Civil legal aid wait to continue into New Year
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (21 December 2022) Details of a major civil legal aid review will be announced in January, the Ministry of Justice has confirmed – more than two months after telling the Gazette that an announcement was imminent. The Legal Aid Agency quietly revealed at the beginning of October that a major review was in the pipeline […]
Staff grievances surge at Ministry of Justice
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (12 December 2022) The number of grievances raised by Ministry of Justice staff has shot up after falling during the pandemic, government figures reveal. According to data released last week, 1,078 staff raised grievances in the Ministry of Justice during the 2021/22 financial year – up from 839 in 2020/21. Justice […]
Law schools ‘not immune from student class action’
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (30 November 2022) A multi-million-pound group legal action against universities over Covid and strike disruption could extend to law schools, the Gazette has learned – as the number of law students joining the claim approaches 3,000. More than 30,000 students across England and Wales have joined the ‘Student Group Claim’ seeking compensation from […]
Judges to be trained on appropriate behaviour, LCJ reveals
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (9 November 2022) Judges will be trained on how to avoid inadvertent inappropriate behaviour with colleagues, the lord chief justice has revealed – after research that he commissioned uncovered examples of bullying, harassment or discrimination. Lord Burnett of Maldon told the House of Commons justice select committee yesterday that judges were […]
Government ‘must prioritise’ Mental Health Act reform
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (31 October 2022) The Law Society has urged the government to make Mental Health Act reforms a priority after latest NHS statistics revealed a black person is four times more likely to be detained under the act than a white person. Between April 2021 and March 2022, people were detained 53,337 […]
Treat overseas register regime ‘like AML compliance with bells on’, solicitors told
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (14 October 2022) Solicitors have been advised to tread carefully if asked to help register foreign owners of UK property under government measures to crack down on money laundering. The Economic Crime (Transparency and Enforcement) Act 2022 introduced a register of overseas entities, which came into force on 1 August, requiring […]
Witnesses can give evidence by WhatsApp, Court of Appeal rules
By Sam Tobin >> (21 September 2022) Witnesses can give evidence in criminal trials from outside the UK via WhatsApp when it is ‘in the interests of justice’, the Court of Appeal said today. The popular messaging platform, which uses end-to-end encryption, is ‘capable of being regarded as sufficiently secure’ for giving evidence in open […]
Paperless conveyancing ‘the norm’ by 2025, Land Registry suggests
By Michael Cross >> (1 September 2022) Secure paperless buying and selling of property ‘could be the norm’ by 2024-25, HM Land Registry has suggested in its latest strategy for end-to-end digital conveyancing. The aspiration appears in the agency’s Strategy 2022+, published yesterday along with a three-year business plan. Announcing the strategy, the registry said it […]
Exam operator announces refunds for SQE fiasco
By Gazette Reporter >> (2 August 2022) Candidates for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination whose test was cancelled after they had spent more than five hours in a test centre have been offered refunds – more than a week after the Gazette revealed the fiasco. Because of what was described as an ‘IT issue’, 111 people were unable to […]
‘Insufficient lawyers’ to cross-examine parties in domestic abuse cases
By Monidipa Fouzder >> (22 July 2022) The Law Society has welcomed a ban on domestic abuse complainants being cross-examined by the alleged perpetrator in family and civil proceedings – but is worried that not enough lawyers will be available to step in. Measures under the Domestic Abuse Act preventing parties being cross-examined by their […]
