Lewis and others v Ward Hadaway (a firm) – WLR Daily

Posted January 6th, 2016 in abuse of process, fees, law firms, law reports, limitations, negligence, solicitors by sally

Lewis and others v Ward Hadaway (a firm) [2015] EWHC 3503 (Ch); [2015] WLR (D) 551

‘In determining whether a party had properly brought a claim before the court so as to stop the clock for limitation purposes, the requirement that the form be accompanied by the “appropriate fee” was not satisfied in circumstances where the act of payment of the fee was in itself an abuse of process. In such circumstances, the claim had not properly been brought and time continued to run for limitation purposes.’

WLR Daily, 21st December 2015

Source: www..iclr.co.uk

Lawyers face prospect of being struck off over Iraq abuse claims – Daily Telegraph

‘Leigh Day, Britain’s leading human rights law firm, is facing a disciplinary inquiry over the shredding of a document which could have halted a £31m inquiry into false allegations of murder and torture by British troops.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 5th January 2016

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

‘Going into legal aid work now is career suicide’ – The Guardian

‘Government cuts to legal aid means social welfare lawyers are a dying breed. So where will the next generation come from? Step up the Justice First Fellowship.’

Full story

The Guardian, 6th January 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Social background determines career prospects, say almost nine out of ten law students – Legal Week

Posted December 14th, 2015 in diversity, equality, law firms, legal education, legal profession, news, statistics by sally

‘Survey of law students finds strong feelings on influence of upbringing on career prospects, as law firms take new approaches to improve diversity’

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Legal Week, 10th December 2015

Source: www.legalweek.com

Professional negligence warning over PI, commercial and family work – Legal Futures

Posted December 8th, 2015 in law firms, negligence, news, personal injuries, reports by sally

‘Personal injury, commercial and family work will all fuel negligence claims against lawyers, insurance specialist BLM has warned in a white paper.’

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Legal Futures, 8th December 2015

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Judge questions ‘astonishing’ £1.3m for consultancy fees – Law Society’s Gazette

‘The High Court has sent a strong signal to law firms ‘sub-contracting’ disclosure work to third parties.’

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Law Society’s Gazette, 2nd December 2015

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

Law firm takes over investigation into Tory party bullying claims – The Guardian

Posted December 1st, 2015 in bullying, law firms, news, political parties by tracey

‘Inquiry into allegations will be conducted ‘in its entirety’ by Clifford Chance as Lord Feldman agrees to distance himself from investigation.’

Full story

The Guardian, 30th November 2015

Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Judicial review pushes back crime contracts to April – Legal Voice

‘The Ministry of Justice announced on Friday that the introduction of duty provider contracts will be pushed back from January to April 1 next year. Only the previous week, the MOJ continued to insist that despite the threat of legal challenges, the new duty provider contracts would come into force from 01 January 2016.’

Full story

Legal Voice, 16th November 2015

Source: www.legalvoice.org.uk

Transcript of the Lord Chief Justice’s Annual Press Conference 2015 – Courts and Tribunals Judiciary

‘The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, held his annual press conference on Tuesday, 17 November, 2015, at the Royal Courts of Justice.’

Full transcript

Courts and Tribunals Judiciary, 17th November 2015

Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk

Legal aid cuts: MoJ puts brakes on changes as solicitors revolt – The Independent

Posted November 16th, 2015 in budgets, law firms, legal aid, Ministry of Justice, news, tenders by sally

‘Moves to overhaul the legal-aid system have been delayed by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in the face of more than 100 challenges from solicitors’ firms who claim the whole process is fundamentally flawed.’

Full story

The Independent, 15th November 2015

Source: www.independent.co.uk

When two into one won’t go – High Court allows limited separate representation of co-claimants – Litigation Futures

Posted November 13th, 2015 in costs, law firms, legal representation, news by tracey

‘A mother and her children who were separately represented as claimants in a long-running case are entitled to the costs of two sets of solicitors up to a point, the High Court has ruled.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 12th November 2015

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

Ruling on interim costs payment reveals judge’s proportionality concern – Litigation Futures

Posted November 13th, 2015 in costs, law firms, negligence, news, proportionality by tracey

‘A claimant law firm has been given a major shot across the bows over its costs claim in a clinical negligence case after a High Court judge heavily reduced the sum its client sought as payment on account of costs, on the grounds of both proportionality and necessity.’

Full story

Litgiation Futures, 13th November 2015

Source: www.litigationfutures.com

CA adds extra negligence finding and £375k damages on top of High Court’s £1.6m Withers ruling – Legal Futures

Posted November 13th, 2015 in damages, drafting, law firms, limited liability partnerships, negligence, news by tracey

‘The Court of Appeal has made an additional finding of negligence against leading London law firm Withers over its drafting of an LLP agreement and increased the £1.6m in damages awarded in the High Court by a further £375,000.’

Full story

Legal Futures, 12th November 2015

Source: www.legalfutures.co.uk

Yes you can discriminate against a company (but you shouldn’t!) – No. 5 Chambers

‘How odd, you might think. A company can suffer a detriment under the Equality Act 2010 and so bring a claim for direct discrimination. Yet a company is impersonal and protected characteristics are highly personal that only individuals can have. How can that be?’

Full story

No. 5 Chambers, 8th October 2015

Source: www.no5.com

Legal Aid Cuts: The Solicitors’ Verdict – BBC Law in Action

Posted November 10th, 2015 in criminal justice, law firms, legal aid, news, solicitors by sally

‘Solicitors are in uproar over government changes to the criminal legal aid system. The budget has been slashed by 17.5 per cent and the number of firms eligible to provide duty solicitors to represent clients at police stations has been reduced from 1600 to just over 500.’

Listen

BBC Law in Action, 3rd November 2015

Source: www.bbc.co.uk

Guidance on appealing Upper Tribunal costs decisions to the Court of Appeal – Free Movement

Posted November 10th, 2015 in appeals, costs, judicial review, law firms, news, tribunals by sally

‘President McCloskey gives guidance on appealing Upper Tribunal costs decisions to the Court of Appeal in the case of R (on the application of Soreefan and Others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (judicial review – costs – Court of Appeal) [2015] UKUT 594 (IAC).’

Full story

Free Movement, 10th November 2015

Source: www.freemovement.org.uk

Gove admits the UK sentencing framework needs to be more sensitive, & 7 more things we learned at the 2015 Howard League AGM – Halsbury’s Law Exchange

‘Since his appointment as Justice Secretary & Lord Chancellor in May this year, the Rt Hon Michael Gove has maintained a fairly low profile. Aside from his Making Prisons Work speech in July, Mr Gove’s plans for the future of the Criminal Justice System have not been very clearly outlined. Although since his swearing in, to the delight of many, Gove has managed to overturn the previous Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling’s ban on books for prisoners; scrapped plans to create a super youth prison; and halted massively controversial plans for the UK to undertake Saudi Arabian prison training contracts.’

Full story

Halsbury’s Law Exchange, 6th November 2015

Source: www.halsburyslawexchange.co.uk

£150m legal bill for troops just doing their duty – Daily Telegraph

Posted October 20th, 2015 in armed forces, bills, costs, human rights, judicial review, law firms, news, time limits, treaties, war by sally

‘Ministers draw up plans to pull out of the European Convention on Human Rights next time the Armed Forces are sent into combat.’

Full story

Daily Telegraph, 17th October 2015

Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Thresholds for strike-out – Law Society’s Gazette

Posted October 19th, 2015 in abuse of process, civil procedure rules, costs, fraud, law firms, news, striking out by sally

‘The Court of Appeal in Alpha Rocks Solicitors v Benjamin Oluwadare Alade [2015] EWCA Civ 685 dealt with the issue of when it was appropriate to strike out a claim on the grounds that the claimant has abused the process of the court.’

Full story

Law Society’s Gazette, 19th October 2015

Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk

CA rejects law firm’s bid to reverse relief granted over funding notice failure – Litigation Futures

‘Mishcon de Reya has failed in its bid to overturn the grant of relief from sanctions made in favour of claimants who are suing the London law firm for professional negligence but failed to serve their funding notice in time.’

Full story

Litigation Futures, 13th October 2015

Source: www.litigationfutures.com