Approaching the Dotted Line 

Thanks to Andrew for the update, in the comment box, to Fridays last post. Here is a link to the version on the Law Society’s own site. Here is the final paragraph: “We still have the utmost concern over the ability of many professionals to deliver a proper professional service for the fees on offer […]

A Plea 

I had a number of Autorecbot related discussions yesterday. The full Kafkaesque nature of these conversations would take too long to relate here. My initial conclusion – complete LSC confusion; what they are saying nationally to your representative bodies is either being disregarded locally or has not been properly communicated to them. Or alternatively the […]

Shall I, Shan’t I 

Whilst we await the Law Society guidance on CDS contract signature a number of aspirant new firms have been in touch for a bit of advice from us. There are I think 2 things to say. Firstly await the above mentioned LS guidance however there will be a point, who knows when, where new entrants […]

CDS Countdown 

This news report from Criminal Solicitor Dot Net is of interest – not least that there might be some clear guidance on CDS Contract signature by close of play today. The last sentence looks on face value to be portentous! Check back in later and we will provide an update.

Something for the Weekend 

The litigators fee has been published. You can download it here. I will be training on the subject (and others) in November with TMT. Not sure about the phrase “successful Advocates Graduated Fee Scheme” though! Another weekend involving reading. Maybe I’ll just walk the dogs and watch the rugby. UPDATE This is not a particularly […]

War of Words 

The first foray in this conflict, a battle of Press Releases, has begun. The Law Society’s opened up with this one from which the following seems the most significant extract: “The Society asked the Legal Services Commission (LSC) for a draft of the contract it would be inviting firms to sign, and to meet with […]

Having Contractions 

I waited all Friday for news on the process for gaining a new 6 month CDS contract in January. It turned up a bit too late to post so I saved it for this morning. The long and short of it is that you will not need to express an interest or “tender” for a […]

Short and Sweet 

The LAPG’s comments on last weeks announcements: LAPG welcomes the postponement of the criminal proposals. Hopefully this will allow the LSC to fully reflect upon the impact of imposing such a large number of changes simultaneously and the potential damage that is likely to be caused too many practices and the resultant effect upon quality […]

Back to the Future 

Further to our report on the CDS Contract Bombshell comes further information on the way ahead from here. Perhaps of most import in this document is the indication that new contracts will be available to all including new entrants i.e. the current moratorium comes to an end. The CLSA’s take on events is here. HAT […]

CDS Direct 

Here are the LAPGs views of the latest CDS Direct proposals: The LSC has today announced that it intends to proceed with a scheme whereby all requests for advice in the police station will be directed via the Duty Solicitor Call Centre, even where the client has requested their own solicitor, and in less serious […]