Last 3 months headlines – Page 1374
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Indemnity insurance renewal ‘less frantic’
Solicitors are reporting a less turbulent renewal round for professional indemnity insurance this year as the deadline approaches, although prices have risen steeply for some mid-sized firms. Hilary Underwood, chairwoman of the Sole Practitioners Group, said there have yet to be any complaints from members ...
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SRA consults on referral fees ban
The Solicitors Regulation Authority is to canvass personal injury firms dependent on referral fees to ask how they will cope when the government moves to ban the payments. Richard Collins, SRA director of standards, told a LexisNexis conference on professional regulation that the authority was identifying ...
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Leading QC: judicial system discriminates against white men
Many people now perversely believe the judicial and QC appointment systems discriminate against white men, according to a leading silk who is about to become a High Court judge. Interviewed by the Gazette, Rabinder Singh QC stressed that progress has been made over recent years to ...
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Death ‘inevitable’ if legal aid cuts go ahead
It is ‘inevitable’ that someone will die if the government proceeds with planned legal aid funding cuts for cases involving domestic violence, the Law Society has warned. Vice-president Lucy Scott-Moncrieff told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool that the definition of domestic ...
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Lords may amend legal aid reforms, says top peer
One of the legal profession’s most distinguished peers has offered fresh hope that the House of Lords may yet drive through significant amendments to the legal aid and civil litigation reforms. Liberal Democrat Lord Carlile of Berriew QC believes there is enough support from all sides ...
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Abuse of process
Striking out Action - Claimant bringing claim against defendant for collective enfranchisement Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v Friends Provident Life and Pensions Ltd: ChD (Mr Justice Arnold): 14 September 2011 ...
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Abuse of process
Striking out Action - Claimant bringing claim against defendant for collective enfranchisement Westbrook Dolphin Square Ltd v Friends Provident Life and Pensions Ltd: ChD (Mr Justice Arnold): 14 September 2011 ...
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Equalities and austerity cuts
The journey of Ulysses was classically eventful and hazardous. Local authorities seeking to effect necessary budget cuts can find their journey through the public sector equality duty and its predecessors equally challenging. Many local authorities, such as Birmingham, have fallen by the wayside, even though (as the old 1930s song ...
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Internet policing is ‘inevitable’
State-imposed control of the internet is ‘inevitable’ if the conflict between the right to privacy and a free press is ever to be resolved, lawyers and journalists suggested last week at a Law Society public debate. They also warned that the current press regulator is toothless ...
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City law firms cool on ABSs
City law firms do not generally see alternative business structures as attractive, because they are reluctant to cede control of the firm to source external funding that they do not need. This is one conclusion of the first of a series of studies looking at ...
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Pannone may spin off Affinity
Manchester firm Pannone may spin off its white label legal services arm when alternative business structures are permitted and allow companies using the service to invest and share profits in the business. Pannone launched Affinity Solutions in May, providing a ‘seamless’ consumer law service to non-legal ...
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What makes a reliable survey or piece of research?
Research studies and surveys of the legal sector have been a feature of business life for some time now - and any number can be expected in the run-up to, and beyond, the liberalisation of the legal services market. But can you trust the results of the surveys you read? ...
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Survey: UK cheapest for international arbitration
The UK is the cheapest and most popular venue for international arbitration, according to an authoritative survey published this week. Some 74% of party costs in international arbitrations are accounted for by external legal costs, and external fees are 26% higher in the rest of Europe, ...
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Fixed fees to be 'renegotiated’ after referral ban
Claimant lawyers’ legal fees under the Road Traffic Accident portal scheme will have to be renegotiated as a result of the forthcoming ban on referral fees, the Ministry of Justice confirmed to the Gazette today. An MoJ spokesman said the fees, which were calculated including an ...
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Lawyers must take the lead in reshaping our values
I like to think that, if you examine a section of society, you can deduce problems and solutions which apply more widely. So, in this year of impending financial collapse and of governments which are paralysed or uncertain, I shall look at current developments relating to lawyers across Europe, and ...
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Encouraging the use of mediation should be a core component of meeting client demand for value for money
by Suzanne Lowe, managing director of Talk Mediation and co-ordinator of the mediation pilot When I was in private practice in 1999, I voiced concern to one of the partners about the future direction of the firm. He asked me to attend one of the partners’ ...
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As a profession we are falling for the false perception that solicitors are inaccessible
The letter from Viv Williams of the 360 Legal Group (22 September) repeats the assumption that legal services need to be more accessible and friendly 'and that firms failing to adapt will get left behind'. I run a very small high street firm. We obtain constant ...
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Pots and kettles
I read Guy Platt-Higgins' comments about referral fees with interest (see [2011] Gazette, 22 September, 13). I should set out my stall. I am absolutely opposed to referral fees as I consider them incompatible with a profession that holds itself out as adhering to the highest ethical standards.
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IFA independence
The Financial Services Authority is in the process of adopting a new definition of independent financial advice. It has written to all of the designated professional bodies (DPBs), including the Solicitors Regulation Authority, inviting them to adopt different definitions for their own purposes if they consider this to be appropriate.