Published Articles

When the marriage of a Spanish couple who were both resident in the UK broke up, the wife returned to Spain, taking their son with her, whilst her husband remained in the UK.

Both mother and father applied for a residence order for the boy, now aged eight. The judge made a shared residence order, allowing the boy to stay with his mother in Spain and his father to have access to him for holidays.

November saw the introduction of a new child protection regime for children from the UK who live beyond the EU’s borders, following the adoption of the 1996 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction, otherwise known as the ‘Hague Abduction Convention’. Previously, children of EU member states were only protected within the EU.

A recent case involving supermarket chain Somerfield (now part of the Co-Op) shows the wisdom of thinking through the implications of a contract before undertaking it.

The supermarket chain made an agreement with a company called ParkingEye to monitor cars parked in its car parks and deal with users who overstayed the permitted parking time.

ParkingEye installed automated systems for doing this and issued ‘penalty tickets’ for £75 to overstayers.

On Thursday 23^rd May, Sydney Mitchell will be holding its 5^th annual quiz night. All entrants are welcome and teams will be competing for the title of Sydney Mitchell Quiz Team Champions 2013.

This year the event will be held in aid of the Tiny Babies Appeal for Birmingham Women’s Hospital, who raise funds for specialist neonatal equipment, and the Maria Watt Foundation who raise funds for children and teenagers with cancer.

The entry fee is £125 (including VAT) for a team of four and the evening will include a buffet, cash bar and raffle.

Leading Midlands’ law firm Sydney Mitchell LLP not only celebrates winning the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards but also its 250 years in business; the firm was founded by Richard Chattock in 1763.

To mark these momentous occasions the firm has decide to make this year a fund-raising year, aiming to raise £10,000 over the year holding a variety of charity events during 2013 including a charity quiz, a balloon launch, a 250 mile bike race plus many more.

Related News Articles: 

Winter of Discontent? Spotlight on Strikes and Industrial Relations Law.

A husband has been ordered to pay his ex-wife more than £4 million in a divorce settlement that treats the wife’s substantial debts as being shared between them. The settlement awards the wife the former matrimonial home, subject to the balance of the mortgage being paid from her cash settlement.

Asbestos is present in many buildings and is usually safe if left undisturbed. However, if it is disturbed and asbestos particles are released into the air and inhaled or ingested, it can cause fatal diseases.

A contractor has been fined for safety failings after two subcontractors were unwittingly exposed to asbestos fibres at Reading University.

A couple’s assets on divorce can include matrimonial property – i.e. assets acquired during the course of the marriage – and non-matrimonial property, which is commonly defined as property acquired before the relationship began or property that was inherited by or given to one party during the relationship.

The law in relation to Personal Injury Claims and Clinical / Medical Negligence Claims is changing on 1st April 2013. The changes will mean that No Win No Fee (Conditional Fee) agreements are to be a thing of the past, with most solicitors no longer being able to guarantee 100% of damages. If you have a legitimate claim contact us now so you do not miss out on maximizing what you are entitled to.

The government’s proposed Employee Shareholder Contracts has been kicked into the long grass by the House of Lords.

Hot on the heels of the Chancellors speech the Lords voted (by 232 to 178) to strike down Clause 27 of the Growth and Infrastructure Bill on 20th March, which is the clause which introduced the concept of ‘employee shareholders’.

Mr Osborne’s announcement that the scheme would come into force on 1^st September 2013 has proven to be premature.

Sydney Mitchell, leading Midlands’ law firm, has won Law Firm of the Year for the third time in the 5-15 partner category and Michael Vale has won Chartered Legal Exec of the Year in the Birmingham Law Society Legal Awards for 2013.

The Court of Appeal has recently heard the first substantial appeal concerning a claim for ancillary financial relief (a financial settlement on the break-up of a marriage or civil partnership) following the breakdown of a civil partnership. The case involved total assets of £4.175 million and followed the breakdown of the relationship between Peter Lawrence, 47, an equity analyst at JP Morgan, and his partner Donald Gallagher, 54, an actor who has appeared in the West End.

Jo Grewer, Senior Solicitor at leading Midlands’ law firm Sydney Mitchell, comments on the Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt’s proposals for a ‘fully-funded’ plan to cap the amount at which the elderly have to pay for care at £75,000, due to start in April 2017. 

The facts:

Your legal questions answered by Fahmida Ismail, Partner, Sydney Mitchell. As published in the legal pages of the Birmingham Post, February 2013.

Q. I received a job application form which states in bold black ink “If there is an age limit on the vacancy you should put your date of birth in the box”. I was under the impression that it’s now discrimination to ask this question.

Clauses requiring a party to a contract to use ‘reasonable endeavours’ or ‘best endeavours’ in its performance are common, and while ‘best’ clearly implies something beyond ‘reasonable’, the lack of clarity in these terms has been the source of many legal disputes.

Recently, budget airline Jet2 and the operators of Blackpool Airport found themselves in the Court of Appeal over the meaning of a ‘best endeavours’ clause.

The need for clear thinking about the ownership of bank and other accounts held in joint names was illustrated recently by a case concerning a dispute over an account following the death of one of the joint account holders.

Energy drinks company Red Bull GmbH has triumphed in a High Court trade mark dispute after taking exception to the strap line ‘NO BULL IN THIS CAN’ being used on cans of a rival brew.

The company had been accused in court of adopting a ‘bullying and high-handed’ strategy in trying to block sales of the rival beverage, which was marketed under the ‘Bullet’ brand. However, Mr Justice Arnold cleared Red Bull of accusations of bad faith and agreed that its trade marks had been infringed by Sun Mark Ltd. when it marketed ‘Bullet’ with ‘NO BULL IN THIS CAN’ emblazoned on the outside.

Your legal questions answered by Fahmida Ismail, Partner, Sydney Mitchell. As published in the legal pages of the Birmingham Post, January 2013.

Q. Fifteen years ago my husband stole money from his employers while suffering from depression. His employers told us if we signed a form putting a £15,000 second charge on our property they wouldn’t inform the police. We’ve been paying £100 a month but now they say the debt has risen to £50,000.

Norman Rea, Consultant Employment Lawyer looks at the imminent changes to employment law which will affect us all.

Norman predicts that the next 12 months will be just as eventful as 2012 in the world of employment and provides the following snapshot of key forthcoming changes:

Revised Parental Leave Directive - 8th March 2013

Revised parental leave directive will be implemented when parental leave will be increased from 13 to 18 weeks per child

A Compliance Checklist.

For today’s businesses websites are a vital asset, a shop window and means of attracting, communicating with and selling to customers at home and abroad. Recent demises in the high street highlight the ever increasing importance of an effective online business presence in the modern digital and social media world.

It is a sign of the times that directors are being pursued under personal guarantees that they gave supporting company lending in the past.  The Company may now be in Liquidation and therefore the banks, in the event of not being fully repaid, are now looking at all of their options which often includes considering enforcing the terms of any personal guarantees.

It is perhaps not surprising that the largest number of petitions for divorce are presented to the courts in the months of January and February, and then September.  For many couples the strain of close contact for an extended period over Christmas or a family holiday is the final straw when a relationship is already in crisis.  For others they have wanted to see Christmas through or have a final family holiday for the sake of the children.