Last 3 months headlines – Page 1395
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Lawyer who took up literary reins
Somehow lawyers don’t seem to make as successful novelists as doctors (or even vets or ex-jockeys), writes James Morton. Certainly, there have been some notable exceptions; in the 19th century, Harrison Ainsworth, Anthony Hope and R S Surtees, although they are more or less forgotten ...
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A step back in time
After celebrating the achievements of 95-year-old solicitor Leslie Black last week, Obiter was delighted to hear from another ‘old timer’ – Geoffrey Rutter, partner at City firm Collyer Bristow – with a glimpse of what it was like to be a newly qualified solicitor in 1960. ...
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Litigants in person set to rise
The Law Society has warned that the courts could be ‘thronged by countless individuals unable to have a lawyer, like a scene from Pickwick Papers’, if the government presses ahead with legal aid reforms without conducting research on the likely effect on the number of litigants in person. ...
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LSC pledge on matter starts for legal aid work
The Legal Services Commission has begun allocating new matter starts for family legal aid work to firms on the basis of the amount they received last year, it said last week. Since the High Court ruling that quashed the outcome of the LSC’s family tender in ...
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ABSs ‘won’t drive top firms south’
The Law Society of Scotland has voiced confidence that the nation’s biggest cross-border firms will remain domiciled in Edinburgh, even though they are expected to enjoy less freedom to restructure and raise investment than their English counterparts after the introduction of alternative business structures (ABSs).
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Aspiring judges to get support
The Law Society and Judicial Appointments Commission [JAC] will today launch a joint plan to support solicitors who want to become judges, after an analysis of the appointment of solicitors as judges over the past 10 years.
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Time not called on hourly bills
The hourly billing model for law firms is still ‘largely intact’ and is too profitable for firms to be incentivised to move away from it, according to a leading professional services consultant. Maureen Broderick said her research indicated professional services firms and consultancies that operate in ...
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Police practice of kettling protesters needs review
Most readers will never have been on a demonstration. Many may well feel that ‘kettling’ by the police of demonstrators is a perfectly reasonable tactic in the face of recent violence at education demonstrations. But, as we undoubtedly face more protests in what may well be a rather unhappy new ...
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Warming the bench for solicitors
by Frances Kirkham, a senior circuit judge and JAC commissioner Today, the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC) and the Law Society have announced a joint plan to support more solicitors who wish to join the judiciary.
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Wales and Scotland consider legal implications of devolution
Iraq overshadowed what went before, of course, but devolution is accepted as one of the successes of Tony Blair’s tenure as premier. Certainly, as a former member of the Scottish press, the editor of this magazine finds it hard to believe that it is only a ...
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A tax defence
David Kenyon-Vaughan expresses concern about a VAT concession . However he muddles avoidance and evasion. HMRC allows those whose turnover amounts to a sum small enough to come within the scheme to reclaim a flat-rate percentage of VAT without having to count their individual spending for VAT purposes. The new ...
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Security overhaul
I write in response to Richard Williams’s letter highlighting the ‘over-the-top’ attitude of court security staff. While I and many of my colleagues are well known at our local courts, there is a great inconsistency in the security measures undertaken. Some security guards let us through without a search, ...
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Courtesy call
My partner graduated a year and a half ago from the College of Law with a distinction. As has been exhaustively publicised, the lack of trainee positions has been a major upset to many who graduated then and subsequently. I would like to comment on the lack of courtesy that ...
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Statistics on solicitors with practising certificates are misleading
I read your article, ‘Profession's growth "defies gravity’’’ with interest. Although I agree it seems odd that the profession is apparently continuing to grow during the recession, it is not growing by as much as 7%, as your article suggests.
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'Greedy' solicitor jailed for theft
A Lincolnshire firm has been praised by a judge for the ‘exemplary’ way it investigated a series of thefts by a solicitor, who was jailed last week. Jacquelina Laverick, who was head of the wills and probate department at the 200-year-old firm, stole cash from ...
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'Ambulance chasing' lawyers attacked
A government transport minister has attacked the ‘abhorrent’ practices of ‘ambulance chasing’ personal injury lawyers who deal with road traffic accident (RTA) cases. The Law Society has hit back at the claims. Giving evidence to the transport committee’s inquiry into the cost of motor insurance ...
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Twitter silence 'hurts brand'
Two-thirds of top-50 law firms have a Twitter account, but some may be 'damaging their brand’ by failing to actually tweet anything, a report has suggested. The study by web consultancy Intendance found that 66% of firms had set up at least one account on Twitter. ...
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Warning over 'regulatory ambush'
Lawyers could face a ‘regulatory ambush’ if a radical overhaul of the solicitors’ rulebook goes ahead without a ‘change in culture’ at the profession’s regulator, the Law Society has warned. In a response to the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s Architecture of Change consultation, which closed last week, ...
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Small firms seek to consolidate
Leading consultants are predicting a ‘surge’ in mergers by small firms over the next 12 months. A six-monthly survey carried out by consultant Andrew Otterburn (pictured) on behalf of the Law Consultancy Network, seen exclusively by the Gazette, has revealed a 69% increase in the number ...
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House calls
Justice secretary Ken Clarke and justice minister Jonathan Djanogly appeared in the House of Commons to answer MPs’ questions last week, in an apparently lively session.