Foster & Partners Acquired by Simpson Millar Solicitors
Simpson Millar Solicitors has acquired Foster & Partners (“Fosters”), one of Bristol’s leading family law practices. Combining with Simpson Millar Solicitors existing Bristol operation from 1st July, Simpson Millar Solicitors are seeking to establish itself as the pre-eminent provider of family law services in Bristol and the South West. F Fosters has 9 family lawyers […]
Migration Statistics Reveal Rise in Investor and Entrepreneur Visas
Figures released this week by the Office for National Statistics reveal an increase in the number of UK investor and entrepreneur visas granted during the first quarter of 2014.
When Is A Marriage Not Legally Binding?
Pop songstress Foxes is reported as being uncertain of her marital status following a drunken ceremony at Glastonbury, in an interview with Metro magazine. She recalls hazy memories of a marriage ceremony in the after-party at Shangri-La, but has no idea where her festival “hubby” could be, revealing that they lost touch. She is reported […]
Are DIY Wills a Good Idea?
Thinking about writing a will can be depressing, because no one wants to contemplate the day when they will pass away and leave behind their friends, family and children. However, it is very important to craft a will so that it will be easier for your loved ones to deal with your affairs when that […]
How Far Can the Duty of Good Faith Go?
Could an employer be legally bound by a broad statement that they would make no further changes to their pension scheme, even though this was not written into a contract? Yes, where this leads to a reasonable expectation on the part of the employees. Background IBM wanted to change the terms of its ‘final salary’ […]
Treatment and Compensation for PTSD
More and more ex-service veterans are putting forward PTSD claims. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder can disrupt lives significantly, but Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing can be highly-effective treatments. Sometimes a range of treatments can be used including medication to achieve the right results. The charity PTSD Resolution are offering what has proved to be […]
PreNups to Become Fully Binding?
Couples are have been told by the Law Commission that pre-nuptial agreements (prenups) should be legally binding in UK divorce settlements – as long as the needs of any children and the couple themselves have been considered. The Commission says that new guidelines should be drawn up to offer couples a more coherent idea on how […]
The Law Commission’s Proposals Herald a Golden Age for Prenuptial Agreements and DIY Divorce. Or Do They?
The last few days have seen a surge in interest in the possibility of pre-nuptial agreements becoming binding and the effect that that might have on the use of divorce lawyers versus DIY divorce solutions. The Law Commission’s Proposals First came the Law Commission’s recommendation on 27 February that ‘qualifying nuptial agreements’ (covering pre and […]
Family Lawyers and Clients Face New Challenges
Radical reforms to family law services in 2014 mean fresh challenges for family lawyers and numerous difficulties for parents and couples. Family lawyers have already had to cope with huge changes in 2013, including the withdrawal of public funding (legal aid) for most family law cases and the closure of several local courts. Although, family […]
Legal Aid Cuts Breach Human Rights – Are They Right?
To say that this year’s legal aid cuts and changes to eligibility were contentious is something of an understatement – in June, hundreds of solicitors protested outside the Ministry of Justice condemning cuts and reforms to the system. The aim, the MoJ have said from the outset, is to make multi-million pound savings on a […]
Compensation Culture – A Solicitor’s Viewpoint
The first thing to consider is what do people really mean when they talk about a compensation culture? Are they referring to a compensation culture amongst accident victims of exaggerating or making up their injuries in order to claim compensation, or are they thinking about the claims industry and the No Win/ No Fee compensation […]
What Does No Win No Fee Mean?
What does no win no fee mean? is a question that is asked a lot. We frequently hear banded about in the UK. It’s formal name is CFA – which means Conditional Fee Agreement. The no win no fee era was set in motion at the end of the means tested, personal injury legal aid, […]
Claiming for Injury – 4 Top Tips
Tip 1: Claiming for injury: act fast. It can be very important to make sure begin your claim as quickly as possible following an accident for a number of reasons. Firstly there are time limits for certain types of accident claims. And you wouldn’t want to miss out on your compensation that you might be […]
Will NHS Franchising Deals lead to more clinical negligence claims?
The government has proposed enabling private firms to take over NHS hospitals’ operational management, particularly those facilities that have long-term financial difficulties. This type of hospital is frequently referred to as ‘failing’, even if they are persistently avoiding medical negligence compensation cases and are achieving excellent standards of clinical care. These financial struggles are being […]
Government to end right of appeal against refusal of family visit visas
As part of the coalition’s plans to cut family migration to the UK genuine family visitors will no longer be able to appeal the decision to refuse them entry to the UK to visit their family members in the UK. Last year the government drafted legislation to restrict certain family members from being classed as […]
How to Get Out of a Contract
Most businesses will be familiar with this scenario: you enter into a contract and then later, for whatever reason you want or need to exit. This may be because the other party is not performing under the contract, you may be in financial difficulties, have found a better deal elsewhere or simply no longer require […]
Shared Parenting and the Children and Families Bill
Alan Beith MP wrote to Mr Cameron to express his objections to shared parenting legislation: http://www.guardian.co.uk/law/2012/jul/18/family-law-confusion-lib-dem Mr Beith’s opposition to shared parenting legislation is, perhaps, best viewed in some historical and cultural context. In the 19th century, British family law was such that, if the father so wished it, a separated mother was likely to […]
Baroness Butler-Sloss on Shared Parenting
Retired President of the Family Division, Baroness Butler-Sloss has expressed her strong objections to Shared Parenting legislation: Baroness Butler-Sloss said: “I’ve heard one father who went into court saying, ‘Once this law is enforced, I will get half of the child’ ” Is she claiming to have heard this father in a case over which […]
Damages Based Agreements
As previously discussed (see “Damages Based Agreements: A Capital Idea!”), Damages Based Agreements (“DBAs”) will become available to a whole new array of clients from 1 April 2013 and Conditional Fee Agreement (“CFA”) success fees and after-the-event insurance premiums will no longer be recoverable from the other side in the event of a win. It […]
Are Law Firms Time Machines?
Yes and No! I want to suggest to you that law firms are time machines in one sense, but not in another. The majority of law firms measure their services using time and build business plans and targets based on time. The minority are time machines in the HG Wells sense of travelling to the […]