The legal disciplinary partnership model is just as relevant to legal aid firms as it is to those undertaking solely privately funded work, argues Penny Owston
Jane Ching examines Lord Hunt's recommendations on education, qualification and CPD, and his focus on competence as a pre-requisite for being professionally fit
Improving communication with your clients is a simple and inexpensive way to increase the amount of business they do with you and prevent them from going elsewhere, says Dianne Bown-Wilson
Operation Bumblebee is back: all over the Tube there are adverts telling would-be burglars that the Metropolitan Police has re-launched the burglar-busting initiative, and, if they have any sense at all, they should not be welcoming these darkening evenings as a heaven-sent opportunity to go out burgling, but rather see it as a time to draw up an armchair by a warm fire and have a quiet night in, reminisce about the old days and get an early night. We, the householders, are invited to defeat the threat posed by those who ignore the warnings and prefer to wander from their firesides on autumn evenings by leaving our lights on. The burglars – well, most of them – understandably do not want to risk burgling a house where the occupier is at home, and so they will either move on to find an easier target or just go back home, rattle the coals and say “nothing doing†to Mrs Burglar.
Splitting the criminal and civil legal aid budget could be useful, but Sir Ian Magee must also consider other problems with the system if he is to save it from collapsing entirely, warns Russell Conway
Richard Waite reviews proposals to give the OFT extended powers to disqualify directors, plans for new guidelines on distribution arrangements, and the European Commission's fine on Intel and its sector inquiry into the pharmaceutical industry
