23 March 1998

After-the-event insurer in talks with banks

AFTER-the-event insurer Litigation Protection Ltd (LPL) is talking to two high street banks to set up premium-funding loans for solicitors as part of a new package of insurance products for conditional fees. LPL intends to launch the package, Access to Justice 2000, on 1 July to coincide with the introduction of the first tranche of […]

Irvine in climb down over housing small claims plan

HOUSING lawyers and action groups have won a major victory against the Lord Chancellor, forcing him to back-track on his plans to increase the threshold for all small claims procedures to £5,000. Lord Irvine issued a consultation paper last December proposing to increase the small claims limit from £3,000 to £5,000 but a concerted campaign […]

CA Bar to split?

The California State Bar has thrown its weight behind proposals which would split the Bar into two sections, one with compulsory membership, the other voluntary. The move is part of its bid to circumvent legislation currently before the state’s legislature which would strip the association of most of its functions. The Bar’s action follows the […]

Lawrence Graham hires from Stephensons

City firm Lawrence Graham has hired Stephenson Harwood corporate partner Victoria Younghusband. Younghusband has been a partner at Stephensons for nine years, four of which where spent at its Hong Kong office.

No Orricks merger

Merger talks between San Francisco-based Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe and New York’s Donovan Leisure Newton & Irvine have collapsed, in spite of the resolution of a conflict problem reported in The Lawyer on 3 March. The collapse is believed to be due to disagreement over some commercial aspects of the deal. Despite this, Orrick Herrington […]

Advocates organise “flag-waving' event

Solicitor advocates are preparing to celebrate their coming of age this spring with their first national annual conference. The conference, taking place in May, has just been announced by the Solicitors’ Association of Higher Court Advocates (SAHCA) which is buoyed up by a government promise to ease the restrictions governing the rights of audience of […]

In brief: Legal TV makes pro bono programme

The College of Law’s Legal Network Television has teamed up with the Solicitors’ Pro Bono Group to produce a 20-minute special report on pro bono work to celebrate the production of the network’s 500th training programme.

OSS admits to substandard service as complaints surge

THE 18-month-old Office for Supervision of Solicitors (OSS) which was supposed to restore confidence in the profession’s ability to regulate itself is privately admitting to disgruntled complainants that it is providing a sub-standard service. Despite confident proclamations from the Law Society that the OSS is getting to grips with complaints handling, The Lawyer has learned […]

Hollands opens in Mexico City

In its first push outside the US, Holland & Knight, Florida’s largest law firm, has opened for business in Mexico City and is planning on setting up in other locations abroad by the end of the year. In Mexico, the firm has established a joint-venture office with 10-lawyer local firm GallAstegui y Lozano, to be […]

Booker exit prompts CC to bolster unit

Who would have thought that the Post Office, once a byword for bureaucracy, would be at the forefront of a new drive by large companies to get the most out of their external lawyers? But with the recent announcement of swingeing cuts to its panel of law firms reduced from 40 to just four the […]

In brief: Lawyers could do better, say interpreters

Interpreters are claiming that the legal profession’s “short-sighted attitude” to interpreting means that foreigners are denied a fair trial in the UK. The Institute of Translation and Interpreting has for the first time invited lawyers to its annual conference on 23-24 April in Cambridge where the issue will be discussed. For details call 0171 713 […]