Last 3 months headlines – Page 1400
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Local authority
NHS - Nursing care - Authority seeking to amend care package R (on the application of McDonald) v Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea: Supreme Court (Lords Walker, Brown, Kerr, Lady Hale, Lord Dyson SJJ): 6 July 2011 ...
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PII special: what law firms need to know to negotiate the 2011 renewal round
The decision to phase out the assigned risks pool (ARP) during the 2011 and 2012 renewals, leading to its abolition in 2013, has added significant anxiety to the already tumultuous market for professional indemnity insurance (PII). This transitional period will see the introduction of joint liability ...
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Anger over £600m in unpaid court fines
The government was accused of ‘economic illiteracy’ this week, as it emerged that the amount owed in outstanding court fines has risen to more than £600m in the past year, while the number of enforcement officers employed to collect them was slashed by 12%. Solicitors expressed ...
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ABSs at risk of criminal ownership, Law Society warns
The Law Society is pressing the Ministry of Justice to make an urgent amendment to the Legal Services Act to prevent non-lawyers with spent criminal convictions from becoming owners of alternative business structures. Society chief executive Desmond Hudson has written to justice secretary Kenneth Clarke urging ...
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Cuts set to delay case reviews, says CCRC
The independent body that played an instrumental role in the acquittals of Barry George and Sion Jenkins (pictured) has warned that further cuts to its budget will cause delays in dealing with cases. In its annual report published this week, the Criminal Cases Review Commission, which ...
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Auditors warn MoJ about legal aid reforms
The National Audit Office (pictured) warned the government that its legal aid reforms would threaten the sustainability of law firms before the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill was published. The news comes after the Gazette reported last week that the Legal Services Commission ...
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Domestic violence rules 'boost cost of disputes'
Family lawyers have attacked the government’s plans to deny legal aid to domestic violence victims who accept ‘undertakings’ from an allegedly abusive partner. Responding to a query on the issue from the House of Commons’ Justice Committee, the Ministry of Justice confirmed that undertakings given during ...
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Law firms plan for Olympics delays
City firms have already begun putting action plans in place to deal with the disruption caused by the London 2012 Olympics, the Gazette has learned. London 2012 organisers have written to all firms in the capital warning that capacity on rail and underground services will be ...
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Defamation lawyer: abuse victims need CFAs
A leading defamation lawyer has called for conditional fee agreements to be preserved to help victims of press abuse. Steven Heffer, chair of the Lawyers for Media Standards group, said individuals must be given the means to fight legal battles against media outlets that have acted ...
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NHSLA considers clinical negligence pilot
Claimant lawyers and the NHS Litigation Authority are working on a joint scheme for fast-tracking clinical negligence cases. The two groups will meet next month to examine a pilot for dealing with cases valued up to £25,000. The scheme will use a ...
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Tweet little mystery
Having recently dipped a toe into the wonderful world of Twitter, Obiter was greatly amused last month by a stream purportedly authored by justice minister Jonathan Djanogly, in which he apparently reported that his ‘liberation’ of legal aid was going ‘swimmingly’. Sadly, it transpired that ...
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Taking stock
A husband and wife from Hertfordshire firm Pictons proved they are gluttons for punishment last week at Harpenden’s annual Highland Gathering. Sukh Saini (pictured), a partner in the firm’s family department, and his wife Deborah, an associate in the personal injury team, put themselves in ...
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Bout time
There seems to be something of a craze for white collar boxing sweeping through the profession. Following last week’s report that a group of insolvency practitioners in Leeds were organising a fisticuffs event, Obiter has learnt this week that a team of Birmingham-based barristers - ...
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Ace of race
City lawyers were out in force at last week’s Standard Chartered Great City Race. The first man across the line was Chris Busaileh (pictured), trainee at Speechly Bircham, while Reed Smith’s Karen Ellison and Lawrence Graham’s Gemma Jones claimed seventh and eighth in the female rankings. ...
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Law Society should head off the referral parasites
Third parties’ expectations of receiving a ‘wedge’ from us for an introduction started about the time legal aid was withdrawn for personal injury actions. It seems lots of folk want to get their fingers in the pie. Most introducers have no interest in the legal ...
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Defending Jackson
To all lawyers moaning about Lord Justice Jackson’s reforms: would you prefer the general rule as to costs in Spain? The relevant part of article 394-3 of law 1/2000, of 7 January, relating to civil procedure [in Spain] reads: ‘When… costs are imposed on a losing ...
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Not in my name
I have read how the Law Society is continuing its fight against legal aid cuts. I do not recall the Society asking whether they should spend money on a campaign with which I may not agree. I speak only in respect of civil legal aid. My ...
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Message to SRA: no problem
I write in relation to the SRA’s decision to impose the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocacy on criminal litigation. The reasoning by Mr Plant as to why this scheme is required is far from clear. Those who practise in the criminal courts on a daily basis ...