Recently by Ben Schofield

Seconds out, Round 1 - Tesco Law v Brand Solicitor

I went to the trusty top right hand corner of my browser today and typed in the words "Tesco Law". I was sure there would be a Wiki article or perhaps a line from Tesco.

Nope on both counts.

There is an article from back in 2004 in 'The Independent' that says,

"Lord Falconer's notion of cheap and accessible legal advice, dubbed by the constitutional affairs secretary 'Tesco law', came a step closer when Britain's biggest supermarket chain obliged by launching its own online legal service."

AROUND 50% of office workers use Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites for personal use during the working day, wasting an average of 40 minutes a week per employee and costing the economy around £1.38billion a year.

One marketing company dismissed one of its employees after she said her job was "boring" on Facebook, because it believed it her comment displayed disrespect and dissatisfaction that undermined her relationship with the company. Virgin Atlantic also sacked 13 crew for describing passengers as "chavs".

Now employers are increasingly monitoring staff internet and email use in the workplace and a significant number have banned access to social networking sites during office hours.

After this story in today's LDP Legal in the Daily Post, the Ministry of Justice has abandoned plans for Best Value Tendering for legal aid.

It follows threats by the Law Society to start judicial review proceedings against the Government to try to force it to back down.

A Law Society statement reads: "The Law Society welcomes the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) decision inviting the Legal Services Commission (LSC) not to proceed with its planned pilots for Best Value Tendering (BVT).

BACK to the Good Old Days!

1999 was going to be the big bang in civil procedure. No more delays, court controls and simple procedures with costs being least of our problems as we grappled with the new way of doing things.

For those new to Civil law the National Law Society had quite a lot to say about the proposed changes. There was a great deal of concern that too many changes were taking place to areas of practise which appeared to most to be working very well!

I READ last week in the Daily Post that scores of Liverpool women are dying needlessly from breast cancer every year because their condition is diagnosed too late.

The city was found to have one of the worst survival rates anywhere in England, with almost 7% of women dead within one year of being told they have the condition.

Health experts believe the high death rate is explained by a failure to diagnose the cancer early enough.

THE LAW Society has warned that the criminal justice system will be "pushed to breaking point" by Chancellor Alistair Darling's plans to slash £360m from the system, including the already stretched legal aid budget.

Today's pre-budget report includes plans to make "savings in the Criminal Justice System by improving case management, putting underperforming or expensive public sector prisons out to competition during 2010-11, and reforming legal aid".

The move has prompted the Society to warn that further cuts to an already crippled criminal justice system will impact on access to justice.

ALISTAIR Darling's announcement that the current stamp duty holiday would not be extended beyond the end of the year is a "cruel blow at a crucial time for first-time buyers", according to a Merseyside property expert.

Currently, anyone buying a property for £175,000 or less avoids paying the 1% tax, saving them up to £1,750.

This threshold has been in place since September 2008 when the chancellor temporarily increased it from £125,000 to £175,000.

THE INCIDENCE of asbestos related illness has been a talking point in legal and insurance circles for some time, and has long be talked of as a ticking bomb; but what is this all about?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring substance and comes in a variety of forms, but each share a common characteristic that their fibres are both small and sharp.

As a consequence, the human bodies ability to catch and expel these fibres, as it might to do with some dust, is extremely limited and many of the fibres find their way through, especially into the lungs and chest.

LAST week the Bar Standards Council announced the dramatic news that barristers will now be allowed to work in partnership with solicitors.

Could this mean the beginning of the end of a divided profession that goes back to the 16th Century?

Outside the law does anybody care?