“Mr Cannon, 23, who has waived his right to anonymity, started a claim for compensation through his solicitor David Greenwood following the criminal case.

Mr Greenwood, of Jordan’s Solicitors, said: “The social work department at Wakefield Council have failed Andrew fairly seriously.

“The social worker supervising Andy failed to spot risks to him and failed to heed his complaints.”"

For full story from BBC News please click here 1st May 2012

Alliance to STOP CHURCH CHILD ABUSE calls on the Government to commission a Public Inquiry into abuse of children and vulnerable adults by Clergy in England and Wales.

Who we are
The STOP CHURCH CHILD ABUSE campaign is an alliance of clergy sexual abuse survivors, charities that support survivors, specialist lawyers and interested individuals working in the field of child safeguarding. We have come together to investigate and highlight the serious safeguarding failures of church institutions, from 1954 to the present.

Why we exist
For 20 years the leaders of the Catholic Church and the Church of England/Wales have repeatedly stated that they will respond appropriately to reports of child sexual abuse. Despite these assurances, many prosecutions have revealed that Church authorities have covered up past reports of child abuse and allowed clergy to remain in post despite allegations and in some cases past convictions for child sexual offences. In many reported cases further child abuse has taken place.

Church run schools
Safeguarding arrangements in many church schools are seriously inadequate. For example the Church of England vicar Gordon Rideout was allowed to remain as Chair of Governors at Bishop Bell School, Eastbourne, despite the head teacher and senior clergy being aware of previous allegations of child sexual abuse made against him.

Our Findings :-
• From our research between 542 and 1,776 clergy with allegations against them have gone un-prosecuted.
• Church safeguarding procedures allow Bishops to keep allegations away from the police and social services.
• There have been recently discovered cover-ups in which Bishops protected clergy.
• The churches have allowed convicted sex offenders to be ordained.
• Most church schools do not make a commitment to report all allegations of abuse to the authorities.
• Failure to implement effective child protection is putting children at risk in 2012.

What are we calling for?
We call on the Government to set up an Independent Commission of Inquiry into child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy, religious and other church officials within all Dioceses and institutions of the Catholic Church in England & Wales and the Church of England and in Wales.
Such an inquiry should have powers to compel the disclosure of all files of clergy, religious and other church officials containing reports and allegations of child sexual abuse. It should receive evidence, both oral and written from victims of child sexual abuse perpetrated by clergy and religious within parish communities and church institutions and also be able to compel those in positions of authority within Dioceses and religious orders to attend and give evidence. The Inquiry should have the power to make recommendations concerning legislation to improve safeguarding in church institutions.

The Alliance is holding a press conference on
 Thursday 19th April, at 2pm, Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion Square, WC1R 4RL.

We will be revealing our research documents in full, discussing safeguarding in schools today and providing documents that highlight current failings within the Church. There will also be the opportunity for more detailed interviews with survivors, lawyers and campaigners afterwards.

For more information contact:
David Greenwood on 01924 868911 / david.greenwood@jordanssolicitors.co.uk
For information on the schools project and for press conference inquires contact:
 Lucy Duckworth on 07427605202 / lucy@napac.org.uk

Commercial lawyers are not unaffected by these changes and recent years have seen new businesses and old firms offering a variety of alternate ways of providing and paying for legal advice.

At Jordans we are firmly committed to a personal service for our commercial clients lead by our experienced specialist lawyers.  We would though like our clients’ and prospective clients’ views on some of these alternatives.  Many clients are said not to like hourly rates.  Some of the alternatives include annual fees, fixed fees, capped fees, legal expenses insurance and advice and representation ‘packages’.   In the next couple of weeks I intend to blog about each of these.

We’ve taken a stand (no 34) at the Wakefield Business Conference at the Cedar Court Hotel on 26 April. Please come along then and tell us what you think.

For further information contact Debbie MacTaggart on 033 03001103 or subscribe to her blog below

http://yorkshireemploymentlaw.wordpress.com/2012/04/16/wakefield-business-conference-tell-us-what-you-think-of-legal-services/

The firm were keen to meet the Horsforth community and local businesses. Christine Sands commented “We can offer expert legal advice without the need to travel to the centre of Leeds or pay city prices.”

Many of the local businesses and professional firms attended the event and feedback was very positive. Click here to view photos from the event.

Law Society President John Wotton said that the Law Society introduced CQS to promote high standards in the home buying process,

“CQS improves efficiency with common, consistent standards and service levels and enables consumers to recognise practises that provide a quality residential conveyancing service.

Buying a home is one of the largest purchases anyone will make in a lifetime, so it is essential that it is done to the highest standard by a solicitor. There are many different conveyancing service providers out there, making it difficult for home buyers to identify which can ensure a safe and efficient level of service.”

Arrive: 8am for breakfast
Presentation: 8.30am to 9.30am

Following the Chancellor’s budget statement on 21st March 2012 Paul Davison of Eaves & Co will explain what the budget means practically for owner managers and their businesses and will give an update on other key tax developments.

If you are interested in attending you are very welcome simply contact Penny Reddington on 01924 387110 or by email at penny.reddington@jordanssolicitors.co.uk  giving any dietary requirements.

The overall winners were Hannah Warwicker and Alex Cruikshanks of Silcoates school with Joshua Skipworth and Julian Ostrowski of QEGS in second place.

Fortunately we didn’t have to judge alone as once again the English Speaking Union supported us by providing a member of the Sheffield University Debating Society to help. 
 
We thoroughly enjoyed supporting this competition and watching the participants grow in confidence and ability over the progress of the competition and very much look forward to next year’s competition.”

Click to view photos from the final debate

We are very keen to be able to support the Horsforth business community as well as offering expert advice to individuals from the local area with the convenience of not having to go into the centre of Leeds.

We are looking forward to introducing ourselves to the Horsforth community and demonstrate to you our legal services.

If you are interested in attending the event please call Penny Reddington on 0113 2586 307.

The finals will be held at our offices at 5.30pm on 8 March when the teams will debate:

Motion 1:  This House supports positive discrimination Proposing: Joshua Skipworth and Julian Ostrowski (QEGS) Opposing:Alex Cruikshanks and Hannah Warwicker (Silcoates)

Motion 2:  This House believes an unelected head of state should have no place in Twentieth Century Britain. Proposing: Joe Gerrard and Joe Irvin (Ossett) Opposing: Faheem Lone and Max Grunewald (QEGS)

View the photostream from the semi final here