Archive for the ‘Commercial Law’ Category
Tuesday, August 7th, 2007
Calls from the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for Scottish regulators to relax restrictions over legal services have been welcomed by the country’s legal profession.
The recommendations by the OFT to the Scottish executive called for limitations on legal services to be cut as they could potentially be harming consumers.
OFT executive director of markets and projects Sean Williams said the restrictions are unnecessary and prevent solicitors and advocates from innovating to meet the needs of clients.
John Campbell QC, founder of the independent Oracle Chambers, stated that the OFT has properly swept aside the Faculty Services’ arguments against reform.
Douglas Mill, chief executive of the Law Society of Scotland, said that he wanted to see the development of an essentially Scottish solution: "What we must ensure, though, is that Scotland seeks its own solutions and that access to justice and protection of the public remain core to any plans for reform."
The OFT is a non-ministerial government department established by statute in 1973, a Scottish branch of which has existed since March 2007.
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Tuesday, May 8th, 2007
Proposals for a commercial property development have been put to Stirling Council planners, it has emerged.
Coming on the heels of previous applications to develop the site, the office building and leisure facility complex has been conceived by RJM Development’s Scottish arm.
The site has previously been put under consideration for development by United Auctions, the Stirling Observer reports, but the firm’s bid was turned down because it did not provide details of enhanced road safety measures on a nearby roundabout.
RJM Developments, possibly having learnt from the lessons provided by the previous proposals’ rejection, told the Observer that it was "consulting fully with the relevant authorities" over the plans.
Meanwhile, Stirling Council has granted planning permission for a £10 million auction market in the area to United Auctions.
The planning bid for the property will now be elevated to the Scottish Executive for further consideration.
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Friday, May 4th, 2007
Consumers need to achieve greater understanding of the risks involve in financial savings and investments, according to the results of a recent survey.
A poll conducted by the Financial Services Consumer Panel suggests that consumers desire a "consistent approach" when having risks associated with financial products explained to them.
This was paired with the observation that most members of the public’s understanding of the details of financial products was low.
John Howard, chairman of the Financial Services Consumer Panel, said: "Most consumers cannot hope to make a sensible decision about buying a financial product without understanding the risks involved.
"The evidence suggests that few consumers do understand the risks, so we believe a practical system of explaining risks which also promotes understanding is a fundamental requirement."
Panel members say that while many investors understand the relationship of risk to reward, few comprehend more complex relationships such as risk to capital.
In March, the organisation welcomed new proposals from the Financial Services Authority regarding the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which it suggested made the scheme more robust and efficient in its support of consumers.
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