LSC offers final chance for family contracts

Thursday 26 January 2012 by Catherine Baksi

The Legal Services Commission has fended off the threat of litigation from firms that failed to get family and housing contracts, by announcing a licence-only tender to give firms a final chance to secure a contract.

The Law Society welcomed the LSC’s ‘pragmatic and sensible’ decision, reached after negotiations with the Society, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group and Resolution.

The move follows concerns about the number of firms failing to get a contract in the 2011 tender round because of clerical or technical errors in their applications. At the time of the bid round, the LSC said it would not point out or correct any errors in bids.

Around 70 current providers failed to get new contracts in the 2011 bidding exercise, and between 30 and 40 had sought legal advice on a judicial review of the LSC’s decision.

The new tender will allow firms to do certificated work, enabling them to undertake public family cases. However, it will not award matter starts for more basic legal help, because it awarded a sufficient number in the previous exercise.

Only providers which do not already have a contract should apply for the contracts, which will take effect from 1 April.

The LSC said further details will be published on its website and reiterated its advice that bidders should check their tender documents thoroughly before submitting them.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said: ‘I welcome this pragmatic and sensible decision from the LSC.’ He said he hoped the tender process would be straightforward. ‘In these uncertain times for the LSC’s supplier base, anything that encourages firms to continue legally aided work is to be welcomed.’

The Association of Lawyers for Children also welcomed the announcement, but said a ‘big question mark’ still hangs over the integrity of the LSC’s electronic tendering platform. Alan Bean, co-chair, said that many of those who failed to secure contracts maintain that they correctly uploaded fully completed tenders.

He said: ‘We hope that the LSC will now work with the providers affected and family representative bodies to ensure that these difficulties are properly addressed and eliminated, before the LSC embarks upon a new tender round for the 2013 family and other civil contracts.

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/lsc-offers-final-chance-family-contracts

Abbey marriage

Thursday 26 January 2012

Fans of the award-winning television drama Downton Abbey will remember the moving scene when footman William, mortally injured in the first world war trenches, married scullery maid Daisy with his dying breath.

The producers consulted the Law Society’s library on the rules around special licences at that time, to be told that they were indeed available, but only from the Faculty Office of the Archbishop of Canterbury when one of the parties was ­terminally ill.

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/abbey-marriage

Hillside First School ‘failed on every level’ to prevent paedophile teacher Nigel Leat abusing pupils

Hillside First School ‘failed on every level’ to prevent paedophile teacher Nigel Leat abusing pupils

We were very interested and horrified to read in BBC News that a serious case review has found that a teacher was able to film himself abusing young girls because of a “lamentable failure” by school management.

Mr Nigel Leat was jailed indefinitely for abusing children at Hillside First School in Weston-super-Mare between September 2006 and December 2010.  Mr Leat admitted to 36 sexual offences at Bristol Crown Court in May last year.  At his trial, it was discovered that Mr Leat had abused five victims, some as young as six.  The Judge described him as a “paedophile of the most sickening order”.

The charges included one count of attempted rape, 22 counts of sexually assaulting a child under 13 and eight of sexual assault by penetration.  Police also found over 30,000 indecent photographs on memory sticks.

A serious case review was commissioned by North Somerset Safeguarding Children Board, who found that the incidents noted in the school management report ranged from indecent touching to inappropriate lesson content.  It was said by the review that “On a number of occasions colleagues advised the teacher of the inappropriateness of his behaviour and pointed to the risk that he could be accused of professional misconduct.  However, only 11 of the 30 recorded incidents were reported formally within the school”.  “Early on it was noticed that the teacher had favourite pupils within his class who were invariably girls, who were often given tasks within the class which were viewed as privileges….”. 

20 pupils had been witnesses or victims of abuse by Leat.  Mr Leat had taken photographs of pupils on his mobile phone and in them he was seen kissing and cuddling them.  Another teacher saw Mr Leat in his underpants and a t-shirt while getting changed in his classroom. 

Peter Watt, NSPCC Director of Child Protection Advice and Awareness stated that “This is a shocking case where young children were left at the mercy of a determined sex offender in their own school even though many people had concerns about Nigel Leat’s behaviour.  There were clear signs this man was a danger yet astonishingly the proper action was not taken, leaving children at risk when they should have been safe in that environment”.

Mr Leat was given an indeterminate sentence and told he must serve at least eight and a half years before he can be considered for parole.  The headteacher of the school, Chris Hood had also left his post, having been suspended since January 2011.

As specialist child abuse solicitors, we welcome any measures taken to prevent further child abuse from being able to take place and to help compensate victims of past abuse.  We also specialise in claims involving sexual abuse in schools.

If you have been the victim of any form of sexual abuse, or believe that somebody in your care might have been abused, click here or call now on 0800 0384 384 to discuss your claim with an expert abuse solicitor on a strictly confidential and no commitment basis.

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Article source: http://blog.pannone.com/personal-injury-listing/personal-injury-blog/hillside-first-school-failed-on-every-level-to-prevent-paedophile-teacher-nigel-leat-abusing-pupils

Provisional assessment pilot hailed a success

27 January, 2012

Filed Underdetailed assessment  

The Provisional Assessment Pilot, only one year into the two year pilot, has been hailed a success by Lord Justice Jackson (see Report on the Provisional Assessment Pilot). He recommends that it is rolled out nationally.

The scheme covers bills up to £25,000. The first thought is how are junior law costs draftsmen and costs lawyers going to gain advocacy experience if these bills are all assessed on paper (a similar kind of problem the junior bar faces with the loss of much low level advocacy to solicitors)? The second thought is how many bills under £25,000 will there be once fixed fees are extended across the fast-track? The third thought is have I got a big enough pension pot to consider early retirement?

The report advises there were 119 cases in the pilot during the first year. After provisional assessment only 2 cases proceeded to an oral hearing. In neither case did the requesting party achieve an improvement of 20% or more upon what it had secured in the provisional assessment. There’s a surprise.

The average time spent on each provisional assessment was 37 minutes and the median time was 40 minutes. Experience during the second year of the pilot suggests that where provisional assessment is carried out by a district judge who is not a regional costs judge (and therefore has less experience of assessing costs) 60 minutes should be allowed for the exercise. Make of that what you will.

The report found that the process is far cheaper for the parties than traditional detailed assessment, because (save in rare cases) they avoid the costs of preparing for and attending a hearing. DJs Hill and Bedford estimate that the savings for the parties are at least £4,000 per case. (Not a thought for the poor lawyers who find themselves out of pocket. It’s like trying to encourage healthy lifestyles without a thought for the doctors and nurses who may find themselves out of work as a result.)

It looks as though provisional assessment will be rolled out nationally at the same time as the other major costs reforms (currently October 2012 although there are some suggestions this may be pushed back to April 2013).

Sir Rupert’s recent lecture on Assessment of Costs in the Brave New World reveals a number of important forthcoming amendments to the CPR and Costs Practice Direction. I’ll deal with some of these in bite size pieces over the coming days.

2 Responses to “Provisional assessment pilot hailed a success”

1. Robert Pettitt on
   January 27th, 2012 8:37 am

   Someone will need draft those detailed 50 page written submissions (I mean brief and concise PODs and replies)- fear not!

2. annon on
   January 27th, 2012 9:23 am

   Tis true

   if its being done on paper you make sure you throw the works at it. Can you imagine the submissions on the success fee for a trip and slip / clin neg ….

Leave a Reply

Article source: http://www.gwslaw.co.uk/2012/01/provisional-assessment-pilot-hailed-a-success/

Ban on PI adverts in hospitals ‘unworkable’

Thursday 26 January 2012 by John Hyde

Banning leaflets advertising personal injury lawyers and claims management companies from NHS hospitals is unworkable and counter-productive, the government has been warned.

Health minister Simon Burns last week told English NHS hospitals it was ‘not acceptable’ to display adverts for law firms. He said patients should be able to focus on treatment and getting better, without having to be ‘hounded’ by lawyers. His comments came on the back of an early day motion from Tory MP Andrew Bridgen, supported by 29 cross-party MPs, calling for advertising in hospitals to be forbidden.

But advertisers warned any ban would hit hospitals’ income and conflict with the 2006 Compensation Act, which allows businesses to operate in NHS trusts with the approval of the facility’s management.

In return for advertising space on NHS leaflets, claims management companies pay for bespoke, specialist equipment in the hospital. Payments can also be negotiated between the hospital trust and advertiser.

Anthony Mowatt, major shareholder in BOE Medical Publishing, which has deals with 170 hospitals and has a panel of solicitor firms on its books, warned of confusion between clinical negligence and patients seeking compensation after suffering a personal injury.

‘The contracts we have with hospitals forbid us from being involved in any claim on that hospital,’ he said.

‘In 99.9% of cases the patient is only given one of the leaflets when they are being discharged. They’re not being handed to people lying on their backs in AE wards.’

Mark Boleat, former director-general of the Association of British Insurers, said ministers would open the system up to abuse if they changed the current rules on advertising.

‘[Before 2006] there was a problem with cowboys advertising in hospitals – some had to employ security guards to keep them out,’ he said. ‘Now it can only happen with the hospital’s agreement. If you took that system away you would still have advertising and marketing, only you would lose any control and drive it underground.’

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/ban-pi-adverts-hospitals-039unworkable039

Opponents win custody advice concession in ‘un-costed and unjust’ LASPO

Thursday 26 January 2012 by Catherine Baksi

The government has abandoned its controversial plan to pave the way for the means-testing of legal advice for suspects detained in police stations.

The Law Society welcomed the government’s decision, announced in the latest Lords debate on the Legal Aid Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders (LASPO) Bill. However it said the concession is ‘far from enough’ and the bill remains un-costed and unjust.

The change, in Clause 12, was one of the most fiercely opposed elements in the bill, condemned as unworkable and undermining the long-established right of detainees to free legal advice.

Justice minister Lord McNally indicated the government’s intention to table an amendment to remove the clause as peers debated the Bill, currently in its committee stage, on Tuesday evening.

Prior to the concession, the former Director of Public Prosecutions Lord Macdonald of River Glaven had tabled an amendment saying the clause ‘raises the spectre that some time in the future legal aid the police stations could be subject to some form of means testing. In other words, what is now an unfettered right, applied with ease, efficiency and, above all, speed, would no longer routinely be available, and where it was it might be subject to some as yet undersigned bureaucratic process,’ he said.

In a report in November the House of Lords constitution committee had warned that the clause would undermine the right to free legal advice in custody that has been enshrined in English law through statute and case law. Despite the clause’s inclusion, justice minister Jonathan Djanogly had maintained that the government did not intend to implement it, telling the Legal Action Group’s conference in July ‘we have no intention to take away legal help from the police station’.

A Ministry of Justice spokeswoman told the Gazette: ‘We have listened to the concerns raised in parliament when debating the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill. We intend to table an amendment to clause 12 at the report stage that will remove the power to introduce means testing for initial advice and assistance at the police station.’

Scrapping the clause had been one of the key changes sought by the Law Society and its Sound off for Justice campaign since the bill was introduced in June last year.

Law Society chief executive Desmond Hudson said the decision showed that the government has finally realised means-testing for initial legal advice at police stations was not going to work.

‘While this a positive step, it is far from enough. There remain deeply contentious measures in the bill – such as the outrageous fiddling with the definition of domestic violence so as to deny more vulnerable individuals access to legal advice,’ said Hudson.

He added: ‘The government needs to do more to make the bill compatible with what is a given tenet of any civilised society – access to justice for all.’

Opponents scored another small victory during the debate when Lord Wallace of Tankerness, for the government, indicated that payment of ‘reasonable costs’ could be made to parties making a successful application for exceptional funding, in cases that would ordinarily fall outside the scope of public funding.

‘Discussions with the Legal Services Commission about the precise arrangements for exceptional funding applications are ongoing and we fully expect to propose that the costs associated with the making of successful exceptional funding applications will be payable,’ he said.

Tankerness said the exceptional funding provisions would be drawn narrowly, but he expected that there will be ‘several thousand’ applications and confirmed that the budget for such cases would not be fixed.

He said the government intends to publish more details on the operation of the scheme in due course.

Support was apparent on both sides of the Lords for the idea that restrained assets of those accused of criminal offences should be used to pay for their legal costs. An amendment to allow this, tabled by Liberal Democrat Lord Thomas of Gresford, took forward an idea that both the Law Society and Bar council have pressed for.

Gresford highlighted the ‘absurd situation’ where legal aid is granted to people of huge means because their assets are frozen, while their assets can be unfrozen to pay for their children’s school fees.

He said: ‘About 50% of the criminal legal aid budget goes on 1% of the cases, and it is in those 1% where assets have been frozen. That is a great resource,’ and one which he said, in 2010-11, amounted to £744 million.

Fellow Liberal Democrat and barrister Lord Carlile of Berriew cited examples of cases where substantial sums of money had been released to the defendant, or where assets had not been seized in full, and where the funds could have been used to pay for the defendant’s legal team.

Carlile also pointed out that when confiscation orders are made, the money is not used to fund legal aid, but goes to the Exchequer and therefore does not ‘reflect the strain placed on the legal aid budget by high-cost fraud cases’. He said the amendment was ‘a complete no-brainer’ that would save the legal aid fund ‘shedloads of money’.

Labour’s former legal minister Lord Bach regretted that his party had not introduced the change when in government.

McNally said the government is considering a related proposition under which the value of restrained assets might be taken into consideration in the Crown court means test. ‘Until that proposition has been considered fully, we believe it premature to suggest an amendment to the Proceeds of Crime Act,’ he said.

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/opponents-win-custody-advice-concession-un-costed-and-unjust-laspo

Cost assessment scheme to go national

Thursday 26 January 2012 by John Hyde

Lord Justice Jackson has stated that the costs provisional assessment scheme is ready to go national after a year-long pilot.

District judges in three county courts were required to assess on paper any bill of costs in which the base costs claimed were £25,000 or less.

Jackson, who recommended the pilot as part of his costs review in 2010, said the scheme had cut costs and court time and increased fee income for the courts.

The average time spent on each provisional assessment was 37 minutes, with the district judges estimating that the parties saved at least £4,000 per case.

He concluded that provisional assessment should be incorporated into the Civil Procedure Rules and become part of the service provided at all civil court centres for bills up to £25,000.

Jackson said: ‘The process is quick and simple. It thus enables many parties who would normally be put off by the expensive and convoluted process of detailed assessment to obtain a judicial assessment of bills.’

If the Rule Committee approves the plan, court staff and district judges should receive immediate training before the procedure is introduced, Jackson recommends.

Work will also begin to develop a self-calculating facility to help the process of provisional assessment for judges and both parties.

The pilot, based on principles used in Hong Kong since 2009, began at Leeds, Scarborough and York in October 2010. If either party was dissatisfied with the written assessment of costs, they could request an oral hearing. If that party achieved a result at the oral hearing which was better by at least 20% of the assessment, it could recover costs, but failure to achieve that degree of success meant it paid the costs of the hearing.

A total of 119 cases went through the pilot, mostly personal injury claims, with 16% settled early and 84% going to provisional assessment.

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/cost-assessment-scheme-go-national

Call for inquiry over church child abuse ‘cover-up’

Thursday 26 January 2012 by Jonathan Rayner

Child protection lawyers have called for a public inquiry into an alleged cover-up by churches of widespread sexual and physical abuse of children in England and Wales.

In a letter to The Times last week, they claimed that the implementation of new ‘safeguarding’ policies has been ‘tentative (and) patchy’, and has met with ‘institutional resistance at senior levels in the church hierarchy’.

The Catholic church has denied these allegations, pointing to the 2001 Nolan independent review and the 2006 Cumberlege Commission, which investigated child abuse by Catholic priests and put in place measures that ensured transparency and brought offenders to justice.

David Greenwood, partner at Yorkshire firm Jordans, said the Vatican issued a decree in 1962 requiring bishops to keep reports of abuse from the police. This edict was endorsed in 2001 by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now the Pope.

Greenwood said: ‘The Catholic church is obstructing justice by hiding away documents and there is now a desperate need for a public inquiry.’

Manchester firm Pannone partner Richard Scorer, a member of the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers, said: ‘There is a tension in the church between canon law and the laws of our society.’

However, Father Kristian Paver, canon law safeguarding consultant to the general secretary of the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, said: ‘Nothing new can be discovered by a public hearing. The Holy See long ago sent a letter to all bishops reminding them that they must abide by the legal requirements of every country.’

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/call-inquiry-over-church-child-abuse-039cover-up039

Leading firms ponder ABS options

Thursday 26 January 2012 by John Hyde

At least 10 of the top 100 UK law firms are considering applying to become alternative business structures, the Gazette can reveal.

International firm Kennedys and Midlands firm Browne Jacobson are among those to confirm this week that discussions are ongoing about a possible application – although they have yet to progress further. National firm TLT Solicitors and north-east firm Dickinson Dees say no application is imminent but they will monitor developments in the coming months.

At least five other top 100 firms are known to be considering an application in 2012, but want to remain anonymous for the moment. Irwin Mitchell and Keoghs, from opposite sides of the claimant-defendant divide, have previously expressed their interest.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority said this week it has received 80 ‘stage one’ applications. The majority have been sent bespoke packs to continue the process. The regulator confirmed entries have come from a range of law firms, retailers and other organisations of varying sizes.

Analysts have long predicted that the opening of the legal services market to non-lawyers would be attractive to new firms and outside entrants. But there is clearly interest from some firms with much longer histories to take advantage of new opportunities.

A spokeswoman for Kennedys said: ‘ABS is attractive because we can continue to have non-lawyers as partners and can even expand this group if we so wish. It is also another source of finance for us.’

David Pester, managing partner of TLT Solicitors, said: ‘We’re currently looking into the opportunities presented by ABSs, and while we have no immediate plans to become an ABS we’re continually looking at how we can best meet our clients’ needs and ABS structures may present some advantages in a changing market.’

Iain Blatherwick, managing partner at Browne Jacobson, said: ‘Opening the door to non-lawyers to become partners or co-owners will certainly allow firms much wider choice and flexibility in the way that the business is controlled, management teams are structured and how risks are managed and shared.’

The Gazette understands that at least 30 of the top 100 firms have ruled themselves out of an ABS move. They include Cobbetts, Gateley and Burges Salmon. The rest of the 30 said they were not interested but preferred to stay anonymous.

ABS licensing began last October, when the Council for Licensed Conveyancers gained licensing authority. The SRA became a licensing authority earlier this month, with the Ministry of Justice predicting that ‘thousands more’ firms would be able to take advantage of new freedoms. The first SRA approval is expected by the end of February.

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/leading-firms-ponder-abs-options

Business specialist launches franchise scheme

Thursday 26 January 2012 by Eduardo Reyes

A south-east law firm which has won awards for its innovative approach to business advice has used its name to launch a new franchise. Acumen Business Law, based in Hove, East Sussex, will license firms to use the name Acumen Business Law Enterprise.

Acumen’s managing director and founder, Penina Shepherd, told the Gazette that solicitors and law firms joining the ­franchise would be committing to sharing its business model. The model includes fixed fees or a retainer for every matter.
Acumen is the first franchise to focus solely on business clients.

The franchise’s target client base is one to which law firms have struggled to become trusted advisers. In 2010, research found that less than 4% of small businesses would use their lawyer to ‘sense-check’ decisions, or to help benchmark their behaviour against competitors.

Article source: http://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/business-specialist-launches-franchise-scheme