerous or reckless cycling’ after acting for ...
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Conveyancing solicitors call for binding contracts
Conveyancing solicitors and estate agents have called on the property industry to develop legally binding preliminary contracts to reduce the number of house sales that fall through. At an event hosted by the president of the E-Homebuying Forum, Sir Bryan Carsberg, last week, representatives from ...
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DAS considers offering written legal advice
Legal expenses insurer DAS is considering providing written legal advice to its policyholders once reforms allow, its legal chief told the Gazette this week. DAS head of legal Kathryn Mortimer said that the insurer, which has already made clear its intention to acquire Bristol firm CW ...
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Solicitors Regulation Authority unveils handbook
The Solicitors Regulation Authority published the final version of its new solicitors handbook this week, as it revealed it had received ‘quite a number’ of enquiries from potential new market entrants about becoming alternative business structures. The SRA has applied to become a regulator of ...
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APIL calls for damages discount review
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers has alleged that a failure by the justice secretary to review the damages discount rate has led to some claimants being under-compensated by ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’. Launching a judicial review against the MoJ last week, APIL said the ...
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European courts face workload ‘crisis’, claims House of Lords
The European Union’s two highest courts are facing a ‘crisis’ in managing their existing and ever increasing workloads, according to House of Lords report published yesterday. The report predicted ‘another crisis of workload soon’ for the Court of Justice (CJ), the supreme or constitutional court of ...
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Is WHSmith deal a smart move for QualitySolicitors?
Today’s news that QualitySolicitors is to put a member of staff in WHSmith stores throughout the country has provoked a strong reaction from the profession; as any regular visitor to the Gazette site would expect. Whenever the Gazette reports on the latest QS initiative, the ...
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Government bids to improve social mobility in professions
The government has launched a strategy to end the culture of privilege that sees former independent school pupils dominating the top jobs in the judiciary and boardroom to the exclusion of people from less affluent backgrounds, it emerged today. Launching the new strategy Opening Doors, Breaking ...
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New tax on settlors imposes ‘cumbersome bureaucracy’
A new system for collecting tax from settlor interested trusts is complex and expensive, and imposes a ‘cumbersome bureaucracy’ on everyone involved, the Law Society has warned. A settlor interested trust is one where a person – the settlor - has placed assets, such as money ...
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Is the latest mediation drive just a cloak for legal aid cuts?
The government’s new mediation protocol came into force yesterday, requiring couples to attend a mediation awareness session before embarking on legal proceedings to resolve financial and children-related issues after divorce or separation. Justice Minister Jonathan Djanogly has become a dedicated follower of mediation, heralding it as ...
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Society defends solicitors over legal aid
The Law Society president has reacted to negative news coverage concerning the growth in the number of solicitors. The Society president Linda Lee has written to the Daily Mail newspaper in response to an article published yesterday under the headline ‘Now we have more lawyers than ...
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Bill Clinton and marketing your law firm
Former US president Bill Clinton may not be the first name that springs to mind when it comes to law firm marketing but he came up with some good advice that can help anyone wanting to get a message across. And getting a message across ...