“Complaints are the legal profession’s achilles heel. It was the Law Society’s failure to deal properly with complaints against solicitors in the late 1990s that helped trigger the reform process that led to the Legal Services Act 2007 – and a key element of the act is the new, independent Legal Ombudsman (LEO) service.”
The Guardian, 24th January 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
Of Smoke and Snails (PDF)
Speech by Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury, Master of the Rolls
King’s College, London’s Bar Society Annual Dinner, 13 January 2011
Source: www.judiciary.gov.uk
“Employers are under pressure to up their game when it comes to temporary placements.”
The Guardian, 13th January 2011
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“No one from whom the Gazette sought a prediction sees the year ahead as dull – 2011, according to lawyers, people who provide services to the legal profession, a government minister, and the profession’s leaders, will be a year in which the economic context will remain extremely challenging. Firms’ finances will come under close scrutiny, serious new competitors will emerge, and lawyers will be moving firms in ever greater numbers. And there is, of course, huge concern about the future provision of legal aid.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 6th January 2011
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“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.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 17th December 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“A forthcoming review of the way lawyers are trained provides an ideal opportunity to overhaul a dysfunctional system.”
The Guardian, 10th December 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“These are dark days for junior legal aid lawyers. Even before the cuts to the legal aid budget were announced last month, they were struggling to get by on salaries that are among the lowest in the public sector (£16,650 for trainee solicitors and £10,000 for trainee barristers, rising to little more than £25,000 after several years in the job). Now they’re bracing themselves for their practices to be decimated as many of their clients lose eligibility for state funding.”
The Guardian, 3rd December 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“As the legal professions – dominated by ex-private school pupils – seek to open up, getting it right is more important than doing it quickly.”
The Guardian, 30th November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The legal profession has become increasingly elitist over the past 20 years, with 15 per cent of lawyers being public school educated while just 2 per cent of the population is.”
The Lawyer, 15th November 2010
Source: www.thelawyer.com
“It should come as no surprise that Lord Macdonald, the eminent QC and former director of public prosecutions who is reporting on terror laws for the government, is strongly opposed to control orders. Lawyers do not like them. And if, like me, you have represented men trying to challenge their control orders, it is easy to see why: they are like nothing you have experienced in your legal career.”
The Guardian, 3rd November 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“Lawyers fighting civil actions may be handed a cut of their client’s damages for the first time in a bid to cut frivolous claims, the Justice Secretary has signalled.”
Daily Telegraph, 27th October 2010
Source: www.telegraph.co.uk
“Legal advice privilege applied only to advice given by a member of the legal profession.”
WLR Daily, 13th October 2010
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.
“This week saw the release of the Equality and Human Rights Commission report entitled How Fair is Britain. Today (13 October), at a high-level conference at Westminster University, original research examining structural inequalities in the legal services sector [pdf] will be unveiled.”
The Guardian, 13th October 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The Court of Appeal today unanimously confirmed that legal professional privilege (LPP) only applies to qualified lawyers – solicitors and barristers. The decision was welcomed by the Law Society as giving certainty to solicitors and their clients.”
Law Society’s Gazette, 14th October 2010
Source: www.lawgazette.co.uk
“The social networking and microblogging service has much to offer the legal practitioner. Time to jump in.”
The Guardian, 21st September 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
“The armed forces are set to lose one quarter of their lawyers, the Guardian has learned, in a series of cuts that will directly impact frontline troops. Sources inside the armed forces say the defence spending and security review will result in a reduction of at least 25% in the number of lawyers in the army and royal air force. Lawyers say the predicted reduction in legal advice, which will affect troops and commanders, could affect the ability of the armed forces to act in compliance with the Geneva Conventions.”
The Guardian, 16th September 2010
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
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