Last 3 months headlines – Page 1401
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Publish complaints against firms, Consumer Panel urges
The body that advises the Legal Services Board on the interests of consumers has called for the publication of complaints made against law firms if they have been upheld. Responding to an open consultation by the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) on whether its decisions should be published, the Legal Services Consumer ...
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Firms reject candidates on the basis of their accents, research suggests
Top London law firms are hiring graduates with ‘smart’ accents and public school backgrounds because they think they are better for their image than working-class candidates, new research has suggested. Suitable white working-class applicants are being passed over for jobs in favour of middle-class graduates of ...
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Less bureaucracy for all
Christmas is coming, and so the European Commission wants to clear the decks before the holiday break. We notice this before the summer break, too. It announced last week not one, but two, initiatives affecting the work of lawyers.
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Lord chief justice allows Twitter in court
The lord chief justice has issued guidance indicating that journalists and others may tweet from the courtroom, provided this does not interfere with the administration of justice. The decision, contained in interim guidance issued today, comes after journalists were allowed to use Twitter to ...
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How old is too old? Retirement ages for partners
Telling someone that they must stop work merely because they have reached a particular birthday is a blatant form of age discrimination. Laws prohibiting age discrimination came into force in 2006 and were this year incorporated, largely unchanged, in the new Equality Act. Age differs from ...
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Immigration cap ‘unlawful’, court rules
The home secretary’s imposition of a temporary cap on the number of skilled workers allowed into the UK from outside the European Union was ‘unlawful’ and must be annulled, the High Court has ruled.
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Solicitors make errors in PII proposal forms
Solicitors continued to make errors in their professional indemnity insurance (PII) proposal forms this renewal period, according to a major broker. Illegible writing, unanswered questions, inaccurate fee breakdown between work types, and incomplete financial information continued to litter law firms’ proposals, according to Kim Swestun, associate ...
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Motion to widen Society membership withdrawn
Law Society Council member Derek French withdrew his motion proposing to allow barristers and legal executives to become members of the Law Society, at the Society’s council last week. However, French said the Society’s Membership Board has agreed to prepare a paper on the issue, which ...
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Linklaters tops diversity league table
Magic circle firm Linklaters has topped a league table based on a survey of the demographic diversity of 48 leading law firms, published today. City firms Baker & McKenzie, Norton Rose and Trowers & Hamlins came second, third and fourth respectively. The ...
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FSA raises protection for client accounts
Client money held in solicitors’ bank accounts has been given greater protection in the event of a bank collapse, after the Financial Services Authority unveiled rule changes today. Implementing a European Commission directive, the City regulator upped the cap on the compensation available for deposits that ...
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MPs warned they will be ‘overloaded’ due to legal aid cuts
A group campaigning against the government’s legal aid cuts has sent Christmas cards to MPs warning them that they could be overwhelmed with constituents’ problems. Justice for All, a coalition of legal and advice agencies, politicians, trade unions, community groups and members of the public, said ...
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Why are lawyers so unpopular with the public?
I thought he was going to hit me, if he didn't fall over first. He hated effing lawyers, he said. He was a bulge-eyed roaring drunk and had got it into his befuddled brain that I was a lawyer, rather than someone who wrote about the ...
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Defamation
Defamatory statements – Defences – Fair comment – Libel Spiller & Anor v Joseph & Ors: SC (Lords Phillips (president), Rodger, Walker, Brown, Sir John Dyson): 1 December 2010 The ...
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Civil procedure
Coroners – Inquests – National security – Terrorism R (on the application of Secretary of State for the Home Department) v HM Coroner for Inner West London: DC (Lords Justices Maurice Kay, Stanley Burnton): 30 November 2010 ...
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Magnum opus
It’s Christmas (or Winterval if you’re politically correct) so it must be competition time. We are indebted to Gazettereader offer partner Averys Wine Merchants for the generous donation of six magnums (magna?) of the finest Chateau La Rose Gadis 2004 Bordeaux Rouge. One will duly wet the whistle of the ...
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Hugging the attorney
Back in the days when I was articled (how long ago did that word become obsolete?), barristers did not mix socially with solicitors, writes James Morton. Taking their instructing solicitor out to dinner was known as ‘hugging the attorney’ and was, I believe, a disciplinary offence. Certainly, they did not ...
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Grudge judge
As number two in the judicial pecking order, second only to the lord chief justice himself, one might expect Master of the Rolls Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury to be above petty grudges. But it turns out that, in common with most advocates, he finds it difficult to accept when a ...
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Razing money
Obiter promised one, and only one, Movember pic, and here it is. These handsomely moustachioed chaps from south-west firm Burges Salmon raised an impressive £2,000 for men’s health charities by growing their facial hair, of which they are all clearly immensely proud. Nice ...
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Star trekkers
Pictured are David Green, solicitor at the Longton office of Stevens, and his wife Andrea Muckley, solicitor at TRP in Birmingham, having just completed a three-and-a-half day trek along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru in aid of charity RNIB. Given that the 26-mile trip includes altitudes of ...