‘No fault’ divorces should become the standard means for couples to separate rather than proving that one side is responsible for the breakdown, according to the most senior family law judge in England and Wales. Sir Nicholas Wall, president of the high court’s family division, said the time for allocating blame for the failure of a marriage, as encouraged by an adversarial court system, had now passed. There are ‘no …Read More
The Solicitors Regulation Authority announces it has licensed first three Alternative Business Structures
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has announced that it has licensed its first three alternative business structures (ABS). The trio comprises Co-operative Legal Services, John Welch and Stammers, and Lawbridge Solicitors Limited. An ABS is a business providing regulated reserved legal activities but which has either, or both, non-lawyer owners and managers. Traditionally law firms have had to be owned and managed only by lawyers. The non-lawyer ownership and management …Read More
Queen’s Speech: Plans to transform the Justice System
Over the next year the courts and tribunals service will be reformed to increase efficiency and transparency, while the judicial appointments process will be reformed to encourage greater judicial diversity. Measures will also be put in place to protect free speech, and to make the security services more accountable, by allowing civil courts to consider all information relating to a case – even where national security prevents it from being …Read More
Children and Families Bill introduced in the Queen’s Speech
A new Children and Families Bill has been announced in the Queen’s Speech of May 9th. The Bill will implement plans to introduce more flexible parental leave following an independent report in May 2011 that recommended that the right to request flexible working be extended to those with parental responsibility for children up to the age of 16. The development of the Children and Families Bill will also introduce legislation …Read More
Civil Mediation a ‘huge success story’
Bill Wood QC, who is the acting Chair of the Civil Mediation Council, said in an interview on 23rd May, that ‘mediation is helping to save businesses, citizens and the Government from some of the huge expense and uncertainty involved in court cases. ‘Recent governments have given considerable support to the increased use of mediation in the civil justice system. UK mediators are in demand around the world both as …Read More
Thousands ‘ripped off’ by unregulated Will writers.
Thousands of people are being ripped off by companies providing unregulated services such as will writing, claims the first Legal Ombudsman.. In his first report, Chief Ombudsman for England and Wales Adam Sampson said the most complaints he saw concerned Conveyancing, Family Law and Wills. He called for action to be taken to ensure consumers were not left vulnerable by unregulated services. Only a tiny fraction of legal services must …Read More
Businesses can challenge land use restrictions that benefit supermarkets
From 1 July, businesses may apply to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to challenge land use restrictions that limit competition against major supermarkets. A Competition Commission investigation into the grocery market found that certain restrictive covenants and exclusivity arrangements could prevent local grocers from competing against large supermarkets. The investigation led to the Groceries Market Investigation (Controlled Land) Order, which allows these restrictions to be challenged. The order obliges …Read More
Flexible working in courts faces criticism
While pilot schemes have been operating throughout England, the Crown Prosecution Service has announced that courts will have to be more ‘flexible’ during the Olympics. Other ideas in a government white paper include magistrates handling cases on their own where there is a guilty plea, more use of video links when hearing evidence, and judges operating out of community centres or police stations if necessary. A spokesperson for the Crime …Read More
Equine Law: Changes to Vetting Rules
Changes to Pre-Purchase Vetting Rules have been introduced by the BEVA in an attempt to protect purchasers, by standardising the way in which Pre-Purchase Vettings are carried out. From September, vets will have to declare previous knowledge of every horse they examine and whether the seller is a client of their practice. They will have to state on the certificate what additional procedures they carried out during the examination and, …Read More
Solicitors warned of divorce claims
Divorce LifeLine suggests that since pension sharing was introduced in December 2000, around 750,000 people, in half the divorces across the country, could be entitled to claim thousands of pounds from their solicitors where their former spouse’s pension was undervalued. The company’s founding partner Tony Derbyshire said that in 96% of the 171 divorce settlements it had looked at, solicitors had not sought expert advice on the pension value. ‘It …Read More