London Solicitors Litigation Association
Welcome to the LSLA newsletter. May was a busy month for the LSLA as you will see from this edition of our newsletter which also contains details of our future activities and some issues which might affect you.
LSLA News
Spring Lecture Series
Second Visit to the Supreme Court - 6 October 2010
Last year members of the LSLA visited the Supreme Court for an informative talk by Louise Di Mambro (Registrar of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and Acting Registrar of the Privy Council) about the role of The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. This was followed by a short tour of the Court.
The event was so well received that we have decided to repeat it and shall take place on 6 October 2010. Numbers will be limited to 50 with a preference being given to those who did not attend last year’s visit. Full details shall be circulated in due course.
Committee Members - Vacancy
The Committee strives to reflect the broad practices of the LSLA’s membership.
There is currently a vacancy on the committee for another member and having considered the matter carefully, the Committee would welcome applications from practitioners specializing in the filed of personal injury, clinical negligence or defamation. If you are interested please send you CV to Gavin Foggo, our Hon. Secretary at gfoggo@foxwilliams.com.
Solicitors Journal and New Law Journal - Discounted Offers
As reported in earlier editions, although the administrative details are still to be finalised, we are in the process of agreeing a discount of 20% to LSLA members for their subscriptions to the Solicitors Journal and New Law Journal. We shall let you know when this has been agreed so that you can take advantage of the discount.
Renewal of Membership
Legal News
Two reports say Referral Fees are Not Detrimental to Clients
Both the Law Society and Lord Justice Jackson have made recent calls for the LSB to ban referral fees. However a report commissioned by the LSB and produced by Charles River Associates has said that referral fees do not harm clients and on a costs benefit analysis the existence of referral fees does not affect the quality of work clients receive.
We wait to see how matter develops.
Recent Press
The LSLA has attracted some press over the past month including:
- 23 April, "Hard to Predict", New Law Journal. Seamus Smyth outlines the difficulty of envisaging future trends in litigation (click to view the pdf)
- 18 May 2010, “Kicking out the kick-backs” a report on the forthcoming Bribery Act by Nick Burkhill (click to view the pdf)
- 26 May 2010, Seamus Smyth opinion on the reports produced by the LSB and Legal Services Consumer panel was quoted in the Times Online (see http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article7136413.ece)
- 7 June 2010, An open letter from Seamus Smyth, LSLA President, to Ken Clarke, the Lord Chancellor (see http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article7145788.ece)