Part-time partners: why the legal profession is changing – The Guardian
“Only 9.4% of equity partners in law firms are women, despite equal numbers of men and women entering the profession.”
The Guardian, 18th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Only 9.4% of equity partners in law firms are women, despite equal numbers of men and women entering the profession.”
The Guardian, 18th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“‘This is a derisory document’. Thus, Professor Roger Smith described the MoJ’s paper on Transforming Legal Aid, when he gave evidence to the Select Committee for Justice last Tuesday. The most senior members of the legal profession gave evidence about the potential impact of the proposals. The President of the Law Society, and the chairs of the Bar Council, Criminal Bar Association, and Criminal Law Solicitors Association all agreed that, if the Minister has his way, the criminal justice system will be irreparably harmed. The MoJ plans to introduce these changes by secondary legislation, although more than 90,000 signatories to an e-petition (Save UK Justice) have now called for a full debate in Parliament.”
LegalVoice, 17th June 2013
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
“A Cheshire solicitors has recovered more than £300,000 for 700 passengers with their no-win no-fee service.”
The Guardian, 15th June 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Law firms must not allow arrangements with debt recovery companies to compromise their independence, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has warned, after two solicitors were fined heavily for allowing litigation to be carried out in their name.”
Legal Futures, 17th June 2013
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
“Otterburn Consulting recently completed a survey to inform the Law Society’s response to the government’s consultation ‘Transforming legal aid: delivering a more credible and efficient system on price competitive tendering (PCT).’ The aim was to find out what the impact on firms would be, based on hard evidence and to evaluate whether the proposed system was likely to work in practice.”
LegalVoice, 7th June 2013
Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk
“Employers looking to defend or reintroduce a mandatory retirement age will find ‘very little comfort’ in last week’s decision allowing a law firm to force a partner to retire at 65, an expert has said.”
OUT-LAW.com, 4th June 2013
Source: www.out-law.com
“The Employment Tribunal has rejected an age discrimination claim by lawyer Leslie Seldon against his former firm Clarkson Wright & Jakes (CWJ), which had initially seemed likely to threaten law firm’s ability to enforce a compulsory retirement age for partners.”
Legal Week, 31st May 2013
Source: www.legalweek.com
“As Lady Justice Hallett, a senior woman judge, warns the ‘frenetic’ pace of life holds women back, a leading lawyer and diversity consultant to the top legal institutions says there is an ‘unconscious bias’ against women in the legal profession.”
Daily Telegraph, 24th May 2013
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“In Jeffrey Jones v SoS for Energy and Climate Change [2012] EWHC 2936 (QB) the High Court considered the use of credit agreements between a law firm and its clients.”
New Law Journal, 13th May 2013
Source: www.newlawjournal.co.uk
Khans Solicitors (a firm) v Chifuntwe and another [2013] EWCA Civ 481; [2013] WLR (D) 167
“The court would intervene to protect a solicitor’s claim on funds recovered or due to be recovered by a client or former client if the paying party was on notice that the other party’s solicitor had a claim on the funds for outstanding fees.”
WLR Daily, 8th May 2013
Source: www.iclr.co.uk
“Family lawyers offering ‘pay as you go’ legal services are warned of the risks they carry and how to avoid them in a practice note published today by the Law Society. The note has been published to assist solicitors seeking to offer a more affordable service by allowing the client to deal with some aspects of their case themselves. It deals particularly with family law cases, following the removal of legal aid for most private law family matters on 1 April and is aimed primarily at those offering face-to-face client work.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 1st May 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The Law Society’s chief executive has urged super-regulator the Legal Services Board to delay implementation of the Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA), in recognition of the ‘profound shifts and uncertainties’ afflicting criminal practitioners.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 1st May 2013
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The LexisNexis Bellwether Report, Survive or Thrive?, takes the temperature of independent lawyers, sole practitioners and owner/lawyers in smaller law firms, to see how they are dealing with the current financial, regulatory and legal climate.”
Legal Week, 17th April 2013
Source: www.legalweek.com
“The Legal Ombudsman (‘LeO’) publishes brief summaries of its decisions on its website. Where awards have been made against lawyers to date the amounts have usually been very modest: hundreds rather than thousands of pounds. There has not been much for lawyers or their insurers to worry about. But things could be about to change.”
Full story (PDF)
4 New Square, 21st March 2013
Source: www.4newsquare.com
“While there is little public sympathy for solicitors the truth is that people will soon find it harder to claim compensation.”
The Guardian, 21st March 2013
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“What many personal injury (PI) firms have long feared is finally upon us, and there is no turning back.”
Legal Futures, 14th March 2013
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk
“The 1 April Jackson reforms start date is creating a ‘hump’ of conditional fee agreement (CFA) cases that will take years to clear the courts, a leading clinical negligence barrister has predicted.”
Litigation Futures, 7th March 2013
Source: www.litigationfutures.com
“A professional indemnity (PI) insurer was wrong to reject a law firm’s blanket notification of possible claims, the High Court has decided in what is believed to be the first ruling of its kind.”
Legal Futures, 5th February 2013
Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk