BAR Council chairman Peter Goldsmith QC has spoken out against common training for barristers and solicitors. Addressing a conference on training he said there was only scope for a “small overlap” in training for the two branches of the legal profession. He said if anything more than a relatively short common course was tried, skills […]
With the Professional Skills Course (PSC) halfway through its first year, how do firms see it shaping up? Many firms took the view that their trainees should complete the two examined modules – accounts and investment business – by the end of their first year, in case of failures at the first sitting. Initial experience […]
Firms using the SOS Practice Manager can now benefit from a new archiving facility combining microfiche capabilities and computing. The Bath-based supplier Solicitors Own Software has been working with microfilm experts MAB Services to help Birmingham firm Sydney Mitchell develop an archive and retrieval system. SOS managing director Michael Platt says the development is an […]
Richard Brockbank What are your lawyers doing to make it easier to work with them and your in-house IT systems and help take the strain out of litigation work? Firm’s fee rates reflect many factors, including overheads. You should no longer expect to pay, directly or indirectly, for people doing work in inefficient ways. Cost-conscious […]
North London-based ISO 9000 (Software) has introduced TQS 9000 package used in Europe and in the US to help users conform with the ISO 9000 quality standards. The package costs around £2,500 for a single licence, less if other sites are included.
Solicitors think that, in order to satisfy the Government’s policy of attempting to make the judiciary more representative of the community, they should be appointed to be judges in far greater numbers. The Law Society’s head of professional policy, Russell Wallman, is quoted as saying that “performance as an advocate is given too great a […]
The West London-based Acton Law Shop should be congratulated for its encouraging first-year results, particularly those involved in running it and its supporters, including a range of firms and numerous lawyers – the shop acknowledges the active assistance of Bindmans. To be virtually self-funding already, albeit with a proportion of income through donations, is a […]
Local authority lawyers are being offered the chance to increase their expertise in a new series of courses announced by the Law Society’s Local Government group last week. The group is running sessions on subjects including planning offence prosecutions, local authority companies, adoption law, pollution controls and planning enforcement. Further information on the courses can […]
THE LEGAL Aid Board has attacked the Law Society, claiming it named a London law firm whose franchise was suspended. But society head of professional policy Russell Wallman says the accusation is a bid to divert attention from the board’s “disgraceful” behaviour over the suspension. Evans Butler Wade is threatening the LAB with legal action […]
CHAIR of the British Polish Legal Association Russell Denoon Duncan has received an Officers Cross of the Order of Merit from the Polish government for his work with the bi-lateral organisation. Denoon Duncan, former senior partner at City firm Cameron Markby Hewitt, has chaired the association for the past five years. He has been involved […]
Professional image consultants Crawford Tremblay will advise trainee solicitors on how to project professional confidence at a presentation later this week. Organised by the Holborn Trainee Solicitors’ Group the meeting will be held at the Law Society on 11 May. Solicitors will be given advice on appearance, professional and social skills by advisers Pauline Crawford […]
Gordon Stewart, one of the City’s top insolvency lawyers and partner at Allen & Overy, is the first lawyer to be appointed vice-president of the Society of Practitioners of Insolvency (SPI). Stewart, a licensed insolvency practitioner, is almost certain to become the society’s first lawyer president. Meanwhile Colin Bird, the well-known senior corporate recovery partner […]