Practice Management

A top National Audit Office official has asked fundamental questions of the government’s court reform programme, even as the head of the courts service extolled its performance during the pandemic.

The High Court has rejected an “unmeritorious” negligence claim against a barrister brought by a former law lecturer acting as a litigant in person.

The average number of legal jobs posted every month in 2020 was 60% down on the previous year, while applications increased by 53% for each one, a recruitment website has reported.

An judge has refused a second application from a law firm to reconsider his decision to award a property solicitor damages of £13,200 for age discrimination when he applied for a job with it.

A law firm that settled a negligence claim is entitled to recoup some of what it paid from the counsel it instructed, even though proceedings against him were dropped, the High Court has ruled.

A law firm dismissed a paralegal because he was close to his supervisor, with whom it was in dispute, rather than due to the allegations levied against him, an employment tribunal has ruled.

A Merseyside law firm has been cleared of breaking Advertising Standards Authority rules with a radio advert that highlighted the fear of “a social worker at your door to take your child”.

A distributed firm which trebled the number of its self-employed consultants last year has launched an internship programme for postgraduate commercial law students from a London university.

A solicitor who “fobbed off” three members of staff who repeatedly requested employment contracts has been ordered to pay nearly £10,000 for constructive dismissal.

The head of the first ‘teaching law firm’, Nottingham Law School’s Legal Advice Centre, has said it is “busier than ever” helping clients, many of whose problems are related to the pandemic.