Central London August 2018

LONDON CENTRAL

THE CITY OF WESTMINSTER AND HOLBORN LAW SOCIETY

AUGUST 2018

Cryptocurrencies... see page 14 and pages 16-17

Inside this issue:

■ International ■ News

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H

The City of Westminster & Holborn Law Society

PUBLISHER Benham Publishing Aintree Building, Aintree Way, Aintree Business Park, Liverpool L9 5AQ Tel: 0151 236 4141 0151 236 0440 Fax: email: admin@benhampublishing.com www.benhampublishing.com web:

Contents

4 5 6-7

8-9

Reports from the Conference

International 9 10 11

ACCOUNTS DIRECTOR Joanne Casey

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8

W & H Events Bologna and beyond!

Annual Conference of FBE 2018: New Families - New Challenges Right to privacy in a digital age

Junior Lawyers Division 14

PUBLISHED AUGUST 2018 © Benham Publishing Ltd.

Cryptocurrency: How to Regulate an Invisible Gold Mine

Articles

LEGAL NOTICE © Benham Publishing.

15 Working in the UK as an immigrant 16-17 Six Ways to Tell if Someone Criticising Bitcoin or Blockchain is Talking Through Their Derriere.

18-19 Dreamvar: the practical implications

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Wine Column 21

DISCLAIMER

Domaine Huet

Wills and Probate

All views expressed in this publication are the views of the individual writers and not the society unless specifically stated to be otherwise. All statements as to the law are for discussion between members and should not be relied upon as an accurate statement of the law, are of a general nature and do not constitute advice in any particular case or circumstance.

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Ollie and Scruffy A family’s unexpected discovery changes the way the estate is distributed

Stamp Duty

Members of the public should not seek to rely on anything published in this magazine in court but seek qualified Legal Advice.

COVER INFORMATION Cryptocurrencies

Westminster & Holborn Events

Presidents and Secretaries Conference 2018

DESIGN AND PRODUCTION MANAGER John Barry

None of the editorial or photographs may be reproduced without prior written permission from the publishers. Benham Publishing would like to point out that all editorial comment and articles are the responsibility of the originators and may or may not reflect the opinions of Benham Media. No responsibility can be accepted for any inaccuracies that may occur, correct at time of going to press. Benham Publishing cannot be held responsible for any inaccuracies in web or email links supplied to us.

President’s Foreword Council Members

Local News

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ADVERTISING AND FEATURES EDITOR Anna Woodhams

MEDIA No. 1579

Introduction

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16-17

WHY IS STAMP DUTY SO CONFUSING?

Property 25

The evolution of King’s Cross

Cyber Security 27

Legal Departments are at risk of cyber attacks

Software 28 29

Copy Deadlines Winter Spring Summer

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16th October 2018 29th January 2019 19th April 2019

LEAP launches conveyancing accreditation scheme Clio Announces Integration with Klyant,a leader in Legal Accounting Software, Enabling Simple Comliance with SRA Accounts Rules Catch-all solution to in-house staffing problems: outsourcing!

Members wishing to submit material please contact the Editor, Ivan Ho before copy deadline.

Email: IH@hunters-solicitors.co.uk Anyone else wishing to advertise or submit editorial for publication in Hampshire Legal please contact Anna Woodhams before copy deadline.

Email: anna@benhampublishing.com Tel: 0151 236 4141

The City of Westminister & Holborn Law Society is focussing on improving its presence on Social Media Please follow us on Twitter @CWHLawSociety And LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/groups/12087037

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Introduction

The

President’s

Foreword August 2018

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Many thanks for the excellent ideas members have been contributing for our plans for the future of the Society. I am particularly pleased to see that both the pro bono committee and the education and training committee have been able to progress many suggestions which will contribute to a busy Autumn.

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e encompass a very wide number of specialities in law so it is a challenge to provide something for everyone but I hope that all will find something of interest in the events listed on page 6.

Since the last magazine, we attended the London Legal Walk and arranged a successful property seminar with help from Index Properties. Susie Hust and Edward Macey-Dare ensured that the Legal Charities’ Garden Party in Gray’s Inn was successful, celebrating its 50th anniversary. We also received a visit from Romanian lawyers and were hosted by member firms, Farrer and Co and Dawson Cornwell. An even larger event will take place in October with a visit from the Milan Bar. Sara Chandler has already carried out a great deal of work to make this a success but welcomes anyone wanting to get involved.

Hannah McCrindle, our Vice President, is working with Benhams, our publishers, to update the style and content of our website as well as looking at a new logo which we hope to publish later in the year.

Committee members enjoyed attending the Presidents and Secretaries Conference, meeting representatives from other Societies and hearing what developments we might introduce. I was particularly interested in the session on twinning with universities as I have been discussing this with King’s College, London who are as keen as us to proceed. We will start with a joint event on Tuesday 23 October in the magnificent Bush House when we will celebrate the 2018 newly qualified solicitors in

Westminster and Holborn. If members have relevant solicitors qualifying in their firms, please let us know, as we will arrange for a certain number of free tickets which will need to be on a first-come basis. Tickets for all qualified lawyers will be available at a modest price, so please keep an eye on our website.

Finally, I was delighted to attend the Law Society AGM to see the new officers take post; Christina Blacklaws as President; Simon Davis as Vice President and Westminster & Holborn committee member, David Greene. Simon Davis will be one of our speakers and attendees at our annual dinner on 7 November.

Coral Hill

President

Introduction

City of Westminster and Holborn Law Society Council Members Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon) is the Council Member representing the voluntary sector and participates in a number of the Law Society committees.

She has had a remarkable year from June 2017 as President of the Federation des Barreaux d’Europe (FBE).

Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon) Council Member for The Voluntary Sector What inspired you to become a solicitor?

I did not become a solicitor until I was 49 as initially I worked with Chilean refugees, many of whom had been imprisoned for political reasons during the military dictatorship of Pinochet. It made me very determined to defend people’s human rights. The refugees were inspirational and during this period I learnt a great deal about people’s rights.

Although I qualified as a social worker, in 1990 I was encouraged to do the Law conversion course and, as I studied, I knew that being a solicitor was absolutely the right career for me.

Why did you want to be elected as a member of the Law Society Council?

I was working at the Plumstead Community Law Centre and I was aware that solicitors in Law Centres had no representation on the Law Society Council. Once the Law Society accepted these groups needed representation I was delighted to stand. I now represent all solicitors in NGOs, charities, CABx, and Law Centres. On Law Society Council I frequently speak about access to justice, and human rights. I was honoured in 2016 for my human rights work, pro bono work, and for being a pioneer of clinical legal education by being made an Honorary QC. I was made a Professor of Clinical Legal Education in 2008 while at the College of Law, and when I left in 2012, I joined London South Bank University as Professor of Clinical Legal Education and a supervising solicitor in the Legal Advice Clinic.

When did you join Westminster and Holborn Law Society?

I joined in 2003 and initially was in the Education and Training Sub-Committee and in 2006 became the President and started attending the Federation of European Bars (FBE). I then joined the International Sub-Committee, where I have been ever since.

states. I am a member of the FBE Human Rights & Freedom Commission and that meant monitoring human rights in Turkey and other It involved a tour of legal Europe for 12 months, European countries, and drafting intervention including meetings in Brussels with EU letters. The FBE supports the rights of refugees directorates, the European Courts in Strasbourg, and migrants who were walking across Europe, Luxembourg and The Hague. I have been all over and later those who were rescued at sea. We Europe meeting lawyers in Warsaw, Poznan, opposed the criminalisation of sea rescues, Krakow and Wroclaw, Paris, Vienna, Barcelona, which has become of vital importance.

Madrid, Bilbao, Milan, Palermo, Ragusa, Napoli, Though I am the first woman to be elected 2nd Bologna, Berlin, Koln and Leipzig and in the UK Vice-President, the following year there were three in London and Exeter, for conferences where I spoke on behalf of the FBE. I also flew to Toronto female candidates, and no men, and this year there were two female candidates and no men. It and attended the UIA (Union International des is almost like a dam bursting! I believe this is a Avocats) where I spoke in the International Bar Leaders session. The topics have been important significant break-through. and I have learnt a lot in preparing my speeches. As a result of the joint working with the CCBE during my year as President, we will now have a I mostly gave speeches in English, and occasionally in Spanish and three times in Italian! joint congress in Lisbon in October 2019, which will bring together a large number of European I have friends in many European Bar Associations, and it has been a privilege carrying lawyers who represent lawyers at national and local law societies and bar associations. This is a out my duties this year. As President I had to significant step forward in building international choose a Congress theme and so CWHLS and European relations among lawyers. organised the November 2017 FBE Congress in London on Climate Change. It was a great To contact Sara: occasion with over 165 delegates (a recent Sarachandler.lawsociety@gmail.com record) and I presided over the congress meeting, with Coral Hill (CWHLS President) as Congress Director, and Jeffrey Forrest, as Chair of CWHLS International Sub Committee.

What has being President of the FBE been like?

What have you achieved during your year as President of the FBE? As soon as I took over as President, I had to write to the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda because of the constitutional changes in Poland which removed the independence of judges. This was followed with individual letters to all the Bar Associations in Poland. I worked with the CCBE (the organisation which represents the national law societies of European countries) and provided support for the judges and lawyers in Poland. I continued to focus on the situation in Eastern Europe as it became apparent that there were problems for the legal profession in various

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Westminster & Holborn Events

EVENTS 2018

Movers and Shakers

Wednesday 19 September 6pm

Effective Retirement Planning This event is in conjunction with Strabens Hall and will be hosted at Hunters solicitors, 9 New Square, Lincolns Inn, WC2A 3QN. The presentation is for lawyers and their clients of any age, preparing for, or thinking about retirement. (Free to Members)

Thursday 27th September 8:30am

Legal Apprenticeships (breakfast provided) Venue: University of Law, Bloomsbury Campus, 14 Store Street WC1E 7DE Host: Jason O’Malley (Free to Members)

18 – 20 October

Visit by the Milan Bar The International Committee is co-ordinating a visit from the Milan Bar which will include the Milan Bar choir singing in Temple Church on Friday 19 October. If you wish to get involved please contact

sarachandler.lawsociety@gmail.com

Tuesday 23 October 6:30pm

Welcome to Newly Qualified Solicitors Bush House Being arranged in conjunction with King’s College. Limited number of free tickets for solicitors qualifying in 2018.

Tuesday 30 October 6pm

AGM All members welcome

Thursday 1 November 8:30am

Solicitors’ Qualifying Exam (breakfast provided) Venue: University of Law, Bloomsbury Campus, 14 Store Street WC1E 7DE Host: Sandie Gaines and Ben Campbell (Free to Members)

Wednesday 7 November

Annual Dinner This black tie evening will take place in a stunning restaurant in Westminster. Bob Nightingale MBE, Head fundraiser for the London Legal Support Trust and Simon Davis, Vice President of The Law Society will be our guest speakers.

Many thanks to Legal Network London for its support of this event.

Additional events are under discussion.

If you have suggestions or would like to host an event, please contact the committee at cwhlawsoc@gmail.com The website calendar also shows our events www.cwhls.org.uk

Nominations for committee roles, including officers.

Please submit your nominations to cwhlawsoc@gmail.com by 6 September.

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Mark Jarvis, a healthcare specialist has joined our highly regarded Healthcare team as a Partner, based at the London office. Mark was previously with Capsticks, having qualified at Lockharts Solicitors in 2007.

Mark's healthcare expertise spans commercial, corporate, procurement and general contracting for both NHS and private sector clients, whilst specialising in primary care contracting/commissioning and its integration with secondary care.

Clients include GPs and GP provider organisations with Mark assisting on various legal healthcare matters such as, NHS regulatory and contract issues, mergers, sales and acquisitions, incorporations, federating and a range of collaborative working, particularly as part of the drive of integration and working at scale as envisaged by the Five Year Forward View. Mark's client base also spans LMCs, NHS healthcare commissioners and secondary care and acute healthcare providers including NHS and Foundation Trusts.

Mark also specialises in the dental sector, advising dental care providers, LDCs and national dental associations on sale and acquisitions of dental practices, dental incorporations and on regulatory/contractual issues.

Simon Heald, VWV Managing Partner, commented on Mark's appointment: "Our Healthcare sector is going from strength to strength. 2017 was a very exciting and busy year which started in January with the acquisition of Lockharts Solicitors including 14 colleagues joining us. Shortly after, we welcomed another healthcare specialist and Partner, Paul Werrell. Then independent legal directory Chambers & Partners gave the Healthcare team the highest ranking - Band 1, with five out of seven ranked lawyers in this section from VWV. And to top it all in November, we won General Practice 'Legal Team of the Year 2017' Award. So Mark joins us at a pivotal time when we capitalise on our achievements and plough forward with further growth."

"Mark's 10 years' of healthcare experience, acting for GPs, GP provider organisations, dentists and dental corporations will bring complementary benefits to many of our existing and future VWV clients."

Mark commented: "Having worked at Lockharts for ten years before joining Capsticks, I know from first-hand experience the quality of the team and the reputation for their specialist healthcare advice. Seeing Lockharts join VWV last year, gave me a huge amount of confidence that I was joining a firm that is totally committed to the Healthcare sector.

"The sector is changing at a rapid pace and I see many opportunities for the VWV Healthcare team. The Five Year Forward View and the GP Forward View have set out a major programme around strengthening and redesigning general practice. With primary care at the core of service redesign, this gives GPs and GP provider organisations a rarely seen opportunity to develop not only their business structures, but to redesign how they deliver services to their patients and to take on a much broader range of non-primary care services. This includes opportunities for working collaboratively with other primary care secondary care providers and to put themselves in the best place for the next 10 years and beyond."

Westminster & Holborn Events

Launch of New Pro Bono & CSR Sub Committee We are delighted to announce the launch of our new Pro Bono & Corporate Social Responsibility Sub-Committee this summer.

There is a vast amount of great pro bono and CSR work being undertaken by our members and also significant numbers of charities and not for profit organisations working tirelessly to support those in need in our local community. As a result we have set up the new Sub-Committee to provide a forum for sharing best practice across members, supporting members who would like to do more but do not know where to start and to link up individuals and firms who would like to undertake more pro bono and CSR work with organisations that need assistance.

Some of the work we expect to cover includes pro bono work at free legal advice centres and through other online platforms and volunteering opportunities across the area (including for members of firms who are not legally qualified) on a one off and more regular basis. The legal aid crisis and growing numbers of attendees at food banks and free legal advice centres only serves to highlight the need for a coordinated effort across the professions to best help our community.

Stephen Levett (Director of Legal Education at King’s College London) has agreed to be the first Chair of the Sub-Committee. As well as previously practising with the Government Legal Services, Stephen has set up a number of free legal advice centres, including most recently King’s Legal Clinic.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Sub-Committee or would like to contribute, please contact Laura Uberoi.

Laura Uberoi Honorary Secretary for the City of Westminster & Holborn Law Society

Concert in the Temple Church 19 October 2018 19.30pm

EPE Reynell Providing notice advertising services for over 200 years In 1812 George Reynell, previously an officer at The London Gazette, established an advertising agency in Chancery Lane.

George had realised that lawyers were increasingly seeking his advice and support to arrange for legal notices to be published in the Gazette and newspapers. Reynell & Son remained a family business for six generations.

Reynell is now part of EPE Administration, a global fund administration firm and part of EPIC Private Equity (EPE), a London-based investment and financial services group. EPE Reynell continue to be at the forefront of their field. Their comprehensive services are built on deep insight into all the latest changes in legislation.

In recent years, Reynell has handled large scale legal notice advertising campaigns on behalf of law and accountancy firms based in the UK and overseas as well as routine notice advertising such as insolvency and trustee notices in the London Gazette and local, national and international press.

Procedures requiring publication of legal notices include: • Administration of Estates - Trustee Act notices • Premises Licence Applications • Insolvencies (including Winding-Up petitions) • Insurance/Banking Business Transfers (Part VII FSMA) • Schemes of Arrangement • Share Capital Reductions / Purchases You can count on Reynell to have a solution to your legal notice advertising needs – whatever and wherever you need to advertise it is likely that they will have dealt with similar requirements before.

Notices are set to the specifications of each publication, keeping the size and hence cost of each notice to a minimum.

If advertising overseas is required translation of the notice into the requisite language can be arranged.

In the Gazettes (London, Edinburgh or Belfast) notices are published on the following working day. If it is urgent, same day publication is possible at no extra cost.

Following publication, EPE Reynell supply their customers with Certificates of Insertion and copies of the pages where each notice has been published.

CORALE POLIFONICA NAZARIANA, MILANO

For further information, any advice or a free quote please contact Peter Robson on 0208 501 9706 or by email at peter.robson@epe-reynell.co.uk.

Lawyers’ choir from Milan The Temple Church, Inner Temple, London EC4Y 7BB Followed by drinks reception in the Inner Temple with the Orchestra and Choir Hosted by the City of Westminster & Holborn Law Society Volunteers needed to welcome the choir and be guides for visits to the Supreme Court, Parliament, the Inns of Court and the Royal Courts of Justice on Thursday 18th October from 14.00 Great opportunity to meet and network Please email sarachandler.lawsociety@gmail.com CENTRAL LONDON 7

Presidents’ and Secretaries’ Conference 2018

Presidents’ and Secretaries’ Conference 2018 Each year The Law Society holds a conference for the Presidents and Secretaries of the Local Law Societies across England and Wales. It is an opportunity to swap best practice and learn how different LLS deal with issues as varied as finance to responses to legal changes.

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his year the City of Westminster and Holborn Law Society were represented by Coral Hill, President, Laura Uberoi, Hon Sec, Daniel Watson, JLD Chair and Deborah Crowley, Chair of the Education and Training committee.

Below we report on some of the talks we were able to attend.

Developing your social media presence Did you know that adults in the UK spend an average of 66 hours a month browsing on their mobile phones? This was certainly news to me when I attended the Law Society’s Presidents’ and Secretaries’ Conference in May this year as, at first glance, it seemed remarkably high. But then, so I reasoned, think of all the long train and tube trips most of us spend as part of our daily commute and maybe it isn’t so unusual. What else is there to do when regularly stuck outside Lewisham station except shop online and check social media?

The presentations given on successful use of social media at the Conference were eye-opening, even noting that most of us think we know the basics from every day experience of interacting with Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin and so on. Indeed, without a doubt many of us work at firms or organisations who are supremely adept at using social media as part of their wider digital marketing strategy but what really hit home for me was the very definite list of when such platforms should not be used. Whilst some of these are obvious (for example, where your targeted demographic is simply not using your chosen social media sites) there were also some pointers which were more unusual: don’t engage if you simply cannot commit the time or perhaps, on a larger scale, do not have people within your organisation dedicated to the task. Twitter was singled out here with infrequent and inconsistent tweets being a particularly big no-no; the idea being that it’s better to set aside a specified number of times in every week dedicated to posting tweets rather than posting a flurry of updates followed by a week or two of stony silence. Other criticisms were unbalanced feeds, overly concentrating on the achievements of the firm or organisation to the detriment of other relevant news which might be of equal interest to the user. Furthermore, I was disappointed to learn that the use of smiley faces (but not necessarily other emojis) was best discouraged as giving the impression of immaturity.

Time to reassess the content of my Facebook comments perhaps I think.

It was also interesting to hear the advice of what to do when something goes wrong – probably the natural inclination of most of us would be to rapidly and permanently delete the tweet or post in question. But unless there were exceptional reasons for deletion, the advice here for public platforms

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seems to be to rectify and apologise. Any correction should quote the original post and any apology should be genuine. The temptation to “hide” the post by removing it (and I’m sure we can all think of occasions when various high profile individuals have adopted such an approach) is only likely to raise suspicions and garner more interest in the original incorrect version. And on this point more generally, I’ll leave you with some golden words of advice underpinning any social media interaction: “when in doubt, don’t.”

Deborah Crowley Chair of the Education & Training Committee

Future Policy Developments One of the breakout sessions from the Presidents’ & Secretaries’ Conference covered current and future policy developments. This was a whistle-stop tour through some of the biggest projects the national Law Society is working on and how local law societies and all members of the profession can get involved.

Alexandra Cardenas (Head of Public Affairs and Campaigns) covered how to communicate all of the great work we do across the profession and wider society. The three principles are: (1) keep the message simple, (2) make the message relevant to your audience, and (3) be clear what you are asking your audience to do. The Law Society has good relationships with many of the key influencers in Westminster, so members should use these channels for support with their campaigns.

Mickael Laurans (Head of International) took to the floor to describe the international work and networks available to members. Some of their most important work includes ongoing supervision and intervention for human rights breaches and persecution of lawyers across the world. They also frequently host visiting delegations of overseas lawyers, including a recent visit from Malaysian lawyers who were introduced to firms in Holborn and Westminster.

Paul Wilson (Head of Regulatory Affairs) set out the most pressing of the current SRA proposed reforms. These include the Solicitors Qualification Exam (SQE), which is due to replace all other methods of qualifying as a solicitor (starting in 2022). He also covered the reforms to professional indemnity insurance and the proposals that will reduce the mandatory minimum level of cover that firms will need and introduce separate requirements for those who undertake conveyancing work.

Laura Uberoi Honorary Secretary

Presidents’ and Secretaries’ Conference 2018 Continuing Competence The Conference included a talk by Melissa Hardee on the SRA’s continuing competence regime, which came into effect on 1st November 2016.

The new regime requires solicitors to reflect on their practice, identify learning and development needs, plan how to address these in an appropriate way, and address them. Solicitors must then evaluate (a) the extent to which any learning activities have met the identified learning needs, and (b) how these can be incorporated into practice. The entire process should be recorded in order to be able to demonstrate ongoing competence, which in turn enables solicitors to give their annual competence declaration to the SRA. This replaces the previous system of continuing professional development (CPD), whereby a certain number of completed training hours ensured compliance.

The main point to note from the session was that any solicitors who were compliant under the old regime will most likely be compliant under the new regime. This was, in the context of what can seem an ever-increasing number of regulatory burdens, a welcome rejoinder to keep calm and carry on.

Solicitors reflect on their learning all the time, almost unconsciously.

Accordingly, there is no need to reinvent the wheel to ensure compliance with the new regime. The regime requires that solicitors show evidence that such reflection is taking place, and that suitable measures are taken to address any lacunas in knowledge which are identified (e.g. through reading journals and articles, attending relevant seminars and courses, working towards professional qualifications, discussions with colleagues, or any other activity which contributes to maintaining competence in order to be able to provide a proper standard of service).

Melissa reminded delegates that competence is not a question of simply meeting a minimum number of hours of training. Meeting the minimum CPD requirement in the previous regime was almost certainly not, in itself, sufficient to enable a firm to ensure that its staff were competent. Ensuring competence has always required solicitors to reflect on their practice, identify any learning and development needs, and address them. The new regime is intended to enable solicitors to demonstrate continuing competence in their core practice areas, and to ensure that they reflect on areas of law in which their knowledge

could be improved. Solicitors who were already carrying out these activities need not therefore change their approach.

The SRA’s guidance on the new regime should not, it was suggested, be used as a ‘bible’. It is, instead, what it says on the tin: guidance. Implementing each suggestion contained in the guidance could well be overly burdensome, and would go beyond what is required to ensure continuing competence.

The only real fundamental change of the regime is the shift of onus of ensuring continuing competence onto the individual solicitor, rather than the firm; although of course firms will remain instrumental in ensuring that relevant and regular training takes place. Although the onus of continuing competence is shifted onto the individual, solicitors need not necessarily keep expansive logs of their learning and development. Firms will invariably have internal methods of recording training carried out and of noting the names of attendees, which could, arguably, be sufficient to satisfy the SRA that continuing competence was being practiced if any queries were raised.

Daniel Watson JLD Chair

Twinning with Universities Westminster and Holborn are twinning with King’s College, London so I attended this session to hear about similar arrangements by other local law societies. It’s clear there are many synergies between nearby Law Schools and local law societies as it enables students to gain a greater understanding of the practice of law and for busy practitioners to benefit from wider discussions of the law and its direction which is not always possible in daily client work. There is also enormous potential for interesting exchanges on speaker events as an initial iniative.

The arrangements vary from ad hoc talks to more formal signed five-year agreements. It’s early days for developing our relationship with King’s but we will be launching the initiative on Tuesday 23 October at Bush House with an event to welcome newly qualified solicitors in Westminster and Holborn.

Coral Hill President

W & H Events

Members of the Cluj Bar Association in Romania arrived for a two-day visit in London which included seeing the Supreme Court in session and attending some legal sessions at The University of Law.

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his enabled us to gain an understanding of the process of qualification in each others’ jurisdictions and identify various differences in our systems of law and methods of practice. The following day we had a tour of the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand and visited The Law Society library. We were then incredibly lucky to be hosted by three different firms. First, Farrer & Co where Laura Uberoi and Emily Jamieson gave an overview of English company law and an insight into financing real estate and other luxury assets such as aircraft and art.

We then moved on to Dawson Cornwell, specialists in Family Law who gave an overview of how they approach cross-jurisdictional matters in divorce and child custody cases. There was also a helpful presentation on dual qualification, as they have solicitors qualified in more than one EU jurisdiction and so were able to discuss the pros and cons of different routes of qualification. This was of particular interest to our Romanian colleagues.

Finally, we visited Laura Devine's offices in the City which specialises in

immigration law. We were hosted on Laura's beautiful rooftop terrace and the Romanian lawyers were able to ask questions in an informal setting. Many thanks to all who assisted with the visit and perhaps Westminster and Holborn members may make a return visit if there is sufficient interest.

The Legal Charities Garden Party was as usual a relaxed affair and included many committee members as well as Presidents from Liverpool, Nina Ferris and West London, Julian Young. We also met with Nicola Watkins and colleagues from Legal Network London, the sponsors for our Annual Dinner.

Our last event before the summer was the wine tasting courtesy of Armit Wines who sent an excellent selection with notes on all the wines. Alice Groom from Farrer & Co, who has also trained in the wine industry, led us on a quiz to see just how acute our taste buds were.

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International

Bologna and beyond!

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Professor Sara Chandler QC (Hon)

CWHLS International Subcommittee have had some important visits in the last three months.

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s we are active in the Federation of European Bars (FBE), Sara Chandler spoke in conferences in Madrid, Ragusa, Napoli in April and May and in Bologna in June. Jeffrey Forrest, Chair of CWHLS International Sub-Committee and David Morgan, Past President of Holborn, the FBE and CWHLS International were in Bilbao with Sara Chandler for the Legal Lunch hosted by the Biskaia Bar (Bar of Biscay and Bilbao) in June. It was an interesting weekend with visits to Gernika, and the Biscay coast in brilliant sunshine, together with wine tasting and the excellent cuisine of the Basque country.

Members of the Bilbao Bar who had been on a fact-finding visit to Mexico delivered an interesting report on their visit and we also heard from a Mexican human rights defender, and a member of Peace Brigades International about the dangerous situation in which human rights defenders work in Mexico.

focused to the analysis of the situation in France concerning the Macron bill on justice and the situation in Lebanon. We met lawyers from all around the Mediterranean, including Morocco, the Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, France and Italy during three days in the beautiful Sicilian city. We walked among the streets of the old city where the TV series “Inspector Montealbano” is filmed, and the beautiful old buildings, the churches and the small piazzas are well worth knowing.

In Napoli lawyers from all over Europe debated “Law and Freedom. The role and challenges of the lawyer in the society of the third millennium. Toward a new Manifesto di Napoli of lawyers”. Speakers included Sara Chandler who spoke (in Italian) in the launch and the closure of the conference. (http://www.fbe.org/napoli2018-march-16th-right-and-freedom-therole-and-challenges-of-the-lawyer-in-thesociety-of-the-third-millennium-toward-aThe European community of lawyers have new-manifesto-di-napoli-of-the-advocacy/) Napoli is a great city with plenty of sea air, regular seminars and conferences and and great seafood restaurants, it’s one of CWHLS members have made significant the most interesting cities to meet lawyers contributions. In April in Madrid, and while you’re there, a trip to the ruins international delegates from Europe and the Americas discussed the situation of in- of Pompey and Herculaneum will amaze you. house lawyers and the impact of current cases such as Director of the Serious Bologna in May was special and one of Fraud Office v Eurasian Natural Resources the speakers, Carolina Marin Pedrino has Corporation, the case which is to be heard written about this on page 11. in the Appeal Court, London in July. Sara CWHLS International Sub-Committee try to Chandler spoke in her capacity as give you an idea of what awaits you if you President of the FBE and as an English would like to join us in our travels around solicitor.

Europe. We have not mentioned the In Ragusa in early April, the topics were wonderful food and wine enough! Please about the European settlement rules; the contact secretary to the Sub-Committee services of lawyers; the rules of common anisha.birk@farrer.co.uk or meet with us deontology; the social security at CWHLS events. management and employment law especially in the agricultural sector in Sicily Professor Sara Chandler QC and Morocco and for retired people; (Hon) lawyers as a support for companies and possible investments in the Mediterranean. Particular attention was

International

Annual Congress of FBE 2018: New Families – New Challenges

• Carolina Marin Pedreno

The Annual Congress of the Federation of Bar Associations in Europe (“FBE”) took place in the beautiful and cultural city of Bologna. The City of Westminster and Holborn Law Society, a member of the FBE, was represented by the President, Coral Hill and Sara Chandler QC (Hon) FBE President.

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he main subject of the congress was ‘New families - New Challenges,’ an interesting and provoking theme for discussion in the medieval Closter of San Domenico, where the educational programme took place.

We were warmly welcomed by Giovanni Berti Arnoaldi, President of the Bar Association in Bologna. The President of the FBE Sara Chandler QC (Hon), in beautiful Italian (a gesture which was really appreciated by the hosts), highlighted the importance of working together and the need for cooperation on legal issues within Europe in these troubling and changing times. By way of example she mentioned the number of lawyers serving prison sentences in Turkey in breach of our professional rights. The FBE enjoyed the presence of the President of the Bar Association of Tunisia, Abdelaziz Essie, whose speech was interrupted by the applause several times. It was refreshing to hear how a group of lawyers helped his country to ensure hotels there could continue to host international conferences, fighting and supporting them against terrorism; the enormous power of lawyers’ collective actions evidenced in reality.

The intellectual quality of the presentations was overwhelming. I felt really privileged to participate, speaking about the 21st Century Family in England and Wales, in front of delegates from all over Europe. In England and Wales, for example, same sex couples have been able to adopt children since 2004, where marriage is available to them and where they can have children through surrogacy arrangements, it transpires that just a couple of hours away by plane from London, in Bulgaria, the lawyer from Bulgaria had received threats for simply representing LGBT clients and advising them on their identity. She was looking for support for Bulgaria to develop and fight for Human Rights and she found that support at this Congress where she was put in touch with other organisations fighting LGBT rights all over the world like the International Academy of Family Lawyers.

Other panels presented on ADR and the criminal aspects of family law.

The Barcelona Bar Association, represented by the current President, Ma Eugenia Gay, seems to be working actively on the implementation of ADR. Silvia Giménez-Salinas, former President of the Bar Association of Barcelona and current President of the ADR Commission of FBE made us all think about the danger of allowing the judiciary to exercise the role of a negotiator or a mediator.

The social and psychological aspects of the most recent changes on family issues were also discussed. Children from same sex couples are discriminated against and the biological link continues to be put above any other family links; that is how the Courts and legislation continue to perceive it.

It was, overall, a really stimulating, educational day with a well-deserved break for lunch. Bologna and good food are synonymous. The lasagne and risotto which we had was to die for! I served myself seconds while chatting to an Argentinean lawyer about their recent civil code and new maintenance regulations.

The local lawyers took me for a quick drink in the Piazza before heading for the gala dinner at the Circulo della Caccia. They told me they are facing really significant delays in family proceedings and the lack of international training meant that their Courts do not differentiate between domestic and international cases.

Dinner was splendid, a perfect ending to an amazing day. I offer my sincerest congratulations to the organisers, Avvocati Federico Canova, Stefania Tonini y F.Christian Di Nardo. The food and drinks were delicious and provided yet another opportunity to meet interesting colleagues from other jurisdictions.

The General Assembly took place on Saturday morning. Sarah Chandler QC (Hon) received deserved and genuine gratitude for the achievements within her Presidency.

I want to thank CWHLS for the work they do on international affairs. I was not aware of the existence of the FBE previously, but it has been an opportunity to participate and most importantly to meet some incredibly interesting and inspiring colleagues, who share the same problems and concerns, in such a wonderful environment.

CWHLS is organising a conference with a group of Italian lawyers and judges from Milan in October 2018. I will not miss it.

Carolina Marin Pedreno Dawson Cornwell

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International

Right to privacy in a digital age FBE Congress in Warsaw Warsaw will be the host city for the Congress of the European Bars Federation (FBE) in September 2018. We are particularly happy to host this year as in 2018 Poland celebrates 100th anniversary of regaining independence.

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he Congress will be accompanied by a conference whose main topic is to be “Right to privacy in a digital age”, an issue we believe to be important and up-to-date.

Quite early in history people realized the importance of information and advantage of having more information than others, or having more up-todate or more accurate information, which relates all areas of life.

At the same time people also realized, that they are not comfortable with some information concerning them to become public domain. This eventually led to a concept of right to privacy. Regulations have been put in place, protecting privacy in general, and some areas in particular, such as seal of confession, doctor/patient and lawyer/client privileges or secrecy of correspondence.

Right to privacy became one of the fundamental rights protected by international treaties and constitutions of many countries. It is reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedom, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Although the principle idea the behind these regulations remains unchanged, the circumstances have changed quite considerably.

In the past, gathering, storing, transferring and processing information was subject to significant practical limitations. Right to privacy and its violation therefore referred mostly to very individualized circumstances and cases.

Modern civilization reached the stage, where data is gathered almost everywhere and for the first time in history, technical ability exists in developed countries to monitor almost everyone, everywhere and all the time and to analyze the information in real time.

Your smartphone, Wi-Fi, credit card and modern cars reveal your location and many other parameters, your TV, pc, phone and other electronic equipment monitors your activity and preferences, even your intelligent electric meter knows when you are at home. Your bank knows when and where you do shopping and in “cashless societies” you are completely transparent to the financial system. You leave traces with your electronic signature and all other electronic IDs you may have. Online ordering, personalized tickets, loyalty cards etc. All of them leave digital traces. Not even to mention social media…

And the above was only the private sector. In respect to the state, we should add all registers, medical records, tax records, CCTV cameras, biometric identification, etc. Most advanced systems recognize everyone in the monitored area by face recognition and analyze all potential interactions. In real time. From a legal perspective, one needs to mention for example the risk of bypassing lawyer/client privilege by identifying locations or online database searches made following meeting with a client.

But there is more. We now have advanced profiling based on digital traces. Allegedly, 70 Facebook “likes” allows advanced software to obtain a truer picture of someone's character than a room-mate, while 150 outperforms a parent and it takes 300 to be able to judge character better than a spouse. Based on profiling you may learn, with great probability, someone's age, race, sex, religious beliefs, sexual and political preferences. With such powerful tools, one can not only sell products and services, but also manipulate individuals and whole societies. Personal data and raw and profiled information on individuals and populations became important commodity and powerful instruments.

All this brings us to an inevitable conflict between values: right to privacy versus economic freedom, public security and transparency. To some extent our privacy became currency with which we pay for free digital services and we are pushed to reveal personal information by social media, otherwise risking social exclusion. We are also often faced with a choice between safety (e.g. anti-terrorism regulations), transparency (e.g. money laundering regulations) and rights of individuals to privacy.

One thing is certain. In a digital age, one of the fundamental rights most affected by the changes is the right to privacy.

On 26th May, GDPR came into force. For some – a step in a right direction, for others – an unnecessary burden, for still others – huge “GDPR business” of creating policies, regulations and unfortunately also “GDPR trolling”. By September GDPR will already be in force for 4 months and we hope to learn from conference participants form various parts of Europe how the introduction of GDPR worked in their countries.

Is there any real progress in personal data protection and new approach to data handling or just over flooding with new “click through” privacy policies and notifications?

Law is usually several steps behind developments in science and technology. We believe however that lawyers must remain alert and active with respect to all developments of such importance related to fundamental rights, affecting not only their work, but also everyday lives.

Should we update the laws, the practice or perhaps also redefine privacy in an increasingly transparent world?

More information of the FBE conference in Warsaw (20th and 22nd September) is available at https://www.fbewarsaw2018.eu/. The conference is hosted by two bar associations in Warsaw: Okręgowa Izba Radców Prawnych w Warszawie and Izba Adwokacka w Warszawie.

Piotr Wieczorkiewicz Attorney at law, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Warsaw Bar Association (Okręgowa Izba Radców Prawnych w Warszawie)

piotr.wieczorkiewicz@oirpwarszawa.pl CENTRAL LONDON 13

JLD (Junior Lawyers Division)

Cryptocurrency:

How to Regulate an Invisible Gold Mine What is cryptocurrency and why is it so tough to regulate? The knee-jerk reaction of governments around the world has so far been ineffective. A better idea would be to step back and ask the simple question of what exactly it is you are trying to regulate.

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ryptocurrency is the new buzzword. The new ‘cool’. As it stands, there are over 1600 different types of cryptocurrency, and there appear to be no signs of this number stabilising (Source: CoinMarketCap). Whilst there are a number of cryptocurrencies, only a handful are reported on by the media such as Bitcoin, Zcash, and Ethereum. Unless you are a cryptocurrency expert, it is very unlikely for you to have heard of Noah Coin, High Voltage, or Geyser Coin.

But what is the point of this? Each type of major cryptocurrency tends to have something different about it. For example, Bitcoin uses a public blockchain. This means Bitcoin transactions are open to the public to inspect. Zcash, whilst it shares many features with Bitcoin, offers public and private transactions. In these private transactions, the sender and recipient remain anonymous, the only evidence that is available to the public is that a transaction itself has occurred.

Jonathan Price, a leading cryptocurrency expert, provides insight into common criticisms of cryptocurrency, many of the criticisms below will overlap (his article is on page 16).

Judging from the example, cryptocurrency should not be discussed in a generalised matter with regards to forming regulation. It is very easy to fall into this trap because the term cryptocurrency covers so many currencies each with differing features. Yet the common theme which is often seen from big media outlets crowns Bitcoin the king of cryptocurrency and sets this as the example of how to ‘regulate’ cryptocurrency as a whole.

There are a number of problems with this, and I will explain the two most important. The first and most important question to ask is how can you regulate a decentralised currency? One key

aspect of cryptocurrency is that it is decentralised. Admittedly, this is not a definitive system, so the decentralisation of cryptocurrencies can be on different scales. But the question is still the same if the intention of cryptocurrency was to prevent banks from having any form of control, how easy will it be forcefully regulate these currencies?

The second criticism to consider is what exactly should the government regulate? Cryptocurrency has been used in fraudulent behaviour by companies aiming to exploit the public for monetary gains (whilst I disagree that cryptocurrency is solely used in illegal transactions, this is a separate argument for a different article). To this end, should the government regulate the currency which has allegedly been involved in the fraudulent behaviour, or does the government focus its efforts on the companies who aim to exploit the public? One example to consider is the Ponzi scheme known as Bitconnect.

An important distinction should be made here when referring to schemes as a Ponzi. It is not uncommon for cryptocurrencies as a whole to be categorised as a Ponzi. However, this generalisation is incorrect given the simple fact that no-one ‘owns’ the currency. Consider Bitcoin, there is no sole owner of Bitcoin who is taking advantage of its price and the various transactions that occur on its blockchain. The creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto certainly does not fulfil this role either. To that end, Ponzi schemes begin to emerge when systems are in place to take advantage of investors in crypto.

This is what Bitconnect capitalised on.

This scheme prided itself on being a selfregulated financial system which would provide a

service free from tax and government interference. Furthermore, Bitconnect promised unrealistic returns from a Bitcoin ‘bot’ they claimed to have developed, including a maximum of 40% from a $10,010 investment after 120 days (Source: Steemit). It was common practice, as with every Ponzi scheme, to fulfill these returns using money earned from newer investors.

When Bitconnect exited the market, the consequences they faced were next to nothing.

The value of the currency plummeted, meaning the promised reimbursements were worthless.

Whilst there are currently multiple lawsuits against Bitconnect, it seems unlikely there will be any recovery of lost assets for the public.

The decision to regulate the goldmine of cryptocurrency will be an arduous task and may end up being a waste of time. So in the short term, perhaps a better solution would be to regulate the companies which exploit the public (i.e. by enforcing strict disclosure requirements on initial public offerings).

By paving the way for safe investments by the public, there will be more breathing room to understand the phenomenon of cryptocurrency and its full potential. As each type of cryptocurrency develops, new opportunities will continue to open up. Rather than being against the cryptocurrency innovation, governments should take a step back and consider what exactly it is they want to regulate, and what they wish to achieve. Naturally, this will lead to the ultimate question: can they even regulate this system?

Sundev Panesar LPC Student

JLD update Many thanks to those who attended the JLD drinks at Davy’s at the end of May. We hope to host similar such events in the coming months, which will be publicised via twitter, LinkedIn, and on the website.

There is also a speed-networking event in the pipeline, which will likely take place in the autumn. This event will be open to LPC students, trainees, and junior solicitors. It will be an opportunity for junior solicitors to network among their peers, and for those looking to move into the profession to improve their networking prowess.

More details to be published soon.

Congratulations to Christopher Banks who won the FBE Oratory Competition in Poznan. Christopher was jointly sponsored by Westminster & Holborn and King’s College, London.

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Daniel Watson JLD Chair

Article

Working in the UK as an immigrant Changes to immigration law in 2016 – which require people to have documentation to work, rent a property or access benefits including healthcare – have left people fearful about the status of their families and about severe disruption to their lives.

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mployers, in fear of being penalised for employing workers who do not have the right to work, are ready to consider terminating employment contracts with employees who are unable to produce physical evidence of their right to work in the UK. In this climate, particularly in light of recent issues surrounding the Windrush generation and what might happen to EU citizens postBrexit, Jarmila Entezari looks at the case of 1 Baker v Abellio . This case highlights the importance of obtaining appropriate information from employees, and potential employees, not only regarding their right to work, but also about their background and immigration history.

The Employment Tribunal Judge wrongly held that Mr Baker misunderstood the law and stated that even where a person has the legal right to work, an employer is legally obliged to obtain proof of that right and that proof must be in the format required by the current legislation.

Mr Baker appealed the Employment Tribunal’s decision. The Employment Appeal Tribunal held that:

- The ‘Employer was not obliged to obtain specific documentary evidence that Mr Baker had the right to work in the UK. Whilst the Employment Tribunal Judge relied on section 15 of the Immigration, Asylum and Nationality 3 Act 2006 (IANA 2006). Section 15 states that it is contrary to law to employ and adult subject Baker v Abellio The judge in Baker v Abellio held that it is unfair to immigration control if has not been granted leave to enter or remain in the UK or his leave to dismiss an employee on the ground that is invalid; has ceased to have effect or is they are unable to produce a document that subject to a condition preventing him from would prove their right to work. accepting the employment.

Abellio, a bus company operating public Judge failed to transport services, employed Mr Baker as a - The Employment Tribunal 4 refer to the interpretation in section 15. Under bus driver from 23 July 2012 until his IANA 2006 ‘a person is subject to immigration dismissal on 3 July 2015. Mr Baker is a control if under the Immigration Act 1971 they Jamaican national who has lived in the UK require leave to enter or remain in the UK’. Mr since childhood. Mr Baker’s immigration Baker was clearly not such a person. status was never disputed and the employer

agreed in the Employment Tribunal that Mr Baker had the right to work in the UK. The issue which caused the dismissal was evidence of his right to work.

Before Mr Baker’s eventual dismissal, the employer became aware that another employee did not have the correct documentation to prove their right to work. The employer carried out an internal audit and asked Mr Baker to provide his passport and proof of his right to work. Although Mr Baker provided his passport, his employer told him that the passport alone would not be sufficient to satisfy their checks. He was then dismissed.

The judgment of the Employment Appeal Tribunal stated at para 26 that, even if Mr Baker had been subject to immigration control, s 15 does not impose a requirement on an employer to obtain certain documents. It merely gives a statutory excuse from being penalised.

Right to work checks – What employers need to do

Generally, and to avoid the Home Office penalties, all employers are obliged to complete ‘right to work checks’ before they employ any worker – British, European or from overseas.

Generally, and to avoid the Home Office penalties, all employers are obliged to complete ‘right to work checks’ before they employ any worker – British, European or from overseas.

Mr Baker, in his evidence at the Employment Tribunal, explained that he did 2 not submit a No Time Limit (NTL) application, as he could not afford it. He maintained that he was allowed to work as confirmed by the Immigration Act 1971.

Repeat checks should be undertaken to ensure that the employee has complied with any requirements imposed by the Home Office (e.g. applied and obtained an extension or variation of the previous visa).

The employer carried out its own checks of Mr Baker’s right to work with the Home Office and the Home Office had confirmed that Mr Baker has the right to stay and work in the UK.

Jarmila Entezari Solicitor in RadcliffesLeBrasseur’s Employment and Immigration team

1. Baker v Abellio London Limited, UKEAT/0250/16/LA 2. Form NTL is used if the applicant already has indefinite leave to enter or remain in the UK as confirmed in a passport or other document, and they want that status confirmed on a Biometric Residence Permit.

3. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/13/section/15 4. Section 25 of the IANA 2006 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/13/section/25

CENTRAL LONDON 15

Article

• Jonathan Price

Since the end of last year when the price of Bitcoin rose vertiginously to $20,000, the media has been full of pundits criticising it, calling it an irrational bubble.

The critics have included some very senior financiers, such as Warren Buffett.

Six Ways to Tell if Someone Criticising Bitcoin or Blockchain is Talking Through Their Derriere...

E ven the FT, otherwise a proponent of fintech innovation, has set its face against Bitcoin and joined the chorus of those attacking the whole notion of cryptocurrency.

Are these criticisms valid or are these financiers just seeking to undermine something that threatens their vested interests? Even if genuinely held, are their comments serious?

This article evaluates six common criticisms.

1. It’s a Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme is a type of fraud where the promoter of the fraud, Mr Ponzi in the original, or Bernard Madoff more recently, takes new investors’ money and uses it to pay returns and redemptions to earlier investors. Why is Bitcoin not a Ponzi scheme? There is no Mr Ponzi or Mr Madoff involved. When an investor buys a Bitcoin, the money does not go to a central figure, the promoter of the fraud. It goes to the previous owner of the coin, or in the case of a brand new Bitcoin, to an anonymous Bitcoin miner, probably somewhere in China.

A Ponzi scheme by definition needs a Mr Ponzi, and Bitcoin does not have one.

2. Bitcoin has no government to back it This comment is obviously true, because cryptocurrencies are not issued or backed by any state (with the possible exception of Venezuela’s new ‘petro’), but is of limited importance.

On the £10 note in my wallet I can read the words of the Chief Cashier of the Bank of England, “I promise to pay the bearer on demand the sum of ten pounds.” But this begs the whole question, what are ten pounds, or one pound come to that? What is the Chief Cashier going to give me if I attend at Threadneedle Street and ask for ten pounds?

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While you could argue that my ten pounds is worth that proportion of the UK national assets that it represents, such reasoning is so theoretical as to be meaningless in all practical senses. The value of pounds, Euros and Bitcoin depends entirely on their acceptability as payment in transactions, or the readiness of other people to buy them from you.

Tim Jones, the ex CEO of NatWest retail bank, argues that pounds and dollars have more substance than Bitcoin because of the ability of their governments to take action by changing economic policy when their currencies decline (or rise) in value unacceptably. This argument has some logic to it, but it overestimates the power of government to fight the market as Norman Lamont found in 1992. As I write today, the UK government is riven with discord about what to do about the most fundamental economic issue facing the country, namely Brexit. The value of the pound is likely to be more volatile than it has been for the last 40 years as a result, and the ability of the government to do anything about that is close to zero.

3. Focus on Bitcoin Most of the critics focus their attack on Bitcoin itself, rather than the cryptocurrency phenomenon as a whole. This may be because it has the largest market capitalisation, £89 billion at the time of writing, compared to £41 billion for the second largest, Ethereum (source: Coincap).

Bitcoin is the original and most famous cryptocurrency, but it is old, cryptocurrency version 1.0, and although Satoshi Nakamoto was undoubtedly a genius, his creation is of its time. Technology moves on.

4. Speed (Lack of) and 5. Excessive Transaction Cost A frequent complaint is that it takes too long for Bitcoin miners to mine a new coin and thereby complete a block of transactions – the two things occur together. At a time when most financial transactions are processed in microseconds, the processing time for Bitcoin blockchain is measured in minutes, with an estimated maximum processing speed of 3.3 seconds per transaction. This is clearly a problem, and is recognised as such.

Linked to the speed problem is the cost problem. The Bitcoin blockchain was designed to make the mining of new coins progressively more difficult. Companies mining Bitcoin have responded to this challenge by investing in more powerful computers, which use more electricity. The investment has to be recovered and a return generated for the miners to encourage them to keep mining. Fees are offered to the

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miners to process particular blocks first, so that the rewards from mining new coins are supplemented by fees received from transactions senders. These fees peaked in December 2017 at around $26 per block, which made Bitcoin too expensive for businesses to use as a means of payment.

Critics have argued that because it may occasionally take an hour to process a Bitcoin block, cryptocurrencies can never operate efficiently alongside fiat currencies.

Developers have proposed various technological solutions to these problems and some of these solutions have been implemented, leading to the existence of a separate version of Bitcoin called Bitcoin Cash as the result of a ‘hard fork’. Whilst these solutions may well enhance the efficiency of blockchain and make it quicker and cheaper, the fact remains that it is nine year old, tamper resistant technology.

The error is to generalise across the entire cryptocurrency industry. One only has to look at other coins such as Litecoin to see what the future holds. Launched in October 2011 it has a market capitalisation of £8.5 billion and a block generation time averaging 2.5 minutes compared to Bitcoin’s 10 minutes, a fourfold improvement in two years.

The cost of transactions is also falling fast.

Even for Bitcoin, where the cost peaked in December 2017, processing fees today are well below $1 per block, competitive with fiat currency payment costs, and for some other newer coins, such as Iota (market cap. £3.7 billion) there is no processing cost at all.

6. Excessive consumption of electricity The final criticism is that mining Bitcoin uses an excessive amount of electricity – more than that used by 159 countries (https://powercompare.co.uk/bitcoin/) and that it is thus exacerbating global warming.

There are reasons to be worried about the generation and supply of electric power and the ability of existing infrastructure to cope with, say, the shift to electric vehicles that will happen in the next 20 years, but in comparison, Bitcoin is insignificant.

This criticism assumes that the consumption of electric power for mining Bitcoin will continue to grow, when this is extremely unlikely. A more likely scenario is that other coins that are cheaper to create, will gradually replace Bitcoin, reducing the power consumption of the cryptocurrency industry.

At the same time, it is a certainty that Bitcoin itself will become more efficient, through further technological changes.

In summary, none of these six commonly heard objections to cryptocurrency bear critical evaluation.

Jonathan Price Chairman BmyBit.com

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CENTRAL LONDON 17

Article

• Jeremy Cousins QC

• Peter Dodge

Dreamvar:

the practical implications Prevention of fraud is better than cure and conveyancers are on the front line. In deciding carefully how to proceed, they will often need to have recourse to their professional experience and judgment.

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nsurprisingly, the decision of the Court of Appeal in Dreamvar (UK) Ltd v Mishcon de Reya [2018] EWCA Civ 1082 has attracted considerable comment. It is authority for the proposition that, where the Law Society’s Code for Completion by Post (2011) is adopted, a purported seller’s solicitors will be held to have given (under paragraph 7) an undertaking to have the authority of the person genuinely entitled to sell. However, Dreamvar leaves unanswered, or only partially answered, various other questions, the implications of some of which extend far beyond residential conveyancing transactions.

(1) Conveyancing as a commodity service.

Prevention of fraud is better than cure and conveyancers are on the front line. In deciding carefully how to proceed, they will often need to have recourse to their professional experience and judgment. Suggestions that, in the modern environment, conveyancing is a commodity are inconsistent with, and indeed hostile to, the maintenance of a culture which seeks to (i) minimise the risk of fraud and (ii) ensure that clients make decisions on a fully informed basis. The Dreamvar and P&P decisions demonstrate very clearly that the law imposes exacting standards upon professionals undertaking conveyancing, and that for those who fall short the risks can be very high.

(2) The Code. The Court of Appeal held that (i) paragraph 3 of the Code does not operate to exclude liability for breach of trust on the part of a purported seller’s solicitors and (ii) the para 7 undertaking (a) has the effect referred to above and (b) is sufficient (as in Dreamvar) to give the buyer’s solicitors an indemnity from the purported seller’s solicitors. There is no inherent need to amend the Code. The Court of Appeal has merely re-established that paras 3 and 7 mean what (i) the buyer’s solicitors in Dreamvar and P&P had argued all along that they meant, (ii) most practitioners had probably assumed before the first instance decisions that they meant and (iii) in the case of para 7, the Court of Appeal in Santander v RA Legal clearly understood the previous edition of the Code to mean. However, the Law Society might decide to consider whether the Code should be amended to limit the extent of the para 7 undertaking given by sellers’ solicitors (although any such limitation would clearly raise potential issues of consumer detriment). Post Dreamvar, the Code provides solid protection to buyers and their solicitors, by way of an indemnity for the consequences of breach, but only where (i) it applies and (ii) the seller’s solicitors’ para 7 undertaking is backed by adequate insurance. It should be noted that it was argued on behalf of the buyer’s solicitors in Dreamvar (although

the Court expressed no view on the point) that, even without the Code, the effect of a combination of (i) section 69 of the LPA 1925, in conjunction with paragraph 12 of the Code in relation to a transfer which contains a receipt clause and (ii) the decision of the House of Lords in Starkey v Bank of England (1903) is to give rise to an undertaking similar to that in paragraph 7.

(3) Section 61. In conveyancing cases where the Code provides an enforceable remedy, the practical importance of section 61 of the TA 1925 has receded.

In other types of case (and certainly not limited to conveyancing transactions), s 61 remains potentially vital to professional (e.g. solicitors) and other trustees.

Whilst the judgment of Patten LJ in Dreamvar undeniably makes it more difficult for the “good” (i.e. honest and reasonable/non-negligent) professional trustee to obtain relief, it does not impose a bright-line rule that such a trustee can never do so (for a start, this would have involved overturning the decision of a strong Court of Appeal in Nationwide v Davisons).

The grant of s 61 relief remains a matter of discretion for the trial judge. In making submissions as to why the circumstances of their case justify the grant of relief, “good” professional trustees are likely in future to place considerable reliance upon the dissenting judgment in Dreamvar of the Vice-President, Gloster LJ. Such trustees may also seek to put in issue at an early stage of the proceedings the relative ability of commercial or wealthy clients or beneficiaries to bear the relevant loss (this having potential implications for disclosure). Dreamvar is unlikely to be the last word on s 61.

(4) Insurance. Conventionally, professional indemnity insurance is regarded as intended to protect professional firms and their clients against malpractice on the part of the firm (and presumably priced accordingly). If, in a Dreamvar-type case, the defrauded buyer is to be compensated by insurance, it can be legitimately asked why, as a matter of policy, that should be funded (but for the para 7 indemnity) by the “good” solicitors’ PI insurers rather than by some other form of specialist insurance. The risk of a client proving to have contracted with a fraudster is a commercial one and could arise in a wide variety of commercial transactions. Why should PI insurers be expected to underwrite commercial risks associated with conveyancing (or any other) transactions?

Conveyancing firms need to remain abreast of developments in the emerging market for what is, in effect, a form of title insurance. Where a transaction goes wrong, specialist insurance might be expected to provide a swifter remedy for the client than litigation against the professional firms involved. Moreover,

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difficulties in insuring a specific transaction might alert conveyancers to the existence of some more fundamental problem.

(5) Exclusion of liability. As referred to in point (2) above, it was argued unsuccessfully by the purported sellers’ solicitors in Dreamvar that para 3 of the Code operated to exclude liability for their breach of trust. As for a buyer’s solicitors, there is no obvious reason why, in principle, they should not be able, in their client care letter, contractually to exclude breach of trust liability in circumstances where they are in due course held (i) to have been “good� and thus (ii) to be liable solely on the basis of “long pockets�. Whilst exclusion might be possible in theory, in practice it would be likely to have to satisfy the requirements of UCTA and/or the Consumer Rights Act (as applicable). Those requirements might be more easily satisfied if there were made available to the client some form of insurance (which the fully informed client might still chose to decline) against the residual commercial risk of fraud.

(6) Warranties of authority. This difficult area seems ripe for significant further litigation. Where the Code applies, the seller’s solicitors’ para 7 undertaking is, in effect, a form of warranty of authority. In other cases (whether involving conveyancing transactions or not), the Court of Appeal’s approach to Excel Securities Ltd v Masood and Cheshire Mortgage Corporation Ltd v Grandison has reinvigorated the possibility of reliance by clients upon implied warranties of authority given by professionals acting for other parties. This reinvigoration is, though, tempered by the importance which the Court of Appeal placed on reliance and thus, by extension, the potential importance of professionals (not just solicitors) knowing of the existence of such warranties in order to be able to give (truthful) evidence that they did, in fact, rely upon them.

Professionals will thus need to keep themselves informed as to what implied warranties those acting for other parties might, as a matter of law, be giving (for a start, by reading the relevant passages of the judgment in Dreamvar). The need to establish reliance is a topic deserving of the attention of the Supreme Court; why, if a warranty of authority is given, and it is supported by consideration (release of monies), should an additional reliance requirement be necessary?

TAILORED REGULATION OF SPECIALIST LAWYERS PROTECTING THE CONSUMER SUPPORTING INNOVATION, COMPETITION AND GROWTH

(7) “Red flags�. In addition to their basic anti-money-laundering obligations, the para 7 undertaking makes it vital for sellers’ solicitors to do all they can to ensure that fraudulent transactions are nipped in the bud. It should be noted that a seller’s solicitors’ obligations do not end at completion. If any firm becomes suspicious at any time about the proper status of money in its client account, it should think very carefully about whether it should pay that money away (and, if so, to whom). Much of the plethora of guidance (now including the joint Law Society and HM Land Registry note of September 2017) is directed at firms assessing the bona fides of their own (rather than somebody else’s) client. But despite this, and because prevention is plainly better than cure, buyer’s solicitors remain in something of a quandry. Some “red flags� may be present in a wide variety of transactions and there is the risk of the “false positive�, i.e. dissuading a client from a genuine transaction. However, equally, there are risks in acting as an informal enquiry agent and then being accused, for example, of not having asked the right, or sufficiently extensive, questions. Often, it will be the buyers themselves who are best placed to make further enquiries, e.g. by insisting on meeting or speaking to the seller or asking questions in the neighbourhood. In many cases, the buyer’s solicitors’ principal obligation will be to ensure that their client is properly warned so that they can make their own fully informed decisions or enquiries. Indeed, certain types of client may be happy (on the basis of price) to buy property even where the transaction is in some way unusual. Whilst the courts have tended to be understanding to the dilemmas faced by buyers’ solicitors, the question of what amounts to a sufficient warning in any particular transaction will nevertheless remain highly fact sensitive.

By JEREMY COUSINS and PETER DODGE Radcliffe Chambers

QC

IT’S TIME TO THINK ABOUT THAT MOVE

To find out more about how your practice could benefit from transferring to the CLC, contact us on the details below.

www.clc-uk.org/Changing-Regulators or call ! &#' ' " CENTRAL LONDON 19

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Wine Column

Domaine Huet “Do yourself a favour, forget all the hullabaloo about Bordeaux and Burgundy; go seek Domaine Huet’s wines… to silence a dinner party with awe and wonderment” Neal Martin

omaine Huet is one of the world’s finest sources the last week of March. Flowering arrived on 2nd of complex, age-worthy white wines.

June. The summer was hot and dry but some welltimed rains in August lead to a swelling of the berries, Perched above the village of Vouvray on the right which helped to boost yields overall. A perfect, bank of the river Loire, three legendary single vineyards (Le Haut Lieu, Le Mont and Clos du Bourg) sunny September and October meant that harvest took place on 18th September and finished on 10th produce spell-binding Chenin Blanc, revered by October; a full month earlier than usual. wine lovers and winemakers the world over.

The Vineyards As devotees of this outstanding domaine will know, it is solely the climate that dictates the overall style of The vineyards are fully biodynamic, characterised by their classic limestone-rich Tuffeau chalk wine that will be produced from any given vintage. bedrock covered with clay and areas of flint and So, it is not unusual to find bone dry sec wines one sand. Le Haut-Lieu comprises nearly 9 hectares. It year, followed by the richest and sweetest moelleux has the richest soils of the domaine’s three Crus, a the next. deep limestone-clay. The wines from Le Haut Lieu It is these innumerable variations on such a simple are generally the estate’s most approachable in theme that make this a fascinating estate to follow their youth. every year.

Undisputedly a grand cru vineyard Le Mont is an 8 2017 Vintage hectare site that enjoys a choice south-facing slope This is the second year in a row that Vouvray has above the village. With less clay and more stone suffered the effects of spring frosts. In 2016, frosts than Le Haut-Lieu, Le Mont yields wines of intense damaged a large number of grape buds, significantly reducing yields. While the 2017 vintage minerality and visceral tension. fared better in terms of crop size, frosts still damaged Gaston Huet believed Clos du Bourg to be the greatest of all Vouvray vineyards. It is characterised 10% of the vines, particularly in Le Haut Lieu and by a powerful, searing energy and is usually at its Clos du Bourg. The cold weather meant that the most expressive in the guise of a moelleux. vines grew very slowly and bud break took place in FIND OUT MORE https://www.armitwines.co.uk/producer/domaine-huet/86

D

The Report LONDON21 21 CENTRAL

Wills and Probate

Ollie and Scruffy Scruffy is a shy but playful Yorkshire Terrier who has always had his best friend Ollie, a 14-year-old Shih Tzu Cross, there for comfort and companionship. Their owner ensured the pair had all the love and attention they needed, but their world was turned upside down when their owner unexpectedly passed away.

22 CENTRAL LONDON

F

ortunately, Scruffy and Ollie’s owner had made provision for them with Dogs Trust, by registering for the Canine Care Card scheme. Dogs Trust had promised to take care of both of them should the worst happen, which is how they came into the care of Dogs Trust Loughborough. The Canine Care Card gives owners peace of mind, Dogs Trust will care for their beloved dogs and find them a new home.

Ella Tonge, Supporter Relations Officer at Dogs Trust Loughborough, said: “Ollie had lived with her owner for ten years and Scruffy almost all his life so there’s no doubt they’ve gone through a lot of change recently and rely on each other for comfort. They’re absolutely inseparable! They will be a lovely addition to any family and we just hope they don’t have to wait too long for the comfy, cosy forever home with the loving new owners they deserve.”

One in every four of your clients has a canine companion. Naturally they’ll want to make provision for their faithful friend. And now you can help them at absolutely no cost by requesting a pack of Canine Care Card forms today. Your client simply returns a form to Dogs Trust and we issue them with a wallet-sized card, which acts in a similar way to an organ donor card and notifies people of their wishes for their dog.

Once their dog arrives at one of our rehoming centres, they will be examined by our expert vets and cared for by our dedicated, trained staff. We will endeavour to find them a new owner whose lifestyle and experience match their needs. If for any reason they cannot be rehomed, rest assured Dogs Trust never puts down a healthy dog, so we will look after them for the rest of their lives.

Request a Canine Care Card registration form now and help your client gain the peace of mind, knowing their dog will be cared for should anything happen to them. Please fill out the coupon, or alternatively call 020 7837 0006 or email ccc@dogstrust.org.uk and quote code 333840.

Wills and Probate

A family’s unexpected discovery changes the way the estate is distributed Where do you turn when a person has died without a valid Will and the family cannot tell you all the information needed to administer the deceased’s estate?

Even when the family believe they can, do you execute the administration process, relying solely on the family testimony available at that point?

I

nvest countless hours in trying to establish the family and piece together a family tree? Or do you enlist a specialist to check the facts, because they might just uncover information that could change the facts of the case altogether? Elsie Wright’s case illustrates why instructing a professional genealogist to verify facts is always best practice.

Elsie Wright was born in 1930 in Ilkley, West Yorkshire, and she married George Strong in 1966. Elsie and George never had any children and she passed away in a nursing home in 2012, two years after the death of her husband, without leaving a Will. With no children, Elsie’s two nephews, David and Robert, believed themselves to be the sole heirs entitled to their aunt’s estate. Their mother Helen, Elsie’s only sibling, had passed away many years ago.

With such a simple family history, the solicitor assumed that the estate administration would be a straightforward matter, but, having a thorough approach to his work, he pursued clarification using Fraser and Fraser’s Family Tree Checker service. This service involves reviewing the existing documents, certificates and family tree, and checking the details against the available transcribed databases to provide an expert genealogical opinion on its accuracy. In this case, the story had only just begun.

By 1960s standards, Elsie was an old bride at the age of 36, and this sparked the interest of our Case Manager.

Further research delved into Elsie’s past and uncovered an unexpected discovery. Elsie was previously married at age 23, and that marriage had resulted in the birth of a son named David.

This was a revelation that could potentially change the way Elsie’s estate would be distributed. It was previously understood that Elsie had no children and her estate would be shared between her two nephews. The discovery led the search for heirs in a new direction.

Our research proved that Elsie divorced her first husband, but what became of the child continued to be a mystery.

Elsie’s son appeared to have lived with her for the first year of his life but then no record of him could be found.

He had not been formally adopted, and this would mean that, having legally remained Elsie’s son, he would retain the right to inherit her entire estate.

The search continued and revealed a well-kept family secret that would change the nephews’ entitlements to the estate.

Although David had been raised by Elsie’s older sister Helen, he was not her biological child. The woman he knew as Aunt Elsie was, in fact, his biological and legal mother. Following Elsie’s divorce, and given the societal pressures of the time, Elsie had given her son David to be raised by her older sister, Helen. After careful research and expert handling, a case that was brought to us with seemingly clear beginnings could now be rightfully distributed.

Family secrets, informal adoption, multiple marriages and a lack of research expertise can all play their part in making research more complex than it originally seems.

Fraser and Fraser’s Family Tree Checker service gives you the chance to discuss the complexities of the case with us. We check for inconsistencies, gaps and question marks so that we can advise you on the best way forward.

GENEALOGISTS AND INTERNATIONAL PROBATE RESEARCHERS Phone: 020 7832 1430

I am a Solicitor

Email: info@fraserandfraser.co.uk

Looking ffor or Missing Beneficiaries Missing Beneficiary Insurance Certificates Will Search Missing W Wiill Insurance Industry Regulation International Bankrruptcy Search Asset Search Share V Vaaluations, T Tra ransffers and Sales Probate Property Assistance

CENTRAL LONDON 23

Stamp Duty

WHY IS STAMP DUTY LAW SO CONFUSING? and could your clients be due a refund?

T Stamp Duty Land Tax is commonly known as Stamp Duty or SDLT and was introduced in 2003.

It was initially a relatively straight forward duty to calculate, administer and collect until Parliament started to make changes to it.

he first significant change was in December 2014 and a subsequent change came into effect in April 2016 when the 3% surcharge on the purchase of second homes and buy-to-let investments was introduced.

These changes have created uncertainty and complexity when calculating the duty due and so overpayments arise. Overpayments can be recovered from HM Revenue & Customs (“HMRC”) provided a claim is submitted within the required time frame which is generally 13 months after the purchase date.

What if one house has an annexe, or detached property in the grounds?

There are complex rules surrounding the purchase of properties that include an annexe, basement flat, or other residential property in the grounds such as a detached holiday cottage, an apartment above a garage or even staff accommodation. Therefore, mistakes with the calculation are made and opportunities to claim statutory reliefs and allowances are overlooked.

Take the following example:

house was a garage; the upper floor of which had been converted into a bedsit. The bedsit was not occupied on the purchase date but was suitable for use as self contained living accommodation. The couple did not own any other residential property and were advised to pay Stamp Duty of £23,750 on their purchase.

We subsequently reviewed the purchase for them and confrmed the Stamp Duty charge should have been £13,750. Statutory reliefs and allowances were overlooked, and we were able to help the couple claim a £10,000 refund from HMRC. We are more than happy to have a conversation with those that fear their clients have overpaid and want our help to assist with claiming a refund on their behalf. If you also have clients that are about to embark on a similar purchase please get in touch so we can ensure you advise your clients to pay the right amount of Stamp Duty. Not too much and not too little.

Stephen Griffiths, Griffiths Allen Stamp Duty Advisers

Mr & Mrs Davies purchased a 3-bedroom house office@griffithsallen.co.uk in June 2017 for £675,000. Attached to the

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Property

The evolution of King’s Cross Knight Frank’s Keir Waddell discusses one of the most talked about areas of London; King’s Cross.

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ith 50 new buildings, 2,000 new homes, 20 new streets and 10 new public squares: the regeneration totals 67 acres, which according to the Urban Land Institute is the ‘largest area of citycentre redevelopment in Europe’.

An impressive 40% of the 67 acres has been transformed into green areas, with Gasholder Park being created by re-erecting an old gasholder frame on the north side of Regent’s Canal. The park is far from the only example of the use of historic structures in the regeneration. Restaurants, bars and coffee houses such as the Granary Square Brasserie, Dishoom and Caravan have also made their homes in the old industrial buildings modernised in the regeneration.

Later this year 'Coal Drops Yard', is due to open its doors a brand new shopping centre built from the Victorian Coal Drops will house a stunning selection of shops, cafés, bars and restaurants.

Tech giants such Google have also relocated to the area resulting in an influx of young professionals.

The student population in King’s Cross has also grown substantially due to the opening of Central Saint Martin’s Art College in Granary Square

The impact of the vast regeneration has not only had an impact on the “on site” developments.

Knight Frank have carried out 22% more transactions in the existing homes market in the year to May 2018 compared to the previous 12 months. With the popularity of the area growing these figures are due to rise. As a result, apartments such as this unique two bedroom on Acton Street are becoming increasingly sought after.

Located on the fourth floor of a stylish purpose built block, the property benefits from stunning wooden floors in the reception room and exceptional ceiling heights throughout. The property offers an open plan reception room with kitchen and dining area, a master bedroom with an ensuite shower room and mezzanine, along with a family bathroom and second double bedroom which also has a mezzanine.

Keir Waddell Associate, Head of Sales keir.waddell@knightfrank.com

CENTRAL LONDON 25

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Cyber Security

Legal Departments are at risk of cyber attacks I

One valuable company resource that is often taken for granted is Data, which could be exploited in the wrong hands

should be the bare minimum that is expected in f you work either as part of an in-house legal terms of digital security for an organisation that department or a professional organisation, then shares or stores data. your remit for protection is likely to be vast.

Depending on the size and sector of the business, The discovery and classifying of data allows the data the legal work required will range from employment owner scope to control what happens to the data and contract negotiations, to commercial and and allows a much greater level of understanding of marketing work. what data is held throughout the organisation making data discovery, purging and archiving, much simpler.

With so much compliance required to secure and safeguard companies against legal action, it is Once data is classified and managed, using policies, unsurprising that some protective measures fall data can be managed and migrated based on through the cracks. business needs. For example, documents owned by Somewhat inevitably, it is mostly digital security that is the legal department can be archived while documents owned by sales, which are older than ignored, or at least misunderstood. In many cases, lawyers view digital protection as the domain of the IT three years, can be purged. department, having little understanding of how the Based on an organisation's policy, specific files or company operates online, or the potential liabilities emails can be archived and preserved, even adding this can cause. For an industry that is so regimented custom retention policies on data to support the by compliance, this can be a dangerous, practice. organisation's governance initiative.

Legal representatives, must analyse every facet of the As disposition of the data is performed, logs are business, asking what processes are in place to maintained that detail the date and disposition of the protect its interests. One valuable company resource document, including the user who executed the that is so often taken for granted is data. A broad disposition, enabling secure execution of defensible term in many ways, data can include confidential deletion, migration and archiving policies. information about the company and the ways It is important to link other actions to One of the it is managed, as well as intimate client the discovery of the data in order to biggest details that could be exploited in the wrong add protection and allow time for hands. Frequently individuals and concerns for deeper research to be undertaken. A department heads feel their data is secure as businesses first step, is to move the sensitive data it is inside the ‘Document Management to a location which can automatically over the past System’ and can’t be modified by individuals encrypt the data, thus protecting it from 12 months outside of a team, but this is not true, often theft or access by unauthorised has been the systems are breached by poor password personnel. Furthermore, this data can rise of the management or system administrators be automatically scanned to insider threat. understand the content wording and having access when they should not.

Understanding that the risk is real and that it is the appropriate classification added. For example, responsibility of the legal department to ensure company billing data could be classified ‘Top Secret’. compliance, is the first step. The next, is to start This will control who can access the data and what asking questions. What security do you currently can be done with it. A benefit here, is that such data have in place, who has access to your internal can be controlled if it is to be emailed as the documents and are they at a sufficient level to see classification will prevent such data going to nonthe data they are accessing? company email accounts and also, ensure it is sent only to users of the correct level of authority.

One of the biggest concerns for businesses over the past 12 months has been the rise of the insider Digital Pathways experience indicates that many threat. Put simply, this is internal sabotage, either companies have no real way of even meeting a through malicious intent, or ignorance by members ‘subject access request’ under the new GDPR of your own team. One of the things you need to rules, as most data is not classified, especially consider therefore, is who controls your IT, that which is outside a case reference system or, especially if you outsource any part of it, or place in tape back-ups. Failing to meet a user’s request data in cloud based services with no encryption or for information, or missing some data, will other control measures. directly lead to an Information Commissioners Office investigation.

The baseline technology to start with, is a strong encryption platform that can handle all your Data security is not a one-off task, it requires constant encryption needs whether the data is within your review and monitoring as the threat landscape network or hosted elsewhere. By bringing your changes and it falls on each data owner to consider own encryption to any data store, means you have how sensitive the data is and to what level it should control of who can view or share the data and be protected. ■ gives you protection against data loss. This

CENTRAL LONDON 27

Software

LEAP launches launches major revision of Legal Aid software

Firm shows commitment to legal aid market with major software revamp LEAP, the world’s leading cloud software provider for small to mid-sized law firms, announces the launch of its new Legal Aid software. LEAP now provides a completely integrated Legal Aid software package including case management, time recording and billing solution. The firm provides a comprehensive solution for both Criminal and Civil matter types for Legal Aid work in England and Wales.

28 CENTRAL LONDON

LEAP works closely with the Legal Aid Agency, making regular enhancements to its software to ensure it is up to date with the latest requirements. Integrated submission for both Civil and Criminal work types via CWA (contract and work administration) ensures claims can be checked and submitted electronically in readiness for payment, ensuring faster payment. The system can reduce the time a firm spends on billing by up to 50% and the new software will assist firms with compliance and the Legal Aid auditing process.

Major feature of LEAP Legal Aid include: • Faster and more intuitive Time Recording function • Captures all information needed for invoicing, monthly billing to LAA • Support for multiple time entries • Fees and disbursements auto update fee structures • Fixed fees for Civil Legal Aid (Legal Help/Controlled Work) • Smarter bolt on payments (Mental Health and Immigration) • Simplified recording of FAS, CPGFS & PFLRS for Family and Care matters • Integrates with Crown Court Portal

Kirsteen Forisky, Legal Aid Manager at LEAP UK comments: “At a time when some legal software suppliers are paying Legal Aid lip service we at LEAP are bucking the trend by making a major investment into Legal Aid. We are proud that our software now makes it easier, quicker and more profitable for clients to undertake Legal Aid work. We recently had over 100 legal firms attend a webinar about the new version and the reaction was extremely positive..”

Ryan from Nelson Guest & Partner Solicitors comments: “We have used LEAP’s updated legal aid software to run our latest submission, and it was the most hassle-free submission we have ever done!”

Ryan Dormer from Nelson Guest & Partner Solicitors, comments: “As a Legal Aid firm, we were looking for a partner who could provide us with a system to make the life of caseworkers easier. LEAP does this.

The Legal Aid time recording is easy to use and billing is made easy to navigate. With the recent update to the system we received training which was very good and support was on hand if any issues arose.” ■

Software

Clio Announces Integration with Klyant, a Leader in Legal Accounting Software, Enabling Simple Compliance with SRA Accounts Rules Legal professionals and bookkeepers can now benefit from the two leading legal cloud-based providers to accurately and efficiently manage client and firm financial records.

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lio, the world’s first and leading creator of cloud-based legal case management software, announces a new integration with Klyant, a powerful cloud-based accounting software for law firms. Clio is the only practice management platform to partner with Klyant giving legal professionals and bookkeepers the ability to easily reconcile bank accounts, print cheques, access financial and matter ledger reporting, and ensure their firm meets regulatory requirements in the U.K. and Ireland.

Kyant is the only standalone legal accounting system truly designed for the cloud that that enables simple compliance with SRA Accounts Rules, making this integration unique.

● Client name and primary contact details ● Matter name ● Matter/practice type ● Trust/client account transactions ● Approved bills ● Invoice payments Legal professionals can learn more about the benefits of Clio and Klyant’s integration at clio.com/uk/clio-klyant-integration or call 0800 433 2546.

“We are excited to be the first and only legal practice management platform to partner with Klyant. With this integration, legal professionals can confidently manage their accounting through an SRA compliant accounting platform,” said Jack Newton, CEO and Co-founder of Clio. “Klyant makes staying on top of firm financials efficient and effective.”

With one click in the Klyant platform, customers can sync any new relevant data from Clio to Klyant. Bookkeepers are able to review and change any migrated transactions directly from the Clio transaction log in Klyant, a unique feature designed specifically for Clio and Klyant. Any updates made in either platform can be viewed in one Klyant review screen, dramatically improving bookkeeping efficiency.

With this integration, lawyers can provide bookkeepers with all the financial information they need while maintaining the privacy of their clients’ personal information. Legal bookkeepers can easily access client matter ledger cards and seamlessly sync clients, matters, invoices, and transactions from Clio, right from the Klyant platform. The powerful configuration settings means that customers can select which financial data to sync, giving them full control over what information is shared.

“We are delighted to partner with Clio and are very excited about the powerful functionality this fully integrated solution delivers to firms,” said John Gilmartin, CEO of Klyant. “Clio has set the pace for next generation legal technology companies, and we look forward to continuing our work with their incredible team.”

Clio customers with a Klyant account can choose to sync all available data types or a select few, including: CENTRAL LONDON 29

Software

Catch-all solution to in-house staffing problems:

outsourcing!

Photo: Julian Bryan

Every employer knows that, at some point in their life, employees will be absent and depart their place of work.

Such matters are not always possible to predict. That’s the main reason for the immense popularity of outsourced cashiering services as a more reliable alternative to in-house staff.

30 CENTRAL LONDON

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usinesses have a real fight on their hands when they’re understaffed because it’s unfair to expect other people to share their absent colleagues’ additional workload. The same argument applies when staff are departing. It’s a similarly tough challenge allocating sufficient time to the recruitment process. On top of pre-existing responsibilities, adequate attention should be given to the advertising, shortlisting, interviewing, selection and initiation processes.

This is too tall an order for most companies.

The preferred way to man a business is outsourcing. With this type of set up, staffing is constant. Typically, firms will be allocated a named cashier. Just like anyone else in employment, there will be occasions when this cashier’s off work. Unlike a traditional set up, however, an assigned deputy will pick up the workload until the cashier’s return.

It’s seamless. No service interruption. Ever.

Here we’re going to address some of the causes of absent and departing cashiers to demonstrate exactly what employers can find themselves up against…

1. Cashier retiring?

The combination of an increased life expectancy and government-introduced austerity measures mean that the state pension retirement age is now 67. In theory, while this is good news for employers, who get to keep valued employees for longer, in reality it’s actually possible to retire on a state pension as soon as age 55. It’s new pension reforms that are enabling people to build up bigger pension pots thereby giving them greater freedom to retire early.

2. Cashier resigning?

Retirement aside, there are multiple other causes of employees to quit their jobs in order to progress their career elsewhere. Staff turnover is a real issue for today’s employers, and a talent management strategy and succession planning are essential elements of a senior leadership team’s toolkit.

3. Cashier on holiday?

Holiday entitlements are typically around the 25-day mark of paid annual leave each year, often escalating with length of service. While holidaying employees don’t cause a notable problem for much of the year, there are peak holiday periods when it does, school summer months and Christmas amongst them.

During these times, organisations are stripped right back to a core staffing structure. While staffing problems will be magnified in holiday season, all employers have to accept that staff members will request days off work in order to spend time with family and friends, most likely at the same time as other colleagues.

4. Cashier on sick leave?

One thing that simply can’t be planned is sickness.

Sometimes people do know in advance about scheduled operations or medical procedures that necessitate time off work. Largely not, though. The wide spectrum of illnesses has minor complaints and infections at one end to serious diseases and disorders at the other.

Current reports estimate sick leave costs UK employers £29 billion a year in lost productivity, a figure predicted to maintain an upward trend because of factors such as an ageing workforce and rising mental health problems.

5. Cashier on maternity leave?

ItStatutory maternity leave entitlements are up to 52 weeks, the first 26 weeks being ‘ordinary maternity leave’ and the last 26 weeks being ‘additional maternity leave’. There are also fathers’ rights to bear in mind with paternity and shared parental leave obligations. It’s 2 weeks’ leave for the former, and up to 52 weeks’ leave between mother and father for the latter.

6. Cashier going part time?

The need to switch from full to part time working can be driven by many things including family commitments and health concerns. For employers, job sharing isn’t always the most desirable solution. Recruiting two part timers can be more costly than one full timer. There may not be enough workload to warrant appointing a part timer and full timer simultaneously. It’s a dilemma and one that’s aggravated by complicated employment legislation.

I could go on and on… jury service, study leave, dependant leave, career breaks etc. The key message being the plethora of motives that exist, resulting in a deficient staffing structure and making it difficult to run a business efficiently.

What may be surprising to learn is that, although these are tricky to remedy with in-house solutions, they’re really easily solved with outsourced service support.

Outsourcing can be instructed in all manner of ways.

By and large, outsourcing is a permanent, full time arrangement. Less frequently, but no less effective, outsourcing is a temporary resource engineered ad hoc to help companies through what may be a slight rough patch or critical emergency situation.

Outsourcing providers operate in similar ways with subtle differences in cashier allocation, cashier-firm interaction, software utilised and so forth. As a Quill client, you have a named cashier and deputy for the duration of your cover period. Our cashiers use our own legal accounting software, Interactive, and its echits functionality is the tool that closely connects your firm with its Quill cashier.

The biggest claim any outsourcing supplier can make, Quill included, is that we’re always available. Even if any Quill cashiers retire, resign, go on holiday, get sick, take parental leave or switch to a part time contract, there’s zero impact on you, the end user of our outsourced cashiering service. That’s because your deputy will cover instead and / or you’ll simply be assigned another cashier for longer term agreements.

To you, this means no more short staffing worries. Instead you’ve got continuous cashier support, whatever your unique circumstances and however your requirements might alter over time.

To find out more on Quill’s Pinpoint outsourced legal cashiering service, visit www.quill.co.uk/quillit, email info@quill.co.uk or call 0161 236 2910. ■

By Julian Bryan Managing Director, Quill

Enjoy This Summer get back to what you love sooner by selling or letting with Knight Frank.

Knight Frank Kings Cross Unit 1, 9 Handyside Street ArtHouse London N1C 4AY 020 8115 1552 kingscross@knightfrank.com @KF_NorthLondon @knightfrank

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