Clapham Omnibus November 2014

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CLAPHAM OMNIBUS the journal of the South London Law Society

Winter Issue 2014 - www.southlondonlawsociety.co.uk

Inside this issue:

› The Conveyancing

Process › Expert Witness Focus › Leaving a Legacy Sponsors this edition

Contents

Contents PUBLISHER

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Ian Fletcher Benham Publishing Limited 3tc House 16 Crosby Road North Crosby Liverpool L22 0NY Tel: 0151 236 4141 Fax: 0151 236 0440 email: admin@benhampublishing.com web: www.benhampublishing.com

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ADVERTISING AND FEATURES EDITOR Anna Woodhams

PRODUCTION MANAGER Neil lloyd

ACCOUNTS DIRECTOR Joanne Casey

MEDIA No. 1352

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PUBLISHED November 2014 © Benham Publishing Ltd

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LEGAL NOTICE © Benham Publishing.

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 Publishing. 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.

DISCLAIMER The South London Law Society welcomes all persons eligible for membership regardless of Sex, Race, Religion, Age or Sexual Orientation.

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 member 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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INTRODUCTION

22 EXPERT WITNESS

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

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MEMBERS REPORT

26 LEGACIES

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NEWS

30 JUNIOR LAWYERS DIVISION

COVER INFORMATION

12 SPOTLIGHT ON...

The cover image from ©Richard Lea-Hair and Historic Royal Palaces.

32 PRACTICE MANAGEMENT

16 PROPERTY

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Introduction

Officers President

Vice-President

Council Member

Stephen Whitaker 020 7940 4000 Tel: e-mail: stephen.whitaker@anthonygold.co.uk

Robert Hush Tel: 020 7815 6725 e-mail: hushr@lsbu.ac.uk

David Taylor 020 7228 0017 Tel: e-mail: dxt@hanne.co.uk

Treasurer

Hon. Secretary

Magazine Editor

Gareth Ledsham Tel: 020 8394 6413 e-mail: gareth.ledsham@Russell-Cooke.co.uk

Lawumi Biriyok 020 7237 4499 Tel: e-mail: birisho@aol.com

Richard Busby Tel: 020 7091 2755 e-mail: richard.busby@fishermeredith.co.uk

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Web Address: www.southlondonlawsociety.co.uk

Introduction

President’s Review Since our last issue, I have met and got to know a little Mark Hudson our recently appointed Law Society Regional Manager. Mark took over the role from long serving Morag Goldfinch in January of this year and he has attended our last two Committee meetings. To say that Mark is dynamic would be an understatement and he has made a positive contribution to both of those meetings and will continue to do so. He is also sharing with us and allowing us to publish in our Journal his “Regional Review” and that appears for the first time in this edition.

It is an all ranging piece summarising a massive amount of information on news and events. With this and, of course, our regular report from our own Law Society Councillor David Taylor then we have never been better informed.

The new Legal Term has commenced with a number of consultations, one of which has been the Ministry of Justice consultation on Transforming Legal Aid - Crime Duty Contracts.

We issued a full response on that which is reproduced in this Journal. Although it carries my name, I cannot thank enough my Committee colleague, herself a former President of South London Law Society, Sara Chandler and Senior Partner of Wainwright & Cummins solicitors in Brixton, Andrew Wainwright, for their work on this.

This issue and Access to Justice generally has, of course, been the hot topic of this year. We remain concerned that many people in our area will no longer be free to choose their own representation and we are specifically concerned with the ethnic groups within our community in the Boroughs that we represent.

We also feel very strongly that the Ministry of Justice has completely failed to take into account just how we operate as Law Firms. It is naïve to think that any Firm will choose to work under a duty contract as a commercial decision as opposed to the certainty of their own client work.

The timetable proposed envisages a major restructuring of the market which is unachievable and unsustainable going forward.

Another crime related matter that has been very much in my mind of late is that of prison reform brought about by the fact that our Guest Speaker at our forthcoming Annual Dinner will be Vicky Pryce. Vicky spent eight weeks in, firstly, Holloway (for a few days) and then at East Sutton Park, an open women’s prison (one of only two in the country) down in Kent. Her book “Prisonomics” is largely a diary documenting her views and experiences over that time. It is fascinating and insightful. Vicky deals at length with wider issues than just her own personal experience, dealing with the suitability of womens’ prisons for punishment generally.

Vicky highlights some of the life changing issues that affect women who serve even short term prison sentences with regard to children and housing matters. Children taken into care and the loss of a home are frequent outcomes. Because there are few prisons for women generally and, as stated, only two open prisons in the country, then those that are detained are often a long way from their roots, making it impossible to maintain relationships and contact.

Vicky calls for a radical rethink in the way female offenders are dealt with, a reform of prisons and punishment and a move towards Community Service as a punishment rather than detention.

Vicky also highlights the contribution made by the Charity “Working Chance” of which she has become a Patron. The aim of this organisation is to act as a Recruitment Consultancy for current and ex-offenders and they do a wonderful job.

Continuing with the criminal theme, then our second Guest Speaker at our Dinner will be Criminal Barrister, Elroy Claxton. Elroy is a highly experienced Criminal Advocate with expertise across all areas of crime but, at the Dinner, he will be focussing on cricket (well we are at the Oval!) and West Indian cricket in particular.

will be joined on that Committee by two of my colleagues from Anthony Gold. Firstly, Sarah Hughes will join the Committee. Sarah is a Family Lawyer and was one of the Founding Committee of our Junior Division. Harry Dronfield of Hanne & Co, the Founding President of the JLD, has also now come onto the Senior Committee and we welcome his contribution with open arms. The second of my colleagues joining is Donovan Lindsay, a Legal Executive of many years standing who has worked in South London for his entire professional life and is currently a member of our Court of Protection team. Both Sarah and Donovan will bring great energy and enthusiasm to this Committee.

Finally, and still on Committee matters, it is with sadness that we will say goodbye to Andy Unger.

Andy is stepping down from the Committee after serving it faithfully for many years, some of them as President. We are never too sure whether it was three, four or even five years but it was certainly a long time! Andy was at the forefront of developing our relationship with the Law Association of Zambia (LAZ) and, of course, we would not have the relationship with London South Bank University without him. Andy, a grateful thanks from all of us for what you have done and, especially, from me personally. We may not see you at Committee Meetings but please don’t go too far.

As the Guest Speaker at our AGM in November, we are privileged to have Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC. I am sure Sir Geoffrey needs little introduction from the likes of me. He is of course STEPHEN WHITAKER the founder of the Human Rights Law Firm President Bindmans and he will speak to us about Magna South London Law Society Carta. Throughout his professional life, he has been right at the forefront in COPY DEADLINES dealing with Civil Liberty and Human Rights issues.

Spring 2015 Issue 3rd February 2015 Summer 2015 Issue 2nd July 2015 This will be the last column that I write as your President Autumn 2015 Issue 2nd October 2015 because, at that AGM in Members wishing to submit editorial please contact us before November, I will be standing copy deadline. down after three years. It has been an honour and a Anyone else wishing to advertise or submit editorial for publication in the Clapham Omnibus please contact Anna privilege to be your President Woodhams, before copy deadline. and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I will stay on Email: anna@benhampublishing.com the Committee and, next year, Tel: 0151 236 4141

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Members Report

Council Member’s Report

by DAVID TAYLOR

This is a report of the meeting of Council on 14th October 2014.

The Budget Probably the major item on the agenda was the Group Business Plan and Budget for 2015. This covers the SRA, central services such as IT and HR (cunningly now re-branded as Corporate Solutions) and the representative arm of The Law Society (“TLS”). The Group budget was set at £114,337,000. The SRA share being £35,571,000; Corporate Solutions £60,258,000; and TLS £17,754,000; plus a contingency. You will see that the vast majority of expenditure goes in regulation and the services to support regulation. Of the Group budget about £59M goes in staff costs and nearly £18M to the Legal Services Board and the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal.

Judicial Review of MOJ re criminal contracting As you are no doubt aware this was to some extent successful and the MOJ have embarked on a disgracefully truncated repeat consultation so as to get any measure implemented before the election. I hope that you and/or your firm have responded (the closing date having recently passed at the time of writing).

Public Law Project Judicial Review of LASPO The Society has also given support to the PLP in this case: to overturn the requirement that domestic violence must have occurred in the previous 24 months to obtain Legal Aid; to challenge the restrictive way exceptional funding can be granted in Article 8 immigration cases; to obtain permission for a JR on the new rules of granting Legal Aid in JR cases.

Big Brother Watch and others v UK The Society has applied to intervene in this case of data mining by GCHQ and which is a direct application to the ECtHR given its implication for the security of legal professional privilege

Conveyancing Portal This is a project which I had some direct involvement in as the immediate past Chair of the Membership Board. The project is due to launch in the first quarter of 2015. I cannot yet give too much detail as some of it has not been finalised and some of it is still commercially sensitive given involvement of commercial partners. However it has the potential to be a game changer and to allow the profession to wrest back the initiative in the conveyancing process that has been too long in the hands of the lenders.

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There has been considerable interest from firms with a 1,000 requesting more data and 600 interested in participating in the testing phase. In addition the land registry has been involved in development. The system itself will be a secure deal room with the ability to upload documents. The lenders will have access thus allowing more confidence in the transaction and the reduction in the risk of fraud.

Only approved solicitor and licensed conveyancers will have access to the portal and thus the threat of bogus or cloned firms will be reduced. PII policies will be required to be uploaded. There will also be a direct link to the Land registry for post completion activity. The law society’s conveyancing protocol will be hardwiring into the system. Of course there will need to be an annual licence fee as well as a transaction fee to fund the system.

I would urge all conveyancing firms to join, especially the smaller firms who could not hope to afford the same sophisticated IT system that the Portal will provide.

I have one personal caveat in that the need for the Conveyancing Quality Scheme will still remain as a badge of good practice. The portal is a method of service delivery and the CQS should not be neglected.

Consumer Campaign You may have seen the results of this already. The society embarked on a campaign to increase consumer awareness of the top 5 (by volume) areas of work; consumer law, conveyancing, wills and probate’ personal injury, crime and family law. It commenced on 1st September and will continue to the year end. The advertising has been placed on social media, outdoor sights and even ITV on demand. There are printed resources available to firms and also an electronic campaign pack. Please contact the Society if you want any of this.

I hope you see from the above some of the answers to what has the Law Society ever done for me question.

Pastoral Care Practice Advice Service Tel: 0870 606 2522 or practiceadvice@lawsociety.org.uk. This provides advice from experienced solicitors on legal practice issues including conveyancing, costs, probate, Law Society policy and practice notes including antimoney laundering. Lines are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

Lawyerline 0870 606 2588 or lawyerline@lawsociety.org.uk.

This provides advice on client care and complaints handling. Lines are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

Pastoral Care Helpline 020 7320 5795. This provides personal, financial, professional and employment advice. Lines are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

JLD Helpline 0800 085 6131. Pastoral care for junior lawyers.

Lines are open from 9:00 am to 9:00pm Monday to Friday.

Please contact me with any issues that you wish me to take up at dxt@hanne.co.uk or follow me on Twitter on @DavidTaylor364 DAVID TAYLOR

PASTORAL CARE PRACTICE ADVICE SERVICE Tel: 0870 606 2522 practiceadvice@lawsociety.org.uk This provides advice from experienced solicitors on legal practice issues including conveyancing, costs, probate, Law Society policy and practice notes including anti-money laundering. Lines are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

LAWYERLINE Tel: 0870 606 2588 lawyerline@lawsociety.org.uk This provides advice on client care and complaints handling. Lines are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

PASTORAL CARE HELPLINE 020 7320 5795 This provides personal, financial, professional and employment advice.

Lines are open from 9:00 am to 5:00pm Monday to Friday.

JLD HELPLINE 0800 085 6131 Pastoral care for junior lawyers. Lines are open from 9:00 am to 9:00pm Monday to Friday.

News

Response to the Ministry of Ju Transforming legal aid: crime duty contracts, 15 October 2014 The South London Law Society upholds the rule of law and access to justice. The Society responds to this consultation in the belief that the Ministry of Justice shares these key cornerstones of the justice system and our democratic society.

At the High Court during the recent judicial review proceedings it was stated on behalf of the Ministry of Justice that even if the Ministry had included the reports prepared by KPMG, Otterburn and the Ministry’s own consultants, P A Consultants in the previous consultation of 2013, it would have made no difference to the outcome.

The Society expects the Ministry to engage in this consultation with honesty, transparency and with a preparedness to take seriously our response and that of our colleagues throughout the legal profession.

Who are we?

This response is submitted on behalf of the South London Law Society by the President, Mr Stephen Whitaker, whose contact details are to be found at the end of this document.

The Society represents members of solicitor’s firms in the South London Boroughs of Greenwich, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Wandsworth.

Services to South Londoners include services to specific ethnic groups within the community, firms employ solicitors from black and minority ethnic groups and many deliver services in languages other than English. Access to such services is available through firms advertising on websites, referrals from organisations, within the community and front line services and information available through the Law Society’s website. Word of mouth within an ethnic minority community spreads information about where someone can find a solicitor who speaks their language.

The Ministry’s proposals will impact disproportionately on members of ethnic minority communities. We regard this as unacceptable as the strength of the justice system is that everyone has access to it, and this includes people whose first language is not English. There should be no discrimination against people who do not speak English as their first language, and who cannot afford to pay for legal services.

The Society is seriously concerned that the Ministry’s proposals will reduce access to quality advice and representation for those members of the public who need assistance in the criminal justice system, and that miscarriages of justice will increase as a result.

Quality should not be sacrificed in the search for spending cuts.

Spending cuts which hamper quality services can result in increased spending later down the line. A short term approach will damage the criminal justice system, and may even have further negative results in wider society. Criminal defence plays an important role in ensuring that the disaffected in society, who may turn to criminality are resented in as excellent a way as the prosecution puts the case to the Court.

Society needs quality prosecution and quality defence.

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Q.1. Do you have any comments on the findings of the Otterburn report, including the observations in pages 5 to 8 of the report?

The Society agrees with the Otterburn report in its observations on the criminal legal aid market. It is the case that the market is fragile in our view.

We have serious concerns with the proposed timetable. Introducing the fee cuts before there is an adequate time for restructuring and consolidation is a high risk strategy. We appreciate that the timetable has been lengthened by the introduction of fee reductions in two stages, however, there is still considerable impact on the firms in the Society.

The Otterburn report concludes: “Based on the findings of our survey, in our opinion, any fee reductions should take place after, not before, the market has a chance to consolidate”; South London firms in general have difficulties in obtaining funding for investment, or organising mergers, or indeed expanding to fill contract spread. Should a firm wish to bid for a large area and to do this a firm needs to expand, the proposed timetable does not give sufficient time to recruit and train sufficient staff.

The fragility of the market, that is of the suppliers of criminal legal services has been ignored, or discounted by the Ministry of Justice. Despite the information and data supplied in the three reports the risk that the supplier base would collapse was not accepted. Such a position calls into question the extent to which the Ministry values the supply of free criminal legal services.

We recognise that the Legal Aid Agency in its February 2014 report miscalculated the findings of the Otterburn Report to justify a calculation that £83,000 as fee earner generation would be required as a measure of viability. Taking into account contribution each fee earner must make to the costs of support staff, National Insurance Contributions, share of overheads, it is unrealistic and too low a figure. It would not be viable as a long term business proposition.

Q.2. Do you have any comments on the assumptions adopted by KPMG? The KPMG report assumes that firms would be willing to take on a larger duty contract while reducing their own client work. The subsequent loss in income does not appear to be an impact that the

Ministry recognises as affecting the economic viability of firms. Firms are highly unlikely to reduce their own client work putting at risk the economic viability of the firm.

Firms have a long standing client base, with many serving their own clients over a long period. Firms which are well established in their areas and communities may have decades of service, and are well established institutions in their particular communities. To expect a reduction in own client work in order to take on a larger duty contract is not realistic.

In addition to our comments above on own client work, the Society is of the view that the facility for a client to choose a solicitor freely is a cornerstone of both civil and criminal justice. Clients should be represented by a professional who understands them and their case, and can provide a quality service.

Miscarriages of justice where basic misunderstandings have occurred are all too common in some jurisdictions, and are particularly significant in jurisdictions where the death penalty still exists. Though the example of the death penalty is extreme, any miscarriage of justice demeans the society where it occurs. Language and knowledge of particular cultures are important in a diverse society such as the UK, and we believe that clients should be able to instruct a solicitor who can not only understand their language but also their culture, ideally from first-hand experience.

Clients are more likely to listen to advice from a trusted provider, “their own solicitor”. Advice from someone they do not know or trust to speak during a police interview, or to plead guilty is more likely to be rejected than if they receive that advice from someone they trust.

Q3 Do you have any comments on the analysis produced by KPMG? The KPMG report describes a model which shows what level of revenue from the contract is required for a firm to be viable. There is a diversity among the firms in the South London Law Society, ranging from the big to the very small. In order to cover the MOJ’s areas it may be that firms will come to together , however this then has a knock on effect on the revenue to be received in a shared contract between partner organisations.

If a firm has to expand in order to cover the work, then it will inevitably have to increase the proportion

News

stice Consultation of its duty contract work which will then impact on its own client work. The restructuring of its revenue streams will have an impact on profitability, about which we have commented above.

In the Society’s view, firms cannot continue to cut staff salaries in real terms. However, if they do not then the alternative is redundancies, thus reducing the viability of coping with expansion to meet a duty contract.

On the KPMG analysis, firms would have to grow on average by one fee earner, and in some cases by as much as five fee earners. Firms are not going to be able to meet this and sustain economic viability.

Closer analysis is needed of the profit needed to provide working capital, sufficient for investment and reserves, and the cash flow necessary to run a contract.

Q.4. Do you have any views on the MOJ comments set out in the document?

The MOJ fails to understand how a solicitor’s firm operates, and the factors a firm takes into account.

The MOJ appears to believe that a firm will choose to work under the duty contract as a commercial decision. Firms in the South London area would prefer the certainty of their own client work to the duty contract, which cannot guarantee income. On a purely commercial basis a firm would have to choose own client work. There are other reasons stated above why a firm would choose own client work in addition to commercial decisions.

The proposed procurement areas have raised major concerns about the accessibility of criminal legal services. Both the KPMG and the Otterburn reports raised these concerns but the Ministry has not taken these predictions into account, and the Ministry has not made any alternative proposals which would be more suitable.

Q.5. If the assumptions and data on which the KPMG recommendations are based remain appropriate, do you consider that there is any reason not to accept the maximum number of contracts possible (525) as the MOJ have done?

The Society understands the intention of the Ministry to reduce the number of solicitors’ firms which can deliver legal aid in the criminal justice system. The Society understands the Ministry’s objective to reduce the size of the legal aid budget The consultation paper states: “We consider the modelling that KPMG undertook, using the assumptions outlined above and based on the Otterburn data and LAA claim data, was sound and that the resulting range from the analysis of between 355 and 525 duty contracts was appropriate given those assumptions and data.

Overall our assessment is that the KPMG analysis, informed by Otterburn data and claim data from the LAA, is a sound evidential basis for the decision on the number of duty provider contracts to offer.”

The Society respectfully draws attention to the fact that KPMG themselves flagged up various areas where further analysis or consideration was required.

and data supplied in the three reports. This would also appear to be a waste of public money.

It appears that the MOJ has not taken into account that firms in London may bid for contracts in more than one area to reflect their current spread of duty.

Findings from the P A Consulting report which were not made public until very recently show that the overall 17.5% fee cut will impact heavily on the type of firms in the South London Law Society. The report shows that if a firm earns 50% of its income from criminal legal aid, then only those in the top quarter and small firms at the median will be profitable after the 17.5% fee cut. For firms who have a far greater income from criminal legal aid, at say 90%, only small firms in the top quarter will make a profit, and that profit will be 3%. Since the first half of that fee cut, that of 8.75% was introduced in March 2014, firms are reporting that even low profit has been wiped out.

The KPMG report concluded its recommendations by saying that for all areas, the MoJ should consider the implications of factors such as the barriers to market consolidation, the availability of investment capital, and the impact of the proposals on competition in the longer term.

Anecdotal evidence from members of South London Law Society shows that firms can no longer subsidise criminal legal aid work. Some firms will have to diversify revenue streams in the medium term, but the increasing reduction in fees is unsustainable and they will have to cease criminal legal aid work.

Because of the number of existing firms in South London, the proposal to introduce bids based on one equal share per firm, will result in small contracts which will not be economical to run if all current providers decide to bid. On a small contract the need to cover the full CJS area will require investment that firms are unable to make, or in future be able to obtain funding to do so.

The P.A. Consulting report does not rely on there being economies of scope and scale which can assist firms in coping with the fee reduction. Having reviewed the evidence both for and against the potential of scope and scale, the report concludes that no efficiency savings can be assumed in the impact analysis of the proposed fee reductions.

The KPMG report stated that the MOJ should consider the capacity of providers to expand; whether providers from outside the area would be able to enter and bid for contracts in an area which is underserved; how much market consolidation is achievable and whether it is realistic to expect further savings in staff costs and overheads in procurement areas in which further consideration is required,

If providers leave the profession, then those that remain will attempt to provide a service but it will be below cost. This will lead to a process of slow bleeding away of experienced providers. New entrants to the profession will have difficulty finding firms where they can work as newly qualified solicitors, under the necessary supervision and support required as newly qualified solicitors.

The proposed reduction in the number of contracts will result in a huge restructuring of the market. This cannot be achieved without large cost. For South London firms this will mean that in order to continue to provide legal services in criminal defence they will need to form consortium with other providers or sub contract with other firms. All of this takes time and money. The Society does not believe that the Ministry has set a realistic timetable, or understands the impact of the timetable on the kind of firms who provide legal services in South London..

The Society believes that the proposed model of “equal shares” is very restrictive. It will be difficult for South London firms to bid because the majority of firms are not large firms.

Q.6. So you have any other views we should consider when deciding on the number of contracts?

In commissioning the reports from the three agencies, KPMG, Otterburn and P.A Consulting, the Ministry must have had the intention of investigating how the proposals for restructuring the delivery of criminal legal aid would work. Public money was spent on commissioning the three reports. Yet there would appear to be a failure to accept the evidence

The reduction in rates in addition to the reduction in size of contract will further aggravate the uneconomical model proposed by the Ministry. The proposals are not economically viable.

It will be financially impossible for the majority of the South London providers to bear these cuts.

South London firms are fully compliant with the Solicitors Regulatory Authority principles. Many firms are LEXCEL accredited. No firm would bid in the knowledge that such a bid would not be within the firms’ practice of sound financial management. Every firm must comply with regulatory principle 8 on sound financial and risk management.

In assessing the financial impact of the proposed measures, firms will be faced with the risk of bidding but without sufficient guarantee that the future would be economically viable, or leaving the legal aid sector. Many experienced providers may have to consider withdrawing provision of legal aid to their own client base, the impact of which will damage not only the structure of the market in South London, but also the criminal justice system, and all that means for society in general.

South London Law Society Submitted by the President Mr Stephen Whitaker, Anthony Gold Solicitors The Counting House 53 Tooley Street London SE 1 2QN

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News News

SLLS are pleased to introduce this new regular feature for our magazine, kindly provided by the Law Society Regional Manager, Mark Hudson consisting of details of up and coming news and events. Also available each month free on the SLLS website. Access the website to follow any of the links below.

Regional Review - Autumn 2014 News - At a Glance

- Excellence Awards finalists unveiled

- SRA decision on accounting requirements

- Law Society announces new Chief Executive

The finalists for the Law Society Excellence Awards 2014, selected by a panel of senior industry experts, reveal a breadth of talent throughout the profession in England and Wales, from small local practices and in-house teams to large City firms. The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony hosted by BBC News presenter Mishal Husain on 09 October at the Park Plaza Hotel, Westminster Bridge, London.

The SRA has announced that accountants' reports will remain in place for the vast majority of firms, though only qualified reports will need to be submitted to the SRA.

The Law Society has appointed Catherine Dixon as its new chief executive; she will join in January 2015.

- Compulsory PII terms stay the same for 2014/15 On 19 August 2014, the SRA announced that the current terms for compulsory professional indemnity insurance will remain in force for the 01 October 2014 renewal.

Legal services boost predicted for 2015 New August 2014 Law Society forecasts expect the rate of growth in real turnover of the UK legal services sector to continue to increase in 2014 and 2015, with growth in 2015 likely to be near to pre-recession levels.

- Law Society seeks profession's views on criminal proceedings The Law Society is asking criminal law practitioners to submit their ideas on improving the criminal court process, to support their work on a reference group reviewing the efficiency of criminal proceedings. Sir Brian Leveson, who is leading the review, wishes to involve practitioners by seeking their thoughts and expertise.

- Duty provider contracts: summary of the key changes and our comments The Legal Aid Agency has published a draft of the 2015 duty provider contract and deferred the contract tender until October.

- Use our campaign to promote your business From 01 September 2014 the Law Society is running a consumer-facing campaign to support your business. It will use PR, social media, advertising and video to highlight the value solicitors offer to private clients and drive more people to our Find A Solicitor website, helping attract new clients for you. This year's campaign focuses on six areas of law: conveyancing, wills and probate, family law, criminal law, business law and personal injury.

- Government delays decision on Land Registry restructuring The Department of Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has published a response to its consultation on Land Registry's structure, announcing that it needs time for 'further consideration' before making any changes.

- HMRC debt recovery 'regressive and draconian' Proposals from HMRC to take money direct from taxpayers' bank accounts - without going through the courts - have been branded 'regressive and draconian' by the Law Society.

- Law Society granted special consultative status at the UN This special consultative status provides the Law Society with unprecedented access to member states and the UN system. The Society will have scope to collaborate with member states on issues including human rights and the rule of law, as well as have input into discussions on the Council's agenda on an international and domestic level.

- Access to Justice campaign Access to justice is on the verge of a crisis. There can be no effective rule of law when we lack a fully accessible and affordable judicial system.

Campaign information, key goals, latest news coverage, building the evidence.

- Law Society annual review 2013-14 The 2013-14 annual review focuses on how the Law Society has represented, promoted and supported members throughout 2013-14. This year the review features videos of members telling their story of how the Law Society has helped them, their clients and the profession.

- The economic contribution of the legal sector Talking at Policy Exchange's 'Future of the City' conference, deputy vice-president Robert Bourns highlighted the strength of the UK legal sector by mentioning that for every 100 jobs in the legal services sector, 67 are supported in other areas of the economy.

Other key messages from the speech included: UK legal firms make a direct contribution of 1.5% to GDP and strengthen the wider business community every £1 of output of the UK legal services sector underpins £2.39 of output in the UK economy as a whole growth in the UK legal services sector is expected to increase to near pre-recession levels in 2015.Read a full copy of Robert Bourns' speech.

- MDP proposals The SRA has announced plans to make it easier for multi-disciplinary practices (MDPs) to be licensed to provide legal services under SRA regulation.

London Events / Conferences • The Women Lawyers’ Division evening with women working in law (Thurs 13 Nov)

- Organised crime survey HM Government published the Serious and Organised Crime Strategy in October 2013 to substantially reduce the level of serious and organised crime affecting the UK and its interests. The Home Office is working with the Law Society to: raise awareness of the threat to solicitors from organised criminal groups; deter involvement in serious and organised crime; and provide practical guidance on how to protect your firm.

To help us address this important issue, we’re interested in your views on serious and organised crime. Please take five minutes to complete the survey here. All responses are anonymous.

- Lender Exchange update For details please see our website.

- London law fair: exhibitor opportunities On Wednesday 26 November the first 'London Law Fair' will be held at Chancery Lane. The event aims to bring together students from the newer London universities with law firms of all sizes. Firms will have the opportunity to meet students from diverse backgrounds who may not normally be included in traditional recruitment campaigns, whilst the students will have the opportunity to demonstrate their talent and ambition.

If your firm would be interested in having a presence at the event and/or an advert in the brochure please see the following link: http://tinyurl.com/nkh7wtq - nterim payments for legal aid The Ministry of Justice has published a statutory instrument which makes changes to interim payments for criminal legal aid. It also announced that it will reintroduce graduated cracked-trial fees for both litigators and advocates for those elected either-way cases that currently attract a fixed fee in the Crown Court where the judge directs acquittal following the prosecution offering no evidence on all counts against an individual.

- Government confirms consumer contract regulations do not apply to legal aid cases The MoJ has confirmed the government's position that the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (CCRs) do not apply to legal aid cases.

• Anti-money laundering and financial crime conference (Thurs 20 Nov) • Rule of Law, sedition act and the walk for peace and freedom in Malaysia (Tues 25 Nov)

• Private client section winter seminars – alternative dispute resolution (Thurs 13 Nov)

• The London law fair (Weds 26 Nov: 9:30 - 12:15 or 12:30 - 15:00)

• Management course stage one (Tues 18 Nov)

• EMLD workshop: succeeding at the interview process (Weds 26 Nov)

• Business continuity planning for COLPs and COFAs (Tues 18 Nov) • Anti-money laundering and financial crime conference (Thurs 20 Nov) • Rule of Law, sedition act and the walk for peace and freedom in Malaysia (Tues 25 Nov)

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• Judicial appointments: interview training (Fri 28 or Sat 29 Nov) Events not listed where fully booked and held at Chancery Lane unless stated; for further details see our events page.

News

New Practice Notes

SRA Consultations

A selection of the latest appears below. See the website for details of all new practice notes.

Training for Tomorrow: a competence statement for solicitors (ends 12 January)

Mortgage fraud Criminals will exploit weaknesses in lending and conveyancing systems to gain illegitimate financial advantage from the UK property market. This practice note highlights the warning signs of mortgage fraud and outlines how you can protect yourself and your firm from being used to commit mortgage fraud.

Consumer Contract Regulations 2013 The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 (the regulations) come into force on 13 June 2014. They regulate most contracts made between a "trader" and a "consumer". The regulations are likely to apply to a wide range of contracts made between solicitors (as traders) and their clients (as consumers).

Whether they apply will depend on the nature of the client and the circumstances in which the contract was made.

For contracts entered into on or after 13 June 2014, the regulations supersede two previous sets of regulations:

• The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 • The Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008 This practice note explains when the regulations will apply to contracts between solicitors and their clients, and explains the consequences.

In this consultation the SRA invites views on a topic that is of critical importance to the future of the profession, clients and the administration of justice: what standards should we expect of solicitors when newly-qualified and subsequently?

Regulation of consumer credit activities (ends 15 December) This consultation seeks views on the SRA's proposal to withdraw from the Financial Conduct Authority's (FCA) Designated Professional Body (DPB) regime for the purposes of consumer credit activities. This means that SRA-authorised firms carrying on any regulated credit activities would need to apply to the FCA for authorisation rather than being able to rely on the Part 20 exemption set out in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (FSMA).

Overseas Accounts Rules (ends 22 December) This consultation is designed to seek views on proposed changes to the accounts rules applicable to entities and individual authorised persons 'practising overseas'.

We are proposing to move the accounts rules that apply to overseas practice from the SRA Accounts Rules section of the SRA Handbook into the Overseas Rules and to simplify their application and content.

Call for evidence: client protection (ends 30 September) The SRA is calling for evidence to inform their work to improve the way that client protection is delivered through the Compensation Fund and professional indemnity insurance arrangements.

Contact details Regional Manager: Mark Hudson Email: mark.hudson@lawsociety.org.uk Telephone: 07794 335818

The Law Society: The Year Ahead On 10 July I carried myself up the stone steps of 113 Chancery Lane and through the wooden double doors. I proceeded through the foyer and up the twist and turns of the staircase up to the Private Office on the third floor. I had done this unceremonious ceremony perhaps a hundred times before. This day, however, was different, it was my first day as the President. I had not had much rest the night before, a combination of both excitement and trepidation played on my mind. I was very much aware that this was my chance to give back to a profession which has given me so much, and so I wanted to use the opportunity wisely.

Every President has the opportunity to choose aspects of the Law Society’s work which they would like to personally give a bit of extra weight to, to highlight and promote. For my year I wanted to concentrate upon areas which would bring our profession together, whether this was by the Law Society better communicating to our members or by uniting all solicitors under one banner and calling for change. My three priorities, therefore, are membership engagement, diversity and inclusion and access to justice.

At the Law Society we know that one of the areas we can improve in is membership engagement. We have not always been the best at fully explaining what is happening, why we take the decisions we do or giving you, our members, enough of an opportunity to get your opinions taken into account. It is both a corporate priority and a personal one that we spend the next twelve months improving in this area.

We have recently re-focused our communications team, strengthened our use of social media and have launched a member insight panel of around 1000 solicitors. In addition to this, I will also be taking as many opportunities to get out of Chancery Lane as possible to meet with as many of you as I can. I know just how valuable this can be because nobody knows

the challenges they face better than those who are personally facing them.

There is also my desire to improve mobility in our profession. I am not from a professional background, my parents were market gardeners from just outside of the New Forest. I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of a very generous grant system operated

by Hampshire County Council. If I had not have been, I may never have trained. While the legal profession has made giant strides in improving diversity in our profession, I think we need to continue to ensure that our profession is accessible to all. As a profession, it is important that we reflect the communities we serve. The Law Society will continue to promote best practices, support Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic solicitors and work with firms to improve our profession’s diversity.

The centrepiece of my year will be about sparking a wide-ranging debate about the levels of access to justice in this country. For the rule of law to be meaningful all citizens must be able to access justice, by which I mean effective access to legal advice and representation.

I feel that the level of access to our courts is increasingly diminished for some of the most vulnerable

in our society. The recent changes to civil legal aid and the Jackson reforms have had a disastrous effect for many in this country. Too many people have had to turn to representing themselves in court, bringing with it a whole host of administrative burdens alongside the question of whether this disparity of arms in a court room is conducive to our adversarial legal system.

On 08 September at our first ever Access to Justice day, I launched the Law Society’s campaign to raise the profile of this important topic. It has three core strands: to raise public awareness of lawyer aided access to justice, to persuade policy-makers of the need to amend parts 1 and 2 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act and to encourage, and support, our members to make their services more accessible to the public.

The launch event was well attended and received excellent coverage in the national and trade media (including in The Guardian and The Times). However, this is just the beginning of a major campaign that will last throughout my presidential year and beyond.

Of course my Presidential priorities are in addition to, and not instead of, the Law Society’s other work to support our diverse membership. We will also be using every opportunity to represent and promote our profession to the public and to the Government and maximise every chance to support our members through initiatives, events and advice.

by ANDREW CAPLEN

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Spotlight on...

Introducing - Eileen Pembridge, senior partner at Fisher Meredith and the next in our continuing spotlight feature on top partners in South London firms.

Eileen has been recognised as one of the leading divorce lawyers in the Capital for many years. Some of her areas of expertise include: - Divorce, Financial Disputes on Relationship breakdown, Prenuptial and Post nuptial Agreements, collaborative law, all of which have seen her represent in some high profile cases.

Who or what has influenced you to pursue a career in law?

What have been your highs and lows working in the legal profession?

I started off in very different directions but as I moved to London and travelled widely it was only a matter of time before I moved towards the law after seeing for myself the influence on changes that lawyers can have and—after a year or more working for Release-- the widespread need for legal assistance.

Working in the profession and particularly when in the political arena has given me the opportunity to pursue to the very end, issues that are important to me. I got involved in legislation in the seventies for Equal Pay, domestic violence and anti-discrimination generally—at a time when women solicitors were not even allowed into the Law Society building itself! I got heavily involved in helping to get injunctions and safe houses for battered women and have gradually concentrated my efforts into family law. From 1987 I was one of only five female members of Council once we were let in and I stayed for 16 years representing London South of the Thames. There were far fewer women in the profession generally and I really felt there needed to be better representation and to shake up the Old Boys’ Club that the society was in those days.

What path did you take to legal qualification?

It was rather unusual. After leaving Cambridge University, where I studied Chemistry, Physics and Biochemistry, then a year’s Russian, I went on to Bath University to study for a Diploma in Russian and French.

Using these skills, I spent three years in Vienna working with the International Atomic Energy Authority as a scientific translator.

After spending one year in Mexico City teaching science at a college and travelling around, I moved back and started working from 1970-5 as a freelance translator/interpreter for a variety of UN agencies based in Europe and New York such as WHO, UNICEF,WMO. In this work I attended meetings conducted in Russian, French and Spanish that were political and also scientific and I reported back or wrote up proceedings. I also worked in most countries in Africa for the African--and later the Arab-- Development Banks. Even after qualifying as a solicitor and starting my own firm, this work continued intermittently for another 10 years.

In 1973, I started training as a solicitor by studying at home then attending the College of Law and undertook training contracts in London firms of solicitors, qualifying in 1975. Immediately (as one could in those days) I started my own firm of solicitors, Fisher Meredith (using my then married name)

What is a typical day like for you at your firm and how do you manage your work/life balance?

Well, I managed because I married and had my children late (two daughters at age 43 and 53) so I could by then help run the firm during maternity leave and afford a live in nanny.

I eventually learned to start the day early and seize it with both hands so I get up every morning at 5 50 am and go to the gym at the bottom of the garden where we have an endless pool, cross trainer, rowing machine, sauna and suchlike. As the senior partner, I coordinate and attend all the firm’s meetings but I am also hands on and retain a large client base which takes up most of my day.

I have always survived the London work pressures (which I thoroughly enjoy) by going to the country at weekends. For 30 years I had a cottage with no gas, water or electricity on the banks of the Hampshire Avon and so the children grew up enjoying outdoor pursuits and bed by candlelight. We now have one with indoor facilities on the banks of the Ebble in Wiltshire, where I keep my little horse, Delboy so the girls and I can go riding over the bridleways and along the ridges and forget the business world for a while. I am also a member of two sailing clubs –one in the New Forest nearby and one on the sea at Bosham so I can roam and enjoy the freedom from six minute units for at least two days a week.

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In 1976 I became the first woman to stand for President of the Society and as a result was called ‘the most dangerous feminist in England’ by the ‘old boy’ who was actually elected. During my time there I dealt with all issues affecting the profession and its development. I was a member of or chaired various committees including Family Law, Dispute Resolution, Reputation, Legal Aid, Human Rights, Governance, Equal Opportunities/Diversity and Legal Services.

During this time, I also represented the Law Society at national and international conferences including Brussels, Canada and Australia. As part of the Human Rights committee, I went to Nicaragua as an official observer of state elections where my knowledge of Spanish stood me in good stead in a wild world.

I was instrumental in the creation of the Judicial Appointments Committee for the Lord Chancellor for drawing up selection criteria for judges and best practice in the legal profession. I was also a member of the Supreme Court Rules committee responsible for reviewing procedures for both civil and family courts.

In 2005 I was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Open University for services to Family Law and Legal Aid and also made a Patron for Life of the Association of Women Solicitors. These moments were particularly fulfilling for me.

Perhaps a low point, although I only say so through the benefit of hindsight, was being involved in the regulatory committees engaged in redesigning the governance of the profession by setting up the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and revised Law Society. This involved setting out the future of the profession as well as the split of responsibilities between the two parts of what had been a whole. It was a time of disruption and unhappiness within the profession, which has carried over into newly uncomfortable relationships at times.

What do you think are the challenges facing the legal profession in the next 12 months?

I believe that the cuts in the scope, availability and eligibility of legal aid over recent years has left many people without legal advice and assistance and clogged up the court lists with LIPS. We at Fisher Meredith have been proud to have been a legal aid firm of repute for nearly 40 years in several areas from family to crime to education to Court of Protection and landlord and

tenant and asylum immigration but we have found that the economics no longer work and so have been obliged to shed several departments and make the transition away from publicly funded work over the last 3-4 years .We always said we would be one of the last to do this but recently we have had to increase the speed of change and concentrate more on our private and commercial work, with our strong Dispute Resolution department . We as a firm are moving forward successfully through proper business planning to an exciting but different future in our shiny new High Holborn offices--albeit with a staff of colleagues reduced from 120 to 40 or so. We shall continue to do high standard Care work and will retain also our very successful department dealing with Police and Prison Law, but I am very conscious of the fact that the lack of legal aid will impact not only on the public but on law students wanting to help others as the number and type of training contracts shrinks dramatically.

What changes would you like to see in the legal profession in the next 5 years?

I feel now that the separation of legal services regulation was really a disintegration that has not been managed as successfully as, for instance that of the medical profession. It has been hard at times to keep faith with the work of the SRA and its consultations and of the various complaints bodies with their changing names and remits. I feel that there is a real disconnect now between those in charge of running the profession and the profession itself and I would like to see evidence that the regulators really do have an understanding of those they are regulating. I should also like to see the Legal aid Agency improve its services to those to whom it owes monies and those still trying to serve the public for low returns.

What sets your firm apart from others?

Since 1975, the firm has grown --working out of two offices in South London. We have simply had to trim down and have done so successfully but we retain a strong legal commitment to rights based work, modest costs structures and our friendliness and approachability. We have always been fortunate in attracting very high quality solicitors to work together with us.

What are the qualities that make an effective lawyer?

I think that helpful qualities are to be quick of mind, careful as to detail, to have and use emotional intelligence, to do what you have promised and to be fearless.

What are you reading at the moment?

You won’t want to know…I read mainly historical novels in French, Russian and Spanish---or ones about life at sea, but I also try to keep abreast of my first interest in things scientific.

What motto do you live by?

Carpe diem.

News

Teaching human rights in the sun, CADIZ, SPAIN. Professor Sara Chandler, Past President SLLS. How does the profession ensure that young lawyers are well trained in justice and human rights law? I was recently lucky enough to speak at a congress in Spain resourced by the Spanish government to discuss how Universities can develop programmes to teach justice and human rights.

The congress, called HURIAGE (Human Rights Age) was held in Cadiz and brought together an international network of academics to discuss the teaching of justice and human rights in the University law curriculum.

The Congress was entitled “The Age of Rights – Human Rights in the 21st Century”. It was convened to launch the report of eight Spanish Universities who have collaborated on a series of studies on the teaching, and development of human rights. The study has been going on for five years, though some of the contributors had been working on particular studies for longer. Foreign contributors came from UK, Italy, Mexico, Colombia and Israel.

• Organisation of international justice; • Democracy, governance and participation; • Implementation and effectiveness of human rights; • Multiculturalism; • Science and technology; • Humanitarian action; • Emerging human rights; • Discrimination;

The “Human Rights Age” (HURIAGE) is the first research project on human rights approved by the Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation within the context of the Consolider programme. It is an integral and innovative project which aims to broaden the frontiers of knowledge on human rights and to contribute to their universal recognition and guarantee.

• Democracy, rights and social movements;

The topics of the congress ranged over several fields for example:

• Democracy, constitutionalism and justice;

• Rights in a political, ethical and juridical context;

• Liberty and security; • Poverty and vulnerable groups; • Social, economic and cultural rights; • Environment and development.

• Cases from the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights;

I was one of 2 speakers in the opening plenary session, sharing the platform with a speaker on the topic: “21st Century Human Rights Theories”, while I contributed “Teaching justice and human rights in the world in which we live”. I was asked to focus on clinical legal education because there are few Universities in Spain which offer clinical legal education. I found that I was pitched into a debate between the theoretical approach and those who want to introduce more practical formation and skills training for students. I received a considerable amount of positive feedback as there are University staff who want to develop clinical legal education.

Cadiz is a city on an isthmus, settled by sea traders such as the Phoenicians, Romans, Moors and the Spanish. It has a very old centre which is largely pedestrianized as the streets are too narrow for modern vehicles. The golden sands, sea breezes and brilliant sun make this a wonderful jewel in the Southern Spanish coast, and well worth a visit.

Is your clients Entrepreneurs’ Relief at Risk A successful business is one that grows. While there may be periods when all of a business’s assets are required for trading activities, there may be times, often later in the life cycle of a business, when a business holds surplus cash.

As well as being unattractive for businesses due to low interest rates, holding surplus cash and non-trading assets may also present problems around taxation.

Where a company is sitting on a high level of cash HMRC could restrict the amount of assets on which BPR is available to a shareholder upon their death, meaning that there could be a significant inheritance tax charge for the estate or beneficiaries to meet. HMRC may also deny a shareholder Entrepreneurs’ Relief when they come to sell their shares. This means that capital gains tax could be payable at the full rate (currently 28%).

The problem Alice, 56, owns her successful chain of florists in the South-West worth around £2 million. Some years ago she took her business online allowing her to expand significantly and since then she has built up considerable cash, of around £700,000, within the business. Following approaches from two national firms, she is planning to sell her company.

Her accountant has informed her that she will be liable to pay CGT on the proceeds and that, as she holds more than 20% cash in the business, this is likely to be at the 28% rate rather than the 10% rate, which would be available through Entrepreneurs’ Relief. Since 6th April 2011 the maximum lifetime limits on Entrepreneurs Relief is at a tax rate of 10% on the first £10 million.

Potential solution

HMRC should accept that full Entrepreneurs’ Relief is available, so that Alice’s CGT rate is reduced to only 10%.

Summary When clients are thinking of selling their business it is essential for them to plan ahead and ensure they do not fall foul of something as simple as holding too much cash and jeopardising the availability of Entrepreneurs Relief and BPR. Forward planning offers time to make simple changes that can help ensure the most financially beneficial outcome.

This case study is provided for illustration purposes only and based on our understanding of current legislation.

The value of investments can fall as well as rise. BPR Solutions can be high risk and you can lose some or all of your money.

Following advice, her business decides to commit £400,000 to a BPR solution which is specifically designed for business owners. This is deployed in qualifying trading activities.

This article is intended for qualified lawyers and solicitors and is not to be distributed to retail clients.

When Alice eventually decides to sell her business at least one year later, it has over 80% of the trading value of Fantastic Flowers in qualifying business assets.

by STEVEN VALLERY, Business Development Director S4 Financial Ltd. Contact: 0127634932

The Clapham Omnibus 14

News

£216 MILLION BEREAVEMENT BILL AS FAMILIES URGED TO REVIEW LIFE INSURANCE • Up to £216m in IHT taken from life insurance policies in 2011/12 • Extra paperwork only obstacle between average saving of up to £41,000 • Up to 40% of life insurance pay-outs could be lost in tax An urgent review of life insurance policies is being called for after the figures from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) revealed bereaved families are being hit with unnecessary Inheritance Tax (IHT) bills totalling up to £216 million.

“At different life stages, some of our services are more relevant than others” Family Wealth Preservation Wealth Management Retirement Planning Protection Planning Tax Planning Mortgages

The latest figures from the taxman show the problem is getting worse. More than 5,200 people left their families with an IHT bill on their life insurance pay-out in the 2011/12 tax year, up by around 5% in two years and averaging £41,000.

Sean McCann, chartered financial planner at NFU Mutual, said: “This is completely unnecessary and should not be happening.

“Life insurance policies should, wherever possible, be written into a trust to prevent a significant chunk going to the taxman.

Otherwise, up to 40 per cent of the pay-out could be claimed by the taxman when it could be going to bereaved families instead.

“Writing a policy into trust also has the benefit of speed of payment. When a policy has been written into trust, payment can reach the family bank account within three to four weeks. If it had to go through probate instead, it could delay payment for several months.

“Even if you don’t think you have an IHT problem, the speed of pay-out from a policy in trust should be an incentive to review your policy.

“Often, this money is vital to keeping the family business running, or means surviving families can make ends meet – whether it’s to replace lost income or to pay for extra childcare while the surviving parent goes out to work. ”Trusts are really simple to set up and, with most life insurance companies providing the forms free of charge, it shouldn’t cost anything other than spending a few more minutes to complete.

S4 Financial Ltd is an Independent Financial Advisory firm, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

S4 Financial Ltd is entered on the FCA register (www.fsa.gov.uk/register/) under reference 401372.

“However, HM Revenue & Customs’ figures show around 75,000 people left behind a life insurance policy in 2011/12 which wasn’t written into a trust. That’s 75,000 families who could have been made worse off from an IHT bill or slow payment.”

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Property

STAGES OF THE COMMERCIAL CONVEYANCING PROCESS

by Sarah Potter Pitmans Solicitors

The commercial conveyancing process will come as second nature to many readers. This article is designed to serve as a reminder to those already working in commercial conveyancing and a brief overview to practitioners in other areas of law.

Who is the client?

It should be ascertained at the outset who the client is, bearing in mind that the ultimate beneficial owner may not be the contracting entity. The parties may change during the course of the transaction (for example a new company may be set up for the purpose of acquiring the property) and due diligence needs to be updated as necessary.

Review heads of terms Heads of terms should be carefully reviewed and instructions must be obtained when there is any ambiguity.

Deduction and investigation of title It is usual for the seller’s solicitor to deduce title to the buyer’s solicitor, who must build a picture of the property, including its physical nature and any adverse matters affecting it. This will typically involve the buyer’s solicitor doing the following: • Reviewing all title documents; • Conducting searches: standard searches include searches of Land Registry, the local authority, water and drainage providers, highways and environmental authorities.

Other searches may be required depending on the location of the property, such as HS2, London Underground or Flood; • Requesting replies to Commercial Property Standard Enquiries – there are several different sets of enquiries depending on the nature of the property. Additional enquiries should be raised as appropriate; • Reviewing the buyer’s survey and valuations; and • In some cases a site visit will be appropriate.

In larger transactions the seller’s solicitor may produce a certificate of title for the buyer and their lender. This is a set of factual statements

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about the property upon which the buyer relies and which is backed up by a series of representations and warranties.

Finance Where the buyer is obtaining finance for the acquisition, the bank also needs to satisfy itself as to title to ensure that it will obtain adequate security over the property. Lender’s will often have their own solicitor to investigate title who will either review and negotiate a certificate of title prepared by the seller’s solicitors or who will prepare its own report on title. Both processes inevitably have an impact on timing so it should be ascertained at the outset of the transaction whether funding is required.

Transactional Documents The seller’s solicitor prepares the contract. This may be conditional on matters such as: • obtaining planning for the buyer’s proposed use of or works to the property; • the seller obtaining vacant possession of the property; or • (in the case of a leasehold property) obtaining landlord’s consent to the transfer.

A transfer deed will also be required. If the seller is retaining some of the land there will usually be covenants in the deed to protect the seller’s use and enjoyment of the retained land. Care should be taken when drafting the transfer and specific instructions received from the client.

Depending on the nature of the property, other documents may also be required such as: • warranties – in the case of new build properties, warranties should be granted directly to the buyer by all contractors. Any existing warranties should be assigned to the buyer (and lender); • deed of assignment of rent deposits/arrears (in the case of multi-let properties); • rent authority letters to tenants informing them of the change of landlord; and • letters of reliance addressed to the buyer in respect of reports which the seller has the benefit of.

These form of these documents should be agreed and attached to the sale contract prior to exchange.

Exchange and completion At exchange the transaction becomes legally binding. A deposit is paid by the buyer (typically 10%). Prior to exchange the buyer’s solicitor should conduct a bankruptcy/company search of

the seller to ensure that it has legal capacity to enter into the contract.

Prior to completion, the buyer’s solicitor should do the following: • raise pre-completion requisitions with the seller’s solicitor; • carry out a priority search at the Land Registry to ensure that the title to the property has not changed during the course of the transaction. The search result effectively “freezes” the title for 6 weeks in favour of the buyer (“the priority period”); • agree a completion statement with the seller’s solicitor – any income from tenants will need to be apportioned between the buyer and seller; • liaise with any lender to ensure that funds will be available at completion; and • agree undertakings with the seller’s solicitor to deal with completion matters such as obtaining appropriate discharge documents from any existing lender.

The seller’s solicitor should liaise with any existing lender to obtain a redemption figure.

The timing of completion is often critical, especially if the property is subject to an existing charge. The seller will need to ensure that funds are received from the buyer in time to transfer them to the lender in order to discharge the charge on the completion date. The completion time is stated in the contract (typically between 1-2pm). If funds are received by the seller after this time but still during banking hours, completion is deemed to take place on the next working day. The buyer will be liable to pay interest on the purchase price (less any deposit paid) at the rate specified in the contract.

Post completion The buyer’s solicitor must do the following: • pay any Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) due and submit the SDLT return within 30 days of completion. There are penalties for late filing/payment; • submit the necessary Land Registry application with the relevant priority period; • if the property is leasehold, comply with registration requirements in the lease There may be additional post completion/notification requirements depending on the nature of the property.

Property

SEARCHFLOW IS COMMITTED TO MAKING LAWYERS’ LIVES EASIER. We do this by providing a market-leading, trusted conveyancing search service enhanced by a total focus on customer service excellence.

As busy legal professionals, conveyancers expect more from their search provider – a single-touch point providing access to industry insights and expertise, training, and peer networks. It’s why SearchFlow is constantly developing dynamic and interactive channels to provide added-value support.

Supporting the industry through education SearchFlow’s programme of free regional CPD seminars underpins our commitment to maintaining the highest standards within the legal sector – through industry education. Working in partnership with other experts – including Landmark, GroundSure, 360 Legal Group, DevAssist and Legal Eye - our seminars cover a wide range of property-specific topics and offer attendees three CPD points.

Additionally, SearchFlow’s webinar series comprises a one hour complimentary version of our modules online, worth one CPD point, enabling conveyancers to access learning quickly and conveniently.

Industry updates in one click

Supporting the industry

Making lawyers’ lives easier shapes how we work.

We want to ensure the right information is at lawyers’ fingertips. Our website brings the latest news and industry insights, helping lawyers guide their clients through the best decisions when making property transactions. Through our quarterly Conveyancer Sentiment Survey, run in conjunction with the Law Society Gazette, we share the issues at the forefront of the sector, giving conveyancers access to their peers’ thinking and concerns.

SearchFlow is constantly exploring new ways to support conveyancers and drive the highest professional standards. Through the SearchFlow Partner’s Forum (SPF), sector leaders share the latest thinking on compliance, regulation and trends, allowing customers to benefit from industry expertise at the highest level. Elsewhere, through our Commercial User Groups, we are creating an ongoing dialogue around the issues impacting specialist commercial conveyancers, exploring how SearchFlow can improve the way we work with them, continuously listening and responding to their needs.

Taking conversations to the next level SearchFlow’s new Conveyancer Community - the first of its kind – provides an innovative online forum for like-minded lawyers. The platform enables conveyancers to engage with peers, discuss industry developments, share knowledge and ask questions on the topics they care most about.

If you are a conveyancer looking to take your business to the next level, adapt to the changing dynamics within the sector and embrace new ways of working, SearchFlow’s expert resources could bring you one step closer. Join the conversation at www.searchflow.co.uk.

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Property

The Law Society's conveyancing portal, Veyo - a joint venture with global technology company Mastek UK– is set to revolutionise the home buying process.

Unveiled to the law and conveyancing community last month, and in the final stages of development, it is scheduled to launch officially in Spring 2015.

In this article, Elliott Vigar - head of commercial investments at the Law Society and CEO of Veyo - tells us how plans are progressing, ahead of the launch next year, and what the conveyancing market can look to expect during the first phase of the launch.

There has been a lot of talk about the Law Society's plans to create a new portal for conveyancing for many years now.

Today, I am pleased to unveil ‘Veyo’ a portal which uniquely brings together all the processes, checks and documentation prepared and undertaken by solicitors and licensed conveyancers in the sale and purchase of residential properties.

In its first phase, the system will allow professionals to better communicate with each other, clients and other parties, satisfy due diligence obligations more quickly and facilitate the conveyance of residential property through established protocols. In doing so, it will not only speed up the house-buying process for consumers, but enable greater efficiency for conveyancers.

Key benefits to conveyancers • Veyo saves time by streamlining businesses processes • Veyo is secure, providing a clear audit trail of communications between all parties in a transaction • Veyo offers transparency at every stage of the conveyancing process providing all parties with up to the minute information on a transaction • Veyo enables clearer communication with customers • Veyo is the smart way to service clients, providing a secure area to upload and documents • Veyo has been designed by conveyancers for conveyancers

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How Veyo will work Users are presented with a dashboard that will show all active cases and their respective status. Each case will have a dedicated screen showing a detailed overview of progress towards completion.

A calendar will show scheduled tasks, key dates and reminders. Other pages offer complete visibility of the sales chain, by providing users with an overview of all their transactions, messages and activities to help keep all cases on track.

The online ‘deal room’ for any particular case will allow the two firms acting for the buyer and seller to collaborate and progress documents efficiently, with an automatic audit of all changes, versions and approvals captured for each case.

The ‘chain view’ will show the exchange / completion status of each property in the chain online.

Veyo users can verify individuals working on the other side of the transactions who must have pre-qualified to be able to use the portal. It will also be possible to carry out anti-money laundering checks with Veyo. Land Registry applications will be available from the launch date, with the integration of searches and HMRC transactions within Veyo also planned for subsequent service releases after the initial launch.

About the development of Veyo and security The Law Society chose to invest in a joint venture company in order to build the longstanding relationship necessary to deliver an IT platform of such size and complexity, as well as to ensure that our stringent requirements for resilience and security were met.

Following in-depth consultations with all parties involved in residential property conveyancing, the end result is a portal that is intuitive to all parties, including all the key features needed to effectively speed up and streamline the conveyancing process, within a secure and trusted community.

Veyo will allow conveyancers to communicate and exchange information seamlessly with each other, their clients and other key stakeholders. It will also provide a level playing field for smaller firms competing with larger, more technologically-enabled firms. The portal will put solicitors and conveyancers at the core of what we aim to become - the ubiquitous process for buying and selling residential property in England and Wales.

Who will Veyo be available to?

Veyo will be open to all conveyancing professionals – both in firms with and without Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation, as well as licensed conveyancers – who must all meet an equivalent standard for entry. It is proposed that the standard will at least equal the level of scrutiny required for CQS accreditation; we see the portal as the next stage of the CQS concept, taking it from a way of denoting a firm's quality, to a way of spreading that quality standard across the profession and the conveyancing process. The portal will only be a success if all conveyancing professionals have access to it, trust the community within it, and can enjoy the benefits that it will bring to them and their clients.

If you want to know more...

Our partner, Mastek UK, brings with it the pedigree and talent of a global IT solutions company, and significant experience of handling highly sensitive client data. Security and data protection have been priorities for us in the technical design and will be subject to rigorous testing prior to launch.

• Register for interest on the Veyo website: veyo.co.uk, where you will receive regular updates about the new portal and have the opportunity to trial the system before it launches in Spring 2015.

Professional Practice

Professional Indemnity Insurance renewal 2014 – Has the storm passed?

For the past few years the media commentary on Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) for solicitors has often been supported by imagery of approaching storms and floating mines when discussing the issue of unrated insurers (The Law Society’s PI Matters 2013). For many of those that renewed on the 1st October 2014, however, the experience has been somewhat better than expected.

Out of recent survey of 600 law firm managing partners by law firm O’Connors LLP, 47% of respondents stated that their renewal premium went down, half of those by a significant amount, whilst 29% saw a slight increase and only 10% saw a large hike. The slight increases were stated to be due to increases in fee income rather than hardening of rates. Meanwhile, 11% of respondents said they were able to move away from unrated insurers to A-Rated insurers at the same premium. The report also stated that Willis advised more firms than any other individual broker (17.5%).

After reviewing those firms that Willis assisted for the first time, it was clear that many brokers approach the renewal process in different ways.

From our reviews there were often insurers that could have been a more appropriate fit or a structural option that better suited the firm.

Professional Indemnity insurance will always be a significant overhead for law firms, and with an increasing number of firms now renewing in March/April, it is important that they benchmark their risk profile and insurance against similar firms, thereby ensuring they obtain the benefit of any opportunities that are available.

It hasn’t been all plain sailing for those renewing on the 1st October 2014. As stated above, 10% of respondents saw a significant increase and for some this was unexpected.

There are a number of insurers that have paid and/or reserved considerable sums against the claims that have come from the recession and they are looking to recover these losses through increased rates.

As a risk advisor to an increasing number of the Top 200 law firms, Willis’s role involves supply chain risk management, ensuring the long term supply of affordable PII and informing clients of the opportunities and threats in a timely fashion in order to allow them to plan, budget and manage their firms accordingly.

Whether you are in the Extended Indemnity Period or approaching renewal in the New Year, comprehensive, expert advice can be the difference between not only avoiding the storm, but seeing a prolonged settled and sunny period in calm waters.

by COLIN S. TAYLOR CIRM Executive Director, Legal Service Practice Group, Willis

LOCAL PEOPLE WITHOUT LOCAL CONNECTIONS Local Authorities were given greater powers by the Localism Act 2011 to decide who to allocate their social housing stock to. They have been strongly encouraged by central government to allocate their stock to certain types of people, especially working people, ex-servicemen and women and people with a local connection to the area. This is partly a response to the perceived unfairness of the old system, whereby the majority of social housing was allocated to people who had made successful homeless applications. Regardless of the merits of allocating social housing on the basis of employment status or geographical location rather than vulnerability, some Local Authorities may be at risk of legal challenges to their policies despite the fact that they are largely following DCLG guidance. The ways in which ‘local connection’ is defined by Local Authorities in their allocation policies is often rigid and seems unfair, excluding many people who would almost certainly consider themselves to be local to an area. s166A(5) of the Housing Act 1996, amended by the Localism Act 2011, allows Local Authorities to give priority for social housing on the ground of local connection. Barnet, Newham, Westminster, Brighton and many other Local Authorities go further and exclude people completely from their housing registers if they have not lived, worked or had close family connections in their borough for a certain number of years.

Barnet and Newham do not grant a local connection to people who were placed in their borough following a homeless application to another borough. It is possible that the allocation policy of the borough to which the homeless application was made would not allow the applicant a local connection there either, leaving the homeless applicant with no local connection anywhere.

Many people stay in temporary accommodation for years, and become integrated into the community of the borough they are placed in. This policy is a swing against the provision of housing to homeless people, but although unfair, is unfortunately not a problem with an obvious legal solution.

Brighton and Hove’s allocation policy also prejudices the homeless by its definition of ‘local connection’. It excludes people from obtaining a local connection by sleeping rough in the area, although presumably squatters and sofa-surfers within Brighton and Hove can gain a local connection. This is another policy which leaves individuals potentially excluded from applying to any borough, as if an applicant has been sleeping rough in Brighton and Hove they are unlikely to have a local connection elsewhere.

This policy could be challenged on Equality Act grounds of indirect gender discrimination, as large numbers of street homeless people are men; or indirect disability discrimination as many homeless

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people have mental health problems and are thus disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 . Brighton and Hove are arguably failing in their public sector equality duty to have regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and advance equality of opportunity, contrary to s149(1) of the Equality Act 2010. They may also be discriminating when providing a service, contrary to s29 of the Equality Act 2010.

Southwark’s allocation policy allows rough sleepers a local connection, so long as they can prove that they have been sleeping rough in Southwark, and have been in Southwark for at least 3 out of the last 5 years. Southwark suggests that an agency such as a soup kitchen could verify this. Given the transient nature of the lives of rough sleepers, and the policy by central boroughs such as Southwark of moving rough sleepers on, it seems highly unlikely that almost any rough sleeper would be able to produce evidence of their whereabouts over the last five years. A rough sleeper in Brighton and Hove is unlikely to have left the area much, as the authority covers a large geographical area. However, a rough sleeper in Southwark is likely to sleep in Lambeth one night, and Southwark the next. Rough sleepers are therefore effectively discriminated against in Southwark, too.

The DCLG guidance suggests that exceptions to the requirement for a local connection should be made for applicants fleeing violence, but some policies, such as Southwark’s which requires a 5 year connection, have failed to do this. Although the guidance is non-statutory and so a breach is not actionable, a challenge could be made of this policy on the basis of indirect discrimination against women under s19 of the Equality Act 2010, as the majority of victims of domestic violence are women .

All policies with local connection exclusions have the potential to discriminate against people who have recently come to this country and may not have relatives here, and therefore will not have a local connection. This is likely to have been anticipated by the government and is consistent with recent policy against immigrants. However, the DCLG guidance suggests that people with no local connection should be denied a reasonable preference, not excluded altogether . Clear discrimination issues are raised here, they may be found to be a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim but this is yet to be tested. The recent judgment in R(Public Law Project) v Lord Chancellor should be encouraging to solicitors when challenging policies where the discriminating body makes no secret of its discriminatory practice.

The judgment makes clear that perceived public popularity of a policy does not justify discrimination. Likewise, Winder v Sandwell was a thoroughly successful challenge to a two year residence limit

on eligibility for council tax benefit, which was found to be unlawful on the grounds of ultra vires, failure to take into account material considerations, lack of consultation, barriers to freedom of movement, discrimination, and the public sector equality duty. The courts have consistently and recently shown that an authority cannot favour local people if their policy acts to discriminate against those with protected characteristics, as it almost inevitably will.

Secondary legislation requires LAs to give members of the armed forces additional preference, regardless of any local connection.

However, Barnet unlawfully does not include this in its published policy.

It appears that local authorities are enthusiastically using their new powers to exclude as many people as possible, in ways which are unfair and sometimes potentially unlawful. Re-defining ‘local connection’ is one way of doing this. Homeless people in particular are being forced out of communities by being defined as having no local connection. This is partly justified by homeless people under part VII being legally defined as ‘homeless’ even when in long term temporary accommodation. Homeless people are defined as not belonging to a community, and are excluded even further by this definition, as their chance to be permanently and securely housed is removed.

Housing stock is so limited and there is so little chance of an individual being housed that these limits to the allocation schemes may almost seem to make no difference. An individual could be eligible and never be housed in any event, either under a pre or post Localism Act allocation policy. However, you have to ‘be in it to win it’, and for those desperate for social housing being excluded from the waiting list is devastating. No doubt we will see legal challenges to these new Localism Act allocation policies in the coming years.

Challenges have been slow so far, to a large degree due to the lack of availability of legal aid for judicial review proceedings.

Eleanor Solomon is a Trainee Solicitor at Anthony Gold in the Housing Department, where she worked for two years as a Paralegal prior to commencing her training contract. She previously worked at South West London Law Centres as a Branch Administrator.

by ELEANOR SOLOMON

Expert Witness

WHAT MAKES A GOOD EXPERT WITNESS? A good expert witness will add value to a case and assist the court, through their specialist knowledge. They will use their considerable experience to explain, clarify and enrich the body of evidence and opinion, to the benefit of all parties.

It’s all very well using an expert witness you know personally and can rely on, but what if they can’t complete their work to your deadline, or they don’t have the right specialism? Then you may have to instruct someone based on their reputation alone. So how do you make sure your own reputation is not damaged by a poor expert witness?

Make sure they’re a genuine expert Anyone can call themselves an expert. So check their ID, check their qualifications, and check to see if they’re registered with an independent regulatory body. It can help that some professional titles - for example “clinical psychologist” – are protected titles, whilst others – such as “consultant psychologist” – are not protected, so anyone can use them.

If applicable, also ask to see a recent DBS (criminal record) check and professional indemnity insurance.

Make sure they have the right experience

that were introduced in October. As well as covering the above points, it adds that the expert must: • have recent, relevant, and documented experience of the issues of the case • keep up with recent developments in their field • know about relevant data protection and safeguarding concerns • actively seek feedback on their court work • be familiar with practice directions and regulations • clearly show where their opinion lies on the spectrum of mainstream opinion

Demand quality

Is the expert right for your case? Would a different expert be more qualified to answer the court’s questions?

Will their report be concise, measured and evidence-based? Being accomplished within their discipline isn’t a guarantee that they’ll be able to write an expert witness report. Ask what checks for quality, accuracy and consistency they might carry out.

A good way of checking is to follow the MoJ’s expected standards for expert witnesses in family law cases - upon which we were consulted -

Supplied by Carter Brown

Expert Witness Profiles - 10 of the best!

Professor Patrick A Nee

Dr Sumeet Vohra GP

FRCS FRCP FCEM FFICM

Consultant in Accident & Emergency Medicine

Consultant in Occupational Health

Professor Nee has considerable experience in emergency and critical care medicine. He receives instructions in matters of personal injury and clinical negligence from claimant and defendant organisations.

He has assisted the Court as an expert witness on numerous occasions and supports other expert witnesses in the production of reports.

Trained and qualified in London at Charing Cross and Westminster Medical School.

GP in Sheffield and also Occupational Health Advisor to a number of Companies.

Consulting Rooms in Birmingham, Chesterfield, Derby, London, Manchester, Sheffield and Warrington. Medico Legal reporting on Road Traffic Accidents, trips/slips and employers liability.

Contact: susan.broadley@prestigemedicallegal.co.uk or Telephone: 0161 833 1030

Mr Philip Emm

Contact: susan.broadley@prestigemedicallegal.co.uk or Telephone: 0161 833 1030

Mr Saeed H Zaki FRCS ( Edinburgh) FRCS (Tr & Orth)

Consultant in Physiotherapist A Chartered Physiotherapist with 40 years experience working in London, Scotland and the last 25 years in private practice in Manchester. In that time has treated many 1000's of RTA and industrial injuries.

Our goals are to relieve pain and normalise range of movements and function.

Contact: susan.broadley@prestigemedicallegal.co.uk or Telephone: 0161 833 1030

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Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon I have extensive Medico-legal experience covering a wide range of scenarios and injuries. In Whiplash injuries my ratio of claimant to defence is about 80:20.

My special area of interest is fractures and soft tissue injuries involving both the axial and peripheral skeleton. I also deal with paediatric orthopaedic injuries and have experience as an expert witness for the courts.

Contact: susan.broadley@prestigemedicallegal.co.uk or Telephone: 0161 833 1030

Expert Witness

Doug Hall

Robert Pendleton FRICS CEnv, RICS

Quantum Expert, Forensic Accountant

Consultant in Property

Doug has specialised in forensic accounting for over 25 years, acting as quantum expert for Claimants and Defendants/Respondents in both UK and cross-border commercial disputes.

He has given evidence in the High Court, arbitrations and other tribunals and contributed to the successful resolution of disputes by negotiation and formal mediation.

Registered Valuer, has acted as an expert witness on a variety of property matters in Courts and Tribunals since the 1980’s. He specialises in providing property valuation reports including those suitable for use by the Courts and can give expert evidence related to market rents for rent review and new leases, market valuations for a wide variety of purposes and lease extension premia.

Contact: doug.hall@smith.williamson.co.uk or Telephone: +44 (0)20 7131 4048

Contact: rob@levene-surveyors.com or hkvaluations12@live.com or mobile 07722 485663

Dr Mark Powell

Mathew Halton

Pharmaceutical Analytical Chemistry

A.M.I.M.I

Dr Mark Powell is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a member of Council of the Society’s Analytical Division. He has over forty scientific publications and conference presentations to his name and has worked at a senior level in academia and industry for over twenty years. Mark is an expert in chromatography, spectroscopy, pharmaceutical dissolution testing and quality control. He is an experienced expert witness in pharmaceutical analysis and has worked on cases concerning patent infringement and validity, as well as representing clients during inter partes testing.

Forensic Engineering Manager at Laird Assessors I have vast experience in a wide variety of accident related subjects where an independent professional opinion is required.

I assist The Court as a single /joint expert witness on subjects ranging from Vehicle damage assessments to consistency, Low velocity impacts, version of events and exaggerated claims.

Contact: info@mpscientific.co.uk or Telephone: 0151 353 0995

Contact: matthew.halton@laird-assessors.com or Telephone: 0151 342 9961

Nik Ellis

Andrew Ryan

FIMI Eng Tech CAE AIAEA

C.A.E I.M.I A.M.I.M.I

MD & Consultant Engineer at Laird Assessors

Senior Forensics Engineer at Laird Assessors

I have submitted many forensic motor reports over the years for use in litigation purposes, provide both questions and answers for part 35 questions, produce joint reports and give oral evidence in County, Crown and Magistrates Courts.

I am regularly instructed as a Single Joint Expert. I can provide references from Legal 500 listed solicitors from both Claimant & Defendant sides.

I have submitted many forensic motor reports over the years for use in litigation purposes, provide both questions and answers for part 35 questions, produce joint reports and give oral evidence in County, Crown and Magistrates Courts.

I am regularly instructed as a Single Joint Expert. I can provide references from Legal 500 listed solicitors from both Claimant & Defendant sides.

Contact: nik.ellis@laird-assessors.com or Telephone: 0151 342 9961

Contact: andrew.ryan@laird-assessors.com or Telephone: 0151 342 9961

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Expert Witness

THE COST OF REFORM 2013 saw the implementation of major changes to the way personal injury claims are funded and sourced. It is still too early to realise the full impact of these reforms upon injured claimants, their lawyers and access to justice but the early signs show genuine cause for concern.

The full scope of the reform is too wide to rehearse here but in a wide variety of cases we have moved away from a system based upon the general proposition that successful claimants should keep all their damages and, in all but the most modest of cases, have reasonable fees and disbursements paid by the losing defendant, in favour of a one-size-fits-all fixed cost regime for road traffic, employers’ and public liability claims worth up to £25k (albeit with some exceptions) whether those cases are compromised in the newly expanded Portal system or go on to be litigated in the traditional way.

The concern is that claimants with complex or riskier cases, whose claims now fall to be dealt with under the new fixed costs regimes, are getting turned

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away by solicitors because their cases are not financially viable to run. For those that are taken on, increased pressure upon firms to reduce costs in order to stay financially viable means that work tends to be pushed down to smaller teams of the most junior fee earners thereby reducing the quality of advice, case preparation and service. This is compounded by pressure upon firms to keep work in-house rather than incur the cost of instructing counsel which, except in limited circumstances, is not recoverable from the defendant. A false economy.

Further, claimants entering “no win no fee” agreements from 1st April 2013 find that they, and not the blameworthy Defendant, must now meet success fees out of their damages. Claimants are hit and so are firms as such fees are capped

at a maximum of 25% of general damages and past loss.

The success fee cap affects the financial viability of the higher value cases involving complex arguments. Such cases are often hard fought by defendants as a result of their potential value and can mean that the risk of taking on and running such a case, funding disbursements along the way, outweighs the potential financial reward if there is a successful conclusion two or three years later. Children with complex cases, particularly those consisting predominantly of large future losses, are also affected because the litigation risks weigh heavily for firms against the prospect of diminished or no return.

Access to justice for some, but not all.

by Jamie Marriott

Expert Witness

THE QUALITY OF ANALYTICAL RESULTS? The results of chemical analysis, when admitted as evidence, often decide guilt or innocence in a criminal case, and may undermine or strengthen a claim to intellectual property in patent litigation. The personal or financial consequences of a decision based on questionable data are obviously severe.

So what are the pitfalls to look for when evaluating the quality of analytical results? Let’s consider the factors affecting data quality, from the time that the sample is taken to the moment the results are reported.

Once a sample is taken, it must be safeguarded against unintentional contamination, deliberate adulteration, or changes due to chemical instability. A chain of custody is established that tracks ownership of the sample. Any mistake in sample storage (for example, placing the sample in close proximity to potential contaminants), or the chain of custody procedure, may invalidate the test results. The type of container used to take the sample, and the sampling technique employed, may also affect data reliability.

The next part of the process is sample preparation, which may include extraction, concentration or dilution of the chemical species being determined. The sample preparation procedure must be robust and well documented in order to achieve traceability between the final results and the composition of the original sample.

The method used to test the sample must measure only the species of interest, and be free from interference by other sample components. This property of the analytical method is known as specificity. Sometimes the species being measured is present at one millionth part (or less) relative to the total amount of sample. The lower the amount of target species present, the greater the potential for interference from other components. A method’s specificity results from the selectivity of the sample extraction procedure and the test method used (e.g. titration, spectroscopy or chromatography). To complicate matters further, the specificity of chromatographic methods (where sample components are separated before being measured) also depends on the type of detector used.

Finally, once the sample has been tested, the results are calculated. The calculation must account correctly for dilution or concentration

steps, and should include an estimation of measurement uncertainty. An evaluation of measurement uncertainty takes into account the (usually small) systematic and random errors that occur during sampling, sample preparation and analysis. In cases where the question is “How much of the substance is present?” rather than “Is the substance present?”, the significance of a test result is difficult to evaluate without an estimation of this uncertainty.

The role of the analytical chemist as an expert witness is to consider all these elements of data quality and help the court to decide how much reliance to place on the test results.

by Dr Mark Powell email: info@mpscientific.co.uk

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Legacies

LEAVING A LEGACY TO CHARITY Including a gift to charity in a will is a great way to make a difference and there are also tax benefits.

Legacies are an important source of income for many charities and the voluntary sector received around £2billion in legacy income in 2011/121.

However, this is only 5% of total income and the number of people who leave legacies to charity may be only 7%2.

Solicitors and other will writers can play a role in changing this. A study carried out by the Cabinet Office Behavioural Insights Team, published in 2013, found that when will writers mentioned the possibility of a leaving a legacy to charity, the percentage who did this rose from 4.9% to 10.8%, and that this increased to 15.4% when people were asked if there are any causes they are passionate about3. This suggests that asking people at the right moment whether they want to leave a legacy is important and so is the way in which the question is asked.

Types of gift A cash gift, or pecuniary legacy, is a straightforward option. But the effects of inflation could mean the ultimate value becomes less than intended. This problem can be dealt with by updating a will regularly, or linking the cash legacy with inflation.

Another possibility is a gift of individual possessions, known as a specific legacy. This might be property, shares or land or other things.

It’s worth providing for what happens if the possession is sold during the client’s lifetime.

If a client would like a charity to benefit more significantly, an alternative option might be a residuary legacy. This involves giving a proportion of an estate to charity after expenses and any pecuniary and specific legacies have been paid.

Drafting the will It’s important that a charity is properly identified in the drafting of the legacy and its full name, address and registration number should be included. This information is available from the Charity Commission for charities in England and Wales, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator for Scottish charities and the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland for Northern Irish charities. Many charities have a section on their website with template wording for legacies.

A legacy can be given for specific activities of the charity, subject to an expression of wishes or binding obligations. The risk of including a binding obligation is that the legacy could fail if the charity isn’t able to use the legacy for the purpose. A letter setting out the client’s wishes provides more flexibility and is often a better

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option. The trustees of the charity should take the wishes into account, but are not bound legally to follow them.

You should also consider what happens if the charity beneficiary ceases to exist. If this is the result of a ‘relevant charity merger’ under the Charities Act 2011, and the merger is entered in the Charity Commission’s register of charity mergers, the legacy will usually take effect as a gift to the successor charity. However, a legacy may fail if the wording provides that the charity must be in existence at the date of the testator’s death.

If a legacy intended for a charity fails, the property will become part of the deceased’s residuary estate.

Tax benefits There is no Inheritance Tax (IHT) on gifts under a will to charities or community amateur sports clubs (CASCs). Legacies to overseas charities are not exempt from IHT. But gifts to an organisation within the EU do now qualify, if the organisation would qualify for charitable status if it was based in the UK. The value of a gift to a charity or CASC will be deducted from the estate before IHT is calculated. In some cases this may bring the total estate value below the taxable threshold, which is £325,000 for 2014/15.

Rebecca Fisher and Chris Rowse are both at Russell-Cooke solicitors. Rebecca is a Partner in the Private Client Team and Chris is a Senior Associate in the Charities and Social Business Team.

Where an individual leaves more than 10% of his or her net taxable estate to charity, the estate will benefit from a 36% rate of IHT, which is a 10% reduction from the usual rate of 40%.

Charities are not liable to capital gains tax (CGT).

If the executors sell assets a CGT liability may arise against the executors. This can be avoided by appropriating the assets to a beneficiary charity as the executors will then sell as bare trustees. If the asset is land it will be necessary to comply with provisions in the Charities Act 2011 concerning the disposal of charity land.

Footnotes

Final tip

1

It’s a good idea to encourage clients to let a charity know that they should benefit from a legacy under a will, as this helps charities to plan ahead.

Rebecca Fisher and Chris Rowse are both at Russell-Cooke solicitors. Rebecca is a Partner in the Private Client Team and Chris is a Senior Associate in the Charities and Social Business Team.

August 2014

The UK Civil Society Almanac 2014, NCVO (http://data.ncvo.org.uk/a/almanac14/ho w-much-does-the-voluntary-sectorreceive-in-legacy-income-2)

2

Remember a Charity ‘Why Leave a Gift in Your Will’ (http://www.rememberacharity.org.uk/wh y-leave-a-gift)

3

‘Applying behavioural insights to charitable giving’ (28 May 2013), Cabinet Office

Legacies

A LEGACY THAT LASTS FOREVER You know better than most that clients have all kinds of reasons for remembering a charity in their will. One of the most important is the desire to pass on the things they care about to the next generation – their children and grandchildren. They want to know their gift will last and still mean something years from now.

Houses like Knole in Sevenoaks, vast areas of the Lake District, even the White Cliffs of Dover – have all been supported by gifts left in wills.

Every time someone leaves a gift to the National Trust in their will, they’re playing a direct part in helping to look after special places for future generations to enjoy. We’re a charity, not funded by the government, so we depend on memberships and donations, especially gifts in wills, to keep 350 historic houses and gardens, and miles and miles of glorious countryside and coastline in England, Wales and Northern Ireland open for everyone to enjoy.

Protecting the places they love.

Your client may have a favourite National Trust place they want to protect, such as a stretch of coastline, a woodland, garden or historic home that is close to their hearts.

They can specifically request that their legacy

goes towards looking after their special place. Or, they can decide to give their legacy to the National Trust to spend wherever the need is greatest.

they wish. And by leaving a gift to the National Trust, they’ll be playing a vital part in making sure the places they’ve loved and enjoyed live on for ever, for everyone.

You can trust us to honour your client’s wishes.

We only ever spend legacy income directly on projects or conservation work, which means that every penny of your client’s legacy will be spent exactly where and as

There are also other ways of supporting our work, such as tax effective charitable trusts and foundations – please get in touch if you would like to find out more.

Solicitors like you have helped clients remember the National Trust in their wills and secured the future for places like the White Cliffs of Dover.

The Clapham Omnibus 27

Legacies

NOTCHED UP AND HOMEMADE – DIY COULD ENDANGER A LEGACY There’s around 15.5 million invalid or poor quality Wills in the UK. That racks up to an astonishing 70% of all Wills written, which could mean hundreds of thousands of intestacy cases where beneficiaries are missing, or estates thought to be destined to a friend find their way to distant family.

These statistics revealed by the 2013 Will Aid survey highlight the growing danger of homemade Wills, often resulting in invalidity due to inadequate witnesses. The research discovered around three million have a Will that’s either homemade or assembled from a DIY kit, and a further 12.5 million whose say in the future of their estate may be out of date. In fact, there’s almost 28 million adults – that’s over half of the population – who have yet to even write one.

– who was also appointed the sole executor of her estate and ultimately one of two heirs. Not only did this invalidate the Will, but the family’s barrister told the court that Helena had gone into a “catastrophic mental decline” after losing her husband and brother within a year, and so was also invalid as it was ruled she could not have known or approved it. Her legacy was therefore treated with the rules of intestacy, and passed across to her next-of-kin. Shelley and Steven Kimms did not see a penny.

With so many knowing in their minds where they would like their estate to travel after they pass on, but without having committed that destination to paper, loved ones can lose out.

Locating missing beneficiaries is at the heart of our business, but alongside this we can conduct Asset and Will searches, as well as provide Missing Will and Missing Beneficiary Insurance to cover all eventualities. With over 90 years of experience, our expertise and access to information means there is nobody better placed to undertake your research in such a timely and cost-effective manner. When it comes to administering an estate and taking care of your client’s legacy, we understand that each case is unique and can provide a bespoke service to suit your needs.

That happened in the case of 81-year-old Helena McKae*, who left her £300,000 legacy to next-door-neighbours, Shelley Kimms* and her husband. According to Shelley, Helena felt as though her family did not “pay her enough attention” and so severed all ties to her next-of-kin.

However, after she passed away in 2010, Helena’s niece contended that her aunt lacked legal capacity to execute a Will.

It was discovered there was just one witness to the Will – Steven Kimms*

* Names changed for confidentiality purposes.

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Send us an email on Linkedin titled ‘Competition’ with your address, telephone number and email to be entered into our prize draw.

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STRAY DOG NUMBERS RISE IN SOUTH EAST The 2014 annual Dogs Trust Stray Dogs Survey launched this month revealing that 9,419 stray and abandoned dogs were handled by local councils across the Meridian region between 1st April 2013 and 31st March 2014. This represents a 2% increase from the 9,200 dogs handled during the same period last year. But would you know what to do if your dog went missing?

Rather worryingly, 64% of owners in the South East were unaware that it is the Local Authority’s responsibility to pick up and care for missing strays.

A further 75 per cent of respondents were also unaware that they had only seven days to recover a missing dog once he/she is in local authority care before ownership can be transferred to a new owner or they are potentially put to sleep if a new home cannot be found.

On average, dog owners thought they had 15 days to recover a missing dog, more than double the official time allocated – a figure which could help account for the 378 dogs in the Meridian region that were unnecessarily put to sleep this year. Although Local Authorities continue to encourage responsible dog ownership and do not want to put dogs to sleep, they do struggle to cope in this difficult economic climate.

Clarissa Baldwin OBE, Chief Executive of Dogs Trust says: “The number of instances of straying on our streets is declining in the UK as a whole, but we still have a significant job to do when it comes to raising awareness about responsible dog ownership. Owners are unsure of who to reach out to and how much time they have to recover their dog should he or she go missing. Microchipping not only helps speed up the process of reuniting an owner with their dog, it is also significantly reducing the number of strays overall. We’re calling

Photograph © Brian Young

on dog owners across the UK to come along to one of our free microchipping events at www.chipmydog.org.uk so that we can continue to improve the situation ahead of the change in law in Wales in 2015 and England in 2016 which will make microchipping compulsory.”

Who’ll keep him happy when your client’s gone?

We will – as long as your client has a Canine Care Card. It’s a FREE service from Dogs Trust that guarantees a bereaved dog a home for life.

At Dogs Trust, we never put down a healthy dog. We’ll care for them at one of our 18 rehoming centres, located around the UK. 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. So contact us today for your FREE pack of Canine Care Card leaflets – and make a dog-lover happy.

Call

020 7837 0006

Or e-mail

today

ccc@dogstrust.org.uk

Or write to: Dogs Trust, Canine Care Card, FREEPOST WD360, 17 Wakley St, London EC1B 1NA (no stamp required) Please quote “DTSL”. All information will be treated as strictly confidential.

This service is currently only available for residents of the UK, Ireland, Channel Islands & the Isle of Man

www.dogstrust.org.uk Registered Charity Numbers: 227523 & SC037843

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Junior Lawyers Division

SHIFTING SANCTIONS ON APPEAL: Considerations for the prudent employer This summer the Court of Appeal heard the interesting case of McMillan v Airedale NHS Foundation Trust [2014] EWCA Civ 1031, in which the court had to address whether employers are able to increase the severity of disciplinary sanctions if employees exercise their right to appeal.

Background By way of background, all employers are required to provide employees with a written statement on the terms of their employment. The statement given must include details regarding disciplinary procedures, including the protocol for disciplinary decisions and appeals. Alternatively, an employee must be referred to another document containing such information to this effect, such as a staff handbook. There is also a statutory, yet non-binding, code produced by ACAS which lays out recommendations on how employers should handle disciplinary procedures.

Facts of the case This case concerned Miss McMillian, who was employed as a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist by the Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, hereinafter “the Trust”.

The Trust initiated disciplinary proceedings against Miss McMillan on the basis of an allegation that she had given inconsistent accounts about an adverse incident concerning a patient who faced complications whilst giving birth by caesarean section.

The Trust’s disciplinary procedure was incorporated into Miss McMillian’s employment contract and was laid out in two documents. One of the documents contained the Trust’s formal disciplinary procedures and misconduct guidance. The other presented the Trust’s code, detailing appeal procedures and identifying the ACAS Code as an ‘associated policy’. By virtue of this code, an employee was allowed to appeal against a warning or dismissal, with no further right of appeal.

Before the Tribunal The Trust’s disciplinary panel upheld the allegations of misconduct and issued Miss McMillian with a final written warning. She appealed this decision and the appeal panel, on the same evidence, again upheld the allegations made against her. A rehearing was arranged by the appeal panel to decide upon the appropriate sanction. Significantly, this implied that the Trust would be considering whether her punishment should be upgraded to a dismissal. This plan suggested that Miss McMillan’s employers were within their right to uphold, reduce or increase her sanction.

Prior to this hearing taking place, Miss McMillian withdrew her appeal and applied to the High Court for

an injunction to prevent her employer from reconsidering her sanction. The Court agreed with Miss McMillian and granted a permanent injunction to prevent the Trust from doing so. The Court held that Miss McMillan’s employment contract did not permit the appeal panel to upgrade the sanction due to the lack of an express power to do so.

The Trust’s appeal The Trust then appealed to the Court of Appeal, who unanimously dismissed their application and upheld the injunction. The Trust sought to rely on the fact that there was nothing in Miss McMillian’s employment contract which precluded them from increasing the severity of her sanction. However, this argument was rejected by the Court, who held that the silent contract could not be interpreted as giving parties the right to agree on a harsher sanction on appeal or indeed allow the Trust to impose the same unilaterally. Hence, an increased sanction would amount to a breach of contract by the Trust.

Further, the Court held that the Trust’s appeal procedure was in place to benefit the employee and should by no means be used as a continuation of the disciplinary process. The policy was not drafted to enable the Trust to reconsider a sanction they later felt was too lenient.

Additionally, the Trust’s policy did not permit employees a further right of appeal, meaning that if Miss McMillian’s sanction was increased to a dismissal, she would be left with no recourse. These factors meant that, in this type of scenario, employees would effectively be discouraged from exercising their important statutory right to appeal against disciplinary sanctions.

The Court noted the ACAS Guide on Discipline and Grievances at Work, which states expressly that penalties should not be increased upon appeal.

Nonetheless, it did state that employers may expressly reserve the right to increase sanctions upon appeal in their disciplinary procedures. The Trust’s problem, in this case, was that the Court was not prepared to imply this power when the contract of employment was silent.

What is the impact of the decision for employers?

The case highlights the type of rare occasion in which injunctive relief is granted in disciplinary proceedings,

Following the success

of our summer networking event on 5th June 2014 hosted by Russell-Cooke (during which we were lucky enough to be treated to some sunshine!), we have eagerly begun planning for our next event. Though still in the early planning stages, we hope to continue arranging fun and interesting events for our members previous events have included a pub crawl, informational seminars and a moot presided over by a High Court Judge. Membership is free and open to all junior lawyers (law students, paralegals, trainee solicitors, solicitors and barristers up to 5 years PQE / Call.

Please email sllsjuniorlawyers@gmail.com for further information.

To keep up to date with the South London Junior Lawyers Division, please find us on LinkedIn (where you will find regular blogs and articles) and follow us on twitter (@SouthLondonJLD)

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demonstrating what both the Tribunal and the Court of Appeal considered to be an urgent need to stop the Trust from committing a breach of Miss McMillian’s employment contract.

This case has raised significant lessons for employers to learn. The most fundamental message arising out of the case is that employers must ensure that their disciplinary policy expressly permits for a higher sanction to be imposed upon appeal if they seek to exercise such a right. Whilst the employer could consider expressly reserving this right, they should tread carefully for, as mentioned, this is not in line with the ACAS code and could lead to undesirable employee relation issues. If an employer seeks to act as the Trust did in this case, they should ensure that their decision is a reasonable one and be prepared to face challenges.

Further, in light of the judgment, it would perhaps be prudent to introduce a fresh right of appeal in the event that an employee’s sanction is increased in such circumstances, not least to put the employer in better stead in the face of resulting unfair dismissal claims. To avoid such problems from the outset, employers should be mindful to carry out thorough disciplinary investigations and strive to arrive at correct decisions first time, thereby restricting the need for a change of mind at a later date.

By SEHAJ LAMBA

Hanne & Co Sehaj is a Trainee Solicitor at Hanne & Co. Prior to joining the firm she read History at UCL, graduating in 2011. She was subsequently awarded scholarships to study both the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course in London. She is currently undertaking Employment law as part of her current seat.

Sehaj previously worked in public relations and acted as an Editor of a legal revision publication. She is the very busy Social Media Officer of the South London Junior Lawyers Division Committee.

Allied Irish Bank (GB) and Allied Irish Bank (GB) Savings Direct are trade marks used under licence by AIB Group (UK) p.l.c. (a wholly owned subsidiary of Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c.), incorporated in Northern Ireland. Registered Office 92 Ann Street, Belfast BT1 3HH. Registered Number NI018800. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.

AIB1 LJ

Practice Management

Exhibition of Supreme Court drawings With open justice as its aim, the Supreme Court welcomes and educates the public, provides a wealth of explanatory material and has even won a deservedly high rating on TripAdvisor - but how does the uninitiated visitor interpret the coded theatre of the hearings? And how does the iconic building impose itself on proceedings?

A new exhibition of drawings of the Supreme Court, on display in the City, gives you the layman’s view from the public seats. Isobel Williams occasionally draws in situ, with the court’s permission, and records her impressions on the illustrated blogs http://isobelwilliams.blogspot.co.uk and http://ukscblog.com. She is free to express herself in an idiosyncratic way, as long as she does not use materials which would risk damaging the spectacular carpet designed by Sir Peter Blake. ‘It also helps that I don’t take up much room,’ says the UK size 10 artist.

A selection of her original drawings is displayed inside the ground-floor entrance of Pinsent Masons LLP, 30 Crown Place, Earl Street, London EC2A 4ES, from 14 November until the end of the year, as part of the firm’s continuing policy of engaging with artists. Please email izzybody@gmail.com for more information.

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by Isobel Williams

Practice Management

PUTTING A PRICE ON FAMILY HISTORY

WINE OF THE SEASON with Conal Gregory, Master of Wine

Homeowners could be putting family heirlooms at risk by failing to recognise their monetary value writes Nicki Whittaker, a High Value Home Specialist at NFU Mutual.

Heirlooms, such as paintings and jewellery, which have been passed down through the generations, often have great sentimental value. Unfortunately, because these items are rarely viewed in terms of their monetary value, there is a real danger that they will not be adequately insured.

A recent survey conducted by NFU Mutual highlighted a worrying tendency for homeowners to undervalue or overlook items which they had inherited. Indeed, in 90% of valuations undertaken by NFU Mutual’s valuation partners, homeowners had either undervalued items or simply had no idea of an item’s value.

The survey revealed that inherited items, such as jewellery, watches and furniture, were most commonly undervalued by homeowners, typically by 45%. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that most homeowners do not reassess the value of their home contents for decades, forgetting that the price of gold, the death of an artist or the popularity of items from certain periods can significantly affect the value of certain heirlooms.

One valuation specialist recalled sitting down in a policyholder’s kitchen for coffee at the end of a visit and spotting an interesting piece of china sitting in the cupboard with the mugs. Upon closer inspection, the item turned out to be a vase handed down from the policyholder’s great aunt and worth many thousands of pounds. Another valuation expert told of a walnut bureau that the owner thought was perhaps worth £1,000 but was actually worth closer to £40,000 and could have been worth more had it been better cared for!

Unfortunately, it is not until these items are stolen, or damaged in a major incident such as a flood or fire that a homeowner will even give a thought to their value or replacement and, by then, it is often too late.

The survey, which was undertaken to coincide with the launch NFU Mutual Bespoke, a new insurance product for high value homes, revealed a real problem with the insurance of inherited items. Part of the problem comes from the fact that, inherited items are rarely looked at in a monetary light, with artwork, for example, found to be undervalued in two-thirds of cases.

Heirlooms are often rich in family history and, therefore, it is essential that they are safeguarded for future generations. This doesn’t mean they cannot be enjoyed or even used but it does mean that they should be insured for their true financial worth and not just their sentimental value.

Without doubt Rioja is Spain’s best known wine region.

Protected from the Atlantic by the Ebro mountains, the three red grapes of Tempranillo together with a little Garnacha and Graciano yield rich wines with structure. One of the stars is Marques de Caceres, founded in 1970, whose Reserva 2009 is aged 20-22 months in French oak barrels. It shows supple elegance.

Enjoy particularly with lamb. £16.49 or £14.01 when two bottles bought (Majestic Wine).

Across from the northern Rhone town of Tournon lies the hill of Hermitage. Imagine a delicious dry white with aromas of acacia flowers, honeysuckle and apricot with a taste of white stone fruit and figs. The Marsanne and Roussanne grapes yield wines of length that will keep for a decade, if you can resist that long! A tip is to opt for the less expensive Crozes-Hermitage. A cracking example is Les Marelles from Gilles Robin. £19.75 (Lea & Sandeman).

Sponsored by NFU Mutual Bespoke, high-value home insurance tailored to protect everything you value, including art, antiques, fine wine and more.

Visit www.nfumutual.co.uk/bespoke for further information.

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Practice Management

Not a week seems to go by these days without more speculation in the legal press about how uncertain the future is for small firms, sole practitioners and those in legal aid practice. For organisations like SBA the Solicitors’ Charity, however, it’s clear that starker times arrived quite some time ago.

SBA Beneficiary Secretary Dervilla Carroll explains, “We regularly take calls from solicitors affected by redundancy and shorter hours. In many cases, all their savings have been used up, the home is on the verge of repossession or already gone and debts are spiralling out of control. It’s not unusual to see people sofa-surfing, living in temporary bed-and-breakfast accommodation or moving back to live with an elderly parent.

One former partner is currently living in his car while trying to sort out job interviews.”

It’s obviously not pleasant to muse on what it’s like to move from comparative prosperity to £72.40 a week, the level of Jobseeker’s Allowance. However, some of the research shared by LawCare suggests that lawyers are uniquely well qualified in the art of denial.

Solicitors who are buried in the detail of heavy workloads and managing their own clients’ expectations don’t necessarily recognise when they themselves need to ask for help. As professionals who excel at taking control in chaotic situations, solicitors are often overwhelmed when, despite their best efforts, they cannot influence a particular outcome. Professional and personal relationships start to crack and, as both SBA and LawCare know only too well, families can blow apart as a result.

Many applicants advise that they have known about SBA for most of their professional lives.

However, the charity is often

associated with more traditional types of support for older or disabled people. SBA does of course still help former colleagues but, as the profession’s own charity, it has also geared services in readiness for market contraction. One new pathway is to provide free careers support, underpinned by short-term financial help to boost people’s chances of getting back into work, either in the law or not. Subject to a confidential test of income and savings, solicitors who qualify for financial assistance can join a three-month programme which offers holistic career, job search and wellbeing support, all provided by a single professional consultancy. SBA also wants to help create financial breathing space for colleagues who need that extra bit of support at the right time – for example, covering the costs of removal expenses for a family looking to downsize their home.

The next few years could well be grim for many in the profession but, with support organisations standing by to help, it is possible to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Don’t wait to hit crisis-point – act now.

Visit www.sba.org.uk for further information, telephone 020 8675 6440 or email bensec@sba.org.uk

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