Messenger November 2017

November 2017
October 09
1
North West Law
The Manchester Legal Walk
On 28th September, over
350 solicitors, barristers,
trainees, paralegals, academics
and legal staff
joined the Manchester
Legal Walk in aid of the
North West Legal Support
Trust (NWLST).
The 10k walk was led by Jon
Hainey, the President of
Manchester Law Society, Mr
Kui Man Gerry Yeung OBE
DL -The High Sheriff of
Greater Manchester, Martha
Spurrier - Director of Liberty
His Honour Judge Graham
Platts and Sally Penni - Barrister
at Law and Founder of
Women in the Law UK.
Teams came from numerous
firms and law organisations
across the city,
including Addleshaw Goddard,
Angela Seager, BPP
University, Browne Jacobson
LLP, Burton Copeland,
Central Chambers,
Cheetham Hill Advice Centre,
DAC Beachcroft LLP,
Deans Court Chambers ,
Douglas Scott, DWF, Eversheds
Sutherland, Express
Solicitors, EY, Fletchers,
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
LLP, Garden Court
North Chambers, Greater
Manchester CILEx Branch,
Hill Dickinson LLP, Horwich
Farrelly, Irwin Mitchell, Kenworthy's
Chambers, Mills
and Reeve, Neat Legal Services,
Oldham Law Association,
Olliers, Pabla and
Pabla, Pluck Andrew, Squire
Patton Boggs LLP, Tuckers,
University of Manchester
Wilmslow Solicitor takes Freedom
of the City of London
A Wilmslow-solicitor has made such an impression
on London’s legal scene, she has been
awarded the Freedom of the City.
Law School, University of
Law, WTB Solicitors and of
course a few dogs!
A raffle was held on the day
with the prize of a Manchester
City shirt signed by Kyle
Walker was won by the
team from Tuckers. At the
time of printing over
£12,000 has been raised
and there is still time to
make a donation.
The aim of the NWLST is to
improve access to justice for
the most vulnerable in society
and do this by raising
funds and distributing them
to organisations that support
those who need legal
help but cannot afford it.
Receiving legal help makes
an enormous difference to
Hilary Meredith said:“It is a huge honour to receive
the Freedom of the City of London - the Sheep
drive is a lot harder than it looks!”
people’s lives, helping to reduce
debt, poverty and suffering.
If you want to get involved
in raising more funds for
NWLST then you can take
part in the Great Legal Quiz
on 8th November, a nationwide
quiz which is part of
National Pro Bono Week.
The NWLST provide the
questions (not law specific)
and you organise the quiz in
your local pub, office or just
at home!
For further information on
the Great Legal Quiz and
NWLST visit
www.nwlst.org.uk
Mr Gerry Yueng OBE, High Sheriff
of Greater Manchester starting the
Manchester Legal Walk
After becoming a Freeman of the City of London
earlier this year, Hilary Meredith, Chair of Hilary
Meredith Solicitors Ltd, yesterday took part in the
great annual Sheep drive over London Bridge.
The event, which raised thousands for the Lord
Mayor’s Appeal, was launched by television chef
Mary Berry.
The Freedom of the City of London began in 1237
and is one of the oldest surviving traditional ceremonies
still in existence today. Winston Churchill,
Princess Diana, and Nelson Mandela are among
the recipients of the Freedom of the City of London.
Hilary acts primarily for armed forces service personnel,
veterans and their families. She has successfully
acted in a number of ground-breaking
cases and has developed a reputation in public affairs
and lobbying for the rights of the armed services
personnel. She is currently campaigning
against Government proposals to widen the
scope of combat immunity to stop claims of negligence
coming to court.
Hilary Meredith Solicitors opened in Wilmslow in
2003. The firm opened its London office ten years
later and last year relocated its City base to 1 Mitre
Court, Inner Temple, one of the four Inns of Court
in London.
The Monthly Publication of the Manchester Law Society
In association with
Manchester Legal Awards 2017 principal sponsors
President’s Charity of
the Year

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Contents 3
North West Law November 2017
Manchester Law Society
64 Bridge Street
Manchester M3 3BN
Tel: 0161 831 7337
Fax: 0161 839 2631
www.manchesterlawsociety.org.uk
Editor: Fran Eccles-Bech
News from the President
page 5
In this edition...
NEWS
Farleys fuel growth with new appointments
& increased trainee intake
Colin Hoffman retires after 50 years’ service
to Kuits
Hill Dickinson strengthens Commercial and
Intellectual Property offering with senior
telecoms hire
6
8
9
Editorial Committee
David Anderson, St Johns Buildings
Julia Baskerville, Baskerville Publications Ltd
Fran Eccles-Bech, Manchester Law Society
Adam Entwistle, JMW Solicitors LLP
Sarah Evans, Kuits
Mark Fitzgibbon, Hill Dickinson
Jemma Goldstone, JMW Solicitors LLP
Michael Hardacre, Slater & Gordon
Helen Kanczes, Clyde & Co
Steve Kuncewicz, Bermans LLP
Adrian Kwintner, Clyde & Co
Jeff Lewis, Brabners LLP
Louise Straw, Burton Copeland
Matthew Taylor, Eversheds LLP
Published by
Colin Hoffman
page 8
MLA 2018
Now open for entries!
FEATURES
15
Baskerville Publications Ltd
Apartment 327 Holden Mill
Blackburn Road
Bolton BL1 7PN
Christina Blacklaws
page 11
Jane Forbes
page 12
Meet the Christina Blacklaws, Vice President
of the Law Society
City Profile: Jane Forbes, Chair of
pro manchester
REGULARS
News from the President
Regulation Matters
Monthly Competetion
Win a spa day for two at Nu Spa
Management Matters
11
12
5
7
16
18
Advertising enquiries
Julia Baskerville
01204 303323
j.baskerville@jbaskerville.co.uk
www.locallawsocietypublications.co.uk
All rights reserved, reproduction in whole or part
without written permission from the Publisher and
Manchester Law Society is not permitted.
Photographic material and manuscripts are supplied at
owners risk, neither the company not its agents accept
any liability for loss or damage.
The Society welcomes articles and letters from members
on any topic and items should be sent to the above
address
The views and opinions expressed in the Manchester
Messenger are those of the individual contributors and
not of the Manchester Law Society
Printed by
Buxton Press

4 Manchester Law Society News
News from Bridge Street
Forthcoming Events
Family Law Debate 2017
In the words of Donald Trump: “Lock Her Up!” The ultimate remedy for a parent refusing
contact?
'
Bridging the gap between education
and employers
''
In association with
Invite you to an exclusive evening
We would like to invite you to relaxed and informal evening at
Manchester Art Gallery where you will be served drinks and delicious
canapes in the sumptuous setting of the Victorian Galleries.
Date: Thursday 30th November 2017
Venue:
Times:
The Victorian Galleries at Manchester Art Gallery, Mosley
Street, Manchester M2 3JL
6-8pm
The galleries are home to the world-famous Pre-Raphaelite paintings,
and the collection also includes British and European art from the 17th
century right up to the present day.
At this exclusive Manchester Law Society event the canapés will be
created by Mary-Ellen McTague, recently appointed as the galleries
executive chef.
Mary-Ellen is best known for her restaurant, Aumbry, as well as
working in Michelin-starred kitchens.
From 30th September the Gallery will be opening their exciting new
South Asia exhibition #NewNorthSouth. You will have the opportunity
on the evening to see some of the extraordinary art and immersive
films created by artists and performers from South Asia and Britain.
For further information and bookings contact
HollieHirst@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk
The Careers and Enterprise Company
(CEC), Greater Manchester Combined
Authority (GMCA) and Local
Enterprise Partnership (LEP) are
growing the Greater Manchester Enterprise
Adviser Network and we
need you!
The purpose of the Enterprise Adviser
Network is to create meaningful and
long-lasting connections between education and business. The Enterprise Adviser Network
offers a number of exciting opportunities for schools and businesses to work collaboratively,
to improve the quality of careers guidance in schools, ensuring young people are inspired
and informed $ about $ their future $ study / career options $
and equipped with the skills needed
to be successful in the workplace.
$ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $
$ $ $
$ $
$ $ $ $ $
$
$
$ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $$
This is achieved through the recruitment of passionate Enterprise Advisers (EA); senior business
volunteers drawn from the world of business, who will work strategically with the
$
$ $ $ $ $ $
schools leadership team to develop a sustainable plan for careers guidance and employer
engagement, $
helping to address the key barriers young people face when transitioning
from education to the world of work.
$ $ $ $ $ $
$
$
$ $ $ $ $
$ $ $
$ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $
$ $
Essentially, we are looking for Enterprise Advisers who have experience of strategic planning
and are confident enough to support and challenge a schools senior management to
drive careers education
$ $
forward.
$
The
$
overarching $
characteristic needs to be someone who
has a real interest in supporting schools and who wants to positively impact young people.
To find out more about this exciting opportunity and the benefits to you and your
business please contact:
$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $
$ $ $ $ $ $
0#/)#$?"/$"&($&$'#&$
$$
Lynne-Marie Betteridge
Careers and Enterprise Coordinator $
Lynne-Marie.Betteridge@Greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk
$ 07771563266
$ $
$ $ $ $ $
Manchester Law Society invites you to explore both sides of the argument at our Annual
Family Law Debate, kindly hosted by Deans Court Chambers and chaired by His
Honour Judge Allweiss.
Mike Devlin of Stephensons Solicitors and Katie McCann of Kuits Solicitors represent
the case for the father. James Brown of Hall Brown Family Law and Karen Brody of
Deans Court Chambers represent the mother’s case.
There will be an opportunity for networking with drinks and nibbles before and after
the debate.
An interesting evening not to be missed!
Date: 2 November 2017
Venue: Deans Court Chambers, 24 St John Street, Manchester M3 4DF
Cost: Members of MLS £15.00 + VAT (£18.00)
Non Members £20.00 + VAT (£24.00)
Registration, welcome drinks, nibbles & networking: 17:30 – 18:30
Debate: 18:30 – 19:30 Networking: 19:30 – 20:00
Local Authority Conference 2017
We are delighted to announce this joint event with 11KBW Chambers.
Barristers from award-winning 11KBW will tackle the big questions in local authority
law and what they mean for local authorities, their in-house legal teams and advisers.
They will look at recent developments in legislation and case law across a number of
key areas.
Date: 16 November 2017
Venue: Hilton Hotel, Deansgate, Manchester M3 4LQ
Cost: MLS Members £75.00 + VAT (£90.00)
Non-members £90.00 + VAT (£108.00)
Registration: 09:00 Conference: 09:30 – 16:10
Newly Qualified Solicitors Conference 2017
Join us at the Newly Qualified Solicitors Conference to make sure you are prepared to
start your new role with a bang.
Hear what is expected of you and how to start with good habits to set you up for a successful
career. Speakers will offer advice on how to tackle the jump in responsibility
and the how to balance seeing guidance with using your initiative.
Date: 24 November 2017
Venue: BPP Law School, St James’s Building, 79 Oxford Street,
Manchester M1 6FQ
Cost: Members of MLS or MTSG/MYSG £50.00 + VAT (£60.00)
Non-members £75.00 + VAT (£90.00)
Registration: 09:00 Conference: 09:30 – 13:00
Advanced Excel Training Course
Do you want to build on your existing knowledge of Excel? Following our very successful
and popular intermediate Excel training courses we are now delighted to offer an
advanced course.
At this advanced Excel one day training course our expert trainer from the RV Group
will show you how to use H and V Lookups in the creation of catalogues and how to
create, rearrange and format pivot tables and much more! Numbers on this course are
strictly limited to ensure you receive bespoke and personal tuition from our trainer.
Date: 28 November 2017
Venue: Manchester Law Society, 64 Bridge Street, Manchester, M3 3BN
Cost: MLS Members £125.00 + VAT (£150.00)
Non-members £175.00 + VAT (£210.00)
Registration: 09:30 Training: 10:00 – 16:30
Keep up to date with the latest event information at
www.manchesterlawsociety.org.uk or follow us on Twitter
@ManLawSoc
To book a place on any of the above events, please email
CarlaJones@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk
$ $ $ $ $ $
$ $

5
President’s Column
5
It has been another busy
month at MLS.
At the end of September I
had the pleasure of being
one of the lead walkers at
the Manchester Legal Walk
which is organised by the
Northwest Legal Support
Trust. The Trust's aim is to
improve access to justice
for the most vulnerable in
society. They do this by raising
funds at events such as
the Walk and distributing
the funds to organisations
that provide pro bono support
for those who need
legal help but cannot afford
it. The Walk was open
to anyone and I am delighted
to say that it was
very well attended. I have
not seen the official numbers
but it looked to me
that there must have been
nearly 300 people at the
event.
From the President
I was fortunate to walk
most of the 10K route
around the city with
Martha Spurrier, who is the
current director of Liberty –
the human rights organisation.
Martha was incredibly
good company and, as you
can imagine, has a very interesting
story to tell.
Martha practised as a
human rights barrister before
taking her current role
at Liberty. I have invited
Martha to come to talk to
our members next year and
I am very pleased to say
that she agreed to do so.
As for the Walk, I can confirm
that Martha and I
walked at least 10K – and
perhaps a little further as I
may have taken a wrong
turn at one stage! I have to
say that this contrasted
with the vast majority of
walkers who were all congregated
at the bar at Manchester
Hall when we
finished the walk. This surprised
us as we led the Walk
from the start and very few
people passed us on our
way! Dare I say not everyone
walked a full 10k?!
Martha rounded off the
evening with an extempore
speech which left no one in
the room with any doubts
as to the value of pro bono
work and supporting access
to justice. One particular
line which struck me
was Martha's comment
that (and I paraphrase) - the
denial of access to justice is
the arsenic in the water of
our democracy. An inspiring
speech and I am looking
forward to hearing
more from Martha when
she visits us next year.
Another event I attended
on behalf of MLS was the
opening of the legal year at
Westminster Abbey which
was also attended by heads
of law societies and bar
counsels from throughout
the world – Canada, Singapore,
and Turkey – and
what appeared to be every
senior judge in the country
and a fair proportion of the
bar. It was a wonderful
event to be involved in - a
part of living history drawing
on hundreds of years of
tradition. The main reason I
mention the event is that
amongst the great and the
good, there were only
seven regional law societies
represented at the
event from England and
Wales: the Joint V (Manchester,
Liverpool, Leeds,
Birmingham and Bristol),
Cardiff and London. This
again underlines the importance
of MLS in the eyes
of the National Law Society
(which helped to organise
the event) and once again
gave us direct access to the
President and Chief Executive
of the Law Society.
Turning to more mundane
(but probably more important)
matters, many of you
will have spotted that the
MOJ has decided to postpone
the pilot trial for extending
Court opening
hours which would have
seen additional pressures
on many practitioners.
The pilot was proposed in
Manchester, but thanks to
Jeff Lewis and other members
of the Civil Justice
Committee, who worked
hard to provide evidence as
to the problems which the
proposed system would
pose, the Government has
now said that it will postpone
the pilot until a "robust,
efficient evaluation
system" is in place.
We are told that this is
likely to be in February. It
will be interesting to see
what system they come up
with.
From January 2018, the
Messenger will no longer
be printed and delivered in
hard copy. It will be circulated
in electronic format
only, apart from a special
edition which will follow
the Manchester Legal
Awards in March, as we appreciate
that the winners of
awards like to have a hard
copy memento of the
night.
The move to electronic format
is for a variety of reasons,
including: readers'
Jon Hainey
preferences, the environment,
advertisers' views
and costs. I have seen examples
of the electronic
version and it looks great
and is very user friendly, so
hopefully you will all soon
get used to receiving the
publication in this format.
Finally, a quick update on
Ladybridge. Despite my
continued on page 7
Comp
osing
budgets
( in-hous
e for
l arger
budgets )
Budget
negotiations
OPEN MIC
at The Spoon Inn, Chorlton
An Evening of Poetry & Music
9th November
Attend
CMC
in County
or
High
Court
Remote
monitoring
of b
udget
H
Budget
reviee wand/
or a
dvice
Be entertained and have fun with local poets & musicians.
GREAT RAFFLE PRIZES
VENUE:
Pay on the door:
0161 769 2244development@gmlaw.org.uk
www.gmlaw.org.uk
kain-knight.co.uk
Manchester
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Tel: 0161 457 0456
Fax: 01616013539
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Regis House, 9 Dane John Wor
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DX 5310 Canterbury

6 Movers & Shakers
Browne Jacobson named top
graduate employer
National law firm Browne
Jacobson has been rated
as one of the best graduate
employers in the country
after being ranked in
this year’s Guardian UK
300, the independent
guide to the best graduate
employers, for the
fourth year running.
The latest ranking, which
has seen the firm jump 62
places from its 2016/17
entry, follows on from this
year’s successful recruitment
of 19 trainee lawyers
to their popular trainee programme.
The Guardian UK300 is the
largest and most representative
survey of employers
and what students want
from their graduate careers
in the UK. Each year over
17,000 students take part
via the UK's university careers
services.
Browne Jacobson now offers
training contracts at all
five office locations, giving
new recruits the opportunity
to gain exposure of various
key sectors for the firm,
including private, public, retail,
financial services,
health, technology, insurance
and education.
This year, the quality in applicants
was so high that
the firm chose to extend the
number of places offered.
Four of the new trainees
came through the firm’s
successful two week summer
vacation scheme which
is going from strength to
strength since its launch in
2015. The scheme is directed
at second year law
and third year non-law undergraduates,
looking to
gain valuable legal experience
and is potentially an
opportunity to get a training
contract.
Helen Dunham, Head of
Human Resources at
Browne Jacobson, said:
“It is fantastic that we have
been recognised in this
year’s Guardian UK 300
again.
“Over the last few years, we
have worked hard to develop
and improve the way
we recruit high calibre graduates
in to the business and
to maintain our reputation
as a leading legal employer
of choice in the country.
“Our trainee programme offers
a fulfilling and diverse
career path and our revamped
summer vacation
scheme has been a great
success, with its promise of
giving budding lawyers two
weeks of valuable work experience
within the firm,
where they can get a feel for
the clients and sectors we
work with and the culture
we operate at the firm.”
The number of first and second
year trainees at Browne
Jacobson is now at 28 – a
record number for the firm
and 20 graduate vacancies
will be on offer in 2020.
In 2016, the firm was
praised for its commitment
to learning and people development
after achieving
reaccreditation in both the
Investors in People (IIP)
Standard and the Health
and Wellbeing Best Practice
Award.
Manchester law firm celebrates
ongoing success
A leading Manchester law
firm has gone from
strength to strength following
a series of strategic
acquisitions.
The team at Slater Heelis
LLP has doubled in size
since 2013, with the firm
now employing 137 people
across Manchester City Centre,
Sale and Timperley.
The firm’s distinctive culture
and supportive ethos has
led to 95 percent staff retention
over the past four years,
as well as the arrival of a
number of highly experienced
lawyers. This has
strengthened the offering
to clients, including the creation
of a new dedicatedconstruction
and property
litigation team.
Managing Partner, Chris
Bishop, said: “The firm expanded
significantly in 2013
and 2014. Since then our
focus has been on ensuring
that our culture and reputation
for excellent service
and a great work/ life balance,
remain central to
everything we do.
“We have a diverse mix of
dedicated and experienced
people and we are committed
to fostering young talent.
This ensures we can
provide a full range of legal
services to businesses and
individuals and we remain
ready to react to opportunities
and challenges which
our clients recognise and
value.
“Of our 137 staff, three quarters
are women and nearly
half work part time or have
a flexible working arrangement,
something we’re very
proud of. We want Slater
Heelis to be an amazing
place to work and through
this, deliver great results for
clients.
“Social responsibility has always
been important to us
and as we’ve grown we
have worked hard to retain
strong links with local organisations
in Sale, as well
as forging new relationships
with organisations across
the city centre and South
Manchester.”
Slater Heelis supports organisations
including Sun-
Sport Velo women’s cycling
team in Altrincham, Lymm
Oughtrington Park Cricket
Club, Timperley FC, Quarantine
Arts Company based in
the Northern Quarter along
with charities such as Helping
Uganda Schools and
Friends of Rosie Children’s
Cancer Research Fund, both
charities of which partners
are trustees.
Chris Bishop
Anne Irwin, Managing Partner
of the Manchester office,
added: “In 2013, Slater
Heelis re-established a presence
in Manchester City
Centre, and the office has
gone from strength to
strength in the last four
years.
“The team has grown organically,
with high calibre
individuals joining in both
our business and personal
services teams. Over the
next few years, we’re confident
our reputation for
high-quality advice from an
experienced and friendly
team will only continue to
grow.”
Slater Heelis acts for clients
across the UK and internationally.
www.slaterheelis.co.uk
Corporate team gears up for expansion after
advising on transactions worth almost £300m in
the first half of 2017
Pannone Corporate is
looking to expand its corporate
team after advising
on deals worth almost
£300m in the first half of
this year.
The team has completed
around 30 deals in 2017 for
new and existing clients
across the UK with many
transactions based in the
North West.
Deals include advising
boohoo.com on its $20m
acquisition of Nasty Gal and
acting for the shareholders
of PrettyLittleThing when
the online retailer purchased
a majority stake in
the business for £3.3m.
Elsewhere, the team advised
historic Manchester
biscuit maker Hill Biscuits
North West law firm Farleys
Solicitors has appointed
two newly
qualified solicitors to its
Blackburn offices and also
taken on four new
trainees for 2017/18, as a
response to increasing demand
for the firm’s legal
services.
on a management buyout
backed by private equity investor
LDC, and Maven Capital
on its maiden
investment from the Northern
Powerhouse Investment
Fund into Aberla Services.
The 10-strong corporate
team has expanded since
Pannone Corporate was
launched in 2014 and it is
now looking to grow again
to meet demand.
Corporate partner Mark
Winthorpe said “The corporate
team has had a record
year for transactions, completing
many deals across
the UK. However, it is particularly
pleasing to have
acted for so many North
West based companies
across a wide range of sectors.
Our team’s success reflects
a wider North West
Taking up their newly qualified
posts are Jenny Goodwin,
who joins the firm’s
corporate team and Rebecca
Woolham who will be
working in Farleys’ personal
injury department. Both
have been retained by the
firm following the completion
of their training contracts
with the firm
Looking to build on the success
of Farleys trainee
scheme are Adil Anwar,
Ariella Jones, Monika
Marcinkeviciute and Stevi
Hoyle, who have commenced
placements across
both private and commercial
areas of practice.
Partner and head of trainee
solicitor recruitment Nick
Molyneux said: “I am delighted
that we are continuing
to maintain our strong
level of investment in the
next generation of lawyers
Mark Winthorpe
business success story.
“We have a very strong
pipeline of deals taking us
well into the autumn and
we are looking to add to the
team to help us service demand.”
Farleys fuel growth with new appointments
& increased trainee intake
here at Farleys.
“These appointments come
at a time when the firm is
growing at pace, therefore it
is essential that we ensure
our trainee programme
continues to provide us
with talented and ambitious
layers as we continue to
offer a full range of legal
services for individuals and
businesses.
“On behalf of the firm we
wish them all the best in
their future success here at
Farleys Solicitors.”
Trainee Solicitors Monika Marcinkeviciute, Adil Anwar, Stevi Hoyle & Ariella Jones
The deadline for the December edition
of the Messenger is 9th November

Regulation 7
Regulatory Affairs Committee Update
The theme for this month
is consultations. We have
known that it was coming
and we now have 2 major
consultations released
which make essential
reading. These are not
just for compliance
“boffins” like me! They
will impact on every single
one of us so please
take the time to review
them. If you are hooked,
and want to know more,
then read on! Even if you
don’t have time to read it
all, MLS is committed to
submitting a response
and will be holding a
meeting on 21st November
at Weightmans’ office
at 3 Piccadilly Place to discuss
so please feel free to
come
along.
The Policy Team from the
Law Society will be attending
this meeting too
to find out what the views
of Manchester practitioners
are.
As you will be aware from
previous columns, the SRA
is committed to simplifying
and shortening its handbook
which sets out the
standards it expects solicitors
and firms to meet and
the rules they should follow
as part of its wider Looking
to the Future programme.
The first phase of consultation
to create a simpler
code of conduct and accounts
rules has been finalised
and they are now
consulting on the second
phase.
The proposed changes include:
• Removal of early character
and suitability checks on
students and trainees;
• Simplifying the rules for
“freelance solicitors”, allowing
a solicitor to provide reserved
legal services, in
certain circumstances, on a
freelance basis to the public
to simplify the current situation
where there is a complex
series of exemptions
for solicitors wanting to
work in areas such as certain
insurance services, law
centres and pro bono work.
• Transitional arrangements
for the introduction of the
Solicitors Qualifying Examination
(SQE);
• A revision to the SRA’s enforcement
policy to provide
more clarity on considerations
of the SRA before enforcement
and taking into
account intent, harm
caused, patterns of behaviour,
vulnerability of the
client, seniority of the solicitor,
and any remedial action
taken.
The focus of the consultation
is to ensure the Handbook
is more concentrated
on maintaining the high
standards of the profession
whilst removing those rules
which are too restrictive
and add unnecessary costs.
Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive
said: "This is a simpler
Handbook with a sharp
focus on what matters – high
professional standards and
appropriate public protections.
"Pages of complex bureaucracy
do not benefit anybody.
Our approach rightly
puts the onus on professional
judgement and ethics. Most
solicitors do a good job and
earn the trust people place in
them. But a small minority
do not. Our enforcement policy
makes clear when and
how we will act if things go
wrong. It is essential that
both the public and the profession
can have confidence
that we hold solicitors to account
and act in a fair way."
Looking to the Future:
better information, more
choice
This consultation proposes
changes requiring the legal
profession to provide better
information on price and
quality of service with the
aim of encouraging the
public to compare legal
services across the marketplace
and to facilitate a
good choice of appropriate
legal services.
The SRA proposals include:
• the requirement for firms
to publish their price for
services and a description
of the services they offer.
This requirement will be
limited initially to a select
number of legal services
such as conveyancing, wills
and probate, family, employment
tribunal and personal
injury and will require
firms to publish the required
information on their
website.
• the requirement for firms
to publish data on the firsttier
complaints they receive
and their areas of practice.
This information will also
be made available to republishers,
such as online
comparison sites.
• firms to make information
on SRA regulatory protections
available - including
introducing a mandatory
digital badge that verifies
that a firm is regulated by
the SRA.
In addition, the SRA is proposing
to build a digital
register to hold key regulatory
data about SRA regulated
solicitors and firms
and make it available to the
public. This can also be
used for solicitors to bench
mark their services against
other legal service
providers.
Will this improve access to
justice and the unmet legal
need for lay clients and
SMEs that the SRA and
Competition and Markets
Authority are so keen to
promote or might it potentially
increase the risk of
confusion/hidden costs?
Both consultations run
until 20 December 2017 so
please come along to the
meetings and//or provide
us with your feedback so
that as full a response can
be given to the SRA. Further
information can be
found
at
www.sra.org.uk/consultations.
Crack Down on Tax Evasion
The Criminal Finances Act
came into effect on 30 September.
Firms can now be
liable for the acts of their
employees or agents
should they facilitate tax
evasion. It is now possible
to be liable for failing to
prevent acts of employees
even if senior management
do not know about them.
It is therefore essential to
have procedures in place to
avoid assisting tax evasion
as well as ongoing monitoring
of such procedures.
Organisations prosecuted
under the Act are faced
with unlimited fines and
potential associated reputational
damage and enquiry
by the SRA.
The Criminal Finances Act
coincides with a SRA warning
notice issued at the end
of September in light of
their concerns about firms
facilitating aggressive tax
avoidance schemes.
A copy of the SRA warning
notice can be found on
their website and the Compli
team at Weightmans has
produced a draft policy and
risk assessment for sale at
discounted rates. To apply
for it, please go to
https://compli.weightmans.com/criminalfinancesact/
AML Draft Guidance Note
produced by Law Society
A draft guidance note covering
the new Anti-Money
Laundering Regulations
which came into force at
the end of June has been released
by the law society.
Whilst it still awaits approval
from the Treasury, firms
need to be working
through the detail now if
not done already and ensure
that they have the necessary
risk assessments and
training in place. The Compli
team is already helping
firms with revising their
policies and procedures so
contact us should you need
any further help with this.
The link to the Law society
note is here
http://www.lawsociety.org.
uk/policy-campaigns/articles/draft-anti-money-laundering-guidance/
Leigh Day Findings released
The SDT’s findings in the
high profile defeat of the
SRA by Leigh Day have
been released and makes
very interesting reading.
The time for lodging an appeal
runs for 21 days from
full Findings so it will be interesting
to see whether the
SRA decides to appeal or
not.
That’s all there is time for
this month, folks. I hope to
see as many of you as possible
at the consultation
meetings shortly.
Michelle Garlick
Chair
Regulatory Affairs
Committee
Weightmans LLP
President’s Column continued...
best efforts at coaching the
lads to defend corners, we
were battered 6 – 1 at the
end of September in a
game where I think all but
one of the goals were
scored from headers!
To be fair to my team, the
lad who scored most of the
goals had just been released
by Manchester
United. If that is the quality
of the players they are releasing,
I look forward to
seeing the first team once
the current crop of academy
players come through!
In any event, Ladybridge is
now back on track and we
have since won 12 – 0 and
6 – 0. I will not comment
on the quality of the opposition
– a win is a win! Not
long until May!
Jon Hainey
President

Forthcoming Events
8 Movers & Shakers
AST Hampsons joins forces with
Hudson & Taylor
Two of Rochdale’s most
long established firms,
AST Hampsons LLP and
Hudson & Taylor are joining
forces to bring together
over 250 years of
history and shared values,
serving the local community.
AST Hampsons LLP will continue,
but will incorporate
Peter Miller from Hudson &
Taylor with his staff practising
from AST Hampson’s existing
buildings at 128
Yorkshire Street and 7 South
Parade, Rochdale. Hudson &
Taylor’s Shaw based office,
known as Colin Ashworth &
Co will be serviced via the
Rochdale offices and where
appropriate, home visits.
Peter L Taylor, Managing
Partner comments: “I am delighted
to welcome Peter
Miller and his staff into AST
Hampsons LLP. My old Firm,
Standring Taylor & Co is one
of the 9 firms that eventually
became AST Hampsons
LLP and there are many
who still remember it and
its history. I am sure the
same will apply to Hudson &
Taylor which has been established
in Rochdale since
1910 and is greatly respected
by many
Rochdalians and others as a
supplier of good quality
legal services.
I feel privileged to welcome
Peter and believe that his
experience and expertise
will be a great asset to AST
Hampsons LLP going forward.
It is important that we
work together to continue
to provide the best legal
services for our clients both
locally and further afield
and are attractive to future
clients because we can provide
a local service which is
second to none”.
Peter Miller comments:
“I am very much looking forward
to becoming part of a
well respected, proactive
and progressive firm and
working alongside Peter
Taylor and his partners. Our
respective firms have enjoyed
an excellent relationship
over decades and I see
this development as truly
beneficial to clients old and
new”
This adds to the planned
and successful period of
growth for AST Hampsons
LLP who have expanded
their Bury office and developed
and strengthened the
probate, commercial, family,
personal injury and conveyancing
departments.
Louise Salisbury (formerly of
Molesworths) and Jillian
Josephson (from QualitySolicitors,
DWF and Cobbetts)
joined as partners in 2014
and 2016 respectively and
Anna Murzell and Helen
O’Sullivan’s successful property
team joined us in 2015
from a local conveyancing
firm. New heads of department
have been appointed
to both the Family Team-
Jennifer Worcester, and PI &
Medical Negligence –
Samantha Labor, teams
which continue to
strengthen and develop the
firm and support local communities
together with the
addition of Anna Murzell as
partner in January 2018.
AST are continuing to grow
and develop all areas of the
firm and look forward to
providing the wide range of
services to both existing
and new clients in the future.
Details of services can
be found at www.asthampsons.co.uk.
Follow Manchester Law
Society on Instagram
@manchesterlawsociety
Colin Hoffman retires after 50 years’
service to Kuits
Respected intellectual
property lawyer Colin
Hoffman has retired following
half a century with
Kuits.
Colin started at Kuits in
1967 as what was then an
articled clerk, now a trainee
solicitor. His principal was
Vivian Steinart, one of the
most accomplished lawyers
of his generation in Manchester.
Colin was a quick
learner, qualifying in 1970
before becoming a partner
of the firm in 1971.
Born in Rhodesia, Colin’s
formative years saw him
graduate from the University
of Cape Town after
which he was called to the
Bar in South Africa and
Rhodesia, where the system
was Roman Dutch law.
In 1965 he came over to the
UK as a Rhodes Scholar to
study English law at University
College Oxford. Notable
Rhodes Scholars from
the past include Prime Ministers
of Canada and Australia,
and famously Bill
Clinton, the 42nd President
of the United States.
Further growth for Bromleys’
Property Team
Law firm Bromleys has recruited
property solicitor
Martin Blaylock to help
meet increasing demand
from clients.
He has joined the Tameside
practice from Bell Park Kerridge
Solicitors, which has
offices in Carlisle and Cockermouth
in Cumbria.
Martin joins Bromleys’ corporate
and commercial
services team. He specialises
in advising clients
on commercial property,
conveyancing and landlord
and tenant matters.
He is the latest addition to
the growing team, following
the arrival in the spring
of solicitor Rubina Begum.
Martin studied law at the
University of Central Lancashire
and completed the
Once at Kuits, Colin specialised
in commercial work,
in particular the acquisition
of medical product licences
for the sale of over-thecounter
(OTC) products. He
acted on numerous cases
for some of the firm’s
biggest clients and connections,
working on brand acquisitions,
share
acquisitions, flotations on
the stock market, complex
IP structures and patent licensing.
His outstanding
reputation and desire to develop
the firm’s practice saw
him travel extensively in his
career, including visits to
the USA, Russia, China and
Malaysia.
Colin has taken great pleasure
in watching Kuits develop
and grow over his
50-year tenure. He was particularly
proud of the firm’s
merger with Hammelburger
Marks in 1997 and has been
delighted to witness the
businesses’ growth in reputation
over the years.
Beyond Kuits, Colin is a former
council member of the
UK Licensing Executive Society
and helped to form
the North-West committee,
of which he became Chairman.
He was also a keen
supporter of the Manchester
Law Society and sat on a
number of its committees
Outside of his professional
career, Colin met his wife,
Ros, when studying at Oxford.
They moved to Manchester
together after graduating
and they were married in
August 1967 just before he
began working at Kuits.
They have two sons, David,
who practises as a barrister
in Manchester and Michael,
an IT consultant in Edinburgh.
For a number of years Colin
served with the Manchester
Artillery in the Territorial
Army, ending his service
with the rank of Captain. He
is a keen philatelist and has
been a member of the
legal practice course at
Northumbria University before
qualifying as a solicitor
in 2013.
Paul Westwell, the Bromleys’
partner who heads the corporate
and commercial
team, said: “We have seen a
significant increase in new
instructions and further recruitment
has been necessary
to service the needs of
our clients.
“Martin has relocated from
Carlisle to join us and will be
a valued addition to the
team. He has a varied background
and will fit in well
with our client-focused culture.”
Martin said: “Bromleys has
an excellent reputation with
clients and the local business
community, and I’m
Colin Hoffman
Council of the Royal Philatelic
Society London since
2010. He has signed the
Roll of Distinguished Philatelists
in South Africa. Colin
plans to spend his retirement
writing a book on the
stamps and postal history of
Rhodesia and enjoying his
garden.
Robert Levy, executive partner
for Kuits, said: “We have
a people-focused culture
and therefore are committed
to helping our talent
reach their full potential
throughout the lifetime of
their career. As such, we
have a number of exceptional
lawyers that stay with
us from trainee all the way
up to partner level – although
Colin sets a very
high record to beat!
“It has been a true delight to
work with someone as exceptional
and admired –
both on a personal and professional
level – as Colin,
and we wish him all the best
in his retirement after five
decades of developing and
practising law in Manchester.”
Martin Blaylock
delighted to have been
given the opportunity to
join the firm.”
In addition to the property
department, Bromleys has
in recent months bolstered
its private client, care proceedings
and Court of Protection
teams.

Movers & Shakers 9
Hill Dickinson strengthens Commercial and Intellectual
Property offering with senior telecoms hire
Leading international law
firm Hill Dickinson has further
strengthened its
Commercial and Intellectual
Property (IP) Team in
Manchester with a senior
appointment of Tracey
Sheehan. Tracey, who was
previously at the firm in
1998, re-joins as a Partner
and Head of Telecoms
from Dentons. Her appointment
was effective
from Monday 25 September
2017.
Tracey is a leading lawyer
within the telecommunications
sector, with over 20
years’ experience advising
both national and international
clients on communication
regulation and
infrastructure. She has particular
expertise in infrastructure
sharing with other
regulated industries (utilities,
rail, ports and airports)
and the roll outs of fixed line
mobile and satellite networks.
Tracey is at the forefront of
developments in the sector
and takes a keen interest in
how telecommunications
infrastructure underpins the
success of the delivery of
the modern economy, including
the global ambition
of Smart Cities and Smart
Grids. She will use her
knowledge of the sector to
support the wider client
base at Hill Dickinson, grow
new clients and increase
cross jurisdiction projects.
Tracey Sheehan comments:
“I am excited to be returning
to Hill Dickinson after 19
years. The firm has built a
brilliant reputation for delivering
straight talking and
commercially savvy advice
on an international platform
– which makes it a great fit
for me. I look forward to
spearheading the Commercial
and IP Team’s growth
into the national and international
telecommunications
sector as part of my
remit at the firm.
In addition, the Commercial
and IP Team has been further
bolstered by the appointments
of Graeme
Alder, as a Legal Director
within the Liverpool office,
and Benjamin Taylor who
joins the Manchester office
as an Associate. Graeme
joins the firm from Yodel
Delivery Network and Benjamin
from Addleshaw Goddard.
Graeme has a wealth
of experience in advising
upon a broad range of commercial
matters including
negotiating a wide variety
of commercial contracts
across a breadth of sectors.
Benjamin qualified in February
and will be involved in
all aspects of commercial
law advisory work, including
dealing with contractual
issues across a broad range
of sectors for the Team’s
clients.
Hill Dickinson’s Commercial
and IP Team is renowned for
advising a large number of
listed and private companies,
start-ups, financial institutions
and public sector
bodies across a broad range
of sectors, including financial
services, media and logistics.
The national team is
experiencing growth in all
of these areas across its offices
in Manchester, Liverpool
and London. Tracey
Sheehan’s practice brings a
new and significant
telecommunications capability
within the firm’s current
Commercial and IP
offering.
Mark Fitzgibbon, Partner
and Head of the Commercial
and Intellectual Property
Team at Hill Dickinson
commented: “Tracey,
Graeme and Benjamin are
extremely valued additions
to the team in the North
West and nationally. Tracey
is a highly experienced
lawyer and her specialist expertise
in the telecommunications
sector will meet the
growing client demand we
are experiencing in this area
at a time of unprecedented
investment and innovation.”
Leading Fraud Expert Strengthens Slater and
Gordon’s Criminal Team
A leading fraud expert has
been appointed as law
firm Slater and Gordon
continues its expansion in
the north west.
Rachel Adamson, a former
partner at Stephensons Solicitors,
acts for individuals
accused of fraud and regulatory
offences including
breaches of environmental,
health and safety laws and
enforcement actions
brought by Ofsted and the
Care Quality Commission.
In a career spanning almost
20 years, she has experienced
almost every aspect
of criminal law, but says she
settled on her specialism
after an eye-opening stint in
the Crown Prosecution Service’s
fraud investigation
team which deals with
some of the most serious
and complex cases investigated
by police forces
across the UK.
Leading North West law
firm the Jackson Lees
Group unveiled their new
identity at a launch
evening at the Everyman
Theatre on 21st September.
The Group were
joined by over 100 guests
from businesses and charities
across the region and
guest speaker, Pete
Weatherby QC.
She said: “When I worked at
the CPS I helped to prepare
a fraud case valued at £1.7
billion in which, on paper,
the defendants appeared to
be overwhelmingly guilty.
The defence chose to test
the evidence in the magistrates’
court as you could in
those days.
“When the series of ‘respectable’
witnesses gave
evidence it became very
clear that they were in fact
corrupt and dishonest. This
taught me a valuable lesson
that even the most believable
witnesses could and
should be tested.”
Rachel previously worked at
Lancashire-based Farleys
Solicitors as associate partner
and was also a partner
at Stephensons, heading up
the firm’s fraud and regulatory
division.
Her reputation and experience
have led to her being
called on regularly by the
media for expert commentary
as well as appearances
on ITV’s popular reality television
series, Judge Rinder’s
Crime Stories.
Rachel, who lives in Cottam,
Preston, with daughter,
Maggie, 12, will divide her
time between Slater and
Gordon’s offices in Preston
and Manchester.
She said: “I was impressed
both by their strong brand
Rachel Adamson
and the clients who seek
their representation and I
am delighted and excited to
join the team.”
Siri Siriwardene, head of
general law at Slater and
Gordon, added: “We pride
ourselves on listening to our
clients so we can tailor the
service we offer to suit them
best.
“Over the past 12 months
we have seen a rise in the
number of enquiries in this
specialist area and are confident
that Rachel’s knowledge
and expertise will help
us to meet that need and
continue to provide a first
class service.”
Jackson Lees Group Launch Night at the
Everyman Theatre
Tracey Sheehan and Mark Fitzgibbon
31st October Investec - How To Get More Out Of Your Money
Free event to members and optional £10 to non members
Women in the Law and Business UK
Held at Investec offices in Spinningfield. Fizz and nibbles.
4th November Events - Bar with Conference inspirational and Young Bar Conference, speakers London
9th November - Jobs for the Girls. Careers on the Bench and beyond.
30th November - - Clarity
13th December - Christmas Drinks and music by Manchester inspirational voices
Gospel choir with Nigel Poole QC and Special guest ITVs Judge Rinder
Membership is open to lawyers and those in business
Individual membership costs £25
Cooperate membership £100 (for 5 names people)
Events are £25 unless otherwise stated
The Jackson Lees Group was
formed in May 2016 after
Jackson Canter acquired
Wirral-based law firm, Lees
Solicitors. Lees joined Jackson
Canter and Broudie
Jackson Canter, with the
three forming the Jackson
Lees Group. All have a long
and well-respected history,
with Lees Solicitors being
founded in 1889, and
Broudie Jackson Canter representing
20 families at the
historic Hillsborough inquest.
Pete Weatherby QC, who
helped lead the team representing
22 of the bereaved
Hillsborough families at the
inquest, said: “I was pleased
to say a few words highlighting
the fantastic work
the firm has done in supporting
the families, and in
particular, the efforts of
members of the firm in pro
bono work concerning Hillsborough.
In speaking about
Hillsborough Law I do hope
that those who attended
the event will visit the website
www.thehillsboroughlaw.com
and add their
names and organisations to
the list of supporters”.
“The Hillsborough Law” or
“Public Authorities Accountability
Bill” is a piece of legislation
drafted by lawyers
who represented the Hillsborough
families in the recent
inquests. The Bill aims
to make it a legal duty for
public authorities and public
servants to tell the truth.
Brian Cullen, Chief Executive
Officer at the Jackson Lees
Group, added:“Thank you to
everyone who joined us on
Thursday night for our
brand launch event at the
Everyman. We were delighted
to see so many
friends of the Jackson Lees
Group enjoy a special
evening as we embark upon
an exciting future for our
firm.”
The Jackson Lees Group is a
proud sponsor and supporter
of the Everyman &
Playhouse Theatres.

10 Charity & CSR
Mills & Reeve private client team tops
Manchester rankings
The private client team at
the Manchester office of
Mills & Reeve has topped
the rankings in a prestigious
legal guide of
lawyers advising high net
worth clients in the private
wealth market.
In the inaugural Chambers
High Net Worth Guide, the
private client team was
ranked in Band 1 in the
Manchester area where it
was praised for its ‘depth
and breadth of knowledge’.
Partner Tony Hall, is the only
lawyer in Manchester to be
ranked in Band 1 where he
is described by one source
as ‘the best trust lawyer I
have ever met in my career’
and ‘an excellent communicator
with precise attention
to detail’.
Meanwhile, fellow partner
and team head Deborah
Clark and partner Zahra Siddiqui
were ranked in Band 2
where Deborah was described
as ‘very client focused’
with ‘good technical
skills’ while Zahra was hailed
as ‘excellent’ and an ‘absolute
star’.
Tony said: “We are naturally
delighted to achieve these
Deborah Clark
rankings. They highlight the
team’s expertise and experience
in advising high net
worth individuals, business
people and landowners
who are looking to protect
their wealth in an increasingly
complex legal and tax
system.”
WTB continue to develop their Immigration team by
retaining their first NQ
Rachel Evans and the
growing Immigration
team at WTB Solicitors are
celebrating the completion
of her training contract.
Rachel was the firm’s
first trainee and has been
retained by the firm as her
career progresses.
After gaining a wealth of experienced
as a Senior Immigration
Caseworker with
WTB, Rachel is now a qualified
Solicitor and specialises
in immigration, asylum, nationality
and EEA free movement
law.
Upon qualifying, Rachel was
asked the following:
Q: Why did you choose Immigration
Law?
A: “I came to immigration
law almost by accident. I
didn’t study the area before
but after my law degree and
LPC I was looking for what
to do next and I thought
asylum and refugee law
seemed interesting. It was
not obvious how to get into
it though as there were specific
qualifications required
to practice. I got in contact
with a national legal charity
called the Immigration Advisory
Service to ask them
about how to get into the
area and then one day a
while later they contacted
me to ask if I wanted to
apply for a job with them.
They trained me up and put
me through the relevant
exams and I’ve been working
in this area ever since
(11 ½ years now).”
Q: As a NQ, what are your
favourite parts of being a
solicitor? And, what do
you find most difficult?
A: “My favourite part of my
job is being able to make a
positive difference to someone’s
life. It is very rewarding
to know you’ve helped
someone reunite with a
family member or prevent
their removal and being
separated from family or returning
to a country where
their life is in danger. However
this can also be the difficult
part when an
application is refused and
you have to tell a person
this.”
Q: As the first WTB trainee
to qualify, how did you
find the training and support
at WTB Solicitors?
A: “I was given the flexibility
to be able to fit in all of my
PSC training courses and
was helped to reduce my
caseload so that I could devote
time to other areas of
law within the office.”
Q: What do you think it
takes to be a successful
Immigration Solicitor?
A: “I think you need to keep
reminding yourself that it is
worthwhile even though it
can often feel otherwise.
With the constant changes
and restrictions in this area
of law over the years, with
making the rules more difficult
to meet, increasing the
application fees, restricting
appeals rights and the general
attitude towards immigration
and asylum seekers
it is an area of law which can
be incredibly disheartening
at times to persist with. It’s
important to concentrate
on the positives when they
come.”
M&A expert boosts Shoosmiths
corporate team
National law firm Shoosmiths
has boosted its corporate
team in
Manchester with the appointment
of Andrew Millar
as a partner.
Andrew joins the fastgrowing
firm from regional
law firm Brabners,
where he has spent four
years building its corporate
practice as a partner.
Prior to Brabners, he spent
eight years with Squire
Sanders (now Squire Patton
Boggs) in its Manchester office,
having trained in London
with Hogan Lovells,
where he also spent eight
years after joining as a
trainee.
Andrew specialises in advising
private and public companies
on fundraisings,
mergers and acquisitions,
company law advice and
group reorganisations.
His recruitment underlines
Shoosmiths’ commitment
to attracting talent and establishing
a major presence
in the regional deal-making
marketplace.
Earlier this summer the firm
appointed former listed
company CEO Tim Jackson-
Smith as a partner in Manchester,
while in Leeds, it
appointed corporate partners
Philip Goldsborough
and James Foster from Irwin
Mitchell.
Vaqas Farooq head of Shoosmiths
Manchester said:
“Andrew is an excellent
lawyer with a great reputation
in the market. Across
the North we are very proud
that we have assembled a
formidable corporate team
led by five partners with
deep knowledge and genuine
business insight .”
Karen Procter, corporate
partner at Shoosmiths in
Manchester, added: “Andrew’s
appointment is really
timely given that our team
is incredibly busy delivering
a number of exciting and
high profile deals.
“Attracting high quality
lawyers like Andrew is a real
statement of intent and I am
sure he’ll be a great addition
to our team.”
Andrew Millar added: “Joining
Shoosmiths is an exciting
opportunity. The firm
has made great strides in
the North West and has a
reputation for innovation
and its client service.
“Joining Shoosmiths was an
easy decision and I am looking
forward to working with
the talented team here in
Manchester and across the
wider north.”
Shoosmiths' corporate team
has advised public and private
companies, management
teams, investors and
debt providers through the
business life cycle. Shoosmiths
work with businesses
from start-up and
first round finance through
to mergers and acquisitions,
MBO and MBI transactions,
development funding and
on exits, by way of sale, listing
or private equity investment.
Nationally, the corporate
team is ranked in first place
by deal volume in Experian's
2016 MarketIQ UK & Ireland
M&A league tables. The
team was recognised for its
mergers and acquisitions
expertise at the 2015 M&A
Awards, winning the Law
Firm of the Year category
New Books added to the
Manchester Law Library Society
Taking a Case to The European Court of Human Rights 4th ed OUP 2017
IDS Employment Law Handbook Discrimination at Work 2017
Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases 14th ed 2017
Building Contract Claims 5th ed.
Waste Regulation Law 2nd ed.
Banking Litigation 4th ed Sweet & Maxwell 2017
Stamp Duty Land Tax 2nd ed.
Listed Buildings & other Heritage Assets 5 th ed.
Accidents Abroad International Personal Injury Claims 2nd ed.
Lightman & Moss on the Law of Administrators & Receives of Companies 6th ed.
Ross on Inheritance Act Claims 4th ed.
Whistleblowing Law and Practice 3rd ed 2017
Harry Pratt, Rachel Evans, Salim Kuraishe, Asli Akoya
Onward Buildings, 207 Deansgate,
Manchester, M3 3NW
Tel: 0161 236 6312
Email: issuedesk@manchesterlawlibrary.co.uk

Movers & Shakers 11
Meet the Vice President of the Law Society
Christina Blacklaws talks to Julia Baskerville about her
career in the law, the current challenges facing the legal
profession and her themes for 2018...
Christina Blacklaws studied Jurisprudence at Oxford before
joining JB Wheatley, a community law firm in London
where she qualified as a solicitor in 1991. Christina
specialised in family and childcare work and in 2006 set
up the family law practice Blacklaws Davis LLP.
Blacklaws Davis LLP was a hybrid law firm with nine high
street offices, but also had 50 self employed or freelance
lawyers and became one of the largest specialist family law
firms in the country. The firm merged with London-firm TV
Edwards LLP in 2011 and Christina was a senior member
partner and responsible for the firm’s business development
before joining the Co-operative Legal Services (CLS).
Christina was engaged by CLS to launch their family law division.
Christina, with her colleagues, set up a nationwide
law department, which included a full range of fixed costs
and a consistent quality service. They also developed a number
of self-help tools for clients including web chats,
YouTube presentations and Twitter feeds. Once the family
law division was established and operating successfully,
Christina was appointed Director of Policy for CLS and was
responsible for business development and strategy.
Christina moved to top 100 firm, Cripps LLP as chief operating
officer and is now their Director of Innovation.
Christina has many years experience in family law and she
was chair of the Law Society’s Family Law Committee and
is a current member of the Family Justice Council. She says
that family law has undergone enormous changes since she
qualified and the biggest impact has been the reduction of
legal aid which has impacted family law firms and departments
and, of course, their clients. In addition society has
changed, the way people live has changed. Christina adds,
“The law needs to reflect the world in which we live and the
structure of families has moved on significantly. One thing
that hasn’t changed is the law relating to co-habiting couples
and the Government really needs to introduce legislation.
There are over 5 million people in the UK in long-term
co-habiting relationships, who have few legal rights and
there have been great miscarriages of justice. The Law Society
have been battling for many years on this issue, but
there is a lack of will by the Government to introduce legislation
to protect these individuals.”
Christina joined the Council of the Law Society in 2002 and
is the representative for the Women Lawyer’s Division. She
has been a member of the Regulatory Affairs Board and
chaired the Legal Affairs and Policy Board. She became Vice
President of the Law Society in July.
Christina says that there are numerous challenges for both
the Law Society and the profession. One of the most significant
of these is the SRA Handbook. Christina says, “Yet again
we have serious concerns about the SRAs proposals. Firstly
the SRA propose that a newly qualified solicitor will be able
to set up their own firm as soon as they qualify. Currently the
rule is three years after qualification and after management
training. When solicitors qualify, they have the support and
guidance of experienced practitioners. If this proposal were
to be implemented there could be very junior and inexperienced
solicitors giving unsupervised legal advice. The proposals
to allow solicitors to work as solicitors in completely
unregulated businesses is not good for the solicitors’ brand
and will essentially create a 2-tier profession. The Law Society
prides itself on the excellence of the profession and
when I have spoken to solicitors up and down the country
they are aghast at this suggestion.” A range of further proposals
can only, the Law Society asserts, put consumers at
risk and undermine trust in legal services. A proposed new
tier of solicitors would, under SRA proposals, work in unregulated
entities and the Society believes these practitioners
wouldn't have to have the same professional indemnity insurance
as other solicitors, wouldn't pay into the solicitors
compensation fund and wouldn't inevitably afford their
clients legal professional privilege (LPP). A further new class
of solicitor would freelance, with neither a firm over their
head nor the badge of sole practitioner. These changes risk
serious damage to the solicitor brand, the Law Society asserts.
Access to Justice is a constant challenge for the Law Society,
the profession and society. Christina says “We have had repeated
cuts to the legal aid budget, and the introduction of
LASPO in 2012 hit many practitioners and more importantly
vulnerable clients. Those areas particularly affected are
housing, family law and social welfare issues.” Earlier this
year the Law Society published a report “LASPO - four years
on” which highlights the very real damage that the legislation
has created in terms of Access to Justice. Christina adds
“There is very little legal aid available for civil cases and for
those who are eligible for funding, they are finding it increasingly
difficult to get the assistance they need in their
locality. This has had a huge impact on society. We know
that early intervention in these cases by an expert solicitor
is crucial to prevent problems escalating.”
And of course, there is Brexit. Christina says that the decision
to leave the European Union has and will continue to create
huge challenges for our society. She says that in the run up
to the Referendum in June 2016, and as the Brexit negotiations
continue, the Law Society has been fully engaged with
the Government and has lobbied on behalf of the profession.
Christina says that civil justice co-operation throughout
the European Union is absolutely crucial for citizens of
the UK and to remove this would be catastrophic. She adds,
“The Government has listened to the Society and agree that
if the system of civil justice co-operation is working then it
should be retained, or at the very minimum replaced with
something very similar.” Likewise, the Law Society want to
see the UK Government work with the EU in the areas of
criminal justice and security, in particular the “European Arrest
Warrant” scheme. Christina adds, “This is paramount for
the security and protection of our citizens.”
Currently many UK law firms have offices throughout the EU
and solicitors are able to work in European law firms without
restriction. Christina wants to ensure that firms and individuals
are still able to do this without barriers or
restrictions, but adds that she is quietly confident that this
will be retained.
Still on the theme of Brexit, the Law Society has just
launched a new campaign “The Global Legal Centre”. The
video campaign, featuring voxpops from senior legal figures,
aims to promote England and Wales as a world centre
for legal excellence. Christina says, “We have a wealth of
legal experts which we want to shout about and tell the rest
of the world that we are certainly open for business.”
Christina will take over as President of the Law Society in
July 2018, and has already given careful consideration to her
themes and ambitions for her year in office. Firstly Christina
wants to highlight and celebrate the pro bono work done
by solicitors and emphasise the huge contribution the profession
makes to society despite the cuts to legal aid. She
adds “Over the past 3 years the profession has undertaken
over 2.5 million hours of pro bono work, equating to approximately
£600M work. The incredible response from the
profession to the recent attacks in Manchester and London,
and the Grenfell Tower fire illustrate this, and we need to celebrate
this.”
The diversity of the profession will also feature in Christina’s
plans, “In terms of diversity there is no room for complacency.
The legal profession needs to reflect the society it
serves. The profession is almost 50% female and 15% are
from BAME backgrounds, but at a senior level these figures
are much lower and the Law Society is trying to assist firms
to address this.” “Women in leadership” will also be part of
this diversity issue as well as looking at Artificial Intelligence
and using technology. Christina hopes that the Law Society
can help firms make informed decisions about technology.
Clearly the Law Society and the profession are facing numerous
challenges to the practice of the law, none more
challenging than the new world outside of the European
Union. However Christina concludes, “We need to look at
the opportunities that present themselves and seek augmentation
rather than replacement.”

12 Interview
City Profile: Jane Forbes, Chair of pro manchester
Jane Forbes of PwC LLP, is
the Lead Partner of the
NW Government & Public
Services Team. Jane recently
took over as Chair
of pro-manchester from
Manchester solicitor, Alison
Loveday.
After completing a Masters
degree in European Politics
at the University of Leeds,
Jane joined PwC’s Leeds office
in 2001 and qualified as
a Chartered Accountant in
2004. She moved to the
Manchester office in 2009 to
set up a Risk Assurance
business in the Government
and Public Services market.
Jane was made Partner in
2013 and has since then led
PwC’s Government and
Public Services practice
across the North West.
Jane’s clients have included
both national and regional
Government agencies and
public bodies, including
three Regulators, ten Registered
Social Landlords and
five of the North West’s
Higher Education Institutions.
Jane has a keen interest
in the Social Housing
sector and spent two years
on secondment to the
Housing Regulator where
she headed up the Internal
Audit and Risk Team. Jane is
PwC’s National Lead Partner
for Social Housing, a role
she took on in June 2017.
Jane became directly involved
with pro-manchester
in 2010 when she joined
the Skills Committee. Jane
says “As a newcomer to the
city, I became involved with
pro-manchester as a way of
establishing new contacts
and building relationships
within the business community.
Pro Manchester is
fantastic for providing you
with a ready-made network,
it certainly worked for me.”
Jane describes pro-manchester
as the leading B2B
organisation in the North
West, the natural gateway
to business in our region,
which excels at bringing
businesses together, providing
a forum for collaboration
and innovation.
One of its key successes has
been the strength and
depth of its sector group
programme which provides
business development opportunities
and knowledge
sharing between organisations
and professionals. The
sector groups are:
Green Economy
Sports Industry
Creative and Digital
Science and Technology
Healthcare
Hotels and Leisure
Retail and E-Commerce
Transport and Infrastructure
Food and Drink
Regeneration and Property
Advanced Manufacturing
Pro-manchester has over
330 members, including the
biggest names within the Financial
and Professional
Service sector and a select
number of corporate members
from across the region.
Within these companies sit
over 5,000 individual members.
At the start of Jane’s tenure
as Chair she outlined her
goals for the coming year.
Her first priority is to promote
and champion the
work and expertise of the Financial
and Professional
Services Sector, which she
sees as being the “enabler”
for the city region’s growth.
Secondly, Jane believes that
pro-manchester’s breadth
of knowledge and collaborative
approach means it is
perfectly positioned to be
the ‘voice for business’ in
Greater Manchester; and
her third priority is to extend
the reach of the promanchester
sector groups
to strengthen linkages
across industries for its
members.
Jane believes there are
clearly challenging and uncertain
times ahead for
Manchester businesses in
the post-Brexit era, but is
confident that the region
will ‘weather the storm’ as
this uncertainty also creates
opportunity, and strengthens
the case for redoubling
the focus on collaboration
and innovation within the
business sector.
The Financial and Professional
Services sector has an
important role to play in this
as not only does it successfully
deliver its own growth
engine but it support the
four key growth sectors in
the Greater Manchester
Strategy: Advanced Manufacturing;
Creative, Digital &
Technology; Energy and Environment;
and Life Science
& Healthcare. Jane says that
one of the key objectives of
the pro-manchester Skills
Committee is to ensure that
there is the skills pool to enable
these industries to
grow. The Skills Committee
works alongside member
firms to determine their
skills needs whilst also developing
relationships with
the region’s universities,
professional bodies and
skills providers in order to
support and develop appropriate
solutions.
Pro-manchester also runs a
series of 60 Hot Topic seminars
each year featuring
talks from expert speakers
on a range of issues such as
corporate finance, marketing,
risk management, so-
Jane Forbes, Chair of pro Manchester
cial media and insolvency.
Pro-manchester continues
to focus on the importance
of the local economy and
last month hosted a major
economics conference focused
on the Economics of
Greater Manchester and inclusive
growth. This follows
the success of last year’s
conference which focused
on China and the opportunities
for the region’s economy.
Jane lives in Manchester
with her husband Martin
and 5 year old daughter
Evie who has just started
school. Jane is a life-time
supporter of Manchester
United and a self-confessed
shopaholic. She also plays
the piano and has recently
started to take golf lessons
with Evie, who according to
Jane, is already a much better
player!
For further information visit:
www.pro-manchester.co.uk
Julia Baskerville
Browne Jacobson signs ‘best friends’ agreement with leading Chinese law firm
Law firm Browne Jacobson,
which has an office in
Manchester, has strengthened
its international offering
by entering into a
formal ‘best friends’
agreement with one of the
leading law firms in China.
The firm has signed a Memorandum
of Understanding
(MoU) with Guanghe Law
Firm, the largest law firm in
South China.
The MoU will allow both
firms the opportunity to
provide a more integrated
service offering and will include
sharing information
and knowledge on topical
issues in areas such as intellectual
property and
brands, immigration, corporate
and property, environmental,
corporate finance
and technology.
Guanghe Law Firm is the
largest law firm in South
China with over 600 lawyers
across 13 locations. The firm
has its headquarters in
Shenzhen - a city which
links mainland China with
Hong Kong and is widely
known as the tech design
and manufacturing capital
of the world. Its other office
locations are in Beijing,
Chengdu, Wuhan,
Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Dong-
Guan, Qianhai, Longgang,
Taipei, New York City,
Toronto and Montevideo.
The firm specialises in securities,
corporate and finance,
litigation/arbitration, commercial
transactions, construction
and real estate,
intellectual property, entertainment,
labor and employment,
taxation and
international transactions.
The arrangement will complement
Browne Jacobson’s
existing membership of
Pangea Net- an international
network of independent
law firms, which it
co-founded in 2009.
Dominic Offord, head of
Browne Jacobson’s Commercial
Disputes Resolution
team, along with intellectual
property partner Selina
Hinchcliffe, met with representatives
of Guanghe Law
Firm.
Dominic Offord said:“Although
this is not an exclusive
relationship, we have
already worked collaboratively
on some client matters
and this agreement
builds on the well-established
ties we have established
with colleagues at
Guanghe Law Firm over a
number of years.
“Many of our clients have
global ambitions and so
having a close relationship
with Guanghe Law Firm,
one of the most highly respected
and leading law
firms in China, will prove to
be a significant advantage.
“Our clients will be able to
mutually benefit from our
combined sector and local
market expertise in two of
the world’s leading
economies. We are also
planning to explore opportunities
where we can pitch
jointly for projects and work
where there is a strong synergy
between our sector
specialisms.”

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14
5 reasons to outsource your payroll
By Julian Bryan, Managing Director, Quill
The clock is ticking for UK employers who haven’t yet gone
live with auto enrolment workplace pensions. The Pensions
Regulator is now routinely publishing details of employers
who've been ordered to pay fines for ignoring new pension
rules.
If you're not compliant already, now's the time to act. However,
if you’re battling to get to grips with auto enrolment, there’s
never been a better time to outsource the increasingly burdensome
payroll function. Here are five reasons why:-
1. Auto enrolment applies to everyone
Even if you employ just one person, you’re still obliged to provide
a workplace pension. It’s the law. Whether you’re a small,
medium or large-sized business, you have a legal requirement
to comply by your allocated staging date. Go to www.thepensionsregulator.gov.uk/employers/staging-date.aspx
to find out
your date.
2. Punishments are enforced
Just as with any breaches of the law, there are punishments for
non-compliance. The Pensions Regulator issues financial penalties
ranging from £400 fixed penalty notices right up to £50,000
civil penalties for companies failing to engage with auto enrolment
or pay contributions due.
And it’s not just the financial cost, although this is obviously deterrent
enough. The negative publicity surrounding your unlawful
activity may cause irreparable damage to your professional
reputation. As a legal service provider, this is extremely embarrassing.
Even worse, you may lose clients as their trust in you becomes
questionable and, as a result, they begin to conduct their
legal affairs elsewhere with one of your competitors.
3. Managing work-based pensions is demanding and complicated
Even before your staging date arrives, there’s a lot to do. This includes
assessing your workforce to see who’s eligible, choosing
a pension scheme and communicating with your staff regarding
their options.
One of your earliest decisions relates to the individual pay components
which determine your employees’ qualifying earnings,
for example overtime, commission and bonuses. It’s up to you
to make a reasonable judgement as to whether each element
fits within the definition of qualifying earnings.
Even when you’ve reached your staging date, your responsibilities
don’t end there. Employees must be re-assessed, contributions
re-calculated, opt-ins added, opt-outs removed with
refunds given each payroll cycle. Not forgetting general record
keeping and reporting which is part-and-parcel of maintaining
a clear audit trail of transactions. It’s a mammoth task and one
which needs tackled every few weeks ad infinitum.
4. Selecting a pension provider is a difficult decision
Pension providers are all different. With no restrictions on
charges, some providers apply additional administration costs.
Providers’ benefits, such as range of investment options and
web-based software support, vary drastically too.
Your choice of pension provider will influence the costs to your
business of auto enrolment as well as determine the administrative
processes involved. So, the small print matters and needs
to be carefully checked, compared and questioned before you
sign on the dotted line.
5. There are other payroll duties to manage
Your payroll clerk has all his/her existing responsibilities to take
care of too, ie. your employees’ salaries. After all, at the end of
each month, your employees have to get paid.
On a standalone basis, payroll management can be a full time
job, covering salary processing, SMP, SPP and PAYE payments,
payslip production, in-year and year-end reporting, as stipulated
by ever-changing HMRC legislation. A heavier workload
PAYROLL HEADACHES?
resulting from the introduction of auto enrolment pensions
and, suddenly, the role assumes unmanageable proportions.
As a Bacs-authorised bureau, we’re permitted to perform your
payroll function on your behalf, including transferring money
from your business bank account directly into your employees’
bank accounts to pay their monthly salaries, thus significantly
lightening the load on you.
Hopefully by now you’ve gained a better understanding of
what’s demanded by auto enrolment. You may also have come
to the conclusion that you simply don’t have the capacity to
cope in house with your already-stretched human resources. In
which case, our Quill Payroll outsourcing service is an increasingly
appealing option.
www.quillpayroll.co.uk
info@quillpayroll.co.uk
0845 226 2587
Julian Bryan joined
Quill as Managing Director
in 2012 and is
also the Chair of the
Legal Software Suppliers
Association. Quill is
the UK’s largest outsourced
legal cashiering
provider with 40 years’
experience supplying
outsourced services and
software to the legal
profession.
O FE
Ever-changing Legislation...Late Pay Runs...Missed Deadlines
Hard to Manage...Complicated Processes...Insecure Data
Feel-good RTI & auto enrolment compliance
Pain-free secure electronic payslip delivery
Instant pension management cure option
Healthy 'silent partner' bureau service
Vigorous personal, flexible service
Painless payroll management
Call or click for a fast-acting remedy
0845 226 2587
info@quillpayroll.co.uk
www.quillpayroll.co.uk/headaches

PEN
OR
NTRIES
For more information:
Event host Media partner Marketing partner
www.manchesterlegalawards.co.uk
@MLAwards

16 News
Law firm celebrates dual award win
at LFS Conveyancing Awards
An employee of Frodsham
law firm, Rowlinsons Solicitors,
achieved a double
award win at this year’s
LFS National Conveyancing
Awards.
Victoria Stone, who works in
the firm’s Residential Property
Department won the
Young Conveyancer of the
Year Award for the North
and subsequently the overall
Young Conveyancer
Award for the country.
The awards, which were
held on September 20th at
the VOX Conference Centre
at the NEC in Birmingham,
reward Conveyancing firms
across the country that offer
exceptional levels of client
service. In order to win an
award, firms or individuals
undergo a multiple stage
judging process including
mystery shopping exercises
and interviews.
Victoria joined Rowlinsons
2010 as a Receptionist and
was quickly promoted to
Office Junior, Assistant then
Conveyancing Fee Earner.
With the support of Rowlinsons,
Victoria has studied
part-time at The Law Academy
in Liverpool in order to
obtain her Level 6 Diploma
in Law and Practice and will
shortly qualify as a Legal Executive.
“I was delighted to be nominated
but to win both
awards was a fantastic surprise
and the LFS awards
ceremony itself was a great
event” commented Victoria.
Tom Parkinson, Director and
Head of the Conveyancing
department, said: “I am delighted
and extremely
proud that Victoria has won
these awards. She has set a
great example to the firm
and to the industry, working
hard to develop her career
and studying at the same
time.
“We are always keen to promote
from within wherever
possible and invest in people
who demonstrate the
skills and enthusiasm to further
themselves. The Prop-
Victoria Stone
erty Department and the
firm as a whole continues to
grow year on year, and a lot
of the credit for this must go
to our staff who continue to
deliver exceptional levels of
customer service to clients
both locally and nationally.”
Monthly Competition
Nu Spa (Park Inn Manchester) – Spa Day for 2
nu # spa # Manchester # # in the # heart # # of # the # city # centre welcomes you
to a haven of peace and tranquillity, a sensory retreat in which
to # unwind # and begin # # # the journey # # # towards # # total wellbeing. # # # #
Enjoy # full # use of # # the fitness # # suite, # heated # # pool, # sauna # and steam # #
# #
room. # nu # spa # Manchester # # can offer # # luxurious # Dermalogica
# # # # #
treatments # of your # choice, spa # # days # or spa # breaks # # with # hotel # accommodation
# #
# # and # breakfast. # # The # perfect urban
oasis!
Your # chance # # to # win # a # spa # day # # for 2!
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
This package includes full use of our health club facilities, and
# # # # # # # # # # # #
upon arrival at nu spa you will also be provided with a robe,
towel % and % slippers % for % maximum % % % comfort and % relaxation. % %
% % #
Each guest will receive two 20 minute treatments with this
% % %
package, # # which # can # be # chosen # from the # three # options below:
# # # # # # # #
1. Hot Stone Massage and Mini Dermalogica Facial
2. # Detox # Back # Treatment # # and # Revitalising # # # Eye Rescue
3. Indian Head Massage and OPI File & Polish
In # addition # # to receiving # # Two fantastic # treatments # # # you # will also # # # #
receive # # a bottle # # of mineral # # water, # # and # you can # also take advantage
# # of 25% off # any additional treatments on the price list and
# # #
25% off food in RBG restaurant.
# #
Influencer marketing –
not just for makeup
By now we’re all familiar
with the concept of influencer
marketing.
A relationship is developed
with an authoritative or influential
person, and they
are persuaded to talk about
a product or brand online,
sometimes in the form of a
review or by posting Instagram
photos of the product.
But while the practice is
well-established in industries
such as beauty and fitness,
it’s a potentially
untapped area for B2B or
professional services marketers
to explore.
Why work with
influencers?
The biggest benefit of this
approach is that influencers
lend you credibility and
trust. A relatively public figure,
particularly in the business
or legal world, will be
risking their reputation on
whom they endorse – and
potential clients will be well
aware of this.
ing followers or subscribers,
influencers can expose you
to new audiences; for example,
their own followers and
subscribers. Your first task
will therefore be to identify
someone who has that
clout with your audience,
and whose own audience is
relevant to you.
How can you leverage influencers?
• Sharing – in its most traditional
form, influencer marketing
could involve them
promoting you via word of
mouth to their clients who
may need you. This can be
taken online via social interactions
or links on their site.
A good relationship could
also inspire an influencer to
share your content with
their followers; if, of course,
it is high quality enough
and is relevant to their audience.
• Guest content – invite an
influencer to create content
to be published on your site
and social channels, which
will help your audience - or
As well as impressing existyou
could ask them to provide
expert comment in a
whitepaper or video you’re
producing. Similarly, they
could reciprocate, featuring
your legal insight in their
next campaign.
•Events – their presence as a
guest speaker at your event
could drive attendance, and
also give clients valuable insight;
and will demonstrate
your expertise to new audiences
if you’re invited to
speak at their events.
Of course, influencers may
want something in return –
the best relationships are
reciprocal, so you need to
understand what you can
offer them that adds real
value. But more importantly,
your audiences need
to be aligned, so that everything
you do for each other
is relevant.
#
To win a Spa Day for two answer the following question:
In which hotel is Nu Spa located?
and send to
FranEccles-Bech@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk
no later than 9th November 2017
The winner of the Don Giovanni competition was
Jo McLeod, Head of Relationship Management – North
The Law Society
#

Legal Costs Update 17
Legal Costs Update
Here, in Kain Knight Costs Lawyers regular, monthly legal costs update, we focus on those
cases which we believe are likely to have a practical relevance for its members. We welcome
feedback and if there is an area, topic or case you would like us to address, please let us know.
Long Vacation over. New term. New Lord Chief Justice. New President
of the Supreme Court and now that all the swearing-in and
opening of the New Legal Year has been accomplished, that
means new costs cases!
The “hot’ news is that the Court of Appeal has now heard the appeal
in BNM v MGM, which is the leap-frogged decision from the Senior
Costs judge about how the ‘new” proportionality rule in CPR 44.3(5)
should be applied in proceedings for detailed assessment. A strong
constitution : the Master of the Roll , sitting with LJs Longmore and
Irwin, with judgment, as expected, having been reserved. A key issue
for decision is whether additional liabilities (After-the- Event insurance
premiums and success fees) are to be taken into account when applying
the rule. Below, two costs judges have said “yes” and three have
said “no”, so it will be very interesting to see how the Court squares the
circle.
Indemnity basis costs (1) -lucky defendant
The value of an award of indemnity basis costs has grown enormously
since the “new” proportionality test was implemented because CPR
44.3(5) only applies to standard basis costs. Perhaps that has been the
reason for the increase in applications by successful parties for the
costs on the indemnity basis. Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd v
Merit Merrell Technology Ltd [2017] 5 Costs LO 631 is a good example.
Having set out the authorities concisely (judgment para [8] to
[14]), Fraser J concluded that ICI should pay indemnity basis costs on
account of a wholesale disregard for their contractual obligations and
other conduct which had demonstrated “turpitude on the part of
those involved”!
Indemnity basis costs (2) - not so lucky defendant !
Claimant sues you : you make three offers, all of which are turned
down, the claimant’s expert is discredited, the defence stands up, the
claim fails, and you ask for your costs on the indemnity basis – should
be a formality, since if the boot had been on the other foot and you
had failed to beat the claimant’s offer, you would be paying indemnity
basis costs under CPR 36.17(4)(b) !
Far from it! As the Governors and Company of the Bank of Ireland v
Watts Group Plc [2017] EWHC 2472 (Ch), illustrates, the rule does not
confer any automatic entitlement on a defendant who makes an effective
Part 36 offer to indemnity basis costs. “I know this misalignment
is considered by some to be unjustified, but it remains the law”,
said Coulson J, so Watts Group had to be content with standard basis
costs, save for expert witness work which was allowed on the indemnity
basis.
Payment on account in a costs budgeted case
What about some money on account of the costs paid out? Same case
(Watts Group). No indemnity basis costs, but can we, as the successful
defendant, at least have a payment for the amount of the last approved
budget namely £384,424, albeit that our actual costs are now
£616,000?
Answer ; the £384,424 is the starting point which the court has already
assessed as a proportionate and reasonable figure, but you can
only have 85% of that sum in order to give proper effect to rule 3.18.
And, by the way, it is now too late to apply to increase the budget to
take account of the £616,000 you have now spent because the interim
payment can never be higher than the last approved budgeted figure
-see paragraphs [13] – [18] of Coulson J’s judgment.
Tough stuff, but how does that square with Thomas Pink Ltd v Victoria’s
Secret [2015] 3 Costs LR 463 Birss J and Barkhuyson v Hamilton
[2016] 6 Costs LR 1217 Warby J where increases to budgets were allowed
after the trial ? It illustrates yet more inconsistency at High
Court level in costs budgeting, and when and if a budget can be increased
by the trial judge following judgment.
Fixed Costs regimes- limits on Solicitors’ duties to advise
Back in the Court of Appeal where Lord Justice Jackson is beginning
his last full legal term as a Lord Justice before retirement, in
Thomas v Hugh James Ford Simey Solicitors [2017] 5 Costs LO 643,
Sir Rupert criticised solicitors who had attempted to reopen a settlement
in the Vibration White Finger litigation on the basis that the original
solicitors had been negligent. The claim had first been brought
under a fixed cost scheme for low value personal injury and had been
settled seven years earlier. The Claimant had then been “recruited” by
a new firm of solicitors which had sought to reopen the settlement on
the basis that his former solicitors had been negligent in having failed
to make any claim in respect of decorating, “DIY” and gardening which
would have increased his damages by £16,650. In dismissing the appeal,
Sir Rupert did not mince his words. Solicitors acting on fixed fees
could not be expected to “turn over every stone” and to pursue avenues
which the client had closed down. As he put it succinctly “the
civil justice system exists to enable injured parties to recover compensation
for genuine wrongs. It does not exist to service artificial claims
stirred up by advertisements.“ A salutary message to ambulance
chasers.
Non-Party Costs orders
Non-party costs orders, or at least applications to make them, are now
fairly common, but a useful case as a point of reference is the decision
of HHJ Saffman in Montpelier Business Reorganisation Ltd v Armitage
Jones LLP [2017] 5 Costs LO 659. Here the situation was
slightly unusual; the claim was dismissed, but the claimant had been
unable to discharge the costs orders due to its insolvency. Applications
were then made to join various defendants on the basis that they
had had much to gain from the outcome of the proceedings and had
been the real party to the litigation. The judge accepted that submission
in relation to the 7th Defendant and his judgment contains a
useful resume of all the case law on this point.
Award of costs and statutory demands
Falling out with the client is seldom a good idea and usually ends in
tears. Dunhill v Hughmans (a firm) [2017] 5 Costs LO 589 is a good
example. As happens with dispiriting frequency, the dispute began as
a claim for the solicitor’s unpaid fees, which was met with a defence
and counterclaim alleging negligence. Summary judgment was
granted on the claim, but was later set aside and somewhere between
the two, the solicitors served a statutory demand and commenced
bankruptcy proceedings. Issues then arose about who should be paying
who in respect of the application to set the demand aside. The litigation
is ongoing, but for present purposes, note should be taken of
Barling J’s caution in a 72 paragraph judgment: “This sorry saga exemplifies
what happens when litigants set in motion satellite proceedings
prematurely, in the face of circumstances which render almost
inevitable the unnecessary expenditure of the parties’ and the court’s
time and resources. None of this need have happened if the respondent
[solicitor] had waited until the outcome of the oral renewal application
for permission to appeal”.
These are a selection of autumn cases. As always, we do not report all
costs cases, but those published are the ones likely to be of most practical
importance.
Please contact Nick McDonnell:
nick.mcdonnell@kain-knight.co.uk
or Colin Campbell:
colin.campbell@kain-knight.co.uk
if there are any points you wish to discuss.
Nick McDonnell
Colin Campbell

18 Management Matters
Management Matters
This column is now into its eighth year and feedback is still good. We would still like to receive observations and ideas for
future issues. Please mail Bill Kirby at billkirby@professionalchoiceconsultancy.com or the publisher Julia Baskerville at
j.baskerville@jbaskerville.co.uk
This month:
• Significant acquisition confirming the
demands from the fast developing market
place-The trend for integrating with
external expertise escalates
• “Boss” or a “Leader” – here is one topic
where if necessary the nice principles have
to be laid aside
The legal market is obviously listening to the significant
benefits of outsourcing key activities to save costs, enhance
performance, increase revenue and aid security and compliance.
Hosted IT, the personal pa services from Moneypenny –
quality, peaks and troughs, out of hours and the whole thing
– saving costs and enhancing client experience.
Document Direct www.documentdirect.co.uk (MLS Advantage
member) because of its own success and growth has
made the acquisition of Voicepath – a significant competitor.
Services provided are outsourced digital dictation transcription
and document production. The result is:
• A bigger and stronger infrastructure making
more highly qualified transcription resources
available to clients.
• A 24 hour, 7 day a week service, enabling fee
earners to receive their work back much more
quickly, and at times of the day to suit their needs.
• Paying only for work done which cuts law firm
costs and can support any appropriate
increasing, reducing or managing of headcount
to improve or maintain profitability.
• Greater ability to free up office space for fee
earners and other higher value activities.
• Recognition from Law Society of England &
Wales, MLS, Law Net, Law Share
• ISO9001 ( Quality Control), ISO27001 (Information
Security Management) and ISO22301 ( Disaster
Recovery and Business Continuity) compliance
and security accreditations.
“Boss” or a “Leader” – here is one topic where if necessary
the nice principles have to be laid aside.
Social media over the last few months has entertained me
outlining the constituents of both styles but there is evidence
that there are still some key areas within law firm
where the appealing to the better nature of “luddites” has
to stop.
Most firms now have a business strategy, or as a minimum,
that partners (owner/directors) have a declared interest in
what they want going forward.
So let us assume that this is the case – we understand where
the business is now and where we want it to be in three
years, we have a budget for 12 months (maybe even a
rolling forecast), we have delegated accountabilities to department
heads, we have set expectations on our fee earners
in terms of time and billing. We understand the reports
and KPIs we need to make things happen in terms of performance,
recovery and /or exploitation. We know we have
to enhance efficiency and communications at the same
time as being secure, resilient and comply with rules and
regulations.
The world for a law firm has changed since the Legal Services
Bill (2007), Act (2010) and the recession in 2008. A key
element is the use of IT and even now we can witness lack
of use, lack of education, resistance to using existing IT and
obstacles to finding new products and applications that can
enable the firm and its owners to achieve those objectives.
A department head these days is responsible for billing,
gross profit (billing – direct costs), fee earner efficiency and
time recording, his departments working capital, it’s business
development, compliance and of course client satisfaction
and to be realistic this means everyone in the team
using IT efficiently and willingly – but in many cases they are
not.
I have written in previous months about so many department
heads not being aware of their existing IT capability –
they need to change this by ensuring they are fully up to
speed with the latest releases as well as getting feedback
from staff who see some potential ways of improving activities
and of course those that are not bothering to use the
system as specified.
I am still finding firms who despite all the pressures around
performance and working capital who are avoiding making
decisions on upgrading their software
• Cost is no longer a reason not to proceed as with
the right system and financing arrangements a
return on investment is almost immediate – we
have covered that too
• I have to many other things that have to be done
– avoidance of the effort needed and lack of
proper prioritisation and of course delegation
• “The accounts team wouldn’t like to have to
change the way they work” – something else has
to change
• “The secretaries and fee earners don’t use the
current system properly let alone want to make a
change – really
I read an article (social media again) by a long standing and
successful IT consultant Andrew Simmans (Andrew@simmans.com
) and below I have summarised some of the
softer and key points he made.
• Communication and testing of understanding
with all staff needs to be intense and two way to
avoid misunderstandings
• Training sessions, even if well timed are not
enough and most people need support back at
their desks and computers – a few “super users”
will not be wasted
• People need the time and space to understand
• There should be involvement at all levels in work
flow and report development with a large
amount of piloting
• There needs to be follow up by team testing use
and understanding and as a result there should
be some preparedness to change
• There needs to be an effective and reviewable
project plan that allows for controlled slippage
and recovery
• The system should be used for 6 months with a
methodology for capturing ideas from users with
subsequent controlled mini projects
I tend to go a little further here and generally recommend
that if your supplier has a workflow straight out of the box,
which many do now, I usually suggest that the firms goes
live with that solution (it is after all successful elsewhere) unless
there are any glaring issues. During that six months
have a methodology for capturing initiatives and ideas and
then in a controlled way prioritise changes/enhancements
based on a scoring of client demand/compliance needs/enhanced
efficiency/more gross and therefore net profit. This
can then be an on-going methodology (I have a system if
anyone would like to ask for it) of prioritisation, planning
and implementation. Departments and IT then know exactly
where they are.
It also helps to have effective payment terms with the vendor.
They can be surprisingly flexible.
Project Plan * Priorities * Authorisation * Controlled
Methodology
Involvement and Buy In
I suggest this is where the leadership element can really
contribute to involvement, buy in and success.
Once the management team has made a decision that the
firm cannot be getting enough out of its IT to support its
business objectives then people need to know that this is
the view. The initial decision does not have to be that we are
going to go to another supplier but that things have to
change.
Every department head needs to have a conversation about
what changes could be made to his IT application to help
him/her achieve business objectives and if this sort of thing
was available how acceptable would the head and individuals
within the team be to making change.
Once this has been established an early conversation with
the current vendor would not go amiss (assuming this has
not already been adopted) about why these priorities are
not available. These conversations also provide a specification
that could go to other vendors. Due diligence can happen
later but ideally you will get to a point where you could
see three vendors in one day to do a demonstration against
the criteria. Attendees need to be as many department
heads as possible along with some key support staff and effectively
a preferred supplier identified by the end of that
day for subsequent due diligence. That involvement makes
all the difference. There is nothing worse for a department
head than there whole way of working being changed because
of a decision by the Managing Partner, Finance Head
or IT Head without the necessary involvement.
It may be a pain but done well it can be fairly speedy and
not time consuming but above all the results are likely to be
that much more effective.
Bill Kirby is a director of Professional Choice Consultancy
offering advice to firms on business issues from
strategy, planning, business development, the effective
use of IT applications and IT hosting for compliance,
business continuity and DR. He can be contacted at
billkirby@professionalchoiceconsultancy.com

• Proposals would remove the need for a physical ‘wet
signature’
• Solicitors say this could lead to a drastic increase in
cases of financial abuse
Local solicitor Carol McBride from Hugh Jones Solicitors
based in Manchester has joined fellow members of Solicitors
for the Elderly in warning against proposals to turn the
LPA registration process fully digital.
An LPA is a powerful legal document that allows a person to
appoint trusted individuals to make important decisions
about their finances and property on their behalf. Under the
current process, a ‘wet signature’ – the physical signing of
the document – is required by individuals who wish to register
an LPA. But in a paper released on Thursday, the Financial
Conduct Authority (FCA) called for a fully digital system,
whereby documents could be registered completely online.
Carol McBride said: “We are extremely concerned by the
FCA’s push for fully digital powers of attorney. Although we
welcome initiatives that make LPAs more accessible, the security
of older and vulnerable people is paramounat. Under
the current system, the FCA’s vision of a secure, end-to-end
digital LPA registration process is simply not possible.
Local News 19
Local solicitor warns changes to powers of attorney may
leave older and vulnerable at risk
Local solicitor, Carol McBride from Hugh Jones Solicitors issues a
warning following the FCA’s call to turn lasting powers of attorney
(LPAs) fully digital
“Removing the requirement of a wet signature has the potential
to put thousands of people at risk of fraud and financial
abuse. An LPA requires the understanding and consent
of the donor, but without the witnessing of a physical signature,
what is to stop a family member or friend registering
a document on someone else’s behalf, perhaps even
without their knowledge?
“LPAs are extremely powerful and complex documents, and
the prospect of being able to take control of someone else’s
bank account and even their property with the few clicks of
a button is frankly reckless.”
Solicitors for the Elderly is an independent, national organisation
of over 1,500 lawyers, such as solicitors, barristers,
and chartered legal executives, who provide specialist legal
advice for older and vulnerable people and their families.
Last year, the organisation released a report raising concerns
around the current online system for LPAs, which it claims
already leaves older and vulnerable people open to abuse.
LPAs are processed by the Office of the Public Guardian
(OPG), a public body under the Ministry of Justice. The OPG
has previously considered changing the LPA application
process as part of a gradual move to take all its processes
online.
To find out more about SFE, and to speak to a lawyer near
you, go to: http://www.sfe.legal

20 Charity & CSR
News from the President’s Charity:
St Ann’s Hospice
If 2018 is the year you’re hoping to take on a new challenge, get fit, or bond even
more effectively as a team, the President’s Charity of the Year St Ann’s Hospice may
have the solution for you.
The team at the hospice is asking for as many people as possible to take on the St Ann’s
‘Go the Extra Mile’ challenge in January, to help them raise money and awareness – and
interested law firms can sign up now.
Eamonn O’Neal, Chief Executive of the hospice explained: “At St Ann’s we’re proud that
we always go the extra mile to help our patients, whether that’s with the small touches
such as arranging to get them a takeaway for supper, or by trying to grant bigger wishes
such as arranging a wedding for them and their loved one, or surprising them with a visit
from their idol.
“Our supporters are always going the extra mile to help us too, and we simply couldn’t
carry on providing our care without them. We can’t thank everyone who helps us
enough, including all of the kind Manchester Law Society members who have helped us
in a variety of different ways.
“It’s a huge task to raise the funds that are needed to deliver the specialist care our patients
need, which is why we’re asking that this January as many people as possible consider
taking on an active challenge to help raise money for our patients as part of this Go
the Extra Mile appeal.
“Participants can choose their own distance, and can take part either as individuals or as
part of a team. They can set their own timeframe, and decide what type of physical challenge
they’d like to take on. Whether it’s walking, swimming, running or cycling, or something
more unusual like hopping skipping or jumping, we can support you every step –
or leap – of the way.
“Every penny raised will help us to continue to go the extra mile in support of our patients.”
St Ann’s Hospice cares for people from its three hospice sites in Little Hulton, Heald Green
and the Neil Cliffe Centre in Wythenshawe Hospital, as well as in local communities and
the places patients call home.
Eamonn added: “January is always the time of year when people are setting resolutions
to get fitter and healthier. We’re hoping this challenge will help those taking part to kick
start their year in a positive way, whilst benefiting local people too.”
There’s no fee to take part in the Go The Extra Mile challenge, and the hospice is asking
people to simply email events@sah.org.uk or call 0161 498 3631 to register their interest.
They’ll then be sent a pack with information and tips on raising money for the charity,
sponsor forms, and help on setting up an online fundraising page.
For more information visit www.sah.org.uk/extra-mile
Shoosmiths Manchester Raises Nearly £80,000 for
Charity Foundation with Restaurant ‘Takeover’
The Manchester office of
national law firm, Shoosmiths
has raised more
than £77,000 for the Tim
Bacon Foundation, after
taking over one of the
city’s leading restaurants
in a first-of-its-kind charity
event.
Shoosmiths staged the
take-over of Australasia
restaurant on Thursday 21
September as part of
‘Dream The Impossible’, an
unprecedented event organised
by Living Ventures
Group, one of the UK’s leading
restaurant and bar operators.
In Manchester’s first ever
city-wide banquet, eight
Living Ventures venues
staged a simultaneous dining
experience for more
than 1,000 people. The
fund-raising campaign was
set up in memory of awardwinning
leisure entrepreneur,
Tim Bacon, who died
in 2016. Under the Living
Ventures umbrella, Tim created
highly successful
Nine trainee lawyers at
Browne Jacobson have
successfully raised
£10,000 for five charities,
including Bolton Lads &
Girls Club, by scaling the
three highest mountains
in England, Scotland and
Wales.
The challenge saw the
group scale Ben Nevis
(1334m), Scafell Pike (978m)
and Snowdon (1085m), a
total ascent of around
3,400m.
brands including Gusto, The
Oast House, Botanist, Blackhouse
Grills, The Alchemist,
Artisan, Australasia, Manchester
House, Grand Pacific
and the Living Room.
Shoosmiths guests enjoyed
a VIP drinks reception and
three course dinner at Australasia.
They were also invited
to take part in a
charity auction, where
sought after items included
two signed Manchester City
shirts that raised over
£2000.The firm donated all
funds raised by ticket sales
to Dream the Impossible,
helping the charity campaign
to exceed its half a
million pound fund raising
target. Money raised by the
campaign will go towards
the Tim Bacon Foundation’s
inaugural appeal for
Christie's Proton Beam Therapy
project and Maggie’s
Centres, who provide much
needed care for cancer patients
and their loved ones.
Following dinner, Shoosmiths
guests joined diners
from the seven other participating
venues at an after
party held at Manchester’s
Albert Hall, which was headlined
by singing superstar
Beverley Knight MBE.
Commenting on the event,
head of Shoosmiths Manchester,
Vaqas Farooq said:
‘It was fantastic to share this
exciting and unprecedented
event with so many
of our clients and to honour
the memory of Tim Bacon,
who left such a lasting
legacy for our city. We want
to thank everyone who supported
us and helped to
raise such an impressive
amount. We now look forward
to seeing the proceeds
raised on the night being
put to excellent use by the
Tim Bacon Foundation ’
Jeremy Roberts, CEO of Living
Ventures Group added,
‘We are extremely grateful
for the enthusiastic support
Shoosmiths have given to
this ambitious event, on
many levels.”
Browne Jacobson trainees scale Three
Peaks to raise funds for Bolton charity
photo credit: Great Run / Dan Vernon
In preparation for the event
the team took on a brutal
training regime which included
running, rock climbing
and practice hikes in the
Peak District.
The group easily exceeded
their original target of
£3,500 by raising £4,992.
The firm’s partners agreed
to match the sums raised,
resulting in £10,000 which
will be shared between all
five office charities.
Every year, each of Browne
Jacobson’s five offices nominates
a charity to support
in their local area. The firm’s
Manchester office chose to
work with ‘Bolton Lads &
Girls Club’, an organisation
which aims to provide a safe
support network for children
and young people in
the North West region. In
2016 – 17, the firm raised
over £18k for good causes
across its five office network.
Jennifer Jenkins, trainee lawyer at the firm who helped to
organise the event commented:“On behalf of the Browne
Jacobson trainees, I want to offer a huge thank you to everyone
who donated to these wonderful causes and made the
event a real success. The funds will be a great benefit to each
of the charities and knowing that has made the blisters,
muscle cramps and general exhaustion totally worth it.”
Iain Blatherwick, Managing Partner at Browne Jacobson
added:“We are incredibly proud of Jennifer, Kurt, Loren,
Alex, Ben, Joe, Karl, Laura and David on this remarkable
achievement, all in the name of charity.
“Their efforts will be a real support to some of the important
projects that each of our five fantastic office charities are
working on.
“As a firm, we take our corporate social responsibility very
seriously and remain fully committed to supporting and
partnering with worthy local causes.”
You can read the story of the trainee challenge and
make further donations here:
https://localgiving.org/fundraising/traineechallenge2017/.

Seeing things from your perspective.
With our extensive knowledge and expertise in the ATE market,
we can provide innovative and flexible solutions to meet your needs.
Call us on
0117 917 1680
Twitter.com/arag_uk
www.arag.co.uk

22 Local Groups
CILEx Update
CILEx Graduation:
The CILEx Graduation and Admissions ceremony took place at
the Jurys Inn, Milton Keynes on 7 October 2017.
CILEx Graduation & Admission ceremony offers a wonderful opportunity
to celebrate the hard work and achievement made by
CILEx members and allow members newly qualified members
to celebrate with friends, loved ones, fellow CILEx members,
CILEx Council Members and staff.
The Graduation was an enjoyable celebration for both member
becoming Graduate member of CILEx and also members qualifying
as Fellows. Over 200 members attended the ceremonies
and celebrated with friends and family.
CILEx were pleased to welcome guest Speakers HHJ Jinder
Singh Boora, Solicitor General Robert Buckland QC MP and Andrea
Coomber, Director of JUSTICE.
The President of CILEx Millicent Grant and the guest speakers
provided empowering and inspiring speeches. The speeches
encouraged the new Graduates to aim high and to consider
seeking judicial appointment in the future.
Rachel Stevens who is a CILEx Council Member and Vice-Chair
of the Greater Manchester CILEx Branch attended the Graduation.
Rachel has advised that ‘the Graduation was a magnificent
day with an emphasis on diversity, being role models and fulfilling
potential.’
Training:
The Greater Manchester CILEx Branch would like to thank Scott
Evans of SSB Compliance for providing our September training
on Data Protection. Scott has worked at some of the leading
Law firms in northern England and his in-depth knowledge of
‘real life’ issues facing law firms today equips him to give sound
advice and offer guidance through today’s regulatory framework.
The branch would also like to thank JMW for hosting the event.
The next training event will take place on Thursday 26 October
2017. Caroline Wood from Park Square Chambers will be providing
training on experts and Part 36 Questions.
Social Event/Save the Date:
The Greater Manchester CILEx branch Christmas Party will take
place on 7 December 2017. Please save the date.
Joining the branch:
If you are interested in joining the Greater Manchester CILEx
Branch or attending one of our events, please email us at
greatermanchester@cilex.org.uk or follow us on Facebook and
Twitter.
Rachel Stevens
MTSG Update
MTSG Launch Night:
Thank you to everyone who joined us at the Launch Night event at Tattu on 5th October. The
event, which was kindly sponsored by BCL Legal, was a complete sell-out. Attendees were treated
to delicious treats such as lobster and prawn toast, salt and pepper aubergine fingers and chocolate
spring rolls (a personal favourite of the evening!). Photos of the evening can now be found
on our website and social media outlets, so be sure to have a look. Our next MTSG social is our
‘Bonfire Night’ Themed event on 2nd November, which is sponsored by G2 Legal – details of how
to get tickets been circulated amongst our members. If you haven’t got your ticket yet, but would
like to get involved, please don’t hesitate to contact one of this year’s social directors Loretta
(loretta.woollams@jmw.co.uk), Georgina (georgina.anwyl@kpmg.co.uk) or Naana (naana.k@clearlawonline.co.uk)
for more details about the event.
FELT Launch:
BCL Legal joined us for another fun-filled night on 26th October at Manchester’s new venue “Be
Impossible” to celebrate the launch of the new FELT year. Another sell-out event saw attendees
networking with their peers in the ‘Gin Nest’ – a gorgeous space in the mezzanine level of the
venue. Guests were treated to canapes and drinks, and we also held our first fundraising activity
of the year by way of a charity raffle, with all proceeds raised being donated to our Charities of
the Year: Forever Manchester, The Prince’s Trust and JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
Charity Events:
On 9th November we are hosting a Bowling Event with Michael Page Legal at Dog Bowl. Tickets
for the evening cost just £6.00, and as well as a game of bowling, include food and drink – and
of course, it goes without saying, a lot of fun! A charity raffle will also be held on the night with
many fabulous prizes up for grabs. Details of the event will have been circulated to our mem-
bers via email, but if you would like to know more about the event please do not hesitate to contact
one of this year’s charities directors Heena (Heena.Kapadi@slaterheelis.co.uk) or Karlis
(k.rullis@manchester.gov.uk) for more information and details of how to purchase a ticket. All
money raised from the evening will be donated to our charities of the year – it’s set to be a great
evening!
Education:
October was a busy month for the MTSG as we visited law fairs across the city and met with many
students wanting to enter the world of law. MTSG members attended both the BBP Electives Fair
(5th October) and the MMU Careers Presentation (17th October) to provide their experience of
different practice areas and give general hints and tips to students who are looking to secure a
training contract. On 25th October MTSG members also attended an event at the University of
Manchester, talking on a panel about the journey to becoming a lawyer when you haven’t studied
an undergraduate degree in law. As well as talking on the panel, MTSG members spoke with
attendees in smaller groups taking part in a ‘speed roundtable’ answering questions on their careers
so far.
If you’re interested in advocacy, make sure to come along to our event on 9th November hosted
by Deans Court Chambers. Registration is at 5:45pm for a 6pm start, and the evening will cover
tips on instructing Counsel, as well as a talk from a senior member of Counsel on court etiquette,
and how to impress in the early years of your career. This is always a very popular sell-out event,
so make sure to sign up early if you are interested as places will be allocated on a first come, first
served basis.
If you are interested in getting involved in any of the up-coming MTSG education
events, please do not hesitate to contact Riz or Laura, the MTSG
education directors (Rizwana.haque@freshfields.com; laura.stonier@blmlaw.com).
Charlotte King
Chair of MTSG
Trainee Solicitor at JMW Solicitors LLP
Women in the Law UK Update
Career Progression
Women in the Law UK Manchester hosted another fantastic
event last month on Career Progression Jobs for the girls.
Open to both men and women, attendance was encouraged
from everyone. a wide ranged attended including Solicitors,
Barristers, Legal Executives, Trainees, Pupils, Paralegals, junior
staff members and students. There was something for everyone
to help them gain ideas to progress their career and share back
in their firms and sets. The event was designed to encourage
and support the next generation of lawyers and allow junior to
senior to learn from one another and encourage retention.
This event had a fantastic range of the judiciary from recently
Appointed judges to new recorders and experienced silk. The
impressive panel of speakers sponsored by Lincoln House
Chambers Manchester and the CBA discussed their journey and
answered questions from a keen audience. The inspiring guest
speakers;
Her Honour Judge Baxter
Her Honour Judge Landale
Miss Lisa Roberts QC and Attorney General of the Northern
Circuit
Miss Recorder Brandon of 9 St John Street Chambers
District Judge Philip Barnes - former solicitor and now at 9
St John Street Chambers
Andrew Gregory, Solicitor at Leonard Curtis
The event also launched the Women in the Law UK mentoring
Programme for mentors.
The one million mentors programme campaigns was also highlighted.
If you would like to attend the next Women in the Law event
please visit
womeninthelawuk.co.uk or email
Lisa at womeninthelawuk@gmail.com
30th November, 13th December Xmas drinks,
11 th January, 8 th Feb and 8 th March 2018 Annual Dinner
with Baroness Hale as guest speaker. We welcome our
male colleagues at our events.

Local News 23
MYSG Update
This Autumn marked the start of our MYSG year which
launched with a social event to welcome the newly qualified
solicitors in Manchester. The event was held at Revolution
Parsonage Gardens and over 70 solicitors
attended. One of our partner sponsors, Deans Court
Chambers attended with a number of their junior counsel
enabling some great relationships to be forged between
the junior barristers and solicitors in Manchester.
Thank you also to our co-sponsor Think Legal Recruitment
pictured below with our MYSG Chair Charlotte
Percy.
The NQ event is organised each year by our fantastic treasurer
Jacqui Bourke. Jacqui is embarking on a new role with
Turner Parkinson this month and we wish her every success.
Our next event is shortly upon us, the Manchester Young
Professionals Ball which is to be held on the 26th October.
This event is an excellent opportunity to network with a
number of different professionals across the city.
We have collaborated with the Manchester Young Chartered
Accountants Group, the Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors, The Town Planners Association and the Young
Bankers Association. The event is held at the Town Hall and
there is some great entertainment on offer including a live
band, caricaturist, magician and DJ. Photos will follow in
next month’s column.
date 7th December and look out for the invite which will be
circulated this month.
If you are interested or know anyone at your firm who is
looking to develop their network and business development
skills please sign up to our mailing list at
https://www.mysg.co.uk and follow us on LinkedIn and
Facebook. Members are encouraged to check the website
regularly for news and updates as we are receiving an unprecedented
amount of interest in each of our events and
attendance is on a first come first served basis.
Charlotte Percy
Chair of Manchester Young Solicitors Group
Family Law Associate
Charlotte.percy@slatergordon.co.uk
Looking ahead we are organising a Christmas Networking
event together with the Manchester Professional Network.
This will be hosted at Dirty Martini and there will be a free
Christmas present for every attendee! Please pencil in the
MLS Advantage News
Acquisition Delivers 24/7 Digital Transcription Services for the
Legal Services Sector
Leading legal transcription provider and Manchester
Law Society Advantage member, Document Direct
has acquired Voicepath to create the largest specialist
transcription provider to the legal and professional
services sector in the UK
The enhanced range of benefits that the larger group
can offer will include:
• A bigger and stronger infrastructure making
more highly qualified transcription resources available
to clients.
• A 24 hour, 7 day a week service, enabling fee
earners to receive their work back much more quickly,
and at times of the day to suit their needs.
• Paying only for work done which cuts law firm
costs and can support any appropriate increasing, reducing
or managing of headcount to improve or maintain
profitability.
• Greater ability to free up office space for fee
earners and other higher value activities.
Document Direct was established in 2005 and has a
prestigious list of legal clients in the UK and across the
globe. Voicepath has evolved from the original Dictaphone
business and primarily serves clients in the midlands,
south west and south east of England.
Martyn Best, founder of Document Direct and new managing
director of both businesses said that the firms had
come together to deliver an enhanced service to the 250
law firms they currently serve.
Mr Best said: “Both firms have an exceptional heritage in
the world of digital transcription services with a very
clear focus on the legal and related sectors. As a joint entity,
the combination of our infrastructure will enable us to provide
the most responsive service in the UK, provided by the
most highly and experienced qualified typists offering significant
savings to our clients.”
The new business will also boast some significant endorsements
and accreditations.
Document Direct is the only transcription agency in the UK
to be endorsed by the Law Society of England and Wales,
and of course it is also recommended by the Manchester
Law Society, and the Lawshare group. Voicepath has been
the long-standing recommended transcription service for
LawNet.
In a world of increasing concern over data and cyber security,
both businesses are fully UK-based and have invested
heavily in strong systems and procedures and have accreditation
to ISO9001 (Quality control standard), ISO27001 (Information
Security Management) and ISO22301 (Business
Continuity and Disaster Recovery).
Mr Best added: “The calibre of these endorsements and accreditations
reflect the very clear benefits that both businesses
offer law firms in terms of security, data protection,
compliance, cost savings, accuracy and turnaround times
helping our clients to better business performance at the
same time as client satisfaction.”
Mr Best will be working closely with Voicepath's Operations
Manager, Pauline Connolly who has been appointed a director
of Voicepath. Voicepath's directors Kerry Payne and
Robert Harris, who founded the business in 1998, have retired
from the business.
Mrs Connolly said; “Our initial focus will be to continue
doing what we are really good at - delivering fast, secure,
and accurate transcription services to all of our clients. We
have two great companies, with really good people, and I’m
looking forward to integrating our businesses so that we
can provide a further enhanced business model to help
support law firms and new clients in this growing area.”
For further information please contact Martyn Best at
martyn.best@documentdirect.co.uk or on 07798 700500
You can also find out more about Document Direct at
their web site: www.documentdirect.co.uk

Compli by Weightmans
weightmans.com
Document Direct
www.documentdirect.co.uk
Compli provides regulatory and compliance advice and assistance to law firms and others
in the legal sector. Whether you are a partnership, limited company, ABS or sole
practitioner, our flexible, tailor-made service is designed to support you in meeting the
evolving regulatory, compliance and risk challenges you face. This is underpinned by
incisive commercial advice on business management and structure, all delivered by specialist
teams with outstanding experience in their disciplines. Confidentiality, legal professional
privilege and peace of mind is assured.
Contact
Michelle Garlick: 0161 233 7330 or michelle.garlick@weightmans.com
Searchflow
searchflow.co.uk
Searchflow is the market-leading provider of conveyancing search solutions. Our comprehensive
range of searches, surveys, identity checks and conveyancing insurance are
all designed to help you streamline the conveyancing process.We have over 25 years'
experience and run more than 1 million conveyancing searches every year for over 2,500
legal clients in England and Wales.Our user-friendly reports enable you to quickly pinpoint
risks, and our conveyancing insurance products provide a ready-made and costeffective
solution for managing those risks.In short, when you work with SearchFlow you
can expect us to take the stress, hassle and much of the risk out of your conveyancing
projects.
Contact
Kate Townsend 07834 733 227 or kate.townsend@searchflow.co.uk
Telecoms: Mobiles
We like to make your law firm richer in a number of ways. Reduce operating costs,
enhance the communication experience currently in place between the staff/partners
in your firm and your existing clients and prospective customers. Security & Compliance
is always at the top of the agenda, embedded in all recommendations we make to your
law firm. We integrate Case and Practice Management Systems with mobile devices
& telephone system platforms. We help make partners & staff extremely agile through
seamless home-based working solutions. The benefits of your firm and ours partnering
are endless.
To make your law firm richer contact teamlegal@matrix247.com, we would love to hear
from you. Ask about the VIP treatment we deliver to dozens of law firms in the North
West.
Contact
Ste Pritchard: 08000 740 247 or ste@matrix247.com
Docutech Office Solutions
Docutech Office Solutions focus on providing the service and products that you need
at great prices. We specialise in document technology, cost and emissions reduction,
improving your efficiency with a service second to none. At Docutech Office Solutions
we make it our business to know your business before we can offer the right combination
of hardware, software and technical services to suit your company’s specific
needs. We provide full office solutions including printers, consumables and service callouts
- whatever your requirement give us a call.
Contact
Jason Dixon: 0844 8932919 or jasondixon@docutechsolutions.co.uk
Nasstar
matrix247.com/law
docutechsolutions.co.uk
Nasstar is an established and well-regarded IT services provider to the legal sector with
more than a decade's worth of experience supporting legal professionals with their IT
needs. Our team works closely with firms to deliver cloud based IT solutions that are
specifically tailored to the legal sector and adhere to SRA guidelines for managed IT and
data security, ensuring that our clients are always fully compliant.
Our cloud hosted services can be accessed 24/7 on any device, providing an innovative
and nimble IT infrastructure clients can depend on. We have 50+ legal clients and
host more than 80 legal applications.
Contact
Andy Lewis 07814 046 069/0207 148 5000 or andy.lewis@nasstar.com
www.nasstar.com
Our flexible, 24-hour, 365 day service allows you to outsource as much or as little of
your typing and document production as you wish. We are 100% UK based with an
extensive team of experienced legal secretaries. We are ISO27001 accredited and the
exclusive endorsed transcription partner of the Law Society of England and Wales.The
outcome in using us will be an improvement in your turnaround times, consistent document
quality and a significant reduction in your typing overheads. Our aim is to help
you become a more efficient and profitable law firm.
Contact
Elkie Durkan: 0845 3403031 or elkie.durkan@documentdirect.co.uk
Viewpoint
Today’s law firms are embracing technology – recognising the value that it can deliver
to the client experience, business processes and operational efficiency too. At
Viewpoint we provide a wide range of technology solutions for legal environments
where presentation, collaboration, training, learning and communication take place.
From sophisticated meeting room and presentation technology to video-conferencing
and shared media and intelligent data designed digital signage systems, our specialist
knowledge allows us to integrate the very best audio-visual, multi-media and
collaboration solutions into legal working environments with confidence. With
proven sector client experience and successes we understand the relationship between
people, space and technology. This enables us to deliver tailored quality specialist
design, installation and managed services.
Contact
Simon Dawes: 07834671322 Simon.dawes@viewpoint-av.com
Xyone Cyber Security
viewpoint-av.com
xyonecybersecurity.co.uk
Xyone provide top level cyber security consultancy to law firms. Our services are designed
to identify and mitigate risk from both an internal and an external perspective.
Our penetration testing services ensure that your infrastructure is protected from vulnerabilities
that could be exploited during a real hack, and our staff training and policy
enforcement process ensures protection against human risk.We are a certification body
for the Government’s Cyber Essentials scheme and we have highly qualified information
security consultants and Certified Ethical Hackers to deliver information security
compliance required by Lexcel v6 and ISO 27001.
Contact
Charlie Edwards: 0333 323 3981 or charlie.edwards@xyonecybersecurity.co.uk
Asset Finance
Capitas is dedicated to supporting the broad asset and commercial financing requirements
of law firms. Funding for software, hardware, storage, premises refurbishments
and fit outs and general business assets. Convert large capital expenditure into a manageable
periodic monthly/quarterly payment and enjoy the benefits now. Whether you
are a law firm acquiring business critical assets or alternatively an individual enthusiast
investing in a classic or supercar for personal use, Capitas can help.
Contact
Mike Bethwaite: 01372 232 902 or mb@capitasfinance.com
Acasta Europe
www.acastaeurope.co.uk
Acasta Europe are a leading supplier of After the Event legal expenses insurance and
litigation funding products in conjunction with Sparkle Capital. Established for over 10
years and operating throughout the UK we are a local company based in Cheadle.
We have a team of solicitors who not only underwrite our policies but actively work
in partnership with our solicitors to develop solutions to the most complex litigation
of all types through legal expenses insurance and funding if needed. We can offer individually
tailored, staged premiums or delegated authority schemes dependent upon
your firm’s needs, requirements or specialities.
Contact:
Andrew Williams: 0800 668 1350 or Andrew.williams@acastaeurope.co.uk
capitasfinance.com

WHAT IS MLS ADVANTAGE?
A group of carefully selected partners who have had due diligence
undertaken to ensure we are only working with the most
professional, innovative and knowledgeable of companies.
Working with our partners will ensure that our members have improved
efficiency and value, and most importantly, reduced cost
helping your practice to develop and succeed.
Key services that our preferred partners expertise lies in are:
Regulatory and compliance advice and assistance to law firms and
others in the legal sector, whatever your structure. A flexibly, tailor
made service designed to support you in meeting the evolving regulatory,
compliance and risk challenges you face.
Outsourced typing and transcription, flexible, 24 hour, 365 day service
so as much or as little of your typing and document production
can be catered for.
Fully outsourced switchboard facility, support for an in-house team
and business continuity on an ad-hoc basis.
Top level cyber security consultancy for law firms designed to identify
and mitigate risk from an internal and external perspective.
On-line anti money laundering, bribery, data protection and equality
and diversity training.
Dedicated Cloud computing for law firms including hosted desktop, colocation,
hosted applications, managed IT support and disaster recovery/business
continuity from two UK datacentres.
Telecomms including telephone systems, low-cost landline calls, mobile
packages and implementing networks for multi-location firms.
On-line search portal and aggregator helping for conveyancing departments.
Technology solutions for law firms where presentation. Collaboration,
training, learning and communication take place.
MLS Advantage partners are able to identify and advise on core issues facing
your business and using their experience, expertise and market
knowledge can bring you the right solutions for these issues.
We know that our members recognise the value that technology, outsourcing
and business services can deliver to the client experience as well
as business processes and operational efficiency.
Our MLS Advantage partners all offer special packages to Manchester Law
Society members.
Why not contact one of them today?
Cyber Security
ARE YOU GDPR COMPLIANT?
BOOK YOUR RISK ASSESSMENT
CALL: 0333 323 3981
“You should make sure you have the right procedures in place
to detect, report and investigate a personal data breach.”
ICO, March 2017
“We’re all going to have to change how we think about data protection.”
Elizabeth Denham, UK Information Commissioner, January 2017
Your security infrastructure must become compliant. GDPR is
fast-approaching, and if you are not ready by 25th May 2018.
Your firm could be fined up to €20,000,000
or 4% of total worldwide annual turnover.
Head Office: InfoLab21, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4WA
London Office: 5 Chancery Lane, London, WC2A 1LG

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Coffee: Healthy or Harmful?
If you’re a busy Manchester legal professional, the
chances are you use coffee, or other caffeine based
drinks, to perform better, increase focus, or simply get
through the day.
Coffee is a controversial subject, and depending on who you
speak to, coffee is either healthy or harmful.
So what’s the truth about coffee?
Well, firstly it depends on who you are and why you drink
coffee. There are ‘responders’ and ‘non-responders’, or to give
an example, if I drink coffee past 3pm I’m in the wide awake
club until the early hours of the morning, while others can
drink coffee late at night and sleep soundly; caffeine affects
different people in different ways!
If you’re a caffeine ‘responder’, you’re using caffeine in large
doses and long term to stay productive (or just keep awake
/ hold on to a busy life by your fingertips!), then the chances
are you’re papering over some pretty deep cracks. These
cracks need to be addressed at a deeper level, for instance
through addressing lifestyle factors, nutrition, and stress
hormones, rather than hammering increasing amounts of
caffeine.
I see people all the time who are using caffeine as a crutch
when actually they need some help re-designing their
QMS Skin Spa Offer
Enjoy this summer afternoon tea for two with
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lifestyle habits, moving their body, eating better, sleeping
better, and getting some support to remediate their stress
hormones. Some need deeper help in testing their adrenal
hormones in order to come back from ‘adrenal fatigue’.
In these circumstances I’d say that coffee is a stimulant that
is most likely doing more harm than good. Coffee can also
lead to anxiety and disrupted sleep and it can create a dependency,
with some undesirable withdrawal symptoms.
Coffee can be super healthy too!
The good news for coffee lovers everywhere is that coffee
can be extremely healthy (no, I’m not talking about your
double caramel mocha latte with 3000 calories per drink).
Coffee is very high in healthy antioxidants, and is associated
with both a reduced risk of chronic disease and increased
longevity.
Coffee can also stimulate your brain through its impact on
the neurotransmitter Adenosine, increase metabolism, the
amount of calories you burn, and exercise performance.
Coffee drinkers have a significantly lower risk of developing
Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, Type 2 Diabetes, liver disease,
and depression.
Personally, I cycle my coffee use depending on my current
workload, energy levels, and the dose I’m using (when it increases
to two cups a day (I’m a big caffeine responder so
that’s a lot for me), I know it’s time to switch to green tea for
a few weeks (my favourite is organic green tea with Moraccan
mint). I recommend the same approach to my personal
training clients, and to you.
To your lean, healthy, Optimised future,
Matt
Optimised Personal Wellness is based on Bridge St and is a
private health clinic and personal training gym dedicated to
taking care of Manchester’s busy professionals.
For more information visit
www.optimisedpersonalwellness.co.uk
twitter: @mattopwellness
facebook: /optimisedpersonalwellness
Manchester Law Society Members receive a 10% discount
on personal training upon production of their Benefits of
Membership Card
Pick from two treatments to spend your time in the spa.
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q Express polish on your hands (shellac removal and
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Lifestyle 29
Mental Wellness
Make Happy Work...
By Mick Timpson, Modern Meditation Teacher
Workplace mindfulness meditation is everywhere these
days. There are programmes for almost everything from
compassion and leadership, to career development and
productivity to cheesemaking. Okay, I made that last one
up!
Many meditation training programmes focus on workplace
stress reduction, and rightly so. According to 2015’s Parliamentary
Report on Mindfulness in the Workplace, the indirect
costs to the UK for mental health in unemployment,
absenteeism and resulting loss of productivity are estimated
at between £70-100 billion, with employers paying £9 billion
of that in sick pay and related costs.
But this is only part of the story. Stress is also the biggest
killer of creativity – a human-made, never-ending energy
source that powers every successful business. We know as
stress reduces, wellbeing increases, which in turn links to improved
creative flow. It's that flow that everyone in business
should be looking to increase. Not only is it key to business
productivity and invention, but also to individual happiness
and joy. It seems that creativity and happiness are connected,
but you have to be present and paying attention.
However, studies have shown that most of us are elsewhere,
working on ‘autopilot’ at least 50 per cent of the time because
the mind likes to wander. Moreover, guess what? Having
the mind directed elsewhere, locked in a spiral of
self-created thoughts doesn’t make us happy. It seems happiness
is found only in the moment.
That is what good meditation training will give you – access
to the present where innate creativity, flow, invention, increased
energy and productivity can be found. And that is
just the start because as those attributes develop, the obstacles
to change that we all have – anxiety, fear, doubt and
stress – begin to fall away. It’s a win for everybody.
Finding happiness
People who have learned to work this way call it ‘being in
the zone’. Scientists call it autotelic experience. Early research
assumed that flow experience only developed
through high-challenge, high-skill situations and included
jobs such as concert pianists, mountaineers and Olympic
athletes, to name a few. Flow, it was thought, results from a
correlation between the degree of challenge and available
skills. This is only partly true. A well-designed, practical meditation
programme like the ones we have developed at beanddo
are geared towards giving people metacognitive
skills to switch on flow, so that all actions can be a happy,
creative, flow-inducing activity.
Getting into the flow
The best place to start from is where you want to go. Assume
everyone in your workplace is a creative wonder, and
then work from there to nurture and expand that condition
for purpose, wellbeing and profit. It’s a matter of shaping
and aligning business goals and working methods with creative,
natural human flow and potential.
The model here is a mindful connection between being and
doing, with an emphasis on not what you do, but how you
do it. The technique is to unify one’s being and doing, so
work is undertaken for its own sake rather than for one’s individual
relation to it. This means simply directing one’s attention
on the doing of it and not on the supposed or
imagined outcome. This is where meditation practice helps
to bring your attention into the present moment, which is
when flow happens.
The top five flow experiences can include:
● Observing how the very action, thought or idea seems to
support the next, creating conscious, continuous feedback
towards a solution.
● A deep, relaxed feeling that blooms within, filling the
whole body. Self-consciousness reduces along with the
need to be in one’s ‘comfort zone’.
● Sharpening of the senses; touch become sensitive and
everything appears in high definition. An intense awareness
grows around the present moment where one’s experience
of self and time is profoundly altered.
● An emerging happiness that seems connected to a momentum,
pushing you along in what you are doing, towards
your goal.
● A doubt-free, joyful certainty emerges in your work. New
things appear. Fear of failure or falling behind vanishes and
then you ask yourself, did I do that?
If you are considering a meditation-focused wellbeing programme
for your workplace, my advice is to think carefully
about what you need and how your organisation would
benefit. Do not assume meditation will solve all of your
problems. It also has to come with the honest objective that
you want your people to thrive. Your organisation needs to
be set-up to achieve that from the start.
Meditation promotes clarity, combined with a smarter grip
of what is going on, so make sure your business is ready to
grasp the opportunity. The practice is more effective if it is
focused on maximising being in a good place, rather than
having to deal with being in a bad place.
So it stands to reason that we should try and figure out ways
of staying present to our happiness. To make that day at
work a good day, every day requires knowing a dimension
of experience that we never knew could exist in the office.
By learning to assume a different perspective, mindset and
relationship to what we do, we can make every activity into
a happy moment, no matter what.
Email: mick@beanddo.co.uk
Call: 07808 501765
www.beanddo.co.uk
Manchester Radical Literature Walking Tour
I joined a group of walkers on one of Manchester Literature
Festival’s walking tours around the city. The
subject for this walk was Manchester Radical Literature.
The walk, led by Sue McCarthy started at Manchester
Cathedral. It was here that Thomas Clarkson (1760 - 1846)
an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against
the slave trade gave a speech in 1787 to a huge crowd
calling for the abolition of slavery, and described how
much of the wealth of Manchester, came through the
slave trade. Clarkson spent his entire life campaiging and
collecting evidence, speaking to over 20,000 sailors
around the country.
supported Marx financially to do research and write Das
Kapital and when Marx died, he edited the third and fourth
volumes.
The site of Boots on Cross Street was the former home of the
Manchester Guardian, where C.P Scott was the editor for 57
years from 1872 and was a staunch supporter of womens’
suffrage. CP Scott was also a Liberal MP for Leigh.
Further down Cross Street is the former site of the Cross
Street Unitarian Chapel, where Elizabeth Gaskell’s husband
was the minister. Mrs Gaskell’s time in Manchester impacted
her writings, which often highlighted social and industrial
problems.
much history has been forged on these streets, and the
works of fiction and radical literature that Manchester and
its industiral heritage has inspired.
The walking tours were sponsored by Weightmans.
Richard Corran, Partner and Head of the Weightmans
Manchester offices said: “Weightmans is proud of its long
standing commitment to - and admiration of - Manchester
culture, which is diverse and plentiful.
“Our relationship with the Manchester Literature Festival
allows us to explore this breadth of culture and our Walking
Tours offer guests a chance to learn more about a variety
of genres, from gothic literature to punk poetry,
amongst others. Manchester is truly a place to see and be
seen, and we can think of no better way than on foot, retracing
the steps of the city’s finest authors.”
We then moved around the corner to Chetham’s Library,
where Friederich Engels, who was sent to Manchester by
his parents at the age of 22, spent much of his time reading
and researching. On his way to Manchester he met
Karl Marx, which started a long collaboration between
the two. In 1845, Engles published The Condition of the
Working Class in England, based on his personal observations
and research in Manchester. In 1848, Engels coauthored
The Communist Manifesto with Marx. Engels
86 Cross Street was home to Thomas de Quincy, who wrote
Confessions of an English Opium-Eater in 1821. He worked
as a journalist around the North West, which he used to fund
his writings and opium addiction. He spent a number of
years living with William Wordsworth at Dove Cottage and
died in penniless in1859.
Walking through the streets of Manchester with its high-rise
buildings and modern facades, it is easy to forget that so
D

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Locums
WHY PAY AGENCY FEES?
Senior Residential Property
Solicitor with over 30 years
conveyancing experience (29 years
as a sole practitioner) available for
holidays, maternity and
sickness cover. Reasonable rates. If I
can help, please telephone David
on 07896 617287 (or email
davidswann8491@hotmail.co.uk)
further details and availability.
DUAL QUALIFIED, very experienced
criminal specialist advocate with
higher rights. Crime work and
Crown Court work. Very reasonable
rates, short term locum contract
considered.
Please contact Christine on 01772
741816 or 07967 530138
Expert Witnesses
Mark Mattison, a Mediator
based in South Manchester is
available for commercial
mediations and for training on
all forms of ADR.
07831 302797
mark@markmattison.co.uk
www.markmattison.co.uk
Shareholder Disputes
Solicitor with 23 years
experience in such matters
available on an Agency basis
to assist firms who wish to
keep clients in-house.
Please contact by email
harryrosenblum@hotmail.co.uk
or telephone/fax:
0161 445 1850
Locums
Senior residential and
commercial property Solicitor with
over 4 years continuous Locum experience
offers you cost effective
solutions for holiday maternity and
sickness cover .No Agency fees to
pay. Please contact Martin Libman
on 0161 485 1240 or 07939 508543.
18 years as Locum Solicitors in the
North West. Tel John Bradley/Lynda
Greenwood 07790 612906 Available
to deal with Conveyancing and
Family.
Contact us on
carla@woodpeckerbakery.com or
07834073628
to discuss your personal
quotation
To advertise in
The Messenger
call Julia on
01204 303323

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