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<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

The Magazine for lawyers in Merseyside and the North West<br />

<strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2016</strong><br />

IN THIS ISSUE<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

New Committee<br />

PAGE 5<br />

Meet the new President<br />

of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

PAGE 8<br />

Injury Reform - A<br />

False Economy<br />

PAGE 11


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From the Editor<br />

3<br />

Welcome<br />

Welcome to the first edition of the New Year.<br />

We have a new cover for <strong>2016</strong> chosen by our new President Alison Lobb. For those members who do<br />

not know Alison We have included a "get to know" interview with her in this months edition. She will<br />

continue to write the monthly President's Mentions outlining her activities on behalf of the LLS<br />

members.<br />

We will also continue to offer half a page each month to a charity to give them the opportunity to<br />

inform our members of their activities. If you have a charity you would like us to include please let me<br />

have their contact details. This is in addition to the CSR pages we also run.<br />

The general committee and local councillors summit takes place at the end of this month so please send<br />

any questions you would like us to raise to Jeremy Myers, details inside.<br />

Otherwise please keep your articles and photos coming, they are much appreciated.<br />

SYLVIA SHEPHERD<br />

EDITOR<br />

Editor@liverpoollawsociety.org.uk<br />

That leaves me to wish all our members a happy and prosperous new year.<br />

Sylvia Shepherd<br />

Editor<br />

editor@liverpoollawsociety.org.uk<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

Needs YOU!<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

Magazine is produced by and<br />

for <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

Members. This is our<br />

opportunity to share our<br />

news, events and<br />

celebrations with our friends<br />

in the legal community.<br />

All members' contributions to<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> are warmly<br />

welcomed. Please send your<br />

article (and photo captions<br />

where possible) or request<br />

for further information, or<br />

assistance to the editor at<br />

editor@liverpoollawsociety.org.uk<br />

.<br />

Photographs should be<br />

provided in the highest<br />

resolution possible to ensure<br />

a good reproduction.<br />

The views and opinions<br />

expressed in <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

are those of the individual<br />

contributed and not those of<br />

the <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society.<br />

Published by Baskerville<br />

Publications Limited<br />

25 Southworth Way<br />

Thornton<br />

Thornton-Cleveleys<br />

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Tel: 01253 829431<br />

Email:<br />

j.baskerville@jbaskerville.co.uk<br />

Follow us on Twitter<br />

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Join us on Linked In<br />

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company/liverpool-law-society<br />

Diary Dates<br />

Wed 2nd March Management Conference<br />

Wed 16th March Public Child <strong>Law</strong> Conference<br />

Wed 8th June Regulatory Conference<br />

13 June - 1 July International Festival for<br />

Business<br />

Tue 4th October <strong>Liverpool</strong> Legal Walk<br />

Wed 19th October Private Child <strong>Law</strong> Conference<br />

Thur 10th November Annual Dinner<br />

Tue 29 November AGM<br />

Deadlines <strong>2016</strong><br />

18TH JAN FOR FEB<br />

15TH FEB FOR MARCH<br />

14TH MARCH FOR APRIL<br />

12TH APRIL FOR MAY<br />

16TH MAY FOR JUNE<br />

13TH JUNE FOR JULY<br />

18TH JULY FOR AUG<br />

15TH AUG FOR SEP<br />

19TH SEP FOR OCT<br />

17TH OCT FOR NOV<br />

14TH NOV FOR DEC<br />

Editorial Committee<br />

Dates <strong>2016</strong><br />

04/01/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

01/02/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

07/03/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

04/04/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

03/05/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

06/06/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

04/07/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

01/08/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

05/09/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

03/10/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

07/11/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00<br />

05/12/<strong>2016</strong> AT 13:00


4 From the President<br />

Sponsored by<br />

President’s Mentions<br />

Welcome, to my first edition of<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> as President of<br />

the society. It is somewhat<br />

ironic that, having served<br />

several years as editor of this<br />

wonderful magazine, chasing<br />

numerous people, including<br />

Presidents, for their<br />

contributions, I am now on the<br />

opposite end of that; and that<br />

our esteemed editor and<br />

publisher are now having to<br />

chase me. Those pigeons are<br />

now well and truly coming<br />

home to roost…..!<br />

One advantage of taking office in<br />

December is supposed to be that<br />

things start off fairly quietly on<br />

the events front, with everyone<br />

settling down in their own firms,<br />

preparing for Christmas. So it<br />

came as a bit of a shock to the<br />

system to attend the <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

City Council “Fairness Summit”,<br />

on my first full day, (which you<br />

can read about in later pages) -<br />

when I was officially introduced,<br />

for the first time, to a room full of<br />

people as the President of<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society. It made<br />

me realise what a daunting<br />

prospect lies ahead, but I really<br />

hope I can do you all proud.<br />

Another of my first jobs was to<br />

subject myself to a grilling from<br />

Julia Baskerville, which you can<br />

also read about in this edition. In<br />

fact there seems to be a lot in here<br />

about me and I sincerely hope<br />

that is not going to be the case for<br />

the whole of the year and that<br />

many of the rest of you are going<br />

to contribute to this publication to<br />

stop that from happening. As I<br />

keep saying, this role is not all<br />

about me, it’s about all of you,<br />

and I look forward to hearing<br />

from as many of you as possible<br />

through the coming year.<br />

I am delighted that Sylvia agreed<br />

to continue as editor of this<br />

magazine, as she’s been doing<br />

such a brilliant job. One of the<br />

exciting parts leading up to taking<br />

over as President is deciding on<br />

the new front cover and colour<br />

scheme for <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong>. I am<br />

really pleased that we have used<br />

one of my own photos on the<br />

cover, as I think we live in such a<br />

beautiful city, and I often take<br />

snaps on my phone when I am out<br />

and about. The plan is to feature<br />

a different picture each month,<br />

and if you have any great ones of<br />

our <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society region<br />

then please do send them in and<br />

we will try to use them. It would<br />

be great to see lots of pictures<br />

from all over the area and not just<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> City Centre, as coming<br />

from a firm with branch offices I<br />

am always acutely aware that not<br />

everything takes place in the City<br />

Commercial district, and there are<br />

a lot of excellent lawyers doing<br />

good things all over our region!<br />

I am also pleased that we are<br />

going to continue with the charity<br />

feature each month, and if you<br />

know of any charities that you<br />

would like us to feature then<br />

please do let Sylvia have their<br />

details.<br />

Like all Presidents I am starting<br />

with good intentions and I aim to<br />

meet as many of you as possible,<br />

through our events and<br />

subcommittees, and coming out to<br />

see you when I can. For starters, I<br />

look forward to seeing many of<br />

you at the Newly Qualified<br />

Solicitors reception on 28th<br />

<strong>Jan</strong>uary as we welcome last year’s<br />

ALISON LOBB<br />

PRESIDENT<br />

qualifiers to the local profession,<br />

and take the chance to mix with<br />

our counterparts at the Merseyside<br />

Junior <strong>Law</strong>yers Division. It<br />

should be a great event and your<br />

support would be very much<br />

appreciated!<br />

Alison Lobb<br />

President<br />

CHARITY SPOTLIGHT<br />

The Whitechapel Centre<br />

The Whitechapel Centre is the leading<br />

homeless and housing charity for the<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> region. We work with people<br />

who are sleeping rough, living in<br />

hostels or struggling to manage their<br />

accommodation. We are committed to<br />

helping people find and maintain a<br />

home and learn the life skills essential<br />

for independent living.<br />

Last year we worked with 2,605 people -<br />

our support and advice found suitable<br />

accommodation for 1,174 who were<br />

homeless and prevented a further 948<br />

people from becoming homeless.<br />

Our Centre is open every day for rough<br />

sleepers, providing hot meals, showers,<br />

clean clothes, assessments, welfare and<br />

benefit advice, referrals to healthcare,<br />

learning and education. Our outreach<br />

team is out daily, engaging with people<br />

on the street and responding to calls to<br />

the No Second Night Out phone number.<br />

We support people into accommodation<br />

and provide a bond scheme, we jointly<br />

run two family hostels, drop-in housing<br />

advice sessions, peer-mentoring and<br />

complex needs support. We understand<br />

that helping people back to independence<br />

requires intensive and long-term support<br />

and we do all we can to help people get<br />

their lives back on track.<br />

Homelessness can happen to anyone. We<br />

have worked with chefs, barristers,<br />

hairdressers, academics, medical staff,<br />

managers, construction workers, the list<br />

goes on, with the causes of their<br />

homelessness ranging from relationship<br />

breakdowns, mental health issues and job<br />

loss to bereavement, domestic violence or<br />

addiction.<br />

Unfortunately homelessness is on the<br />

increase, recorded at 42% over the last<br />

four years, and so support from the<br />

general public and the business<br />

community is even more vital to ensure<br />

we can provide the necessary support to<br />

an increasing number of vulnerable<br />

people.<br />

There are a number ways people can<br />

offer their support. Vital to our success<br />

are the generous donations of money that<br />

mean we can invest in our services to<br />

ensure we can offer the expert advice and<br />

advocacy to help people resolve their<br />

situation. Please consider supporting The<br />

Whitechapel Centre financially through<br />

regular giving, taking part in a<br />

fundraising event or payroll giving.<br />

We also accept donations of clothing,<br />

towels, toiletries, food and starter packs<br />

that could include essentials such as<br />

cutlery, crockery, kettles and toasters for<br />

people being rehomed who have few<br />

personal belongings.<br />

You can also donate your time by<br />

volunteering in either our Centre or shop.<br />

For more information about The<br />

Whitechapel Centre and how you can<br />

get involved visit<br />

www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk


Local News<br />

5<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society’s AGM<br />

The Society’s 188th AGM was held on 24th November 2015<br />

at which Mr Peter Holland, Mrs Naomi Pinder, Mrs Sylvia<br />

Shepherd, Mr Chris Topping, Mr David Tournafond and Ms<br />

Nina Ferris were elected as directors for a three year term.<br />

They were welcomed onto the General Committee along with<br />

John Weate who takes up the position of Criminal Practice<br />

Committee chair.<br />

At the AGM, prizes were presented to the following for their<br />

achievements in professional examinations in the LPC:<br />

The Timpron Martin prize went to Miss Anna Barclay, DLA<br />

The Rupert Bremner prize went to Mr Gregory Chambers, DWF<br />

The Atkinson prize went to Mr Kevin Howard, Weightmans<br />

The E. Rex Makin Prize is awarded to the youngest Solicitor to be<br />

admitted to the roll in the <strong>Liverpool</strong> constituency.<br />

It went to Miss Kelly Marie Griffiths who is now at Allington<br />

Hughes.<br />

The Muir Matthews Prize is awarded to a young/trainee solicitor in<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> who is judged to have made the largest contribution on an allround<br />

basis.<br />

This prize was awarded to Ms May Lee, who works at Irvings, and<br />

is immediate past chair of the Merseyside JLD.<br />

2015/16 Officers and General<br />

Committee Members<br />

OFFICERS<br />

President - MS ALISON LOBB , Morecrofts<br />

Vice President - MR JOHN BALLAM , FPH <strong>Law</strong><br />

Hon. Treasurer - MR PHILIP ROONEY, DLA Piper UK<br />

Joint Hon Secretary - MS NINA FERRIS, Hill Dickinson<br />

Joint Honorary Secretary - MISS JULIE O’HARE, Carpenters<br />

Immediate Past President - MR EMLYN WILLIAMS, Weightmans<br />

COMMITTEE CHAIRS & OFFICE HOLDERS<br />

Access to Justice Committee Chair - MR CHRIS TOPPING,<br />

Broudie Jackson Canter<br />

Civil Litigation Committee Chair - MS KIRSTY MCKNO,<br />

Breens Solicitors<br />

Criminal Practice Committee Chair - MR JOHN WEATE,<br />

RMNJ Solicitors<br />

Editorial Committee Chair - MS SYLVIA SHEPHERD, DLA Piper UK<br />

Education & Charities Committee Chair - MR DAVID<br />

TOURNAFOND, Bermans<br />

Employment <strong>Law</strong> Committee Chair - MS NICKY BENSON, Bermans<br />

Family Business Committee Chair - MS ADELE SCHOFIELD,<br />

The Berkson Globe Partnership<br />

Regulatory Committee Chair - MS MICKAELA FOX, Weightmans<br />

Membership Officer - MS SARAH MANSFIELD, BLM<br />

Non Contentious Committee Chair - MS NAOMI PINDER,<br />

Quality Solicitors Jackson & Canter<br />

Parliamentary Liaison Officer - MR JEREMY MYERS,<br />

Husband Forwood Morgan<br />

Public Relations Officer - MR STEWART MCCULLOCH,<br />

Quindell Legal Services<br />

The <strong>Law</strong> Society Council Member for Merseyside & District<br />

MRS SARAH LAPSLEY, Cook & Talbot<br />

Training Committee Chair - MR JAMES MANNOUCH<br />

COMMITTEE MEMBERS<br />

MR BILL CHANDLER, Hill Dickinson<br />

MR PETER HOLLAND, DWF<br />

MRS GLENYS HUNT, Carpenters<br />

MR STEVEN ZDOLYNY, Riverview <strong>Law</strong><br />

The Prizewinners with<br />

Emlyn Williams and Alison Lobb<br />

With over 60 members Atlantic Chambers is able to offer a wide<br />

range of expertise within our specialist practice groups.<br />

Civil Litigation including Clinical Negligence,<br />

Family, Chancery & Commercial, Crime,<br />

Employment, Proceeds of Crime & Public <strong>Law</strong><br />

4-6 Cook Street, <strong>Liverpool</strong> L2 9QU<br />

T 0151 236 4421 F 0151 236 1559<br />

DX: 14176 <strong>Liverpool</strong> 1.<br />

E-mail: info@atlanticchambers.co.uk<br />

The General Committee<br />

Back L to R: Alistair Fletcher, Peter Holland, Emlyn Williams,<br />

Sarah Mansfield, Sylvia Shepherd, Jeremy Myers, Naomi<br />

Pinder, MJLD Rep Anthea Malley, Bill Chandler<br />

Front L to R: Nina Ferris, Philip Rooney, John Ballam, Alison<br />

Lobb, Julie O’Hare, David Tournafond, Nicky Benson


6 Cashiers Conference<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society 5th Annual Conference<br />

for Legal Cashiers and Managers<br />

It’s that time of year again and I<br />

was delighted to chair the 5th<br />

Annual Legal Cashiers and<br />

Managers Conference at the<br />

<strong>Law</strong> Society on Wednesday 18th<br />

November 2015. The training<br />

suite was full again with 50<br />

attendees including legal<br />

cashiers, accountants, COFA’s<br />

and solicitors . We welcomed<br />

back many attendees from last<br />

year’s conference and previous<br />

courses and we were pleased to<br />

welcome a large number of new<br />

faces.<br />

With a packed programme for the<br />

day we started the conference on<br />

time with our first speakers,<br />

Sharon Harrison and Richard<br />

Campbell from Barclays Bank,<br />

giving us a banker’s view on<br />

financial stability in the legal<br />

sector. This interesting session<br />

gave us an insight into how the<br />

bank and the law firm should work<br />

together to aim for financial<br />

stability finishing with some top<br />

tips for us follow. This session<br />

was followed by Peter Taffe,<br />

Managing Partner of B W<br />

Macfarlane, our sponsors for the<br />

conference, giving us a session on<br />

Compliance and the hidden<br />

advantages for our firm and also<br />

the pitfalls of getting it wrong.<br />

Following the coffee break we<br />

were pleased to welcome back to<br />

our conference, Darren Whelan, a<br />

former colleague of mine from the<br />

ILFM. Following a very<br />

successful session at our last<br />

conference and proving to be a<br />

popular speaker, Darren delivered<br />

an update on VAT: Disbursements<br />

or Recharges and Tax Points. Once<br />

again, Darren delivered another 45<br />

minutes packed with information<br />

and advice giving us a lot to think<br />

about. Darren, again, delivered a<br />

very useful and interesting session.<br />

For our last session of the morning<br />

we were pleased to welcome a<br />

new speaker to our conferences,<br />

Richard Syers, Lead Policy Officer<br />

with the Information<br />

Commissioners Office (ICO).<br />

Richard spoke about data<br />

protection in law firms including<br />

what our main risks are, some<br />

examples of bad and good practice<br />

and gave some practical advice on<br />

complying with the Data<br />

Protection Act. With many<br />

questions being asked by the<br />

attendees, Richards delivered a<br />

very information session.<br />

Over a buffet lunch we all had a<br />

chance to mingle and chat with<br />

each other and the speakers with<br />

many questions being asked and<br />

business cards being exchanged.<br />

Following lunch we were pleased<br />

to welcome back, by very popular<br />

demand, Steve Wilmott, Director<br />

and MLRO at the SRA responsible<br />

for Intelligence, Investigations and<br />

Practice Standards. Steve has been<br />

at all our conferences from the<br />

beginning but was unable to attend<br />

last year due to commitments at<br />

the SRA so it was good to see him<br />

back. Starting with the first of his<br />

two sessions, Steve, brought us up<br />

to date with the national Money<br />

Laundering landscape and gave us<br />

an update on the SRA’s thematic<br />

review of AML compliance. Steve<br />

told us that the SRA are seeing an<br />

increase in reports concerning<br />

AML compliance with an<br />

increased interest in this area from<br />

law enforcement. Although the<br />

results of the thematic review were<br />

good Steve gave us a reminder that<br />

there is still a lot of work to be<br />

done in the legal sector.<br />

For his second session, Steve<br />

spoke to us on a topic very much<br />

at the front of everyone’s mind,<br />

cybercrime and information<br />

security. The SRA have seen an<br />

increase in the sophistication of<br />

cybercrime and other scams hitting<br />

the legal sector with funds lost<br />

ranging between £50k and £2m<br />

since <strong>Jan</strong>uary 2015. Steve spoke<br />

about the six key areas for us to<br />

concentrate on together with the<br />

risk of bogus firms. This was an<br />

Back: L-R: Darren Cox, Peter Taaffe, Steve Wallbank &<br />

Stephen Wilmott.Front: L-R: Richard Campbell, Sharon<br />

Harrison, Jo Morris & Darren Whelan<br />

excellent session giving us lots to<br />

think about!<br />

Following on from Steve, we<br />

welcomed another new speaker to<br />

our conferences, Stephen Wallbank,<br />

an Investigation Team Manager<br />

from the SRA, who delivered a<br />

very informative session on what<br />

the SRA are seeing in relation to<br />

forensic investigations. Packed<br />

with information, statistics and real<br />

life case studies this session gave<br />

us an insight into the world of<br />

forensic investigations at the SRA.<br />

Following on from our afternoon<br />

coffee break we were pleased to<br />

welcome back another popular<br />

speaker, Darren Cox, who is an<br />

Ombudsman and has worked at the<br />

Legal Ombudsman since 2010.<br />

Darren delivered a very engaging<br />

session on dealing with customer<br />

service complaints at the Legal<br />

Ombudsman and shared with us<br />

some great examples of complaints<br />

seen together with up to date facts<br />

and figures.<br />

It was then time for the last session<br />

of the day delivered by myself.<br />

The other speakers were all hard<br />

acts to follow so I decided to play a<br />

quiz and see how much<br />

information we had remembered<br />

from the day. This interactive<br />

session was an informative but<br />

light hearted and fun way to end a<br />

great day. Everyone was a winner<br />

taking home their prize of a smiley<br />

face pencil!<br />

All too soon it was time to bring<br />

the day to a close and say our<br />

goodbyes. Our thanks go to our<br />

speakers, many of them staying<br />

for the whole day, our sponsors for<br />

the day, B W Macfarlane and the<br />

staff at <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society,<br />

especially Jo and Emma for<br />

making the day run smoothly and<br />

a huge success. Special thanks go<br />

to our attendees for showing their<br />

support at this event – we couldn’t<br />

do this without them!<br />

Here’s a date for your diary!<br />

Wednesday 16th November <strong>2016</strong><br />

for our next Legal Cashiers and<br />

Managers Conference when I hope<br />

we’ll all meet again. I hope to see<br />

you all at one of the many<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society training<br />

courses in <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

Jo Morris<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

-<br />

<br />

-


Local News<br />

7<br />

Commercial Litigation Conference<br />

This was the first time that LLS had held a CPD Conference<br />

devoted to this topic. It grew out of the Conferences on<br />

Personal Injury and on Costs.<br />

A more specifically-focused Conference was felt necessary after debate<br />

amongst members of LLS’s Civil Litigation Committee, chaired by<br />

Kirsty McKno. Jo Downey – LLS’s Director of Education and training<br />

– and a number of us amongst Civil Litigation Committee members<br />

began to discuss the topic areas for the Conference.<br />

The general feeling was that the Conference should meet practitioners’<br />

need for a practical look at many of the areas of commercial litigation<br />

which feature in the everyday life of a practitioner in this arena.<br />

That is why the topics comprised headlines such as drafting Statements<br />

of Case, drafting Witness Statements, Costs and Case Management<br />

Conferences and Maximising the Benefits of Mediation to name but<br />

some. Building Disputes, Judgment Debt recovery, Insolvency and<br />

Default Sanctions Relief also featured.<br />

The array of lecturers was particularly effective. HHJ Graham Wood QC<br />

– the designated Civil Judge in <strong>Liverpool</strong> – chaired the Conference with<br />

a number of helpful comments to support points made by lecturers. The<br />

fact that Barristers and Solicitors, both local and from outside<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong>, provided further balance and breadth of experience.<br />

As ever, it was not just at the formal sessions but also during the<br />

refreshments breaks that many issues were discussed, as well as<br />

attendees having the always welcome opportunity to catch up with old<br />

friends and colleagues.<br />

Jeremy Myers<br />

LLS General Committee Member and<br />

Parliamentary Liaison Officer<br />

Some of the conference speakers<br />

(L-R): Peter Goodbody, Professor Dominic Regan,<br />

HH Graham Wood QC & David Pilling<br />

Convert more<br />

conveyancing<br />

enquiries<br />

into clients<br />

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davidopie@etsos.co.uk<br />

<br />

2 month<br />

FREE<br />

TRIAL *<br />

Councillors’ Summit –<br />

Thursday 21 <strong>Jan</strong>uary<br />

The links which LLS has<br />

developed with political<br />

figures extends across the<br />

full spectrum from local to<br />

national representatives.<br />

This is particularly<br />

important given the varying<br />

fields in which our<br />

representatives act.<br />

Thursday 21 <strong>Jan</strong>uary sees the next<br />

twice-yearly meeting between<br />

General Committee members and<br />

Councillors from Local<br />

Authorities in LLS’s geographical<br />

area. The Agenda will give us the<br />

opportunity to explain to<br />

Councillors our views on issues<br />

which they might be contacted by<br />

constituents or discover in news<br />

about Local Authority legal<br />

departments’ work.<br />

These include the impact of the<br />

new Small Claims Track PI<br />

proposed threshold, the topic of<br />

McKenzie Friends and other<br />

changes which access to legal<br />

advice (developing the themes<br />

which we have set out to<br />

Councillors in the regular Access<br />

to Justice Forum events held by<br />

LLS). Doubtless other current<br />

“hot topics” will be mentioned.<br />

In turn, the Summit always gives<br />

LLS the opportunity to glean an<br />

idea of topics being raised with<br />

Councillors by their constituents<br />

which have a legal element.<br />

Welfare changes – including<br />

Housing Benefit – are topics<br />

which could have an impact on<br />

the work of Legal Aid<br />

practitioners and is to feature on<br />

the agenda.<br />

Interaction with local<br />

communities is a significant<br />

element of the life-blood of many<br />

practices belonging to LLS. This<br />

regular meeting is a necessary<br />

means of discovering how lay<br />

people view their need for legal<br />

advice and consequently a way in<br />

which our Services and<br />

availability can be explained and<br />

circulated more widely.<br />

Do not hesitate to let LLS know<br />

about any topics which you feel<br />

could be raised.<br />

Jeremy Myers<br />

LLS Parliamentary Liaison<br />

Officer


8 Interview<br />

In Conversation with the President<br />

Alison Lobb, the newly elected<br />

President of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

talks to Julia Baskerville...<br />

Alison Lobb, the Managing<br />

Partner of Morecrofts<br />

Solicitors was elected the<br />

President of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

Society at December’s<br />

General Committee meeting.<br />

Alison will be the fourth<br />

President from Morecrofts,<br />

three of whom have been<br />

women.<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> born and bred, Alison<br />

trained at EAD Solicitors before<br />

joining the Legal Aid Board as a<br />

caseworker auditor. Alison joined<br />

the Litigation Team at Morecrofts<br />

in 1999.<br />

Alison spent many years acting<br />

for victims of childhood abuse,<br />

particularly in the various group<br />

actions which were going on at<br />

the time. Over time her caseload<br />

changed to include general<br />

personal injury work, claims for<br />

victims of negligence by social<br />

services, breach of confidence<br />

actions, and some education and<br />

judicial review work.<br />

In 2005 Alison became a Partner<br />

and Head of the Litigation Team,<br />

going on to join the firm’s<br />

management board. In 2014<br />

Alison was appointed Managing<br />

Partner on the retirement of Helen<br />

Broughton, a past President of the<br />

Society.<br />

Alison joined the General<br />

Committee of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

Society in 2008 and has served as<br />

Deputy Public Relations Officer<br />

and was the Editor of <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

<strong>Law</strong> for three years. She was<br />

appointed Joint Honorary<br />

Secretary in 2012 and Vice<br />

President in 2014.<br />

Alison acknowledges that these<br />

are very challenging times for the<br />

profession and it can be a difficult<br />

task representing all the various<br />

views represented within the<br />

society. Clearly the recent<br />

proposals announced in the<br />

Autumn Statement by George<br />

Osborne to increase the small<br />

claims limit for personal injury<br />

claims to £5000 and to end<br />

payments for soft tissue injuries<br />

such as whiplash will impact on<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> law firms. Alison says<br />

“This proposal has significant<br />

implications for our members,<br />

there are a lot of PI firms in<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> which have already<br />

suffered as a result of LASPO,<br />

and the Society will be takings<br />

soundings from both claimant and<br />

defendant firms. The Civil<br />

Litigation sub-committee will be<br />

considering the proposals in<br />

detail, and will be formulating a<br />

response - but it is important that<br />

we represent the views of all<br />

members.”<br />

The Society will also continue to<br />

offer support to criminal lawyers<br />

as the ongoing criminal legal aid<br />

fiasco rumbles on. Alison also<br />

predicts that the impact from the<br />

cuts to family legal aid will also<br />

become more marked in <strong>2016</strong>,<br />

with an increase in litigants in<br />

person and the Society will be<br />

talking to members on how to<br />

best deal with this crisis in the<br />

courts. She says, “Over the last<br />

few years the Society has done<br />

great work in campaigning for<br />

and highlighting Access to Justice<br />

issues and we need to keep the<br />

momentum going with regard to<br />

this”<br />

Each year’s President has their<br />

own ‘theme’ for the year. Alison<br />

says that her theme will be to<br />

encourage member firms to<br />

become more involved with the<br />

wider business community in the<br />

city. She says “<strong>Law</strong> firms need to<br />

become more involved in the<br />

city’s business organisations<br />

which offer numerous<br />

opportunities for networking and<br />

referrals. We are a profession, but<br />

we are also businesses that need to<br />

generate income just like any<br />

other. There are differences<br />

between the law and other types<br />

of business, with many law firms<br />

still working within the traditional<br />

partnership business model and<br />

the additional burden of<br />

regulation, but essentially we are<br />

businesses and need to recognise<br />

the benefits of becoming more<br />

involved. Some firms already do<br />

that very well, but others have yet<br />

to take up the opportunities on<br />

offer and by creating stronger<br />

links with those organisations,<br />

hopefully we can help them do<br />

that, and subsequently to grow”<br />

Running alongside side this theme<br />

Alison also hopes to raise the<br />

profile of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

and its member firms within the<br />

city.<br />

<strong>2016</strong> will also see the<br />

International Festival of Business<br />

return to <strong>Liverpool</strong>. Alison is on<br />

the Steering Group which will be<br />

organising the fringe events<br />

around the IFB. She says “The<br />

IFB in <strong>2016</strong> will be shorter, but<br />

more concentrated than that in<br />

2014 and will run for three weeks.<br />

Organisers of the event, <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

Vision, are hoping to draw in<br />

some big names from the world of<br />

business and some of the fringe<br />

events are planned to take the<br />

form of ‘Q & As’ with eminent<br />

speakers, as well as some more<br />

irreverent offerings as well”.<br />

Alison would also like to see more<br />

firms become involved with<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society, whether<br />

through joining one of the subcommittees,<br />

attending conferences<br />

and courses or one of their many<br />

social events. Alison says<br />

“<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society does a<br />

great job representing members<br />

from firms large and small and<br />

across all of the specialisms. The<br />

Sub-Committee members work<br />

tirelessly behind the scenes,<br />

responding to consultations and<br />

ensuring that members are kept up<br />

to date with the latest news and<br />

developments in their area of the<br />

law. Similarly, our course<br />

programme is constantly reviewed<br />

and updated so that we can offer<br />

up-to-date and informative<br />

courses and conferences that are<br />

relevant to members. I would also<br />

like to extend an invitation to<br />

members to come along to our<br />

social and networking events.<br />

Over the years I have made many<br />

friends through the Society and<br />

built up an extensive network of<br />

business contacts. There is plenty<br />

of value in networking with other<br />

lawyers – even though some may<br />

not realise that” New for <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

the Society are in talks with with<br />

Professional <strong>Liverpool</strong> about the<br />

possibility of hosting a <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

Professionals dinner, which is<br />

planned for the Spring.<br />

Alison also wants to continue and<br />

develop Emlyn William’s theme<br />

of encouraging young people to<br />

join the legal profession and she<br />

will be hosting the second<br />

“Pathways to <strong>Law</strong>” event which<br />

will be held on 10th February<br />

<strong>2016</strong> at <strong>Liverpool</strong> Town Hall.<br />

Clearly Alison has a very busy<br />

year ahead of her, she concludes<br />

“I am delighted but somewhat<br />

daunted to be following in<br />

Emlyn’s footsteps. Each President<br />

puts their own stamp on the role<br />

and I have seen first hand that<br />

often that evolves as the year<br />

proceeds. Every year holds new<br />

excitements and fresh challenges<br />

and I can’t wait to get started and<br />

find out what the future holds.”


ADVERTORIAL<br />

<strong>2016</strong> – A POSITIVE PERSPECTIVE<br />

FOR INVESTORS<br />

Prediction is difficult, especially when dealing with the<br />

future. There are many claimed sources for this pearl of<br />

wisdom, but it is undoubtedly true. That does not stop<br />

people trying to envisage the future, and indeed it is a core<br />

requirement for most planning processes. It is perhaps<br />

useful when looking forward to understand the fallibility<br />

of the process, and therefore allow for contingencies<br />

and for the unexpected. With all that in mind, let’s<br />

take a look at how <strong>2016</strong> may turn out for investors.<br />

Policy makers’ great dilemma at present – at least in the<br />

UK and US – is whether the domestic economy is strong<br />

enough for interest rates to start to rise. Their hesitancy<br />

is partly a result of the opaque nature of even the short<br />

term future outlook, which is understandable but it is<br />

becoming unhelpful. Markets do not fare well in uncertain<br />

times and the “will they/won’t they” debate has resulted<br />

in nervous, volatile markets over the summer. Equally,<br />

boardroom decision makers will feel less confident if there<br />

is evidence of policy dithering. There is sufficient evidence<br />

to support a first, modest tightening of rates and focus<br />

and attention can then move forward. It will be quite<br />

some time before rates achieve a neutral level. Lower for<br />

longer will remain the mantra – but not zero for ever.<br />

So, why would rates be kept low? Well China seems<br />

to be regularly offered up as the reason. Chinese<br />

growth has been slowing for some time, but this is the<br />

price of a healthy rebalance of the economy to lessen<br />

dependence on infrastructure and exports. Currency<br />

devaluation raised concerns that the loss of momentum<br />

was accelerating, but we have written previously<br />

that we do not consider this to be an imminent or<br />

material threat to developed economies. This remains<br />

the case. Equally, especially from a UK perspective,<br />

Europe’s modest improvement is a material positive.<br />

Data releases elsewhere have been mixed, and data<br />

has been identified as the guiding light for the US<br />

Federal Reserve decision makers. Trying to determine<br />

longer term trends through short term data releases<br />

is fraught with danger, and the Fed should really be<br />

getting ahead of the curve and showing leadership.<br />

We believe there is sufficient evidence of stability and<br />

progress therefore for policy makers to lead us out of this<br />

extraordinary, and extended period of low interest rates.<br />

This in turn, whilst perhaps causing some short term nerves,<br />

ought to be interpreted by investors as a sign of confidence.<br />

So what about the investment outlook?<br />

On the basis of policy change as outlined, against a<br />

background of likely continuing global growth, we believe<br />

it sensible to continue to support risk assets – primarily<br />

stock markets – at the expense of traditionally safe assets<br />

– bonds and cash. The UK stock market carries the burden<br />

of a high exposure to natural resource companies (oil<br />

and mining) which continue to struggle. Away from these<br />

sectors, many companies offer good value, and attractive,<br />

secure and growing dividends. The US and Europe also<br />

offer attractions, but Asia is best sidelined for now. As ever,<br />

a well-constructed, balanced portfolio is the preferred<br />

approach as individual investment risk remains a concern.<br />

So, we look into <strong>2016</strong> with a positive perspective,<br />

also recognising that risks exist and that we<br />

continue to live in uncertain times.<br />

For more information, contact Simon Walker in <strong>Liverpool</strong>:<br />

simon.walker@quiltercheviot.com or 0151 243 2160.<br />

Investors should remember that the value of investments,<br />

and the income from them, can go down as well as<br />

up. Investors may not recover what they invest. Past<br />

performance is no guarantee of future results.<br />

SEE HOW WE’RE DOING<br />

THINGS DIFFERENTLY<br />

CALL SIMON WALKER<br />

TEL. 0151 243 2160<br />

OR VISIT WWW.QUILTERCHEVIOT.COM<br />

Quilter Cheviot is the trading name of Quilter Cheviot Limited, a private limited company registered in England with number 01923571, registered office at One<br />

Kingsway, London WC2B 6AN. Quilter Cheviot has established an office in Dublin, Ireland with number 904906, is a member of the London Stock Exchange, is<br />

authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Conduct Authority, is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules, under the Financial<br />

Services (Jersey) <strong>Law</strong> 1998 by the Jersey Financial Services Commission for the conduct of investment business in Jersey and by the Guernsey Financial<br />

Services Commission under the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) <strong>Law</strong>, 1987 to carry on investment business in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.<br />

Accordingly, in some respects the regulatory system that applies will be different from that of the United Kingdom.


10 Local News<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society and<br />

Accountants take a ‘Real Ale Trail’<br />

On a wet cold and windy November night an intrepid band<br />

of <strong>Liverpool</strong> lawyers braved the worst of the weather to<br />

venture out on a mystery journey around the Georgian<br />

quarter of <strong>Liverpool</strong>. The reason? – why, we had been<br />

hooked in with the promise of a “Real Ale Trail”. Anything<br />

for a spot of beer!<br />

The event had been arranged by Philip Silver, President of the<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> Society of Chartered Accountants, and it was a well mixed<br />

group that met on the steps of St Lukes, (the bombed out Church ).<br />

With 5 lawyers and 6 accountants, together with our two guides, Steve<br />

and Alan, the group was just the right size to benefit from the tour, and<br />

to mingle together, and indeed any more would probably not have fitted<br />

in to the bars of some of the pubs we visited!<br />

Our journey took us first to the Roscoe Head, one of only 5 pubs in the<br />

country to have featured in every edition of the Good Beer guide since<br />

its first publication on 1974, but now sadly in danger of closure, (If you<br />

are interested there is a petition you can sign to try to keep it open).<br />

After our first drink, and a history lesson about William Roscoe;<br />

lawyer, MP and abolitionist; we moved on to the Philharmonic where<br />

we varied our diets for the evening with a plate of fish & chips each,<br />

then onward to the Belvedere and finishing at the recently opened Old<br />

Blind School. With history lessons between, and often in each pub, the<br />

theme of the evening also of course required a sample of ale each time,<br />

which allowed us to try out some brews we had not heard of before. I<br />

even resisted the <strong>Liverpool</strong> Gin for once, deciding it would not mix<br />

well with the IPA!<br />

A good evening was had by all and we all made some new friends and<br />

contacts across the professions. Many thanks to the accountants for<br />

organising this enjoyable evening; not only was it an introduction to<br />

some new beers but a fascinating and informative lesson in the history<br />

of <strong>Liverpool</strong>. No matter how much you think you know, there is<br />

always more to learn! There are other routes available on the tour and<br />

it would certainly be worth doing it again.<br />

Alison Lobb<br />

Morecrofts LLP<br />

President<br />

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PI<br />

11<br />

Injury Reform – A False Economy<br />

George Osborne surprised insurers and lawyers alike with his recent announcement<br />

of reform to the personal injury market. The government intends to remove the right<br />

to recover general damages for minor soft tissue injuries, and to increase the small<br />

claims injury limit to £5,000. Ann Alister of Carpenters Solicitors outlines the<br />

consequences of the proposals...<br />

It was reported in the Insurance<br />

Post that insurers met with<br />

government officials on 9th<br />

December 2015 at No 10, and the<br />

rumours are that the reforms are<br />

“a done deal”. Certainly the<br />

Gazette has reported that the<br />

consultation will be on how to<br />

implement the proposals, rather<br />

than whether to do so. If there is<br />

any degree of truth to those<br />

rumours, then we are looking at<br />

far reaching reforms without<br />

proper consideration of the<br />

consequences for the tax payer, or<br />

for those innocent individuals who<br />

suffer pain and discomfort and are<br />

denied redress.<br />

The most recent consultation on<br />

the small claims limit, only two<br />

years ago, concluded the argument<br />

for change had not been made at<br />

that point. It is hard to see what<br />

has changed that could now<br />

justify a different view. Since that<br />

time there has been further change<br />

to the industry aimed at reducing<br />

costs and eliminating abuse of the<br />

system, such as the extension of<br />

the RTA Portal and the<br />

introduction of MedCo.<br />

The removal of liability on a<br />

tortfeasor to compensate his<br />

victim goes beyond the previous<br />

proposals, and will clearly require<br />

statute. For the first time in<br />

English legal history there will be<br />

a non-actionable injury.<br />

The Chancellor expects his<br />

reforms to save motorists an<br />

average of £40 to £50 per policy,<br />

which will feed back into the<br />

economy and support the<br />

recovery. If the Chancellor’s<br />

focus is the economic benefits,<br />

there are a number of key points<br />

that he must consider:<br />

1. Insurers are unlikely to pass on<br />

any saving in claims costs. There<br />

has been little evidence of any<br />

reduction in premiums following<br />

LASPO and the reduction in costs<br />

paid by insurers.<br />

2. Damages are spent and<br />

recycled in the economy. If the<br />

ability to bring injury claims is<br />

reduced or removed, that<br />

economic benefit will be lost.<br />

3. If fewer claims are brought,<br />

then CRU recoupment of benefits<br />

and NHS charges will be reduced.<br />

4. The demands on the NHS will<br />

be increased. The reality is that<br />

many claimants receive<br />

rehabilitation paid for by the atfault<br />

insurer under the current<br />

system, but if they are not brought<br />

within the claims process then the<br />

cost of that treatment will fall to<br />

the already stretched NHS.<br />

5. If injury claims can be brought,<br />

but only in the small claims court,<br />

the Court Service will collapse<br />

under the weight of litigants in<br />

person.<br />

6. The funds available to the<br />

Court Service to meet that burden<br />

will be reduced due to a<br />

significant drop in court fee<br />

income.<br />

7. We are likely to see a parade of<br />

claims management companies<br />

offering to help injured parties<br />

bring the claim themselves –<br />

undoing much of the recent good<br />

work in relation to fraudulent<br />

claims, and the exploitation of<br />

claimants. The government has<br />

failed to address malpractice in<br />

this area. We are all subject to<br />

nuisance texts and cold calls, and<br />

these changes will make the<br />

situation worse<br />

.<br />

8. Banning injury claims<br />

completely would inevitably mean<br />

job losses - not just for claimant<br />

and defendant lawyers, but also in<br />

support services, with the<br />

associated economic<br />

consequences.<br />

9. Tax revenue will be reduced -<br />

income tax receipts for the<br />

Treasury will drop, not to mention<br />

VAT on legal and support services<br />

and IPT on motor policies.<br />

It is hard to see the economic<br />

argument for the proposed<br />

changes.<br />

Have the reforms really been<br />

thought through? What is a<br />

“minor” injury, and how and when<br />

is that established? Injury lawyers<br />

will tell you that many chronic<br />

and debilitating problems, that<br />

attract significant awards, begin as<br />

apparently minor injuries that<br />

persist and restrict working<br />

capacity. There is a real risk that<br />

an effort to ban minor injuries will<br />

have wide-ranging unexpected<br />

consequences.<br />

If the Chancellor gets his way,<br />

then not only will the<br />

consequences for the economy be<br />

dire, but tens of thousands of<br />

injured people will receive no<br />

compensation, and the insurer of<br />

the responsible person will avoid<br />

payment. In addition serious<br />

injury claims will inevitably be<br />

missed.<br />

The author has a case concerning<br />

a family of four involved in a<br />

serious head on collision. The<br />

driver and youngest two children<br />

suffered orthopaedic and brain<br />

injuries. The oldest child, age 9,<br />

has minor whiplash injuries. Are<br />

we really saying that this child<br />

who has suffered a low value soft<br />

tissue injury should not receive<br />

damages? Is he not a genuine<br />

claimant with a genuine injury?<br />

The proposed reforms will deny<br />

justice and damage the economy,<br />

and the government needs to<br />

think again.<br />

Ann Alister<br />

Carpenters Solicitors


12 News growing existing businesses,<br />

within the City. That is<br />

something which many of<br />

us, and indeed many other<br />

professions, can contribute<br />

to. I was surprised to see<br />

very little representation<br />

in the room from the<br />

business community<br />

and commented on<br />

that. I may well be<br />

approaching our<br />

members, and talking<br />

to our other<br />

professional group<br />

contacts, in due<br />

course, as to way<br />

in which we can<br />

all further invest<br />

in the success of<br />

our city. So watch this<br />

space…. And if you would like to<br />

read the report it can be accessed<br />

through the website:<br />

www.gettingby.org.uk or hard<br />

copies are available from<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> City Council.<br />

Alison Lobb<br />

President<br />

In my first formal outing as<br />

President, I was invited to<br />

attend the <strong>Liverpool</strong> City<br />

Council Fairness Summit on 9th<br />

December.. This was the final<br />

meeting of a project which had<br />

been going on for two years,<br />

and my predecessor, Emlyn,<br />

had attended on previous<br />

occasions.<br />

I was already aware of the report,<br />

“Getting By”, which had been<br />

prepared by the Fairness<br />

Commission, which had been set<br />

up by the Mayor, Joe Anderson.<br />

This report followed 30 working<br />

families in <strong>Liverpool</strong> over the<br />

course of a year, looking at how<br />

they managed their income and<br />

households. It’s a surprisingly<br />

interesting read, especially if you<br />

are interested in social history, but<br />

the shocking statistic that it<br />

emphasises is that there is more<br />

in-work poverty than out of work<br />

poverty in <strong>Liverpool</strong>, and that<br />

remains a problem. The Summit<br />

brought people together to debate<br />

those issues, to report on their<br />

efforts to improve the position,<br />

and to discuss what more could be<br />

done.<br />

Space constraints prevent me from<br />

going into all of the issues<br />

discussed here, but I will be<br />

reporting in more detail to the<br />

Access to Justice Committee on<br />

the discussions that were had, and<br />

what I think <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

Society and our members can<br />

contribute to this project, which<br />

will continue, albeit in a different<br />

form, and will be steered forward<br />

by Councillor <strong>Jan</strong>e Corbett and<br />

the Bishop of <strong>Liverpool</strong>, The<br />

Right Reverend Paul Bayes.<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society was<br />

invited to attend this forum as a<br />

result of our work on Access to<br />

Justice issues. However, from<br />

what I have seen and the<br />

conversations that were had in<br />

round table groups, there is scope<br />

for involvement with this group<br />

on many other fronts. For<br />

example, one of the discussions<br />

which took place was on the<br />

theme of reducing unemployment,<br />

creating more businesses, and<br />

Fairness Summit<br />

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<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

2015 in numbers <br />

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Pay-per-Probate versus<br />

Capital Spend Comparison<br />

Pay-per-Probate, sometimes referred to as Pay-asyou-Go,<br />

might at first glance seem to make good<br />

financial sense. For the smaller practice with very<br />

few estate administration matters that is certainly the<br />

case.<br />

In this example, we use figures from Isokon Software<br />

which provides a complete probate accounting<br />

system with an integrated case management<br />

component. The Pay-per-Probate model by contrast<br />

is a case management system, without the benefit of<br />

a backend accounting database to contain the<br />

plethora of financial details involved in handling a<br />

probate matter.<br />

Any more than 3.5 cases will leave you out of pocket<br />

using the PPP model.<br />

Let’s not forget that after 5 years your costs on the<br />

PPP model will continue at a significantly higher rate<br />

than the capital spend model. Comparing the<br />

ongoing support costs, your ongoing annual cost for<br />

support on the capital spend model (after the capital<br />

spend has been completed) for three users will be<br />

£1,570 annually for an unlimited number of cases.<br />

Let’s consider the costs over 5 years for a case<br />

management system, without the benefit of a full<br />

accounting system, charging £60 per probate matter<br />

for a firm receiving an average of 10 matters per<br />

month, which equals 120 matters x £60. Your annual<br />

costs in this example would be £7,200. Over a five<br />

year period your total spend would be £36,000.<br />

By contrast your capital spend on a system with<br />

three fee earners (who with effective software could<br />

easily handle 120 cases annually) would be £7,850<br />

plus five years support at £1,570 per annum over<br />

five years. This would equal a total capital spend of<br />

£15,700 - a difference of more than £20,000<br />

This represents a massive saving compared with the<br />

pay-per-probate model. The PPP model only begins<br />

to compete financially if your intake of estate matters<br />

is approximately four per month.<br />

On this basis of four probates a month, you would<br />

clearly not require as many fee earners.<br />

Consequently your capital spend on a capital<br />

purchase including support would be reduced to<br />

£12,800 over the five year period. For your PPP<br />

model to compare with this figure, you would need to<br />

be receiving fewer than 3.5 new cases per month<br />

(3.5 PPP cases x £60 = £210 per month x 12<br />

months = £2,520 per annum x 5 years = £12,600).<br />

By contrast receiving any more than 2 cases per<br />

month using the PPP model (2 PPP cases x £60 =<br />

£120 per month x 12 months = £1,440) will be akin<br />

to throwing your money away.<br />

The capital purchase model will provide you with a<br />

complete accounting system combined with<br />

integrated case management, whereas the PPP<br />

model will only provide you with case management.<br />

Conclusion: the capital spend model provides more<br />

software for less money.<br />

Isokon<br />

For further information please contact:<br />

Gregory van Dyk Watson, Managing Director of Isokon Limited.<br />

Email: gregory@isokon.com or call 020 7482 6555.<br />

Alternatively visit www.isokon.com<br />

Isokon was founded by Gregory van Dyk Watson in 1999. The company has invested 44,000 man hours in<br />

development of the product over the last 16 years.<br />

Isokon is currently the leading supplier of software for Probate and Private Client work. It is used by 40% of law<br />

firms who do private client work. Isokon is used by more than 2,000 individual users for the most complex<br />

estates, as well as basic estates. Isokon is based on an accounting database engine with an integrated Isokon<br />

case management component.


14 Movers and Shakers<br />

Steve Cornforth named Best Legal<br />

Entrepreneur at Livercool Awards<br />

Maxwell Hodge Solicitors<br />

expands Woolton Team<br />

One of <strong>Liverpool</strong>’s longest established independent solicitors<br />

is growing its new Woolton office with four key<br />

appointments.<br />

Maxwell Hodge has brought in three new faces – Chartered Legal<br />

Executive Lisa Neary and Legal Secretaries Norma Cummins and<br />

Natalie Allcock – and moved experienced Solicitor and Office Manager<br />

Jennifer Howell from Heswall to the Allerton Road site.<br />

Company Director, Denise Scoular, also joins the team at the Woolton<br />

office, adding 27 years of experience in wills, probate and lasting<br />

powers of attorney to the branch’s offering.<br />

Downtown In Business <strong>Liverpool</strong> held their prestigious Livercool<br />

Awards Dinner at the Crown Plaza Hotel on Thursday 19th<br />

November 2015.<br />

Downtown in Business is one of the North West’s major business<br />

organisations advocating on behalf of local businesses and creating<br />

networking opportunities. The awards cover all areas of commerce.<br />

Winners included Andrew Cornish CEO of <strong>Liverpool</strong> John Lennon<br />

Airport and Bob Prattey from <strong>Liverpool</strong> Exhibition Centre.<br />

The single legal award was for Best Legal Entrepreneur and the winner<br />

was Steve Cornforth – Senior Partner at EAD Solicitors and a Past<br />

President of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society.<br />

Steve said – ‘EAD is pleased to be associated with Downtown in<br />

Business <strong>Liverpool</strong>. They provide an important bridge between the<br />

legal profession and the local business community. I was particularly<br />

proud to win this award alongside so many influential <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

business leaders.’<br />

I would encourage <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society Members to consider joining<br />

up!’<br />

Conveyancing and property law specialist Lisa is a Fellow of the<br />

Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and brings with her 11 years of<br />

experience in property law.<br />

“Joining a firm with such a rich history that is still expanding is really<br />

exciting,” she said. “Maxwell Hodge has created a fresh team filled<br />

with great experience in a brand new office, which is perfectly<br />

positioned to support the local community in Woolton and the wider<br />

South <strong>Liverpool</strong> area.<br />

Our new team is focused on providing friendly and accessible advice to<br />

its new clients from the purchase of a first home, right through to<br />

creating a lasting legacy for families with its experienced wills and<br />

probate team. I am sure that when clients come in they will have<br />

confidence they are getting the best quality legal advice.”<br />

Legal Secretary Norma Cummins brings 19 years of specialist<br />

experience in conveyancing and is keen to utilise her skills honed<br />

working in the city centre to develop the business in South <strong>Liverpool</strong>.<br />

Fellow Legal Secretary Natalie Allcock also brings property experience<br />

and will strengthen the Lifetime Planning Department.<br />

Office Manager Jennifer said that the team assembled in Woolton<br />

Village underlined Maxwell Hodge’s commitment to delivering quality<br />

legal representation in a relaxed environment.<br />

“Maxwell Hodge has 150 years of heritage,” she said. “The firm is still<br />

growing because of our commitment to delivering high quality legal<br />

advice in a friendly, accessible way.<br />

The Great Legal Bake is taking place<br />

across a week (Monday 1st to Friday<br />

5th) in February <strong>2016</strong>. The main day,<br />

when most bakes will happen, will be<br />

Wednesday 3rd February. Last year we<br />

had over 100 groups baking and<br />

selling all over England and Wales who<br />

raised over £15,000!<br />

For more information visit<br />

www.londonlegalsupporttrust.org.uk/<br />

our-events/great-legal-bake-<strong>2016</strong>/<br />

“I welcomed the opportunity to manage the new office with the<br />

experienced team we have brought together here.<br />

L-R: CEO Simon Leyland, Company Director Denise Scoular,<br />

Director of Business Services Carol Head Legal Executive,<br />

Lisa Neary and Legal Secretaries Natalie Allcock and Norma<br />

Cummins.


Movers and Shakers<br />

15<br />

Free Briefing Event 26 <strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2016</strong>:<br />

Training for Tomorrow & Trailblazing<br />

within the Legal Sector<br />

Fletcher’s Solicitors in partnership with Southport College<br />

are hosting an information event to update the sector on new<br />

Apprenticeship Trailblazers and the associated training<br />

opportunities available.<br />

Apprenticeship Trailblazers are a new way of delivering training and<br />

have been developed for the legal industry by a group of legal sector<br />

employers recognised by the Government. The Trailblazers containnew<br />

apprenticeship standards which describe the knowledge, skills and<br />

behaviours that an individual needs in order to carry out their role<br />

effectively within the legal field. This employer-led approach has<br />

already proved to be successful in other parts of the country and is now<br />

available in the North West.<br />

Members of the <strong>Law</strong> Society and other Legal professionals within the<br />

sector are most welcome to attend this free event to learn more about<br />

how Apprenticeships can benefit their businesses. The event takes<br />

place at Southport College’s Clouds Restaurant on Tuesday 26th<br />

<strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2016</strong> from 5 pm until 6.30 pm. There event includes short<br />

briefings from Fletcher’s solicitors, the University of <strong>Law</strong>, National<br />

Apprenticeship Service and Southport College as well as an overview<br />

of how the scheme has worked from current apprentices.<br />

Refreshments will be available on arrival.<br />

To confirm your attendance please RSVP to<br />

marketing@southport.ac.uk<br />

Michael Sandys Joins Guy<br />

Williams Layton Solicitors<br />

Michael Sandys has very recently joined GWL at their <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

Office bringing with him commercial law experience having worked<br />

in-house in the 1990’s in <strong>Liverpool</strong> at GPT/ Marconi and Meredith<br />

Jones (cotton traders once of Yorkshire House). He then spent<br />

some 9 years at two large Manchester law firms before coming<br />

across to <strong>Liverpool</strong> in 2006. He has more recently established a<br />

Commercial Department at a local <strong>Liverpool</strong> firm but now joins as<br />

a Partner to help GWL expand their Company and Commercial<br />

offering to business clients.<br />

Michael commented: “I am really excited about the opportunities at<br />

GWL going forward and am pleased to be working with a dedicated and<br />

very experienced team of commercial lawyers.”<br />

One of his specialisms is Intellectual Property (both contentious and<br />

transactional). He also has acted for “tech” and “spin out” companies<br />

in equity finance deals and in helping them with their contracts and<br />

commercialisation of IP.<br />

He has many years’ experience in dealing with all types of commercial<br />

contracts and transactions. He acts for seller and buyer in a wide range<br />

of company acquisitions, most recently including a commercial fence<br />

company and the sale of a software development company to a<br />

competitor.<br />

Clients he has acted for previously range from blue chips to smaller<br />

businesses and local SME’s. He is also currently Vice-Chair of<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> and Knowsley FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) and a<br />

Director at DaDa charity (disability and deaf arts). Michael has three<br />

children and a wife he also works with.


16 Charity News<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchants Guild<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchant’s Guild offer regular payments or one-off grants to<br />

qualifying beneficiaries in <strong>Liverpool</strong>. If any member of the <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

knows of anyone who may qualify for assistance they should contact the Guild.<br />

What is the <strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchants Guild and why was it formed?<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchants Guild is a Registered Charity which was instituted in 1880 and incorporated by Royal<br />

Charter in 1914. It was initially formed to manage a legacy bequeathed in the Will of Catherine Wright who<br />

died in 1868 and left a sum of £10000 for the purpose of founding an Institution or Fund to be called<br />

“Wright’s Institution”, the object of which was to grant pensions to aged or distressed members of the upper<br />

and middle classes of society. This fund was managed by <strong>Liverpool</strong> people, mainly members of the Clergy,<br />

local Merchants and Ship Owners. Over the years various legacies were bequeathed to the Guild to be used<br />

along the lines of the original Trust so with the help of the Charity Commission Schemes were set up in 1972<br />

and then in 2006 which enabled all the separate funds to be administered as one large fund. In 2006 a revised<br />

Royal Charter was granted which amended and updated the original Charter to reflect the change in the<br />

structure of society and administrative procedures that had taken place since the original Royal Charter was<br />

granted.<br />

THE<br />

LIVERPOOL MERCHANTS’ GUILD<br />

1914<br />

Who does the organisation help?<br />

The Guild helps individuals aged 50 years and over, of limited means who live in Merseyside or have lived in<br />

Merseyside in the past for a continuous period of 15 years and who has been a professional or self employed<br />

person, a person who worked in a supervisory capacity, a clerical or non-manual worker, or be the dependant<br />

of such a person.<br />

What kind of help is available to recipients?<br />

The Guild offers help to its beneficiaries either by means of a regular payment or a one-off grant. Such<br />

support supplements their income and normally takes the form of payments of up to £6000 per annum. The<br />

Guild are particularly keen to support independent living and are also able to make grants towards items of<br />

exceptional expenditure or adaptations to an individual's home. However, any grant made together with any<br />

regular payment cannot exceed the maximum of £6000 per annum.<br />

What is the process for applying for help from the <strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchants Guild?<br />

Applicants are required to complete an application form and supply various supporting documents. Following<br />

receipt of the completed application form, this is reviewed by the Secretaries who may require further<br />

clarification or information from the applicant. Once all the necessary information is to hand the application<br />

will be considered by the Trustees at the next meeting of the Selection Committee. These meetings are held<br />

on a quarterly basis.<br />

How can individuals apply to the <strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchants Guild for assistance?<br />

An application form is available for download from the Guild’s website, www.liverpoolmerchantsguild.org.uk<br />

or from the Secretaries, Moore Stephens (North West) LLP, 110-114 Duke Street, <strong>Liverpool</strong> L1 5AG. If an<br />

applicant is applying for a grant for a particular item then a supplementary grant application form is also<br />

required. Again this is available via the website or the Secretaries. It is often useful if a potential applicant<br />

contacts the Administrator, Alison Rawlinson, for an informal chat prior to completion of the application form<br />

to establish eligibility.<br />

Any futher information?<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> Merchants’ Guild is managed by a Board of Management consisting of 12 Trustees, who come<br />

from various walks of life, including solicitors, financiers, occupational therapists and social workers, all of<br />

whom are volunteers and who all give their time and effort free.<br />

Need an expert in medical or<br />

dental negligence?<br />

Refer to us. City : Allerton : Garston<br />

0151 733 3353<br />

www.gadllp.co.uk


Sam’s big<br />

solo started<br />

with an<br />

Indemnity<br />

Policy from<br />

Stewart Title.<br />

When the lender required cover to protect their funding, Matt feared his client would<br />

miss her deadline to complete – and that he would miss his son Sam’s starring role in<br />

the school concert that night. Fortunately, Matt turned to Stewart Title. Our policies<br />

are accepted by most major lenders, and our team was able to offer cover promptly.<br />

That meant Matt’s client could complete on time – and Matt could take his front row<br />

seat before the lights went down.<br />

Contact us today to see what we can do for you. Call 020 7010 7820 or visit<br />

stewarttitle.co.uk.<br />

© 2015 Stewart. All rights reserved.


18 Council Report<br />

Council Member’s Report<br />

I attended a Council Meeting<br />

on the 9 December 2015. It was<br />

quite a packed Agenda, and<br />

you will find attached the<br />

prepared Summary of some of<br />

the issues was discussed.<br />

It was a pleasure to see Sarah<br />

Lapsley at the Council Meeting ,<br />

my newly elected Co Council<br />

Member for Merseyside and<br />

District. I wish Sarah all the best<br />

in the role and I hope that you<br />

thoroughly enjoy it.<br />

It will come as no surprise to<br />

know that Veyo, also known as<br />

LPT, took up quite a lot of time.<br />

The decision to put no further<br />

funding into the project is a<br />

sensible one in my view. There is<br />

to be a lessons learned exercise,<br />

and until that is concluded, it<br />

seems inappropriate to make<br />

detailed comment further. I am of<br />

course prepared to discuss with<br />

any constituent any aspect of it<br />

should they wish to do so. For<br />

my part , and I am not a<br />

conveyancer, it seems a shame as<br />

the concept in principle of a<br />

conveyancing centralised hub , to<br />

take cost out of the process, and<br />

thereby save money for the<br />

customer, seemed a good one. Of<br />

course it required buy in from all<br />

conveyancing participants, and<br />

perhaps that was the problem.<br />

This can be differentiated from<br />

the way in which Personal injury<br />

claims under £25K are processed,<br />

through a central hub. The latter<br />

was a government imposed<br />

system which all partakers had to<br />

sign up for. There was no required<br />

obligation to sign up for Veyo.<br />

Also discussed was the recently<br />

mooted process for entry into the<br />

profession, suggesting that<br />

potential entrants would not need<br />

to do a law degree but rather an<br />

entrance exam. There has been<br />

much comment about this in the<br />

legal press, and considerable<br />

concern expressed. The Society<br />

will be responding to the<br />

consultation. The key, as ever, is<br />

to maintain the quality of entrants,<br />

and this must be preserved.<br />

Much the same applies to the<br />

government’s indication that they<br />

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<br />

wish to open up the profession to<br />

make it easier for businesses such<br />

as supermarkets and estate agents,<br />

among others, to offer legal<br />

services like conveyancing,<br />

probate, and litigation. I have<br />

some confusion as to why there<br />

should be any requirement to<br />

make it easier. Some institutions<br />

who have already formed ABSs to<br />

enable them to do so have already<br />

found it is not as easy as it<br />

appears when sitting in the<br />

marbled corridors of government,<br />

and on occasions their<br />

shareholders are far from chuffed.<br />

Also, do the public really want<br />

their legal services to be provided<br />

by organisations that in the past<br />

might have sold horse meat<br />

suggesting it is in fact another<br />

animal, or , completely masked<br />

their finances to make them look<br />

good, when in fact they were not ?<br />

I hope not, and I hope the Society<br />

stands firm on this , ensuring that<br />

if there is to be an opening up to<br />

encourage competition ,<br />

regulatory standards and<br />

safeguards are maintained at a<br />

very high level , that the new<br />

providers are fully insured, and<br />

that quality , not quantity, is the<br />

key.<br />

The shambles that is the<br />

government’s new criminal law<br />

contract arrangements following<br />

the tender process was discussed.<br />

The proposed start date of 11<br />

<strong>Jan</strong>uary appears to be on the back<br />

burner. The Society has called for<br />

an independent review of the<br />

tender process, and that litigation<br />

is resolved as soon as possible , so<br />

that criminal colleagues affected<br />

can at least have some idea as to<br />

their future.<br />

Shambles , albeit not a legal word,<br />

is the right word for it, and there<br />

is a great danger of the<br />

Government making a mess of<br />

things again, in relation to<br />

comments in the Chancellors<br />

autumn statement touching on the<br />

SCT and damages ( or if the<br />

Chancellor has his way lack of<br />

them ) for soft tissue injuries.<br />

Council discussed this, and there<br />

is grave concern from all.<br />

It is yet another example of short<br />

termism by a government: coming<br />

up with ideas which on the face of<br />

it saves( someone ) money , but<br />

when examined in detail , not only<br />

fails to saves money, but also<br />

results in much greater cost due to<br />

Charlie Jones<br />

associated issues arising.<br />

Governments simply do not<br />

understand the concepts of impact<br />

assessment and preparation,<br />

concepts that as lawyers we must<br />

understand to run businesses, and<br />

which over the years in England<br />

and Wales, has made our<br />

profession and legal system great,<br />

and the envy of other<br />

jurisdictions. As Peter Paul and<br />

Mary once sang :’ When Will<br />

They Ever Learn? ‘<br />

So lots for the Society to do, and<br />

plenty of opportunity to adopt and<br />

put to use the Strategy launched<br />

at the beginning of November<br />

which I hope you have all read<br />

cover to cover.<br />

Please do contact me and discuss<br />

if you like. I would welcome your<br />

views.<br />

In the meantime, I wish you all a<br />

very happy and prosperous <strong>2016</strong>,<br />

and also hope that you have<br />

managed to enjoy time with your<br />

families and nearest and dearest<br />

over the holiday season, and had<br />

a restful and recharging of<br />

batteries time.<br />

Charlie Jones, Partner,<br />

Weightmans LLP<br />

Co Council Member for<br />

Merseyside and District.


The <strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

19<br />

<strong>Law</strong> Society<br />

Council Summary<br />

9 December 2015<br />

Council's last meeting of the 2015 calendar year saw a busy<br />

programme of reports and papers. Council was glad to hear of the<br />

public launch of the <strong>Law</strong> Society's strategy which had been signed<br />

off in October and was launched in November through a wide<br />

variety of email, web-based and social media channels as well as<br />

hard copy. The strategic aims, which remain a key benchmark for<br />

Council decisions, are:<br />

• We will represent solicitors by speaking out for justice and on legal<br />

issues.<br />

• We will promote the value of using a solicitor at home and abroad.<br />

• We will support solicitors to develop their expertise and their<br />

businesses, irrespective of whether they work for themselves, in-house<br />

or for a law firm.<br />

The review of the governance of the <strong>Law</strong> Society is now getting under<br />

way with several streams of preparatory work including identifying<br />

Council members to form a review working group. The Council agreed<br />

that the review would help ensure that the <strong>Law</strong> Society was able to<br />

deliver its strategy, representing, promoting and supporting the<br />

profession effectively, and to respond in a flexible and agile way to<br />

changes in the external environment.<br />

Criminal legal aid and court issues<br />

Council discussed the concerns over the tender process run by the Legal<br />

Aid Agency (LAA). Legal proceedings have been issued in 69 of the 85<br />

procurement areas, and an alliance of firms began judicial review<br />

proceedings on 12 November. The LAA has now accepted, at our<br />

urging, that the target date of 11 <strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2016</strong> for starting the new<br />

services is unrealistic. We are continuing pressure on the LAA's<br />

contingency plans to finalise these. We are also calling for an<br />

independent review of the tender process with a view to resolving the<br />

litigation as quickly as possible to end the current uncertainty. Council<br />

heard that the Society was calling for an independent review of the<br />

tender process and writing to Ministers to voice concerns, as well as<br />

raising them in meetings with the Justice Select Committee. This is in<br />

addition to a programme of support materials targeted directly at our<br />

members.<br />

Council was pleased to hear of the withdrawal of the proposals on the<br />

criminal courts charge, an issue the <strong>Law</strong> Society had lobbied hard to<br />

reverse and also noted the Society's strong response to the government's<br />

consultation on criminal advocacy, and our campaign, with others,<br />

against court closures.<br />

Other activity to support the strategy<br />

Council heard about a range of other activity supporting the strategy.<br />

This included a discussion on legal professional privilege in the digital<br />

age as part of our activity for the Opening of the Legal Year, and work<br />

to support our members in promoting access to justice by vulnerable<br />

clients. Council also heard about ways in which the <strong>Law</strong> Society is<br />

raising its game on targeted electronic communication with our<br />

members, and developing a new stakeholder relations strategy, to<br />

ensure that we are well placed to support and represent our members.<br />

Internationally, the President and colleagues attended the International<br />

Bar Association (IBA) conference, with the Society this year securing a<br />

record number of ten speaking slots at the main conference, and<br />

promoting the profession by holding stakeholder relationship meetings<br />

with global firms that are prominent in the IBA. Council also noted that<br />

since the last meeting the <strong>Law</strong> Society has made 26 responses to<br />

consultations or calls for evidence, showing significant thought<br />

leadership in our representative and influencing role. This is in addition<br />

to wide coverage of our report on the potential impact of a British exit<br />

from the EU.<br />

Equality, diversity and inclusion<br />

Council noted a substantial programme of work, including a series of<br />

events in October and November for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic<br />

members. The Black History Month inspiration evening was attended<br />

by over 200 people, with other events to support career development for<br />

BAME lawyers, as well as a celebration of the Hindu festival Diwali<br />

attended by 100 people. Equal Pay Day on 9 November was marked by<br />

the Equal Pay practice note and toolkit. Council looks forward, at its<br />

next meeting, to considering the new <strong>2016</strong>-2019 Equality and Diversity<br />

Framework which sets out plans for promoting equality, diversity and<br />

inclusion in the profession and in the Society's workforce.<br />

Legal Practice Technologies (LPT)<br />

Council noted that it had been announced that the Society would not be<br />

making any further investment in Legal Practice Technologies, the joint<br />

venture company with our partners Mastek who were to deliver Veyo.<br />

As indicated, this was essentially because other software providers<br />

operating in the conveyancing market had been responding to our<br />

members’ needs and the cost and time taken to get a viable product to<br />

market would be too much. Faced with the reality that the market had<br />

developed significantly since we started to develop Veyo, the costs of<br />

continuing outweighed the benefit to our members. Council had the<br />

opportunity to discuss the decision in detail, and to consider how we<br />

should now develop our support for firms which undertake<br />

conveyancing<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

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Local Enterprise Partnership<br />

21<br />

I<br />

Created a Local Growth Hub<br />

for businesses to access a wide<br />

range of support and expertise<br />

Over 1,000 jobs<br />

have been created<br />

The LEP’s New<br />

or safeguarded<br />

Markets Programme<br />

has engaged with<br />

over 400 SMEs to<br />

Grant<br />

Business<br />

through the Growth<br />

LEP’s<br />

S<br />

grow their businesses<br />

Helping to<br />

Working with our<br />

deliver the<br />

partners to develop<br />

220.9million<br />

the open Innovation<br />

EU Programme<br />

the Eco-system<br />

City Region across<br />

2014-2020<br />

Join us as one powerful voice<br />

to develop economic priorities,<br />

engage with Government<br />

and secure investment.<br />

Working together<br />

to drive economic growth<br />

across <strong>Liverpool</strong> City Region<br />

3 year agreement<br />

with Marketing<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> to deliver<br />

destination marketing<br />

Launched<br />

a new LEP<br />

website with<br />

an enhanced<br />

Members’ area<br />

Pioneered<br />

Industry 4.0<br />

(LCR 4.0) and<br />

Internet of<br />

Things<br />

strategies for<br />

the City Region<br />

£1.5m<br />

allocated to<br />

FE Colleges<br />

for energy<br />

efficiency<br />

measures<br />

membership@<strong>Liverpool</strong>LEP.org<br />

@<strong>Liverpool</strong>LEP<br />

12 Princes Parade, <strong>Liverpool</strong>, L3 1BG<br />

t:<br />

+44(0)151 227 2727<br />

w: <strong>Liverpool</strong>LEP.org<br />

2015/<strong>2016</strong><br />

ww ww.Liver<br />

poolLEP.org<br />

ww ww.<strong>Liverpool</strong>LEP.org<br />

NEW OPPORTUNITIES FOR <strong>2016</strong><br />

Local Growth Hub<br />

for businesses<br />

a<br />

Promoting the City<br />

Region’s key assets<br />

The LEP will establish a Place Marketing Strategy around the<br />

City Region’s key assets and growth sectors. The project is<br />

intended to develop the City Region’s overarching brand<br />

proposition and will deliver a range of inward investment<br />

and marketing activities to help secure investment and<br />

support SME growth.<br />

localgrowthhub.com<br />

The Local Growth Hub will provide a simple point of access for local businesses to<br />

easily access a wide range of support and expertise. By co-ordinating and simplifying<br />

business support across the City Region, the Local Growth Hub will join up national,<br />

local, public and private support to create a seamless customer experience for<br />

businesses. The Local Growth Hub will be live in <strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

Developing a single Growth<br />

Strategy for the <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

City Region<br />

The Combined Authority and LEP Strategic Board have<br />

agreed to develop a single Growth Strategy for the <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

City Region. This strategy will outline a clear vision and focus<br />

to deliver sustained, ambitious growth for the future of the<br />

City Region. The strategy will be delivered by April <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

International<br />

Festival for<br />

Business <strong>2016</strong><br />

The LEP will be supporting the International Festival for Business <strong>2016</strong> as well as leading<br />

on a complementary Fringe Festival next year. The Edge is an innovative, creative and<br />

dynamic programme of events and activities all of which have been designed to ensure<br />

that businesses in the City Region derive maximum tangible benefits from the festival.<br />

Innovation Assets<br />

The City Region has world class innovation assets, from<br />

Haretree in Daresbury to Alder Hey in <strong>Liverpool</strong>. Working<br />

with our partners in universities, colleges, hospitals, business<br />

and local authorities we will be promoting these assets,<br />

attracting further investment and helping to realise their<br />

huge commercialisation potential.


22 Charity & CSR<br />

Charity and CSR Matters<br />

Hello and welcome once<br />

more to our Charity and<br />

CSR Pages!<br />

I was pleased to be<br />

informed this month that<br />

these pages have already<br />

had an impact with<br />

volunteers having already<br />

put themselves forward in<br />

response to the opportunities<br />

we have published. Don’t<br />

forget, if you have taken part<br />

in a sponsored challenge,<br />

hosted a charitable event or<br />

done some pro-bono work that<br />

you want to shout about then<br />

send me an article. Equally, if<br />

you want to get other lawyers<br />

involved in offering pro-bono<br />

advice, know of an opening<br />

for a charity Trustee or want<br />

us to feature a particular<br />

charity, then let me know too.<br />

You can e-mail me at<br />

matthew.smith@weightmans.com<br />

MATT SMITH<br />

Matthew.Smith@Weightmans.com<br />

Merseyside Welfare Rights<br />

What can you do...?<br />

What do you do with your old computers when you replace them with<br />

newer models? Merseyside Welfare Rights would be grateful for any<br />

spare computers. The ones MWR use are very old and keep breaking<br />

down.<br />

Please contact: Ms Peggy Kelly, 1st Floor, 35-37 Bold Street,<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> L1 4DN.<br />

T: 0151 709 0504 EX 21<br />

E: peggy.kelly@mwr.uk.com<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Works is a charity working to support and facilitate the provision<br />

of legal pro bono. Pro bono is not, and should not become, an<br />

alternative to legal aid, but it makes an important contribution to<br />

enabling access to advice and representation.<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Works says “We support a network of independent local clinics<br />

across England and Wales, and provide assistance for lawyers, trainees,<br />

law students and others seeking to establish new pro bono clinics. We<br />

provide information and resources for clinics and volunteers, including<br />

online materials from our training events, and promote pro bono<br />

volunteering opportunities for our member firms and in-house legal<br />

teams.<br />

Through our Not-for-Profit programme, we connect smaller charities<br />

and community groups with lawyers, from among our members, willing<br />

to provide advice and support on a range of legal issues. These could<br />

include, for example, drafting a contract, reviewing a lease, updating a<br />

constitution/articles, or clarifying rights in a commercial dispute. We<br />

ask about an organisation’s ability to pay for legal advice, and ensure<br />

volunteer lawyers have the information they need before applications<br />

are accepted.<br />

Contact: Further information, and details of how charities and<br />

communities groups can apply, is available on the <strong>Law</strong>Works<br />

website at www.lawworks.org.uk or contact Olga at<br />

olga.ivannikova@lawworks.org.uk<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Clinic, University of <strong>Liverpool</strong>, is a well-established<br />

Clinic offering a general legal advice service (especially employment,<br />

family, housing, small claims, and occasionally commercial law) and a<br />

specialist asylum and statelessness project. The <strong>Law</strong> Clinic says<br />

“We also have on-going work on criminal appeals and Hillsborough<br />

Inquests with Broudie Jackson Canter solicitors, and work with the<br />

CAB focussing on welfare benefits cases. The Clinic has identified the<br />

following as particular needs at present:<br />

1. Volunteers to supervise in our free legal advice service. The time<br />

commitment involved is a minimum 5 hours to supervise a single case,<br />

including a two hour period in the Clinic to supervise a client interview.<br />

However, the time commitment can vary and some complex cases<br />

take additional time to supervise. Ideally volunteers would be<br />

prepared to supervise one case twice a year. Volunteers need to be<br />

fully qualified.<br />

2. Case referrals – can you take on a pro bono case once or twice a<br />

year? Some of our clients using our general advice service very<br />

much need a legal representative and we cannot offer this ourselves;<br />

because of legal aid cuts there is nowhere to refer them for<br />

representation.<br />

3. Typing – our legal staff members are self-servicing and secretarial<br />

support would expand our capacity considerably. Can your firm offer<br />

to type about 20 letters maximum a week mostly for our immigration<br />

and asylum cases?<br />

4. Billing – our solicitors conduct around five judicial review cases per<br />

year, sometimes funded by legal aid, and these matters sometimes have<br />

a pro bono costs order or a legal aid order and require bills to be drawn<br />

up.<br />

5. Funding – can you include us as a recipient of charitable funds<br />

raised by your firm or money that cannot be returned from your client<br />

account? Our immigration and asylum work involves disbursements for<br />

interpreters, medical reports documenting torture and psychiatric<br />

conditions and expert reports on country conditions. Our clients cannot<br />

obtain legal aid and many are totally destitute. A single case can<br />

involve many hours of client appointments, and we estimate that the<br />

cost for interpretation if the client does not speak English is, on<br />

average, £400. We have some funding for this from the North West<br />

Legal Support Trust and from the Access to Justice Foundation, but are<br />

always grateful for more support for this work.”<br />

Contact: Sarah Woodhouse, <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Clinic Director<br />

T: 0151 794 5782<br />

E: s.woodhouse@liv.ac.uk<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> John Moores University’s Legal Advice Centre (“LAC”)<br />

was established in April 2014 and is based in the School of <strong>Law</strong>,<br />

Brownlow Hill. The LAC’s clinics advise on family, employment, wills<br />

& administration and commercial law advice. It also runs drop in clinics<br />

in family and commercial law.<br />

The LAC is hoping to pilot a housing drop-in clinic during this<br />

academic year and have told us they would welcome volunteers able to<br />

advise in this area. Volunteers should be prepared to offer a total<br />

commitment of ten hours per academic year, to include assistance with<br />

training our students and supervising and advising the clinic itself,<br />

which will be based in the University and will run twice a month during<br />

an initial four month period.<br />

The LAC is also experiencing a huge demand for family law advice and<br />

have told us they are seeking anyone able to commit to advising at one<br />

or more of the two hour drop-in sessions.<br />

Contact: Rachel Stalker, Legal Advice Centre Coordinator<br />

T: 0151 231 3530<br />

E: R.Stalker@ljmu.ac.uk


Charity & CSR<br />

23<br />

Toxteth Food Central Fundraising Appeal<br />

On Sunday 10th of October 2015 a devastating fire destroyed<br />

community food hub Toxteth Food Central (TFC) just 7 weeks<br />

before it was due to open. This exciting development has been<br />

stalled but will not be stopped!<br />

Becky Vipond, Co-director at Squash Nutrition, the organisation behind<br />

the project has provided the following information:<br />

We have been overwhelmed by the public response since the fire.<br />

Nearly £12,000 towards a target of £25,000 to help support the rebuild<br />

has already been raised through a crowd-funding appeal. Local school<br />

children from neighbouring schools have been getting stuck into the<br />

fundraising too. Windsor CP School donated the proceeds of their end<br />

of term disco to the appeal, and the choir from Holy Name CP School<br />

sang at our Winter Market to help raise funds.<br />

In the New Year our fantastic builders will be back on site and gearing<br />

up for the 20 week<br />

build. TFC will rise<br />

from the ashes and is<br />

due to open in June<br />

<strong>2016</strong>.<br />

volunteers and local<br />

residents. Together we<br />

have been developing<br />

ideas for a vital<br />

community food hub for<br />

Windsor Street. TFC was<br />

one of only 6 projects in<br />

the UK which gained<br />

funding from the Social<br />

Investment Business Fund<br />

to fully cover the costs of<br />

the build.<br />

Background to Toxeth<br />

Food Central<br />

TFC is the result of 2<br />

years of work by a<br />

committed group of<br />

Squash Nutrition staff,<br />

TFC will be a new, pioneering, community-led food hub that will house<br />

and share dynamic, progressive and integrated health, arts and<br />

environmental practice.<br />

TFC will house a community café and affordable food store with an<br />

integrated accessible and friendly food education programme. There<br />

will be a dedicated training space and kitchen from which we will run<br />

our creative health, nutrition and cooking courses. The garden will also<br />

be a training space for urban food growing. Our ambition is that TFC<br />

becomes a national model of good practice in terms of local solutions to<br />

health inequality.<br />

The design team have all been on an incredible journey, learning so<br />

much on the way. Marianne Heaslip from URBED architects has led the<br />

design team through a process where we have been able to consider and<br />

plan every aspect and detail of the building.<br />

The building has excellent eco-credentials. With its timber frame, Welsh<br />

steel roof, recycled paper insulation and Scottish larch timber cladding,<br />

it will be a thing of eco-beauty!<br />

Alongside the cash donations we have received support from<br />

professionals, organisations and businesses who have volunteered time<br />

and services to help the project.<br />

About Squash Nutrition<br />

Squash Nutrition is a health education organisation that has been<br />

making successful projects with disadvantaged communities across<br />

Merseyside and specifically Toxteth, since 2007.<br />

In that time we have provided essential cooking and food growing<br />

training for over 10,000 people experiencing poverty and we know that<br />

there are many more people who could benefit.<br />

We work with and for the wider community across Merseyside, using<br />

food as tool for and as a means of social inclusion, employability,<br />

wellbeing and change. Food plays a key role in dealing with some of<br />

today’s most pressing social, economic and environmental problems.<br />

From obesity and diet-related ill-health to food poverty and waste,<br />

climate change and biodiversity loss to declining prosperity and social<br />

isolation, we believe that food is not only at the heart of some of our<br />

greatest problems, but also a vital part of the solution.<br />

Get Involved<br />

If you would like more information, please visit our website or contact<br />

us for more details.<br />

Website www.squashnutrition.org<br />

Twitter @squashnutrition<br />

www.facebook.com/squashnutrition<br />

Squash Nutrition<br />

0151 7077897 or 07791155998<br />

Roberto backs Blue Box Appeal<br />

with Weightmans<br />

Everton Manager, Roberto Martinez, was at December’s Everton’s<br />

Ladies Lunch to urge supporters to get involved in the BlueCrimbo<br />

Blue Box Appeal.<br />

Supporters of the appeal filled shoeboxes with essential items to help<br />

some of the most underprivileged members of our community have a<br />

happier Christmas. Through the Club’s official charity, Everton in the<br />

Community, the Blues delivered the donated boxes to underprivileged<br />

children and children in care, low income families, homeless people and<br />

the elderly.<br />

Weightmans <strong>Liverpool</strong> Regional Office also got behind the Appeal with<br />

staff donating boxes and the company offering its premises on Old Hall<br />

Street as a drop off point. Nick Peel, Weightmans Partner and <strong>Liverpool</strong><br />

Regional Office Head, said: “We are extremely proud to be supporting<br />

Everton’s inaugural Blue Box Appeal. At Weightmans, supporting<br />

Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives to help those less fortunate<br />

than many of us ties in with our culture of shared moral responsibility<br />

and using our talents and resources to support our local communities<br />

and their needs. The work being done by Everton in the Community is<br />

vital to our shared goals.”


24 Review<br />

Politics and Protest Songs<br />

The Great British Folk Festival<br />

At the beginning of December I made, what has now become,<br />

my annual pilgrimage to the Great British Folk Festival at<br />

Butlins Skegness. Now in its sixth year, the festival has gone<br />

from strength to strength, attracting more guests and some<br />

of the biggest names in folk music.<br />

Friday night commenced with Merlin’s Keep, a five piece band from<br />

Grimsby. All of their songs were self penned and mainly about<br />

Grimsby. They were excellent musicians, but didn’t really do it for me.<br />

Then came the highlight of my weekend Billy Bragg. He played some<br />

of his best known tracks interspersed with commentary on the<br />

government, the bombing of Syria and general observations on the state<br />

of the nation. Billy isn’t considered a folk musician in the traditional<br />

sense, but many of his songs are little tales or stories. I overheard some<br />

people complaining about his songs and comments and wondered why<br />

they had gone to see Billy, who is well known for his socialist views<br />

when there were other bands to see. Folk music in particular, along with<br />

jazz and the blues, has a rich history of telling the tales of ordinary<br />

people, of troubles, woe and strife. In fact, some of the greatest folk<br />

musicians, such as Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Woodie Guthrie and Ewan<br />

McColl have penned some legendary songs many of which were protest<br />

or politically-themed songs. “Hurricane” by Bob Dylan is about the<br />

wrongful imprisonment of boxer ‘Hurricane’ Carter, similarly “Eve of<br />

Destruction”, written by Barry Maguire, but covered by Dylan is about<br />

the Vietnam war, “Strange Fruit’ immortalised by Billie Holiday is<br />

about the lynching of black people in the Deep South, and “Moving on”<br />

by Ewan McColl highlighted the plight of travellers. Even Bruce<br />

Springsteen’s “Born in the USA” is a tribute to soldiers returning from<br />

the Vietnam war, and the list goes on....If people want to listen to music<br />

that has no meaning or depth then perhaps they should listen to One<br />

Direction or watch the X-Factor. (I’ll get off my soap box now!)<br />

The CC Smugglers followed Billy Bragg. They are a 6 piece band from<br />

Bedfordshire who play high tempo roots music. Their music is so<br />

infectious that the dance floor was packed. The band are touring in<br />

Spring <strong>2016</strong>, if you have the chance to go an see them, go - you won’t<br />

be disappointed and don’t forget to wear your dancing shoes!<br />

Saturday evening also started with a political theme, with Tom<br />

Robinson taking to the stage. During the late 1970s Tom was a<br />

campaigner for gay rights and “Sing if you’re glad to be gay” has<br />

become an anthem for the gay community. Tom has recently released a<br />

new album “Only the Now” which includes a track “The Mighty Sword<br />

of Justice” perhaps the first protest song about legal aid, and one which<br />

highlights the cuts in funding and includes the lines:<br />

The mighty sword of justice stands high above us all;<br />

All citizens stand equal before her mighty laws;<br />

But even mighty justice has one almighty flaw;<br />

There is one law for the rich and one law for the poor.<br />

Newcastle band, The Unthanks followed Tom. They perform their own<br />

arrangements of traditional “Geordie” folk songs. The sisters who lead<br />

the band, Becky and Rachel Unthanks, have fantastic voices and their<br />

harmonies are wonderful, but personally I find one song merges into the<br />

next and may have nodded off for a couple of minutes much to my<br />

husband’s horror. Later though I heard someone comment that The<br />

Unthanks were so good they thought they had ‘died and gone to<br />

heaven”!<br />

Sunday saw the Rik Sanders Trio take to the stage. Veterans of the folk<br />

music scene, these exceptionally talented musicians played a great mix<br />

of old blues classics from the likes of Leadbelly, Mississippi John Hurt<br />

and Memphis Minnie as well as some classic folk tunes.<br />

Finally Fotheringay headlined Sunday evening. The classic folk legend<br />

band first formed in the late 60’s but disbanded after the death of<br />

vocalist Sandy Denny. In 2015 the band reformed, with Jerry Donahue<br />

from the original line up. He is joined by Gerry Conway, who has<br />

played with Steeleye Span and Jethro Tull, bass player Pat Donaldson,<br />

PJ Wright, Kathryn Roberts and Sally Barker, who has toured with both<br />

Bob Dylan and Tom Jones. They did a great set, and Sally Barker’s<br />

gritty vocals really added to the performance.<br />

Butlins isn’t everyones ‘cup of tea’, the rooms are basic but<br />

comfortable, the food is good and the staff are fantastic. They are so<br />

polite, helpful and friendly, and put the staff at some ‘luxury’ hotels to<br />

shame. Skegness is fairly grim, cold and windy, but at least I wasn’t<br />

camping!<br />

For folk fans, Butlins have already announced that the Levellers, folk<br />

legend Donovan and Kate Rusby will be headlining this year’s Festival<br />

which runs from Friday 2nd to Monday 5th December <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

Julia Baskerville<br />

Billy Bragg<br />

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<strong>Law</strong>Care<br />

25<br />

All About <strong>Law</strong>Care<br />

Since 1997 <strong>Law</strong>Care, through its free,<br />

confidential and independent helpline service<br />

has been helping members of the legal<br />

professions, their support staff and families<br />

by providing information and support with<br />

any issues affecting them.. However, there<br />

are still many lawyers who are not aware of<br />

the support available and we are often asked<br />

questions about what we offer.<br />

How are you funded?<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Care is a registered charity funded<br />

primarily by the professional bodies for legal<br />

groupings throughout the British Isles. Although<br />

we do welcome any donation, however small.<br />

Is <strong>Law</strong>Care part of any of the professional<br />

bodies?<br />

No. <strong>Law</strong>Care is entirely independent of all the<br />

professional bodies and only reports statistics to<br />

them.<br />

Is it a counselling service?<br />

Callers to the <strong>Law</strong>Care helpline are provided<br />

with initial support from our staff, who all have<br />

experience of working in the legal professions<br />

and have had some training in telephone<br />

counselling skills. They can discuss problem<br />

with the callers and help them plan a way<br />

forward.. This may include helping to identify a<br />

professional counsellor or another specialist<br />

service, such as a treatment centre.<br />

What problems can you help with – and<br />

what don’t you do?<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Care offers support on anything which is<br />

troubling you, be it business or personal, big or<br />

small. We are impartial and can provide<br />

reassurance and even if a solution does not<br />

immediately present itself, talking about it can<br />

be very cathartic. We do not offer legal advice<br />

but our helpline personnel have experience of<br />

the legal profession and an understanding of the<br />

issues that arise. If more specific advice is<br />

required, then, in most instances, we can<br />

signpost you to someone who can help.<br />

Can anyone phone <strong>Law</strong>Care?<br />

Anyone in the legal profession, from a Judge to<br />

a paralegal, their immediate families and staff,<br />

are welcome to use <strong>Law</strong>Care’s service. This<br />

includes students and trainees.<br />

Is it free?<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Care’s helpline service is entirely free.<br />

However, if we help identify a counsellor, other<br />

therapist or treatment unit then funding will<br />

normally need to be provided by the caller,<br />

though wherever possible we will assist to source<br />

funds if necessary.<br />

Is it confidential?<br />

Confidentiality is at the heart of what we do. You<br />

don’t have to give your name if you’d rather not,<br />

and the records we need to keep are stored on a<br />

secure and closed computer system accessible<br />

only to <strong>Law</strong>Care staff. We are non judgmental<br />

and our service is one of support.<br />

Is there a limit to the number of times people<br />

can call?<br />

No. Many people do call back a number of times<br />

for further support and encouragement, often<br />

over a long period of time. However, there is a<br />

limit to what we can achieve and a regular caller<br />

might need to consider<br />

whether they need a higher level of support than<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Care can offer – such as a mental health<br />

professional. But wherever possible, we will be a<br />

supportive, listening ear.<br />

What other services does <strong>Law</strong>Care offer?<br />

We also try to prevent problems arising by<br />

offering training and education on wellbeing and<br />

are involved in other work relating to<br />

researching and promoting professional wellbeing<br />

in the legal workplace. Our website provides an<br />

overview of the support available and our range<br />

of helpful factsheets can be found there for<br />

downloading.<br />

How do I contact you?<br />

Our free and confidential helpline is available on<br />

0800 279 6869 and information is also available<br />

on our website at<br />

www.lawcare.org.uk<br />

<strong>Law</strong>Care Ltd is registered as a charity in<br />

England and Wales no. 1061685 and in<br />

Scotland no. SCO39335.<br />

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<br />

VFS LEGAL FUNDING<br />

RELEASING CASH FLOW<br />

Do you want to improve<br />

your Cashflow?<br />

VFS provides quick, simple and cost effective funding<br />

solutions that release YOUR funds locked up in YOUR profit<br />

costs and disbursements.<br />

The funds can be used by you for any purpose. Including, for<br />

example, Tax and VAT payments, removing the need to rely on<br />

costly, fixed term repayment loans from secondary funders.<br />

Disbursement funding (‘DCF’)<br />

VFS funds the ongoing disbursements incurred on PI, Clinical<br />

Negligence and Litigation cases until their natural conclusion.<br />

Costs advance facility (‘CAF’)<br />

VFS can provide immediate funding against most bills that<br />

have been served – releasing cash back into the practice.<br />

For a no obligation discussion please call 020 3747 9333<br />

or email enquiries@vfslegal.com or visit vfslegal.com


28 News<br />

Media<br />

Round-Up<br />

Public Relations matters:<br />

December 2015<br />

<strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Society assisted<br />

Freelance journalist Catherine Baksi<br />

who was seeking trainees or newly<br />

qualified lawyers who had made a<br />

decision to quit London and to either<br />

train or practice in the regions to<br />

feature in her article for the online<br />

Guardian Student <strong>Law</strong> section before<br />

her deadline of 11th December 2015.<br />

Members were invited to respond via<br />

a request on the <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong><br />

Society’s website and social media<br />

channels.<br />

On Twitter<br />

@<strong>Liverpool</strong><strong>Law</strong>Society<br />

Let it snow let it snow let it snow<br />

@Morecrofts LLP<br />

Congratulations to our managing<br />

partner @AlisonLobb1 who today<br />

became president of the<br />

@Lpool<strong>Law</strong>Society<br />

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6 Costs Confere<br />

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30 Regulation<br />

Regulation Update<br />

The latest regulation news from Michelle<br />

Garlick of Weightmans LLP<br />

Happy New Year everyone! And<br />

what a year it is likely to be in<br />

the regulatory world. 2015 was a<br />

year of change, competition and<br />

consultations, and based on<br />

announcements made both by<br />

the SRA and the government in<br />

the last month or so, we can I’m<br />

sure be guaranteed more of the<br />

same this year.<br />

All Change?<br />

The SRA has outlined its “vision<br />

for the future” and has issued a<br />

position paper which can be found<br />

on its website setting out their<br />

plans to push ahead with a shift<br />

away from prescriptive rules in<br />

favour of setting out the principles<br />

that solicitors should follow. But<br />

wasn’t that what the SRA did in<br />

2011when the SRA Handbook and<br />

OFR was introduced, I hear you<br />

ask? Yes it was but clearly this<br />

isn’t enough for the SRA and they<br />

plan to make further significant<br />

changes to the Handbook. At a<br />

recent conference I attended,<br />

Crispin Passmore of the SRA made<br />

it very clear that he would love to<br />

see the Handbook reduced in size<br />

down from 600(+) pages to 50!<br />

The desire is to give law firms the<br />

freedom to run their businesses as<br />

they see fit whilst at the same time<br />

still ensuring clients are protected.<br />

It is hoped that such changes will<br />

give flexibility to help law firms<br />

adapt to the ever changing legal<br />

market. The paper discusses the<br />

possibility of removing nonmandatory<br />

guidance/Indicative<br />

behaviours and provide “useful,<br />

relevant and supportive on-line<br />

resources including case studies<br />

and toolkits”. I remember all too<br />

well the concerns that many people<br />

had when OFR was introduced<br />

about the lack of rules and<br />

guidance from their regulator and<br />

these proposed changes will I’m<br />

sure bring those concerns to the<br />

fore once again. That is not to say<br />

that reducing the size of the<br />

Handbook would be a bad thing<br />

but in my view, the SRA will need<br />

to do a lot of work internally to<br />

provide meaningful case studies to<br />

guide firms as to what the SRA<br />

expects from them and make its<br />

enforcement strategy and<br />

procedures much more transparent<br />

than they are currently.<br />

The SRA will also be looking at<br />

allowing solicitors to practise in<br />

unauthorised businesses. Currently,<br />

the rules say that solicitors in firms<br />

not authorised by the SRA or<br />

another legal services regulator<br />

cannot deliver legal services to the<br />

public (except in very limited<br />

circumstances). Under the<br />

proposals, solicitors would be free<br />

to practise in the wider legal<br />

market, delivering non-reserved<br />

legal services outside of law firms.<br />

This means that the SRA needs to<br />

look at regulating the solicitor as<br />

an individual on the basis of the<br />

services they provide (and to<br />

whom) rather than on the type of<br />

organisation/entity they work in.<br />

How this will affect the solicitor<br />

brand is something no doubt<br />

people will have strong feelings<br />

about – the SRA’s view is that it<br />

would not be diluted – on the<br />

contrary, such changes would, in<br />

its view, strengthen the solicitor<br />

brand. Again, your views will be<br />

sought when the consultation<br />

opens.<br />

The government has also<br />

announced in its paper “A better<br />

deal: boosting competition to bring<br />

down bills for families and firms”<br />

that it wants to further reduce<br />

barriers to make it easier for<br />

alternative business structures,<br />

such as supermarkets and estate<br />

agents, to offer legal services like<br />

conveyancing, probate and<br />

litigation. Extending the types of<br />

organisations that solicitors could<br />

work in coupled with the<br />

governments intentions really does<br />

open up the possibility that the<br />

public could buy legal advice<br />

alongside their tins of beans in the<br />

future!<br />

Competition<br />

Government proposals regarding<br />

PI whiplash claims and the<br />

increase in the small claims limit<br />

will be of great concern<br />

particularly in the north west. I am<br />

sure this will be covered in much<br />

more detail elsewhere but from a<br />

regulatory perspective, any firms<br />

affected will need to be keeping a<br />

very close eye on developments,<br />

starting to think about contingency<br />

plans and their firm’s financial<br />

stability. Paul Philip has just also<br />

announced that the SRA will be<br />

carrying out research on the<br />

“competence” of personal injury<br />

lawyers to gain an understanding<br />

of the profile of firms/entities<br />

providing legal services to<br />

claimants and discover the main<br />

changes firms have implemented<br />

in response to LASPO. Given the<br />

previous thematic risk project<br />

when LASPO was introduced and<br />

the number of ABS applications<br />

involving PI firms, its an<br />

interesting admission on the SRA’s<br />

part that it still needs to understand<br />

the PI market.<br />

And talking of firm closures and<br />

ABSs, we have recently seen the<br />

news about Parabis going into<br />

administration. Parabis was of<br />

course one of the first ABSs with<br />

external investment and it will<br />

inevitably lead many to question<br />

whether the concept of ABS is<br />

dead in the water. Personally, I<br />

don’t think it is but having assisted<br />

many businesses with their ABS<br />

applications, it is clear that, as with<br />

any other law firm business, the<br />

key to long term success is to be<br />

found in strong management, good<br />

procedures and a well defined<br />

business plan involving horizon<br />

scanning and the ability to change<br />

depending upon changes in the<br />

marketplace.<br />

Independent regulation<br />

In the same paper mentioned<br />

above, the government has also<br />

indicated an intention to consult on<br />

making regulators independent<br />

from representative bodies. The<br />

SRA has made it clear that it is<br />

strongly in favour of this change.<br />

The <strong>Law</strong> Society understandably is<br />

less keen, Catherine Dixon<br />

commenting that “the profession<br />

should be free to set its own<br />

standards and rules, and to “own”<br />

legal education and training”<br />

Other news<br />

Onto more positive news! The<br />

SRA has published a new report on<br />

regulation for small law firms<br />

which summarises the changes the<br />

SRA has made that are relevant for<br />

small law firms and includes<br />

tailored risk management<br />

information and case studies based<br />

on experiences from small firms.<br />

For any of you who offer<br />

MICHELLE GARLICK<br />

WEIGHTMANS LLP<br />

unbundled services, some good<br />

news from the Court of Appeal.<br />

The case of Minkin v Lesley<br />

Landsberg has held that solicitors<br />

instructed on a limited retainer do<br />

not have a broader duty of care to<br />

their clients, thus asserting the<br />

importance of ensuring that<br />

lawyers can offer unbundled<br />

services. However, offering such<br />

services does not come without<br />

risk and there is a very clear need<br />

to ensure that your supporting<br />

client care letters and formal<br />

written retainers are drafted with<br />

care to reflect the client’s specific<br />

instructions and what you have<br />

agreed to do for the client. There is<br />

a practice note on the <strong>Law</strong><br />

Society’s website about this or do<br />

get in touch with myself or any of<br />

the Compli team who will be able<br />

to help.<br />

And finally, the Legal Ombudsman<br />

has announced that complaints<br />

about law firms are projected to<br />

have fallen 22% in four years. Its<br />

not entirely clear why this is, the<br />

Legal Ombudsman identifying a<br />

number of possibilities including<br />

“silent sufferers”(who will tolerate<br />

poor service without complaining),<br />

more clients acting as litigants in<br />

person or using unregulated<br />

providers and so have no redress<br />

from the LeO, but also (and here’s<br />

the positive bit!) that solicitors are<br />

getting better at responding to<br />

complaints during the first tier<br />

process. Watch out though if you<br />

are one of the firms who behave<br />

poorly because the LeO is looking<br />

at the possibility of using its name<br />

and shame powers to greater<br />

effect!<br />

Michelle Garlick<br />

Weightmans LLP


S Code<br />

Date<br />

Time<br />

<strong>Jan</strong>uary <strong>2016</strong><br />

Speaker<br />

CPD<br />

S3830<br />

14th<br />

4<br />

.30<br />

- .15<br />

7 SRA Roadshow:<br />

A Question Of Trust<br />

Various<br />

-<br />

S3<br />

668<br />

2 0t<br />

h<br />

5<br />

.0 0 - 7 .0<br />

0<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Various<br />

1.5<br />

S3695<br />

21st<br />

1<br />

2.30<br />

- 3.45<br />

Highway Claims<br />

<strong>2016</strong><br />

Nicky<br />

Carter<br />

3<br />

S3702<br />

22nd<br />

1<br />

.30<br />

- 4.45<br />

Personal Insolv<br />

ency:<br />

A Practical Guide<br />

Chris Beanland<br />

3<br />

S3751<br />

26th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 11.00<br />

Feeling Left<br />

Out?<br />

Capacity, Estoppel and 1975<br />

Act<br />

Claims 3 Topics of Interest<br />

to Those who want<br />

to<br />

Challenge Wills<br />

Matthew Hall,<br />

Richard Lander &<br />

Nathan Smith<br />

1.5<br />

S3731<br />

26th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 4.45<br />

Solicitors Accou<br />

nts Rules<br />

Jo Morris<br />

6<br />

S3712<br />

27th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 12.45<br />

Commercial P<br />

roperty<br />

Update<br />

Richard Snape<br />

3<br />

S3769<br />

27th<br />

1<br />

.30<br />

- 4.45<br />

10 Tricky<br />

C<br />

ommercial Lease<br />

Problems & Solutions<br />

Richard Snape<br />

3<br />

S3782<br />

29th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 10.30<br />

Introduction To<br />

Medico Legal Medicine<br />

Dr Andre Brittain<br />

-Dissont<br />

1<br />

S3792<br />

29th<br />

12 - 2.00<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Insurance related aspects of the<br />

Deregulation<br />

Act<br />

2015 (lunch included)<br />

David Holt<br />

1.5<br />

S<br />

Code<br />

D<br />

ate<br />

Time<br />

February <strong>2016</strong><br />

Speaker<br />

CPD<br />

S3708<br />

2nd 1<br />

.30<br />

- 4.45<br />

Short Term Re<br />

sidential Tenancies<br />

Paul Butt<br />

3<br />

S3730<br />

3 rd 9<br />

.30<br />

- 12.45<br />

*NEW* First Class<br />

Client Services<br />

Jo Morris<br />

3<br />

S3755<br />

5 th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 12.45<br />

*NEW* Excellent<br />

Solicitors<br />

Client Care For Newly Qua<br />

lified<br />

Candy Bowman<br />

3<br />

S3813<br />

9 th<br />

9<br />

.45<br />

- 4 .30<br />

Running Care<br />

Cases<br />

Safda Mahmood<br />

5.5<br />

S3821<br />

10th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 12.45<br />

Travel <strong>Law</strong>: Pla<br />

nes, Trains and<br />

Automobiles (& boats!)<br />

Joanne Berry &<br />

Matthew Mawdsley<br />

3<br />

S3781<br />

17th<br />

1<br />

.15<br />

- 1.45<br />

30 Useful Minute<br />

es with<br />

a Chancery Judge<br />

Judge David Hodge<br />

QC<br />

S3823<br />

23rd<br />

9<br />

.45<br />

- 4.00<br />

Development<br />

s In<br />

Domestic Abuse <strong>Law</strong> & Pro<br />

cedure<br />

Safda Mahmood<br />

5<br />

S3814<br />

24th<br />

9<br />

.45<br />

- 4.30<br />

Stand & Delive<br />

r!<br />

Child Care Casess<br />

Conducting Eff<br />

fective<br />

Advoc<br />

acy in<br />

Safda Mahmood<br />

5.5<br />

S3696<br />

25th<br />

1<br />

2.30<br />

- 3.45<br />

Loss Of Earnin<br />

gs - An Update For <strong>2016</strong><br />

Nicky<br />

Carter<br />

3<br />

S3783<br />

26th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 10.30<br />

Low Velocity Impact<br />

& Whiplash Injuries<br />

Dr Andre Brittain<br />

-Dissont<br />

1<br />

S3774<br />

26th<br />

9<br />

.30<br />

- 12.45<br />

10 Current P<br />

roblem Areas for Criminal Pract<br />

itioners<br />

Colin Beaumont<br />

3<br />

S3805<br />

26th<br />

1<br />

.30<br />

- 4.45<br />

Civil and Ancilla<br />

ry Orders in<br />

the Adult/Youth<br />

Court<br />

Colin Beaumont<br />

3<br />

S Code<br />

Date<br />

Time<br />

March <strong>2016</strong><br />

Speaker<br />

CPD<br />

S3713<br />

1st<br />

9.<br />

30 - 12. 45 Conveyancing La<br />

w Update<br />

Richard Snape<br />

3<br />

S3770<br />

1st<br />

1.<br />

30 - 4. 45 Buy To Lets For<br />

Conveyancers<br />

Richard Snape<br />

3<br />

S3831<br />

2nd 9.<br />

30 - 4. 45 <strong>2016</strong> Management Conference<br />

S3775<br />

4th 9.<br />

30 - 12. 45 The Billing of Cri<br />

minal Legal Aid Work for Experiee<br />

nced<br />

Practitioners<br />

S3806<br />

4th 1.<br />

30 - 4. 45 75 Things That<br />

Criminal <strong>Law</strong>yers Need To Know In <strong>2016</strong><br />

Various<br />

Colin Beaumont<br />

Colin Beaumont<br />

5.5<br />

3<br />

3<br />

www.facebook.com/ m/<strong>Liverpool</strong><strong>Law</strong>Society<br />

www.linkedin.com/company/livny/liverpool-law-society<br />

@Lpool<strong>Law</strong>Society


32 MJLD and WLD<br />

News from the MJLD<br />

December saw MJLD members get into the Christmas spirit with a<br />

Christmas quiz. Members were encouraged to come in their best<br />

Christmas jumper, the finest of which was worn by Nick Hemus at<br />

Hill Dickinson. Nick’s efforts were rewarded with a bottle of<br />

Prosecco to celebrate.<br />

Members sat down in their teams of up to 5 and the venue at Ma<br />

Boyle’s was filled.<br />

The competition started with a test of general knowledge, followed by<br />

an examination of legal knowledge, including the questions;<br />

‘What was the name of the dog in the film Legally Blonde?’<br />

‘What was the name of the law firm in Ally McBeal?’<br />

Film, music, sport and all things Christmas were then quizzed, with a<br />

break in between for competitors to refuel with a tasty buffet selection.<br />

The competition was fierce throughout the evening, but mainly confined<br />

to the buffet queue.<br />

During the evening raffle tickets were sold in aid of our chosen charity,<br />

Zöe’s Place, with prizes including money to spend at the bar and a<br />

cocktail pitcher. In total £155.20 was raised on the night for the charity<br />

and will be added to the running total for Zöe’s Place raised by the<br />

MJLD 2015-<strong>2016</strong>.<br />

After totting up the scores, Team Elf of Morecrofts were declared<br />

champions of the quiz.<br />

A big thank you to all of our members for attending, to our sponsors,<br />

BCL Legal for making the event possible, and to our venue, Ma Boyle’s<br />

for providing an excellent venue, tasty buffet and drinks selection.<br />

MJLD look forward to working with you all again in <strong>2016</strong>.<br />

News from the WLD<br />

Pudding Club – Thursday 26th November 2015<br />

As always Pudding Club proved to be one of the more popular events<br />

in the WLD calender.<br />

!<br />

Due to the popularity of the event the evening was hosted by Leaf at a<br />

function room in Fact cinema; this ensured it was a private event and<br />

that there was an increase in the number of tickets available to our<br />

members. Members arrived at 6pm and were seated and ready to<br />

induldge by half past. The night consisted of 5 different course.<br />

Impressively the portion sizes were generous and each delicious cake<br />

was served with a refreshing flavoured tea to compliment the sweet.<br />

WLD would like to thank Leaf for providing the raffle prize on the<br />

night. Raffle ticket sales generated a £44.00 all of which will go to our<br />

nominated chairty, the Whitechapel Centre. The raffle prize was a lovely<br />

metal tea infuser with a selection of festive teas.<br />

The Whitechapel Centre Collection<br />

The WLD chair Jennifer Crompton coordinated a collection on behalf of<br />

the Whitechapel Centre, a homeless charity based in <strong>Liverpool</strong> City<br />

Centre. Slater & Gordon <strong>Law</strong>yers <strong>Liverpool</strong> Waterloo office was the<br />

nominated collection point. The collection was a great success with<br />

people generously donating many items ranging from adult and<br />

children’s clothes, toys and toiletries. The items have now been<br />

delivered to the Whitechapel Centre.<br />

WLD are proud to support the Whitechapel Centre which provides an<br />

important service to rough sleepers, people living in temporary<br />

accommodation and those at risk of becoming homeless. To find out<br />

more about the centre, click here<br />

http://www.whitechapelcentre.co.uk/what-we-do.html


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34 Almost Irrelevant<br />

Almost Irrelevant<br />

A humorous look at life in the law....<br />

Virtual assistants<br />

As regular readers will know, Wirral-based legal outfit<br />

Riverview <strong>Law</strong> has been working with a number of<br />

organisations, including <strong>Liverpool</strong> University, in developing<br />

the “virtual” legal assistant, that is, a computer program which<br />

can perform many of the tasks traditionally carried out by<br />

junior layers and paralegals.<br />

Riverview has now announced that it is ready to roll out its<br />

team of virtual legal assistants to inhouse lawyers and other<br />

legal businesses. The assistant is known as “Kim”: thankfully,<br />

not named after Kim Kardashian; rather, “Kim” stands for:<br />

Knowledge, Intelligence, Meaning, all three attributes the<br />

virtual legal assistant is said to have.<br />

As the chief executive of Riverview <strong>Law</strong> has said: in the<br />

future there will be fewer lawyers, and those there are will be<br />

doing different jobs to those traditionally performed by<br />

qualified lawyers.<br />

One of the major outcomes of the use of technology for more<br />

routine legal work is likely to be reducing access to the legal<br />

profession to students. Many of the jobs which they have<br />

carried out in the past with a view to gaining a training<br />

contract at a law firm are likely to disappear, with the work of<br />

junior lawyers being done by computers, making it a lot<br />

harder for those without connections to join the legal<br />

profession.<br />

Town and Gown<br />

It was good to see so many of the legal profession at the recent<br />

launch of <strong>Liverpool</strong> University <strong>Law</strong> School’s alumni<br />

association. The University is seeking to maintain and<br />

strengthen the links between its teaching staff, the law students<br />

and the professionals practising the law in the region, whether<br />

judges, barristers, solicitors, legal executives or paralegals.<br />

A number of presentations were made outlining the work and<br />

achievements of the <strong>Law</strong> School and the formal part of the<br />

event concluded with the awarding of prizes to some of the<br />

leading students.<br />

It is heartening to learn of the success of young students, even<br />

though, as His Honour Judge Ross Duggan was heard to say,<br />

some of the legal topics which are taught nowadays are<br />

somewhat different to the core subjects taught back in the days<br />

when many of the alumni present were students, and when the<br />

University of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> School was known as the<br />

University of <strong>Liverpool</strong> <strong>Law</strong> Faculty.<br />

Golden Goodbye<br />

Finally this month, a cautionary tale about what may happen<br />

when law firm partners fall out.<br />

When partner James Parry left the firm of solicitors Nadim<br />

Associates, based in Birkenhead, an allegation of theft was<br />

made against him by one of the other partners in the practice.<br />

Mr Parry was invited to attend a police station for interview by<br />

Merseyside Police, which he duly did on a voluntary basis, but<br />

on arrival he was promptly arrested and held at the station for<br />

over five hours.<br />

No charges were brought and the Police have confirmed that no<br />

further action will be taken in respect of the theft allegation.<br />

However, Mr Parry brought an action against Merseyside<br />

Police for wrongful arrest. The case reached trial, where the<br />

judge found in favour of Mr Parry, ordering the Police to pay<br />

him damages of £9,000, on the basis that the arrest had not<br />

been necessary.<br />

Usual measure for dealing with departing partners include<br />

garden leave and enforcement of restrictive covenants, but<br />

having to deal with an arrest and detention at a Police station is<br />

probably one of the more extreme measures which a partner<br />

leaving a law firm has had to endure.<br />

Please feel free to send me your comments, observations or<br />

photographs to ai@liverpoollawsociety.org.uk


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