Messenger December 2017

December 2017 

October 09 

1 

Going Green 

North West Law 

The Officers, Council and 

staff of Manchester Law 

Society are committed to 

finding ways in which we 

can reduce the impact of 

our work both in the office 

and when work takes us 

away from the Manchester 

Law Society office. 

Even though we are only a 

small business we do 

recognise that we can 

have a negative impact on 

the environment and so 

we need to become more 

sustainable. 

So what is sustainability? 

The most widely used definition 

of sustainable development 

is “development 

that meets the needs of the 

present without compromising 

the ability of future 

generations to meet their 

own needs” 

Sustainability is not just 

about protecting the environment 

and improving 

ones reputation, but is increasingly 

seen as a way of 

winning new business, improving 

efficiency and cutting 

cost. 

It is important to remember 

that sustainability covers a 

lot more than just environmental 

factors though – 

economic and social aspects 

are also key parts of 

sustainability. 

There is a belief in the UK 

that an environmental conscience 

is expensive. The 

truth is that corporate social 

responsibility is not just a reporting 

requirement or 

public relations luxury for 

large companies with deep 

pockets but an activity that 

is accessible to small businesses, 

even having the potential 

to save them money! 

We decided that to start off 

there were a number of 

small changes that we 

would be able to make 

which would have a big impact 

and our list of strategies, 

designed to make 

sustainability easy to implement, 

while delivering business 

benefits in terms of 

cost savings, marketing and 

employee and member engagement 

is below: 

• Avoid the use of paper 

wherever possible. For example, 

sending invoices 

and quotes via email as PDF 

files which also avoids the 

use of postal services, saving 

on transportation and 

on paper. 

•Another way is by making 

our monthly magazine “The 

Messenger” digital. We will 

be starting with the January 

2018 edition – new year, 

new start! Going digital will 

make The Messenger faster, 

more focused and up-todate. 

Not only will it be 

smarter, easy to use and interactive 

most of our members 

now read their news 

online and our advertisers 

and sponsors, who want to 

attract our members, are 

telling us that print is a very 

low priority for them. 

• We are looking at avoiding 

the use of paper for our conferences 

as much as possible 

too. We will be sending 

out joining instructions, invoices, 

receipts, speaker 

notes and delegate packs 

digitally as much as possible 

too. 

• We will be recycling as 

much waste material as 

possible as well as recycling 

equipment that is no longer 

of use eg computers and 

printers that we no longer 

use. 

The truth is, most of us have 

no idea how much we 

throw away. According to 

Waste Watch, everyone in 

the UK throws away their 

own bodyweight every 

seven weeks! And the Confederation 

of Paper Industries 

gives 12.5 million 

tonnes as the amount of 

paper and cardboard disposed 

of annually in the UK. 

• We will be recycling waste 

paper from the printer 

where possible, making use 

of the blank side for notes 

etc 

• We will try to purchase 

products made with recycled 

paper and products 

with a lower environmental 

impact eg safe soaps and 

cleaning products, recycled 

office supplies such as 

paper and ink cartridges. 

• We will use rechargeable 

batteries instead of disposable 

ones. 

• We have paper recycling 

bins already and have had 

for some time and will continue 

to use them. 

• We do not have waste 

paper bins at any desk so 

people have to put their 

waste paper and cardboard 

in the recycling bin or their 

food in the kitchen bin. 

• We will be trying to keep 

our energy usage low. For 

example making use of low 

energy light bulbs throughout, 

turning lights off in 

areas that are not in use and 

ensuring that computers 

are shut down after work. 

We have also got timers on 

our heating and blinds on 

our windows. Using energy 

efficient LED or CFL lights 

can cut costs by £80 and 

save 320 kg of carbon dioxide, 

as found by The Energy 

Saving Trust, over the lifetime 

of the bulb. 

We really think it is important 

even for small organisations 

like ours to make the 

case of sustainability and 

hopefully inspire some of 

our member firms to look at 

this too. 

We are delighted to announce 

that we have joined 

up with The Legal Sustainability 

Alliance and Planet 

Mark, who will be providing 

a regular column in The 

Messenger, “The Green Corner” 

to give us monthly insights 

into sustainability for 

the legal sector and ways in 

which firms can take positive 

action on climate 

change by measuring, reducing 

and reporting on 

their carbon footprint, no 

matter what their size. 

Fran Eccles-Bech 

Chief Executive 

The Monthly Publication of the Manchester Law Society 

In association with 

Manchester Legal Awards 2017 principal sponsors 

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Contents 3 

News from the President 

page 5 

North West Law December 2017 

In this edition... 

NEWS 

Bermans dispute resolution platform wins 

prestigious industry award 

Manchester law firm recognises 100 

years’ service 

6 

8 

Manchester Law Society 

64 Bridge Street 

Manchester M3 3BN 

Tel: 0161 831 7337 

www.manchesterlawsociety.org.uk 

Editor: Fran Eccles-Bech 

Editorial Committee 

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 

Niall Innes at Mills & Reeve LLP 

Helen Kanczes, Clyde & Co 

Steve Kuncewicz, BLM Law 

Adrian Kwintner, Clyde & Co 

Jeff Lewis, Brabners LLP 

Louise Straw, Burton Copeland 

Matthew Taylor, Eversheds LLP 

Browne Jacobson to help shape technical 

education with key DfE panel appointment 

9 

Published by 

FEATURES 

Joe Egan 

page 11 

Meet the Joe Egan, President of the Law 

Society 

11 

Baskerville Publications Ltd 

Apartment 327 Holden Mill 

Blackburn Road 

Bolton BL1 7PN 

Andrew Toolan 

page 21 

Jane Clare 

page 30 

My Other Life: Andrew Twambley of Amelans 

City Profile: Andrew Toolan, MIDAS 

NEW One Foot in the Grapes 

Wine column by journalist Jane Clare 

Mental Wellness 

REGULARS 

Final Word from the President 

Regulation Matters 

Monthly Competetion 

Win £100 voucher for Venus Florists 

13 

21 

30 

33 

5 

7 

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 

MANCHESTER LAW SOCIETY ANNUAL 

GENERAL MEETING 

Your attendance is requested at the Annual General Meeting of the Members of the Manchester 

Law Society, to be held at the offices of Mills & Reeve LLP, 8th Floor, 1 New York 

Street, Manchester, M1 4AD on Monday 4th December at 17.00pm PROMPT. 

1. Apologies 

2. Minutes – Annual General Meeting held on Monday 5th December, 2016 

3. Auditors Report 

4. To pass the Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Account for the past year ended 

31 December 2016 

5. To report that the following Officers have been chosen by the Council for the ensuing 

year:- 

a) MIKE DEVLIN – PRESIDENT 

b) MICHELLE GARLICK – VICE PRESIDENT 

c) MATTHEW TAYLOR – HONORARY TREASURER 

d) DAVID ANDERSON – JOINT HONORARY SECRETARY 

e) DAVID TRAVIS – JOINT HONORARY SECRETARY 

6. Attendance of Council Members 

7. To elect seven ordinary Members of Council 

(Nomination Sheet has been posted in the Society’s offices, 64 Bridge St, Manchester, M3 

3BN) 

8. To elect Auditors 

9. Any other Business 

10. Vote of thanks. 

A copy of the Society’s draft accounts and a print of the Report of the Council can be obtained 

in advance, at the Society’s office. 

Your early arrival at the meeting is requested as the Society’s staff will be issuing members 

with voting cards (should a vote take place) and checking membership details prior 

to the meeting commencing. This will inevitably cause a short delay in entering the meeting. 

Should there be a vote please note that solicitors who are not paid up members of the 

Society are not eligible to vote. If you are in any doubt about whether or not you are able 

to vote please telephone Hollie Hirst on 0161 831 7337 or at HollieHirst@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk 

prior to the meeting. 

JON HAINEY 

PRESIDENT 

Annual Lawyers Christmas Carol Service 

The annual Lawyers Christmas Carol Service will be held at St 

Ann’s Church, St Ann’s Square Manchester on Tuesday, 19th December 

2016 at 1.15 pm. 

As in past years, the Thursday Singers, an auditioned chamber 

choir drawn from Withington Girls School, Manchester High 

School for Girls and The Manchester Grammar School, will lead 

the singing. They have a deservedly excellent reputation. 

This is an opportunity corporately to celebrate the spirit of 

Christmas in the context of uplifting music and in a beautiful 

building. 

In this time of economic uncertainty and when there are many 

pressures assailing the legal profession this event can be relied 

on to deliver a boost to morale. 

All members of the judiciary and of the legal profession and 

their families and friends are invited to attend this wonderful occasion. 

Whether you are a practising Christian, a cultural Christian, agnostic, 

atheist or a member of another faith, you will be made 

very welcome. 

Forthcoming Events 

Newly Qualified Solicitors & 

Newly Called to the Bar Barristers 

Civic Ceremony 

Thursday 11 January 2018 

Manchester Town Hall, Albert Square, Manchester M60 2LA 

Manchester Law Society and the City of Manchester want to congratulate all newly qualified 

solicitors and barristers newly called to the bar by welcoming them to the profession with a Civic 

Ceremony at Manchester Town Hall. 

We invite Solicitors that have qualified and Barristers called to the Bar, in the past 18 months, to 

mark this milestone in their legal career by attending the ceremony in Manchester Town Hall at 3pm 

on Thursday 11 January 2018. 

Certificates will be presented by the Lord Mayor of Manchester and President of Manchester Law 

Society and the ceremony will be followed by a reception with drinks and canapés. 

Order of Events 

15:00 Tea and coffee upon arrival 

15:30 Ceremony begins 

16:15 Reception with drinks and canapés where there will be the opportunity for 

photographs with the Lord Mayor of Manchester and President of Manchester Law 

Society 

The ceremony is a unique opportunity for the newest members of the legal profession to celebrate 

their success as well as acknowledge the friends and family who have supported them on the way. 

Each newly qualified solicitor or barrister will be able to bring up to 2 guests with the option of 

further guests should numbers permit. Tickets cost £25.00 +VAT per person for NQ Solicitors, 

Barristers and guests alike. 

Please note that places are booked on a first come, first served basis. 

The dress code for those receiving certificates will be business attire (no expensive gown hire 

necessary!) and a high quality photography service will be available for all those attending the 

ceremony to commemorate the occasion by purchasing a professional portrait, a photo of the 

presentation on stage during the ceremony or a photo with your family or friends. 

Cost to attend: 

NQ Solicitor/Barrister place £25.00 + VAT (£30.00), Guest place £25.00 + VAT (£30.00) 

Price includes light refreshments and certificate. 

To book your place please complete and return the form overleaf or email 

CarlaJones@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk 

To book your place email carlajones@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk 

E-Disclosure 

Thursday 18 th January 2018 

Venue: KPMG, 1 St Peter's Square, Manchester M2 3AE 

Registration and Breakfast: 08.30am 

Seminar: 09.00am Networking and refreshments: 10.00-10.30am 

Cost to attend: Members of MLS £20.00 + VAT (£24.00) Non Members £40.00 + VAT (£48.00) 

 

in the e-disclosure arena. This will include a view of the changing data landscape, the use 

 

of assisted review, a demonstration of technology to improve early case assessment and a 

few war stories to bring it all to life. 

 

We will be joined by Lesley Anderson QC, Head of the Chancery/Commercial section of 

Kings Chambers (Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham) who will present an overview of 

current developments in the law and practice on disclosure 

Aimed at: All solicitors, in particular those involved in litigation and disclosure matters. 

Learning outcome: To provide the delegate with an update and insight into current trends in the e- 

disclosure arena. This will include a view of the changing data landscape and the use of assisted 

review. 

This will include a view of the changing data landscape and the use of assisted 

Level: Suitable r for all levels 

Satisfying Competency This will include Statement a view Section: of the A changing Ethics, professionalism data landscape and judgement the use of assisted (A2, A4 & 

A5) B Technical legal practice r (B1, B2, B3, B4, B6 & B7) 

To book your place email victoriaridge@manchesterlawsociety.org.uk 

_ 

T

5 

President’s Column 

5 

From the President 

As this will be my final article 

as a President, I 

thought it would be appropriate 

to reflect on the 

year and some of the 

themes which have 

emerged during what has 

seemed to be an incredibly 

short time at the helm 

of MLS. Where does the 

time go?! 

One of the highlights of the 

year for me came in January 

when I had the pleasure of 

judging some of the categories 

at the Manchester 

Legal Awards. That was followed 

by the awards dinner 

itself which was, yet again, a 

huge success with over 600 

guests at the Midland Hotel 

and everything perfectly organised 

and co-ordinated 

by Fran and the team. I was 

hugely impressed by the 

quality and the diversity of 

all the nominees and particularly 

those who won. As I 

highlighted on the night, 

lawyers in the region have 

been advising on huge infrastructure 

projects of national 

significance, major 

corporate deals and ground 

breaking legal cases in both 

the Civil and Criminal 

Courts. This reflects what an 

exciting time it is to work in 

Manchester: the city is 

growing rapidly, businesses 

are relocating here like 

never before and it feels like 

all roads lead to Manchester. 

You will hopefully have seen 

the flyers for next year's 

awards. I encourage all of 

you to enter the awards or 

nominate your team or a 

colleague who has particularly 

impressed you. Even if 

the nominee is not short 

listed, I am sure that they 

will appreciate your support 

and confidence in them. 

Unfortunately, one of the 

major events of my year was 

of course the horrific bombing 

at Manchester Arena. As 

I said at the time, the worst 

in people brings out the 

best in people and the response 

from the community 

in Manchester and 

further afield was of course 

tremendous and heart 

warming. 

As you will know, Fran and 

the MLS team immediately 

stepped into the breach 

and put together the pro 

bono panel which many of 

you in the City (and others 

from across the country), 

generously agreed to participate 

in. In a very short 

period of time MLS, with the 

support of other volunteers 

and business partners, created 

the framework and 

platform for the panel 

which has allowed many of 

the victims and families to 

access legal support and 

obtain much needed funds 

to cope with the aftermath 

of the atrocity. The Manchester 

model has been 

recognised nationally and 

will, I have no doubt, form 

the basis of similar schemes 

in the future if, as seems 

likely, legal support is required 

by a large number of 

affected parties at short notice. 

Once again, thank you to 

everyone who has participated 

in what has been a 

magnificent effort and a 

great example of what we 

can all do together. 

Alongside the actions taken 

within the City to recover 

and move on from the incident, 

we received letters of 

support from throughout 

the world. As I reported in 

the July Messenger, I was 

particularly struck by the 

message received from the 

Lyon Bar Association which 

described lawyers as "instruments 

of democracy" 

and "defenders of freedoms". 

I mention this again, 

as it ties in with a theme 

which has been apparent 

throughout my year: the increasing 

difficulty faced by 

many in society seeking to 

access justice. It is easy for 

us in this country to forget 

the importance of the legal 

profession as, fortunately, 

most of the time we can, 

and do, take for granted the 

freedoms we enjoy. However, 

as Martha Spurrier, the 

Director of Liberty observed 

when she visited Manchester 

for the Legal walk in September, 

denying people 

access to justice impacts on 

our democracy. It is essential 

that our democratic 

bodies can be held to account 

by anyone – regardless 

of their means or place 

in society. 

The point was perfectly illustrated 

after Donald 

Trump's attempt to implement 

a travel ban on foreign 

nationals from certain countries. 

US lawyers turned out 

in force, many acting on a 

pro bono basis, and were ofcourse 

able to mount an effective 

challenge to the ban. 

The checks and balances 

which are built into a 

democracy society can and 

do work, but there are many 

in society who need professional 

legal advice to ensure 

that their rights are properly 

protected. 

Against that background, 

our pro bono committee 

has been launched this year 

recognising the increased 

importance of us all working 

together to coordinate 

and provide basic legal provision 

to those who would 

otherwise be unsupported. 

If anyone reading this column 

is motivated to join the 

committee, please contact 

Fran and she will be happy 

to introduce you to Lucy 

Wildig of BPP, the Chair of 

the committee. 

Changing the subject completely, 

I will leave you with 

a final update on Ladybridge 

F.C. In no way linked 

with anything that I have instigated, 

the lads have put 

together a winning run 

which has seen the team 

move steadily up the table. 

Despite my previous doubts 

about whether it was worth 

carrying on with the team, 

we seem to have come 

through those dark hours 

and I have to say that both 

the boys and I are enjoying 

our football again (until the 

next heavy defeat). 

I shall end with the same 

message that I included in 

my first article: volunteers 

contribute a great deal to 

society whether that be 

Attend 

CMC 

in County 

or 

High 

Court 

coaching sports, providing 

pro bono advice, helping 

with charities etc. etc. It's 

not always easy to fit in such 

extra commitments, but 

speaking personally, I have 

learnt a huge amount 

coaching the lads at Ladybridge 

and during my spell 

as President of MLS and I 

have met some wonderful 

and interesting people and 

been involved in special 

events – none of which 

Comp 

osing 

budgets 

( in-hous 

e for 

l arger 

budgets ) 

Jon Hainey 

Budget 

negotiations 

would have happened were 

in not for agreeing to get involved 

in the first place. Yes 

– I am knackered – but it 

was worth it. So, go on – 

have a go – join the volunteers 

and make society all 

the better for it. You might 

even enjoy it! 

Jon Hainey 

President 

New Books added to the 

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Remote 

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A Practical Guide to The Landlord & Tenant Act 1954: Commercial Tenancies 

Blackstone’s Criminal Practice 2018 

Archbold Pleading, Evidence & Practice 2018 including Sentencing Guidelines 

Employment Agencies, Recruitment Agencies & Agency Workers 

Cretney & Lush Lasting & Enduring Powers of Attorney 8th ed. 

Parole Board Hearings Law & Practice 3rd ed. 

Tolley’s Company Law Handbook 2017 25th ed 

Capital Gains Tax 2017/18 

Value Added Tax 2017/18 

kain-knight.co.uk 

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Manchester 

3 Hardman Square, 

Spinningfields, 

Manchester, M33EB 

Tel: 0161 457 0456 

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6 Movers & Shakers 

Record number of Apprentices welcomed 

at Law Firm 

Slater and Gordon has 

welcomed a record number 

of apprentices 

through its doors. 

Having teamed up with 

well-known learning 

providers including Cilex 

Law School, the law firm has 

offered 12 apprenticeships 

in its Manchester office with 

38 across seven offices. 

From legal administration 

to paralegal and chartered 

legal apprenticeships, it’s 

the largest amount of placements 

the company has 

ever made. 

Slater and Gordon CEO Ken 

Fowlie said it was an exciting 

time for the firm. He 

said: “We’re all eager to see 

A leading Manchester law 

firm is building on its recent 

successes with the 

appointment of an experienced 

solicitor in the family 

team. 

Claire Higham, a family law 

specialist, joins Slater Heelis 

as an Assistant Solicitor and 

will advise clients on all issues 

arising from separation, 

including divorce, 

children and financial matters. 

She comes to the firm after 

two years at KBL Law in 

Bolton and will be based 

from the firm’s Manchester 

office. 

The family team has enjoyed 

its busiest year on 

record and Claire’s appointment 

brings the team to 

nine fee earners. 

The team supports clients 

with a range of family services, 

including divorce and 

separation, mediation, collaborative 

law, advice on 

prenups and postnups, and 

inheritance claims. 

Mark Heptinstall, Head of 

how those on the apprenticeship 

scheme progress. 

It’s fantastic to be able to 

give the next generation of 

legal experts this opportunity. 

“At Slater and Gordon, 

they’ll have the chance of 

working alongside some of 

the profession’s leading 

lawyers on a broad range of 

cases. 

“I’m sure it will be challenging 

and extremely rewarding. 

“The apprentices we have 

working in our teams already 

are terrific and a real 

testament to how successful 

this programme is.” 

Manchester Apprentices 

As well as giving apprenticeships 

to existing colleagues, 

the firm has also 

recruited external candidates 

with apprentices 

ranging in age from school 

leavers to 45 years old. 

Ken added: “What’s interesting 

is that our apprentices 

are all very different – some 

are at the start of their legal 

career having recently left 

full-time education whereas 

others already have a law 

background. We are fully 

committed to working 

closely with all our apprentices 

to ensure that they not 

only achieve their intended 

apprentice qualification but 

also seek career progression 

within the business.” 

Slater Heelis expands family team 

the Family team, said: “The 

continual increase in demand 

for our services, 

meant that we needed to 

expand our team and Claire 

was the perfect fit. She 

brings a wealth of experience 

and she compliments 

the team very well. 

“The team has just been 

ranked one of the best family 

law teams in the North 

West according to Legal 

500, who comment that the 

team “provides practical 

and well-thought-through 

advice” and recommend the 

team for being “excellent”, 

Claire Higham 

“capable and brilliant at 

finding practical solutions”, 

and “knowledgeable, commercial 

and superb at cutting 

to the chase”.” 

Slater Heelis is a full-service 

firm offering a range of legal 

services including Company 

Commercial, Employment, 

Personal Injury, Residential 

and Commercial property 

and Family Law; employing 

over 135 people across 

Manchester City Centre, 

Sale and Timperley. The firm 

acts for clients across the UK 

and internationally. 

Bermans dispute resolution platform 

wins prestigious industry award 

Escalate, Bermans 

ground-breaking commercial 

dispute resolution 

process for SMEs, has 

been named ‘Innovation 

of the Year’ at this year’s 

British Accountancy 

Awards. 

Escalate helps SMEs to 

achieve a prompt settlement 

to a wide range of 

commercial disputes, with 

fixed fees payable only on a 

successful outcome and no 

upfront costs. 

Chris Clay, one of the architects 

of the Escalate process, 

said: “Winning one of the 

most hotly contested categories 

in our industry’s most 

prestigious awards is a 

major achievement. 

“Escalate was developed to 

be a game-changer that will 

transform how commercial 

disputes are resolved; this 

award demonstrates that 

the wider market has taken 

notice and also realised its 

potential.” 

Law firm Davis Blank Furniss 

has acted for Burnleybased 

EFS.Global on its 

purchase of Euro SDB Limited 

which specialises in 

distribution, logistics and 

warehousing. 

The deal sees EFS.Global acquire 

the entire issued share 

capital of Euro SDB for an 

undisclosed sum. 

EFS.Global is one of the 

North West's largest freight 

and haulage groups. It currently 

has eight depots and 

offices across the country 

and operates its own UK 

and European road freight 

fleet. It also works with selected 

partners around the 

world. 

Its purchase of Tamworthbased 

Euro SDB is part of 

EFS.Global’s ongoing 

growth and acquisition 

strategy across the North 

West and Midlands. 

Nick Harvey, partner and 

head of litigation and dispute 

resolution at Bermans, 

said: “We’re extremely 

proud of what Escalate has 

achieved since its launch at 

the start of the year. 

“Not only have our peers 

recognised Escalate’s potential 

to disrupt the commercial 

dispute resolution 

market, but we’re also seeing 

considerable demand 

for the process from SMEs - 

which is hardly surprising 

given that the traditional 

dispute resolution model is 

broken and heavily stacked 

against claimants. Pursuing 

a commercial dispute has 

tended to be a costly, 

lengthy and risky undertaking. 

Escalate has changed 

that by providing a smarter 

way for businesses to resolve 

commercial disputes.” 

Recent research from the 

Federation of Small Businesses 

suggests there were 

at least 3.4 million commercial 

disputes involving SMEs 

between 2010 and 2015. 

This represents a significant 

cost and cash flow constraint 

to the SME sector 

and can sometimes be the 

The team at Davis Blank Furniss 

advised EFS.Global on 

all aspects of the deal including 

legal due diligence 

and transactional matters. 

The team was led by Sonio 

Singh, partner in the corporate 

department, with assistance 

from colleagues Jessica 

Greenhalgh, corporate 

solicitor, and Greg Carr who 

works in the firm’s property 

team. 

Mark Jones – managing director 

of EFS.Global – commented: 

“This deal marks 

another exciting milestone 

in EFS.Global’s growth. Euro 

SDB is a much respected 

name in the marketplace 

and so is a perfect fit for our 

business. The acquisition 

will also enable us to expand 

our service offering 

even further.” 

Sonio Singh added: 

“EFS.Global is a dynamic 

company and this deal is a 

Nick Harvey 

reason why businesses fail. 

Nick added: “By removing financial 

risk, providing transparency 

on process and 

pricing, and ensuring that 

the claimant remains the 

main beneficiary on settlement, 

Escalate gives SMEs 

an opportunity to resolve 

their disputes in a way that 

helps rather than hinders 

their cash flow. 

That’s why we’re seeing so 

much interest from our 

client base, and that’s why 

we’re winning awards.” 

Davis Blank Furniss acts for EFS.Global in 

acquisition of Euro SDB 

Sonio Singh 

yet another clear marker of 

its ambition and focus on 

growth.” 

The deal follows a number 

of other acquisitions made 

by EFS in recent years including 

747 Express Freight, 

Logictrans UK Limited, RTS 

Refrigeration, CS Brunt, 

Horizon Distribution and 

Euro-Tran Despatch. 

Other advisors involved in 

the transaction were RBS 

Group, part funders of the 

deal, whilst KBS Corporate 

and Gateley PLC handled 

advisory and legal matters 

for the shareholders of Euro 

SDB Limited. 

The deadline for the January edition of 

the Messenger is 15th December

Regulation 7 

Regulatory Affairs Committee Update 

The clocks have now gone 

back and the dark nights 

have set in. Winter awaits! 

One firm which got the 

(freezing) cold treatment 

from the SRA this month 

was city firm Locke Lord 

who has been ordered to 

pay the biggest fine in SDT 

history. The SRA’s annual 

COLP and COFA conference 

also took place at the end of 

October which I attended 

along with over a thousand 

others! The SRA has undoubtedly 

improved its 

communication/engagement 

with the profession 

since it came into being 10 

years ago but there is much 

more for it to do in my opinion 

to gain the trust and 

confidence of the profession 

that its approach and 

handling of regulatory matters 

is on the right track. 

COLP and COFA Annual 

Conference 

This was held on 31st October. 

Topics covered included 

the Solicitors 

Qualifying Examination 

(SQE), getting ready for 

GDPR, cybercrime, better 

information (including the 

important consultation on 

pricing), Looking to the Future 

(part 2), and managing 

financial risks specifically in 

relation to money laundering. 

The keynote address 

came from Paul Philip, the 

SRA Chief Executive, who 

was confident that significant 

operational improvements 

have been made (he 

was proud for example that 

the SRAs operating budget 

had reduced year on year 

for the past 4 years), that 

they are making quicker 

and better decisions, that it 

is now moving to a “professional 

regulator” model instead 

of a “compliance 

regulator” and that it is regulating 

in the wider public 

interest in what is a vibrant, 

strong, dynamic legal services 

market. He talked 

about getting the balance 

right between protecting 

the public and the costs of 

regulation and felt that a 

disproportionate level of 

consumer protection will 

increase costs and lead to 

issues of access to justice. 

What really struck me was 

his comment that the SRA 

will “have a go” at proportionate 

regulation which 

seemed to imply that if it 

didn’t work, then they 

would have to look at it all 

afresh! It could have just 

been an unfortunate turn 

of phrase but I’m not convinced 

it was. 

Government and National 

Crime Agency 

Highlight Money Laundering 

Risk 

Both the Government and 

10 things your visitors hate about you 

There are certain things 

that will really turn off 

website visitors – at best, 

diminishing their opinion 

of you, and at worst, driving 

them away from your 

site and onto the site of a 

competitor. 

We’ve outlined some of the 

usual suspects to consider if 

your audience is not engaging 

as much as you’d like. 

• Irrelevance – if your ad 

promises something that 

your landing page doesn’t 

deliver, your bounce rate 

will climb, and your ad 

quality score could decrease. 

Sense check everything! 

• Dead ends – add internal 

links and CTAs to your 

landing pages, so it’s clear 

what a visitor should do 

next after consuming your 

content. 

• Speed – most people will 

abandon a site if it takes 

more than a couple of seconds 

to load. Check and 

improve your page speed 

score using Google’s tools. 

• Mobile experience – 

with large proportions of 

traffic coming from mobile 

these days, it’s important 

that these visitors can read 

your content easily and 

navigate without issues. 

• Jargon – does your audience 

understand the technical 

vocabulary that is 

second nature to you and 

your colleagues? It’s important 

to pitch your copy correctly 

to avoid alienating 

potential customers, and 

to convey your human 

side. 

• The Wall – a big, solid 

wall of text can look overwhelming 

– content 

should be broken up with 

images and spacing, and 

skimmable thanks to subheadings 

and bullet points. 

• Boring content – even 

the driest topics could be 

made more engaging with 

charts, testimonials, anecdotes, 

videos or lists. You 

should also make sure you 

talk about the visitor and 

their issues – not just yourself 

– and aim for concise 

copy. 

• Thin content – however, 

when trying to make content 

shorter it’s easy to fall 

into the trap of making it 

too short, and not giving 

visitors enough information 

to get them to enquire. 

Make sure all your 

key points are covered. 

• Interruptions – popups 

and interstitials that interrupt 

the user’s browsing 

experience can be frustrating 

and can distract them 

from converting. This year 

Google also began penalising 

sites with mobile interstitials. 

• Bad writing – would you 

trust a website full of 

spelling mistakes and poor 

grammar? The internet is 

full of dodgy sites, and for 

many visitors this is a key 

indication of your quality. 

Proofreading is essential, 

because everybody makes 

mistakes. 

Most of these issues are easily 

fixed, so you could start 

seeing improvements immediately. 

the National Crime Agency 

(NCA) have identified the 

legal profession as a target 

for money launderers and 

continues to be at high risk 

from such criminals. 

The legal services section 

within the National risk assessment 

of money laundering 

and terrorist 

financing 2017, produced 

by the Treasury and the 

Home Office, said: “Legal 

services remain attractive 

to criminals due to the credibility 

and respectability 

they can convey, helping to 

distance funds from their illicit 

source and integrate 

them into the legitimate 

economy.” 

The report went on to identify 

company formation, 

setting up of trusts and conveyancing 

to be the most at 

risk transactions and 

warned that criminals are 

likely to use a combination 

of legal services in order to 

blur transparency and interfere 

with due diligence. 

Following on from the government 

report, Donald 

Toon, director of prosperity 

(economic crime and cybercrime) 

at the NCA, speaking 

at the SRA COLP and COFA 

conference highlighted 

that solicitors are “absolutely 

at the front line of 

the detection mechanism 

for money laundering” but 

“something is not working 

effectively”. 

Mr Toon drew reference to 

the Criminal Finance Act 

2017 and the greater responsibility 

which now lies 

with the profession and the 

increased powers of the authorities 

to deal with 

money laundering. 

The Compli team at Weightmans 

can assist firms with 

their AML and Criminal Finance 

Act policies and procedures 

so please do not 

hesitate to contact us 

should you require further 

help. 

SRA Publish Research on 

Diversity within the Profession 

The SRA has published research 

obtained by University 

of Leeds and Newcastle 

University Business School 

who analysed data for more 

than 194,000 solicitors admitted 

between 1970 and 

2006. 

The research shows progression 

from a diversity 

perspective highlighting an 

increase in females and 

Black, Asian and Minority 

Ethnic (BAME) solicitors entering 

the profession. That 

said, the data shows partnership 

is still male dominant 

with only a third of 

partners being female, despite 

making up nearly a 

half of all solicitors. 

Paul Philip, SRA Chief Executive, 

said: “This independent 

research shows that 

although progress has been 

made, the sector still has 

some way to go.” 

The SRA has also provided 

the following examples of 

good practice in an attempt 

to combat equality, diversity 

and inclusion (EDI) issues: 

• reviewing all policies from 

an EDI perspective to strip 

out any diversity bias 

• encouraging partners to 

take paternity leave, sending 

positive signals to both 

male and female employees 

• making sure EDI issues are 

prioritised at the top, for instance 

by senior management 

or their CEO chairing 

its diversity committee 

Consultations –Implementing 

the Insurance 

Distribution Directive and 

Looking to the Future 

The SRA is consulting on the 

required regulatory 

changes in order that the 

Insurance Distribution Directive 

can be implemented 

by the deadline of 23 February 

2018. 

The Insurance Distribution 

Directive will affect SRA authorised 

firms that undertake 

insurance mediation 

activities and the proposed 

changes are to the SRA Financial 

Services (Scope) 

Rules 2001 and the SRA Financial 

Services (Conduct of 

Business) Rules 2001. 

The consultation is open 

until 20 November 2017 

and can be found on the 

SRA website. 

The Looking to the Future 

(part 2) consultations are 

ongoing. By the time this 

goes to press, the COLP and 

COFA forum will have 

hosted a discussion with 

the Law Society to share 

views on these consultations 

and I will feed back in 

the next update. Anyone 

with any experiences or 

comments on what is proposed, 

please get in touch 

with myself, Fran Eccles- 

Bech or any other member 

of Council. 

Standard of Proof 

You may be aware that the 

SRA has for a while now 

been calling for the standard 

of proof in the SDT to 

be changed from the criminal 

to the civil standard to 

bring it more in line with 

other professional regulators. 

The tribunal is expected 

to review the 

standard in the near future 

(the BSB is looking at this 

also) and the Law Society 

has now published a discussion 

paper asking for members’ 

views on the position it 

should adopt. It has asked 

for comment by 1 December. 

The link is here 

http://www.lawsociety.org. 

uk/News/Stories/standardof-proof-applied-by-thesdt-your-views-needed/ 

Biggest fine at SDT ever!! 

The SDT has approved an 

agreed outcome between 

Locke Lord and the SRA 

with the firm agreeing to 

pay a record £500,000 fine. 

The fine relates to a failure 

to supervise a solicitor from 

involving himself and using 

the client account in transactions 

that bore the hallmarks 

of dubious financial 

arrangements or investment 

schemes. 

Locke Lord admitted failing 

to have effective systems 

and controls in place to spot 

potential conflicts of interest, 

and failing to prevent a 

solicitor from directing or 

requesting payments in and 

out of the client account 

which were not related to 

an underlying legal service. 

The SRA has been warning 

firms for a while about the 

risks of being involved in investment 

schemes and 

using client account as a 

banking facility and it now 

seems that the SDT is willing 

to impose significant 

fines to support the SRA’s 

message. 

An don that cheery note, I 

will sign off . Until next 

month! 

Michelle Garlick 

Chair 

Regulatory Affairs 

Committee 

Weightmans LLP



Double director hire for Pannone 

Corporate’s real estate team 

Pannone Corporate has 

made two senior appointments 

to its real estate 

and construction teams to 

service its growing number 

of clients in the commercial 

real estate sector. 

Garry King has joined the 

real estate team as a director. 

Garry, who acts for developers, 

landlords, tenants 

and institutional and private 

investors, has joined from 

the Manchester office of 

Shoosmiths and prior to 

that Garry worked at DWF. 

Neil Armstrong has also 

been appointed as a director 

in the construction 

team. Neil specialises in 

non-contentious construction 

issues and advises 

major developers, institutional 

investors and local 

authorities across the UK. 

Neil, who also joins from 

Shoosmiths in Manchester, 

previously worked at 

Weightmans and Addleshaw 

Goddard. 

Pannone Corporate managing 

partner Paul Jonson 

said: “Garry and Neil have a 

wealth of experience and 

expertise in their respective 

sectors and are highly regarded 

in their fields. I am 

delighted to welcome them 

both to the firm. 

“It has been a busy 12 

months for our teams with 

new client wins and an unparalleled 

number of transactions. 

These latest 

appointments reflect our 

commitment to invest in 

our growing commercial 

property team.” 

Garry King 

Manchester law firm recognises 100 years’ service 

Manchester-based law 

firm, Slater Heelis is celebrating 

the centenary 

service of three members 

of its Commercial Property 

team. 

Collectively, Managing Partner, 

Anne Irwin, along with 

legal secretaries, Gail Wilkinson 

and Angela Rogers, 

have reached the milestone 

of 100 years of service at the 

firm. 

Anne, who joined in 1982, 

has been with the firm for 

35 years and is Managing 

Partner of Slater Heelis’s 

Manchester office and a 

Partner in the Commercial 

Property team, where she 

specialises in residential 

property development, 

overseeing many deals 

across the region. 

Gail and Angela, who both 

joined as office juniors 38 

and 29 years ago respectively, 

support the 17- 

strong department. 

Chris Bishop, Managing 

Partner, said:“As the firm 

continues to grow in size, 

the ethos remains the same, 

as demonstrated by our 

high client and staff retention. 

Anne, Gail and Angela 

are testament to this and 

have been integral to our 

growth and success 

throughout the years.” 

Anne commented: “It’s a 

pleasure to work in such a 

supportive and positive environment. 

I have acted for 

some of my clients for over 

30 years and worked with 

many of my colleagues for 

20 years or more. 

“Everyone at the firm supports 

each other on a daily 

basis and this is reflected in 

the high-quality work that is 

consistently delivered for 

our clients – all the work we 

do is a team effort. 

“A lot of our staff, like Gail 

and Angela, have been here 

since a young age, working 

their way up to forge successful 

careers. We look 

after our staff as much as we 

look after our clients and 

that is common across all 

departments, with the firm 

achieving a 95 percent staff 

retention rate over the last 

four years.” 

Since 2013, Slater Heelis has 

doubled in size and now 

employs over 135 people 

across Manchester City Centre, 

Sale and Timperley. 

Express Solicitors recognises 

talented team 

Manchester-based personal 

injury law firm, Express 

Solicitors, has 

announced 15 promotions 

including five associate 

partners. 

Four of the new associate 

partners – Craig Phillips, 

Sarah Fowden, Jonathan 

Flattery and Anna Pearson – 

only joined Express Solicitors 

in 2012, taking enquiries 

as part of its new 

client team before working 

their way through the ranks. 

Anna Heeley was appointed 

by the firm in 2014 and 

quickly proved her worth at 

the firm thought hard work 

and talent. 

Alex Summerscales has become 

an Associate Advocate 

and Seetal 

Sagar-Jahnji, Simran Sathi 

and Daniel Brassington Associate 

Solicitors. Nathan 

Harewood, Charlotte Allan, 

Joe Brown, Karl Young, Rebecca 

Fletcher and Katie 

Barnes, all of whom were in 

the new client team only a 

year ago, are now starting 

their legal careers as Trainee 

Solicitors. 

A people driven business 

that is committed to training, 

developing and promoting 

from within, Express 

Solicitors has demonstrated 

an 87% retention rate with 

Partners, with only three 

leaving since the firm was 

founded 17 years ago. 

Express Solicitors’ Managing 

Partner, James Maxey said: 

“We invest in our employees 

from the moment they join 

us and there are plenty of 

opportunities for those that 

show skill and passion for 

personal injury law. In fact, 

eight of our partners have 

worked their way up 

through the ranks, starting 

in our new client team; nurturing 

talent is something 

we’re hugely proud of. 

“This has been a great year 

for the firm all round. 

We’ve just announced our 

best ever year end results, 

thanks to the dedication of 

the whole team in getting 

injured people the justice 

they deserve.” 

New Associate Partner, 

Jonathan Flattery said: “It’s 

fantastic to see that promises 

have been delivered. 

When I started at the firm 

only five years ago I could 

never have imagined I 

would be made into associate 

partner so quickly.” 

Express Solicitors recently 

announced its year-end figures 

increased 12% from 

£12.3m in 2016 to £13.75m 

in 2017, with sister medical 

company Ontime Reports 

Limited contributing a further 

£3m. 

Express Solicitors, noted in 

The Legal 500 and The 

Lawyer UK200, specialises in 

personal injury and accident 

claims, clinical negligence 

claims and serious 

injury cases and comprises 

198 employees including 78 

fee earners and 22 partners. 

Standing L-R: Jonathan Flattery Anna Heely Craig Phillips 

Sitting L-R: Sarah Fowden and Anna Pearson 

COUNTY COURT MONEY CLAIMS CENTRE 

Details of processing and reply times for work at the County Court Money Claims Centre 

(Salford) and the County Court Business Centre (Northampton) can now be found at 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/hmcts-civil-business-centres-performance-information 

The information will be updated every Monday. 

Angela Rogers, Anne Irwin and Gail Wilkinson 

The website aims to manage expectations so that firms can better advise their clients and 

control their diaries.

Clough & Willis grows team with 

two appointments 

Law firm Clough & Willis 

has grown its team with 

the appointments of Rhianna 

Bateson and Jack 

Trickett. 

Rhianna has joined as a private 

client solicitor and will 

be specialising in wills, inheritance 

tax planning, probate 

and estate 

administration as well as 

Lasting Powers of Attorney 

and Court of Protection 

matters. Rhianna, who is a 

member of the Solicitors for 

the Elderly, graduated with 

first class law degree from 

UCLAN in 2012. She completed 

her Legal Practice 

Course in 2006, started her 

training contract in July 

2014 and qualified in July 

2016. She joins Clough & 

Willis from JWK Solicitors. 

The second new starter, 

Jack Trickett, is the firm’s 

newest paralegal. Jack will 

initially be based in the 

Property department and 

Follow Manchester Law 

Society on Instagram 

@manchesterlawsociety 

Movers & Shakers 9 

Jack Trickett and Rhianna Bateson 

will then be working across 

the business in rotation. 

He graduated from Manchester 

Metropolitan University 

and completed his 

Legal Practice Course a year 

later at Manchester Law 

School. 

Shefali Talukdar – managing 

partner of Clough & Willis – 

commented: “We are delighted 

to welcome Rhianna 

and Jack to firm. Their arrival 

is great news and we look 

forward to seeing them 

making their mark with 

their colleagues and clients.” 

Rhianna added: “Clough & 

Willis is a fantastic firm that 

is both client and community 

focused, so both myself 

and Jack are thrilled to now 

be part of the team.” 

Bromleys wins pride of Tameside 

Business Award 

Law firm Bromleys has 

won a business award 

which recognises its commitment 

to its staff and involvement 

in the wider 

community. 

The firm won the corporate 

social responsibility accolade 

at the Pride of Tameside 

Business Awards, which 

were presented at a gala 

dinner at Dukinfield Town 

Hall hosted by BBC Radio 

and TV presenter Andy 

Crane. 

In their comments, the 

award judges said they 

were impressed with Bromleys 

for its investment in 

staff and across the wider 

community. 

“They have a breadth of involvement 

in local good 

causes, supporting with 

time, skills and money, 

backed up by a genuine engagement 

of staff in these 

projects,” the panel said. 

Bromleys provides free legal 

surgeries each week at its 

offices in Ashton-under- 

Lyne, and monthly at a local 

women’s centre. 

The firm is sponsoring Curzon 

Ashton FC’s home shirts 

this season and is raising 

money for The Anthony 

Seddon Fund, which is 

based in Ashton and supports 

people with mental 

health problems, as its charity 

of the year for 2017. 

Bromleys also backs a number 

of other charities and 

provides work experience 

and placements for students 

at Clarendon Sixth 

Form College in Ashton. 

Marketing associate Carol 

Parker has joined the Ashton 

Town Team’s executive 

committee as treasurer. The 

team promotes the town’s 

social, economic, cultural 

and environmental regeneration. 

Meanwhile, Bromleys’ commitment 

to staff was recognised 

earlier this year with 

the retention of its Investors 

in People Gold status. 

Mark Hirst, senior partner at 

Bromleys, said: “We are 

proud of our strong ties 

with the communities of 

Tameside and are passionate 

about helping others, by 

giving up our free time as 

well as through sponsorship, 

donations and sharing 

knowhow. 

“We take our corporate social 

responsibilities seriously 

while having fun at the 

same time, and our activities 

help to boost staff engagement 

across the firm. 

“We are delighted to be 

recognised for our commitment 

with this Pride of 

Tameside business award.” 

Browne Jacobson to help shape technical 

education with key DfE panel appointment 

Browne Jacobson is set to 

play a major role in shaping 

the Government’s new 

T level qualification for 

the legal sector after its 

head of legal support 

services, Sally Swift was 

appointed to an influential 

panel to support its 

development and launch. 

The T level, which was announced 

by Education Secretary 

Justine Greening in 

October, is a new qualification 

launching in 2020 in 

digital, construction, education 

and childcare and will 

be available as a Legal, Finance 

and Accounting 

route (amongst others) in 

2021. The Government 

promises that the new 

routes which are expected 

to be delivered via apprenticeship 

routes only, will 

transform the current technical 

education landscape, 

paving the way for younger 

people to study a technical 

subject at level 3 – the 

equivalent to A level. 

Sally’s role on the panel will 

see her work with the Chair 

and other panel members 

which is made up of specialist 

industry professionals 

and employers to improve 

the current technical education 

and industry standards. 

The panel will develop the 

pathways, ensuring that the 

new T levels will prove just 

as valuable as an A Level 

and will be responsible for 

outlining the content that 

the new technical qualifications 

will be made up of – 

knowledge, skills and behaviours, 

as well as advising 

on the wider T level reform 

programme including further 

qualifications and ensuring 

these qualifications 

Brabners’ Trainee Programme named 

friendliest in the UK 

Brabners' trainee programme 

has been ranked 

as one of the highest performing 

in the country, according 

to a nationwide 

survey from student legal 

careers advisor Lex100. 

According to this year's report, 

Brabners is the highest 

scoring firm for friendliness 

and placed in the top 20 for 

stress level and work-life 

balance. 

The annual rankings take 

into account more than 

3,000 anonymous responses 

from trainees at 

165 legal practices from 

across the UK. The survey 

asks respondents to score 

their firm in a variety of 

areas, including job satisfaction 

and company culture. 

serve the needs of the employers. 

Education Secretary Justine Greening said: “We are transforming 

technical education in this country, developing our 

home grown talent so that our young people have the 

world class skills and knowledge that employers need.” 

Sally Swift added: “I am really privileged to have secured a 

place on this panel. It is fantastic to be able to support the 

Government’s vision of upskilling the younger generation 

and giving them exciting employment, training and learning 

opportunities as well as ensuring employers are being 

offered high quality employees who have both the knowledge 

and the skills to work in their organisation.” 

Sally, who has worked in claimant and defendant management 

for nearly 25 years, is responsible for performance 

management, project delivery of Browne Jacobson's Apprenticeships 

and Legal Academy talent development programme 

and the introduction of the firm’s client project. She 

is part of the Paralegal Trailblazer group and the lead in the 

firm’s successful apprenticeship programme which 

launched in 2012 in partnership with CILEx Law School and 

Vision Apprenticeships. She also acts in a mentoring capacity 

to the apprentices. Browne Jacobson was one of the first 

law firms in the country to launch an apprenticeship 

scheme. 

Dr Tony Harvey, director of 

training at Brabners, said: 

"Our trainee programme is a 

fundamental part of the 

firm's long-term plan for 

sustainable growth. We're a 

business built on finding 

and nurturing talent, so this 

recognition from Lex100 

means a huge amount to us. 

"Our trainees are a vitally 

important and valued part 

of the team here so we are 

very focussed on continuing 

to invest in their development 

and enabling them 

to fulfil their potential.” 

In 2017, the firm has taken 

on more than two thirds of 

its recently graduated 

trainees as newly qualified 

lawyers. 

Sally Swift 

Dr Tony Harvey 

Lex100 interviewed several 

of Brabners’ current trainees 

as part of its assessment, 

with many commending 

“the variety and quality of 

work”, “the impressive client 

base”, and the “genuine emphasis 

on trainees maintaining 

a good work/life 

balance.”



Law firm celebrates 40 years of success 

The national law firm, 

Stephensons, is celebrating 

its 40 years of legal 

services this month. 

The firm, which was established 

from the kitchen 

table of a terraced house in 

Golborne, now employs 

more than 450 staff from 

seven offices, including its 

largest at Wigan Investment 

Centre, which is home to 

the firm’s litigation, family, 

conveyancing, crime, regulatory 

and civil liberties 

teams. 

Since its foundation as 

Stephensons & Co. in 1977, 

the firm has helped hundreds 

of thousands of 

clients, whether helping 

them out of a tight spot or 

helping them to fulfil their 

personal and business aspirations. 

Stephensons now 

assists more than 25,000 

people per year. 

The firm is considered to be 

one of the region’s great 

success stories, achieving 

tier-one status with the 

Legal 500 – the definitive 

guide to the legal sector – 

and being rated as a ‘Top- 

150’ law firm by The Lawyer 

guide. In 2015, Stephensons 

was shortlisted as one of the 

most innovative legal companies 

in Europe by The Fi- 

nancial Times. 

A further accolade followed 

in 2016 with the coveted ‘Investors 

In People Gold’ standard 

in recognition of the 

firm’s exceptional achievements 

in and commitment 

to management. Only three 

per cent of IIP accredited 

companies are awarded the 

Gold standard. 

Taking pride in ‘homegrown’ 

talent 

For many, however, what 

sets Stephensons apart 

from others is the almost religious 

commitment to personal 

development, at all 

levels of the firm. This 

means that there is a larger 

number of ‘home-grown’ 

talent than might be found 

elsewhere, with some taking 

unconventional routes 

to senior positions. 

This is certainly true of 

Stephensons’ Chairwoman, 

Ann Harrison who joined 

Stephensons in 1991 as an 

assistant solicitor in the 

firm’s personal injury department. 

“I never set out to be a 

lawyer”, Ann explains, “I 

haven’t got a law degree! It 

was only through doing a 

couple of university modules 

on employment law - 

as part of my Business Studies 

degree - that my love for 

the law began. 

“I became head of personal 

injury law after a couple of 

years and was made partner 

in 1993. By 2002, I was 

asked to step up to the senior 

management team. 

“The people who work here 

are absolutely fantastic – 

they really make the most of 

themselves. We’ve seen 

some really good examples 

of career development over 

the years, particularly 

among those who have 

started their legal careers 

here. There are some real 

success stories with over 

50% of our partners starting 

life as graduate clerks with 

the firm.” 

From brewing up, to 

boardroom 

Andrew Leakey, Head of 

Dispute Resolution and a 

partner, started at Stephensons 

when he was just 17 

years old: “My first job was 

making brews for the accounts 

team – I wasn’t very 

good at it, to be honest! But 

I made cups of tea and 

crunched data. That was my 

first job. 

A regional first for leading Manchester 

law firm 

Manchester law firm, 

Slater Heelis has become 

the only firm in the North 

West to have two prestigious 

Court of Protection 

Panel Deputies. 

Katharine Peterson has 

joined Slater Heelis and will 

work alongside experienced 

Panel Deputy and Court of 

Protection solicitor Chris 

Partington, the Head of the 

firm’s Private Client team. 

Slater Heelis’s Panel 

Deputies are appointed by 

the Office of the Public 

Guardian and are enrolled 

on to a respected, court-approved 

list. The courts can 

choose deputies from this 

list in lieu of an able or willing 

volunteer to act for a 

person who lacks the mental 

capacity to manage their 

own affairs. 

Katharine spent 12 years 

heading up the Court of 

Protection team at specialist 

serious injury solicitors Potter 

Rees Dolan, and will enhance 

the team with her 

wealth of experience in supporting 

younger clients 

who have suffered severe 

injuries. 

Chris Partington, said: “To 

be recognised by the Office 

of Public Guardian is extremely 

important and 

something that is hugely 

valuable to our clients. The 

fact that Slater Heelis now 

has two Panel Deputies, 

more than any other firm in 

the North West, reaffirms 

our commitment to providing 

the best possible legal 

support to individuals who 

can no longer manage their 

own affairs. 

“Katharine’s vast experience 

in supporting a younger 

client base, especially children 

and young adults 

who’ve suffered severe 

brain injuries due to accidents, 

assault or clinical 

negligence, will be a great 

asset to our team.” 

Katharine commented: “I 

joined Slater Heelis because 

the firm is well-respected 

for its excellent service for 

clients and there was a 

great opportunity to develop 

the Court of Protection 

work even further. The 

team has done an amazing 

Katharine Peterson 

job supporting clients who 

struggle with a mental capacity 

and I’m looking forward 

to adding to its 

success.” 

Slater Heelis is a full-service 

firm offering a range of legal 

services including Private 

Client, Company Commercial, 

Employment, Personal 

Injury, Residential and Commercial 

property and Family 

Law. The firm employs over 

135 people across Manchester 

City Centre, Sale and 

Timperley. 

“I later came back on a university 

vacation scheme as a 

student, then got a training 

contract and qualified as a 

solicitor. I’m now a partner. 

“The reason I’ve stayed for 

all this time is simply that – 

as a firm – we look after 

people. We’re not a firm that 

wants to burn people out or 

push them to breaking 

point. It’s not good for the 

staff and ultimately it’s not 

good for the clients when 

their solicitors are working 

in that environment. 

“We’re very focussed on the 

work-life balance.” 

In Andrew’s opinion, another 

aspect of the firm’s 

success is the belief in the 

power of the services it provides. 

“I think it’s very important to 

believe in what you do and 

believe in the place that you 

work. You spend a lot of 

Roberts Jackson solicitors, 

the industrial disease experts, 

are delighted to announce 

that they are 

finalists in the Eclipse Proclaim 

Modern Law Awards 

2017/18. 

The firm has been shortlisted 

for the Client Care Initiative 

of the Year, a 

category which is dear to 

the hearts of its founders as 

their original motivation 

was to build a firm that truly 

had the interests of its 

clients at its heart. 

The award organisers complimented 

all of those shortlisted, 

stating “the judges 

Ann Harrison 

your life in that working environment 

and it’s important 

that your ‘nine to five’ 

means something. Staff 

need to see the good their 

work achieves and that is 

something we are able to 

provide.” 

Planning for the future 

Like many legal firms, 

Stephensons has been required 

to adapt to an ever 

changing business environment; 

not only addressing 

the evolving needs of its 

clients, but the demands of 

government and regulators. 

In particular, the firm’s recent 

transformation, from a 

firm predominantly dependent 

on legal aid work, 

towards catering for privately 

funded cases, has allowed 

it to adapt and thrive 

in a period of government 

reform. While competitors 

have struggled, Stephensons 

has diversified and 

Roberts Jackson shortlisted for 

national Client Care Award 

were inundated with submissions 

once again this 

year, so huge congratulations 

are in order!” 

Roberts Jackson has won 

five awards and been shortlisted 

for ten so far this year 

alone. 

The Modern Law Awards 

ceremony will take place at 

the Lancaster Hotel in London 

on 18 January 

Client care has been the priority 

for Roberts Jackson 

from Day One and this focus 

has resulted in a highly successful 

law firm that stands 

out from the crowd. 

continued to grow – most 

recently expanding into 

London. 

For Ann Harrison, the firm is 

ideally placed to face the 

challenges the next 40 years 

will bring. 

“One of the true strengths 

of this firm is our ability – 

and willingness – to evolve 

and be innovative. 

“Stephensons has faced 

some enormous changes 

through its history: the way 

cases are funded; the needs 

and wants of our clients; the 

advent of the internet and 

new technology. 

“That the firm is still around 

today, and thriving, is because 

we are constantly 

looking ahead – anticipating 

challenges and changes, 

rather than reacting to 

them. That’s what makes 

Stephensons a success.” 

Roberts Jackson has never 

followed existing pathways 

for law firms, preferring to 

develop its own processes 

and procedures to get the 

best results for clients. 

With an average age of 31, 

the diverse workforce at 

Roberts Jackson is energetic 

and dynamic, and celebrates 

each success as one 

team with gusto. 

The drive to obtain justice 

for clients is palpable and 

this energy comes across, 

leaving clients feeling cared 

for and in safe hands at 

every stage of their legal 

journey.

Interview 11 

Meet the President of the Law Society 

President of the Law Society, Joe Egan has been in 

office for four months. He talks to Julia Baskerville 

about the highlights so far and the challenges 

facing the profession... 

Bolton-born Joe studied Sociology and Economic History 

at Kent University and on graduation had little 

ambition, other than to see the world. Which he did. 

Having worked on a Kibbutz in Israel for a year, as a 

waiter in Germany and as a bus driver in Bolton, in 

1975 Joe set off on a trip which took him through 

Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India and Burma as he 

headed towards Australia where he spent 15 months. 

He then moved to New Zealand where he honed his 

skills as a waiter for another 3 months. Next stop on 

his itinerary was Chile and he travelled extensively 

through South and Central America, before finally 

hitchhiking his way through the USA to New York. 

Joe then decided he should get a “proper job” and opted 

for a career in the law and enrolled at Nottingham Trent 

University for two years where he completed the CPE and 

Law Society Finals. He did his articles with Bolton firm 

Cyril Morris Arkwright where he stayed for 18 months and 

then moved to Betesh Fox in Manchester to complete his 

training, qualifying as a solicitor in 1982. 

Joe worked for a short while at Aspinalls, a conveyancing 

practice, before joining crime-specialists Burns Bowman 

in Manchester. He then returned to Bolton where he 

spent a year with Stephensons. In 1986 he opened the 

doors of Joe Egan Solicitors. Having been a sole practitioner 

with salaried partners, last year the firm became a 

company with five directors. The firm also has four assistant 

solicitors, two trainees as well as several trainee legal 

executives. Joe became the first solicitor in Bolton to 

achieve the right to appear in the Crown Courts when he 

was granted Higher Rights of Audience in 1995. 

Joe has been active with Bolton Law Society since 1987 

and gradually became more involved in the committee, 

becoming President in 2010. He joined the Council of the 

Law Society in 2006 when Ed Nally, the Council Member 

for Central Lancashire stepped down. 

Four months into the job and Joe says he is enjoying representing 

the profession. The last few months have seen 

him visit Sydney for the International Bar Association 

Conference. The highlight of this trip was a dinner which 

was hosted in the office of the Consul General’s office, 

which had the iconic view of the harbour and Sydney 

Opera House. He has also visited Canada for the Union de 

International Advocats Conference and the LawAsia Conference 

was held recently in Tokyo. These overseas trips 

are important – the jurisdiction of England of Wales and 

our legal services are a vital export for the UK. 

Closer to home Joe has hosted a delegation from China, 

which included the Vice Minister of Justice. Joe also recently 

hosted the annual Law Society Excellence Awards, 

of which he says “The Excellence Awards highlight the 

professionalism, dedication and excellence in the legal 

profession and it was a great honour to be able to meet 

these firms and individuals who are outstanding in their 

fields of the law.” 

Another great pleasure is admitting newly qualified solicitors 

onto the roll at the Admission Ceremonies and last 

month he was delighted to admit his nephew Thomas 

Egan, a solicitor in his own firm, to the legal profession. 

Joe says that there are many challenges for the profession, 

and in particular High Street practices. The cuts in 

criminal law fees and the reduction in the number of 

pages that law firms can claim for down to 6000 instead 

of 10000 will mean that many firms will be working for 

nothing and could essentially remove all profitability. In 

addition, the proposals to raise the small claims limit to 

£5000 will have a huge impact on PI firms and the Law 

Society’s concern is that this will decimate the High Street 

practices. 

Another major concern are the proposals by the SRA to 

make radical changes to the Solicitors Handbook. Joe 

states that the Law Society has major concerns about 

some of the proposals which could see solicitors subject 

to entirely different regulations depending on where 

they practise. This could create a new tier of solicitors, 

working in unregulated businesses, who wouldn't have 

to have the same insurance or pay into the solicitors’ compensation 

fund. 

The proposals also included allowing newly qualified solicitors 

to set up their own firms immediately after qualification. 

Joe says “The removal of the rules which prevent 

solicitors establishing their own firms immediately after 

they qualify could put vulnerable clients with complex 

legal problems in the hands of inexperienced, unsupervised 

lawyers. This cannot be a good thing.” 

Joe is a great advocate for local law societies and hopes 

to publish a Local Law Society Handbook later in the year, 

which will provide practical advice on best practice and 

how to attract new members. With 30 years experience 

of local law societies he has seen many grow and flourish, 

whilst others have become moribund and this is 

often an indication of the people involved. He is pleased 

to see that a new local law society has recently been established 

in South Cheshire. 

So far Joe says that he loves being President of the Law 

Society and thought that he was prepared for his year of 

office but adds that he hadn’t realised just how intense 

the role was, often with meetings starting at 8am and 

continuing late into the evening. Joe is due to host a dinner 

for Baroness Hale and the Lord Chief Justice and says 

that he is honoured to be representing the profession at 

this level. 

Joe is now lives mainly in Carey Street, round the corner 

from the Law Society, but some weekends finds the time 

to return home to Bolton. He occasionally gets to watch 

Bolton Wanderers or Manchester City an experience he 

characterized as like going from watching a play at 

Bolton Octagon to the Royal Shakespeare Company. He 

is married to Clare and they have three children. Their eldest 

daughter, Kate, is a solicitor in Bristol and their 

younger daughter, Helen, is the firm’s assistant practice 

manager. Son, Ben is in his final year at UCL where he is 

studying Biology. 

Joe’s other passion in life, apart from football, is music. He 

describes his musical tastes as “eclectic’, taking in folk, 

rock and classical, but adds that he has yet to understand 

the appeal of jazz. He has been a regular attendee at both 

the Cropredy and Wychwood Festivals, although this year 

music has had to take a back seat! 

Joe Egan 

President of the Law Society


MLP Law appoints new head of Dispute Resolution 

Altrincham based solicitors, 

MLP Law, have 

strengthened its leadership 

team with a new 

head of Dispute Resolution, 

Elizabeth Wilkinson. 

Former Pannone Corporate 

solicitor, Elizabeth brings almost 

20 years’ experience of 

managing disputes, acting 

on a diverse range of commercial 

contract disputes, 

professional negligence actions 

and claims arising 

from the sale and purchase 

of businesses. 

Elizabeth will now assist in 

the development of MLP’s 

growing department and 

look to help MLP Law 

achieve its strategic vision. 

Managing Partner of MLP 

Law, Stephen Attree, stated, 

“We welcome Elizabeth’s experience 

and professionalism 

to the team. She has 

demonstrated a robust approach, 

is commercially astute, 

and focused on 

achieving successful outcomes, 

as quickly as possible.” 

He added, “we’re here to 

support our clients through 

what are often difficult 

times and I know Elizabeth’s 

advice and help is exactly 

what they look for when 

they turn to the team at 

MLP. 

The new appointment follows 

a continued period of 

growth for the company, acquiring 

law firm William H 

Lill earlier in the year. With a 

total of 38 team members, 

the solicitors look to further 

focus on supporting their 

existing client base, while 

maintaining the traction of 

acquiring new business. 

Ann Stephen Attree, Managing Partner at MLP Law, welcomes Elizabeth to the 

MLP team as head of Dispute Resolution. 

Mills & Reeve invests in Manchester real estate 

team with two new partners 

Leading national law firm 

Mills & Reeve has announced 

two new lateral 

hires for the firm’s real estate 

team in Manchester. 

Mike Edge and Rachel Pitman 

join the firm from 

Pinsent Masons. 

Mike is a well-known and respected 

real estate lawyer in 

the North West and has 

worked for a number of 

high profile clients, including 

significant developers 

and investors, as well as 

substantial occupier clients. 

He successfully led the Manchester 

real estate team at 

Pinsent Masons for seven 

years, overseeing many 

landmark deals and 

schemes. 

Rachel Pitman is a real estate 

partner with significant 

experience in the North 

West region. Rachel has 

acted on a number of high 

profile investment properties 

in Manchester and has 

advised clients on strategically 

important development 

sites in the region. Her 

project management expertise 

and skills provide 

clients with a speedy and efficient 

service from cross 

sector disciplines. 

The appointments are part 

of Mills & Reeve’s plan to 

grow their already successful 

national real estate practice 

and demonstrates their 

commitment to Manchester 

and the North West. 

Beverley Firth, who leads 

the national real estate 

team for Mills & Reeve, said: 

“Manchester’s real estate 

sector has demonstrated its 

strength and resilience in 

the face of challenging economic 

times and the uncertainty 

caused by Brexit. 

Residential developments 

have fared particularly well; 

the recent Deloitte Crane 

Survey recorded 22 new developments 

starting on site 

in the North West in the past 

year, up from the previous 

high of 14 in 2008, surpassing 

even pre-recession levels. 

“This paints a really positive 

picture of the sector and we 

believe now is the ideal 

time to invest in our practice 

in the North West. The 

appointment of Mike and 

Rachel will help us achieve 

our aim of growing our real 

estate team to in turn help 

businesses and organisations 

in Manchester and the 

North West assure further 

strong growth.” 

Mills & Reeve’s strategy to 

offer real estate clients in 

the North West an innovative 

service, completing 

complex and high value 

work, will be further bolstered 

by the lateral hires. 

Justin Ripman, Senior Partner 

at the firm said: “This is 

yet another significant development 

in our real estate 

team following our merger 

with Maxwell Winward earlier 

in the year. 

The expansion of our Manchester 

team will further enhance 

our national network 

of real estate experts.” 

The North West is a region 

with fantastic prospects for 

forward-thinking businesses 

and we aim to be at 

the forefront, helping our 

real estate clients gain access 

to these opportunities 

as well as providing an excellent 

service that can support 

them locally, regionally 

and nationally.” 

Shoosmiths Manchester Champions 

Workplace Transformation 

Head of Shoosmiths Manchester, 

Vaqas Farooq has 

revealed how the office 

has benefitted from 

heightened efficiency, 

stronger recruitment pull 

and more streamlined 

business processes since 

moving into its new purpose 

designed collaborative 

workspace at XYZ in 

the city centre. 

Vaqas was speaking at a 

seminar, jointly hosted by 

Shoosmiths and award-winning 

interior design and fitout 

specialists, Claremont 

who designed and built the 

innovative workspace project 

for the leading law firm. 

The event provided an invited 

audience of Manchester 

business leaders with 

insight and practical advice 

around transforming workspaces 

to drive better business 

performance. 

Guests were given a guided 

tour of Shoosmiths’ innovative 

two-floor workspace, 

which includes a variety of 

different work environments, 

tailored to suit the 

firm’s activities and to maximise 

collaboration. 

The tour was accompanied 

by presentations from 

Vaqas Farooq and Claremont’s 

lead designers, who 

explained the rationale behind 

Shoosmiths’ new workspace 

and its outcomes. The 

speakers provided insight 

around how to develop engaging 

workspaces that 

help to attract and retain 

the best talent, how to create 

a future-proofed workspace 

that evolves as a 

company grows and how to 

increase capacity across an 

office estate whilst building 

in flexibility and longevity. 

Vaqas Farooq said, ‘We are 

very proud to be blazing a 

trail for law firms in the city, 

when it comes to rethinking 

the way our industry works 

and we wanted to share 

what we have learned by 

helping to bring the ‘agile’ 

approach to life for other 

businesses in the region. 

The event gave us the opportunity 

to showcase our 

new offices in an educational 

manner that we hope 

will help inform future decisions 

the business community 

makes around 

workspace design. 

“We are already reaping numerous 

benefits as a result 

of our investment into a 

progressive workspace. Our 

agile culture, that empowers 

our teams to decide how 

and where they work, is 

helping us to attract and retain 

high-calibre employees, 

for instance. And our 

focus on collaborative working, 

enabled by technology 

and dedicated workspace, 

has resulted in more effective 

team work, scaling expertise 

and improving 

colleague productivity and 

well-being.” 

Vaqas Farooq 

Sarah-Jane Osborne, design 

and workspace strategy director 

for Claremont said: 

“Shoosmiths has fully embraced 

the very latest in 

workspace thinking to increase 

productivity, collaboration 

and effectiveness for 

both the business and its 

clients. Adopting this progressive 

approach has put 

Shoosmiths ahead of the industry 

change curve and 

makes the firm a prime example 

of how workplace investment 

should have 

people and processes at its 

heart.” 

Shoosmiths’ new Manchester 

office occupies 32,000 sq 

ft of space at XYZ in Spinningfields. 

It incorporates 

eleven different types of 

workspace along with 

break-out areas. Workspaces 

include a garden, 

working library, multi-zonal 

project room, drafting areas, 

huddle booths and telecon 

rooms. Each of the office’s 

five practice groups have 

their own ‘neighbourhoods’, 

which incorporate some traditional 

desk space, along 

with team and collaborative 

areas.

Interview 13 

My Other Life 

In this edition Andrew Twambley of Amelans Solicitors 

and Chair of A2J talks to Julia Baskerville about his 

passion for music and photography... 

Andrew Twambley is a 

well-known figure in the 

Manchester legal community, 

through his work 

with the injurylawyers4u 

and Access 2 Justice (A2J), 

which leads the campaign 

against government reforms, 

which could limit 

access to justice for those 

who have suffered injuries. 

Yet away from the 

law, Andrew has more 

rock n’roll lifestyle. 

Andrew has always enjoyed 

music and his first job as a 

teenager was working at 

Cobweb Records in Cleveleys 

on the Fylde Coast. One 

of his co-workers was Jeff 

Smith who went on to become 

controller of Radio 2 

and BBC 6 Music. 

Whilst at still at Fleetwood 

Grammar School, Andrew 

and other pupils assisted in 

arranging an end of term 

party at the Winter Gardens 

in Blackpool and were given 

the princely sum of £26 to 

book some entertainment. 

£4 was spent booking the 

support act “Bob Kerr’s 

Whoopie Band“ and with 

the remaining £22 booked 

an up and coming band. 

Ironically, the week before 

the party, they appeared on 

Top of the Pops and Andrew 

says they really didn’t think 

that they would show up for 

a school party. But true to 

their word, Queen arrived in 

a battered old van and put 

on a great show. 

Andrew says that until the 

mid 1970s his music tastes 

were limited to Slade, Bowie 

and other glam rockers, and 

even David Essex, but the 

advent of Punk opened a 

whole new world. 

In 1976 Andrew went to Liverpool 

Polytechnic and 

found “Eric’s” - the iconic 

music venue on Matthew 

Street, where Andrew says, 

“I was reborn”. All of the 

great punk bands performed 

at Eric’s, including 

the Clash, The Jam, Buzzcocks, 

The Slits, The Ramones, 

and Joy Division to 

name but a few. 

After graduating from Liverpool 

Poly, Andrew followed 

the Clash to the States, taking 

photographs, which 

meandered across the 

country ending in Monterey, 

near San Francisco 

with a gig which also included 

Robert Fripp, Brian 

Eno and Peter Tosh. 

Once back in the UK, Andrew 

trained as a solicitor in 

Manchester at an old established 

firm on John Dalton 

Street. He joined Amelans in 

1989 and is now the managing 

partner. 

In 2000 Andrew reignited 

his interest in photography. 

He met Martin Kemp of 

Spandau Ballet who invited 

him to come and take some 

photographs of the band. 

Andrew now spends a couple 

of evenings a week at 

some of Manchester’s greatest 

music venues where he 

photographs both well established 

bands and up and 

coming musicians. He says 

“My music tastes have 

widened over the years, but 

I still have that punk mentality.” 

Andrew is official photographer 

for the 02 Ritz Manchester, 

but also covers The 

Apollo, Manchester Arena 

and smaller venues such as 

Gorilla and The Deaf Institute. 

He shoots for “Counterfeit” 

magazine and will 

shortly be shooting the 

“Louder than Words” festival, 

organised by John 

Robb, a former customer at 

Cobweb Records 

Andrew is also a keen poultry 

keeper and currently 

owns 50 chickens, the majority 

of whom have names. 

All of the males or “cocks” 

are called “Martin”, ,…..and 

NO he does not eat “his 

girls” 

Vintage Trouble 

John Cooper Clarke 

The Bay City Rollers 

The changing nature of the legal professional 

There’s little doubt that the nature of work is shifting at an unprecedented 

rate, and the legal profession is no exception. With 

artificial intelligence arriving on the scene offering firms the 

ability to automise many process driven roles, coupled with intense 

competition for jobs, legal professionals can no longer 

rely on academic achievements alone. They need to able to 

demonstrate that they have the abilities to achieve long term 

success in an ever evolving workplace and help increase the 

profitability of their firm. So what are Manchester employers 

looking for in 2018? 

Outstanding interpersonal skills: Strong communication skills have 

always been required to support professionals’ legal knowledge, 

however having exceptional interpersonal skills is crucial for those 

looking to further their career. In an increasingly competitive employment 

market, individuals need to be able to demonstrate that 

they have the ability to cultivate and maintain strong professional 

relationships with peers, and establish a strong sense of rapport with 

clients. 

Negotiation and management skills: As in house teams continue to 

strengthen their legal departments, private practitioners will increasingly 

find themselves working with clients who are legal professionals 

themselves, who will expect their external counsel to not only 

show effective management skills but also a willingness to negotiate 

on alternative fee arrangements. Management and leadership 

qualities are vital for professionals who are looking to progress up 

the ladder as corporate counsel need to be able to manage a panel 

of external legal service providers. 

complex, legal professionals will find themselves working in more 

interdisciplinary teams, and having to collaborate with a wider range 

of external specialists, so the ability to work effectively with a diverse 

team is perhaps more crucial than ever. Collaboration is a skill rarely 

taught in legal degrees and while the ability to work autonomously 

and act as a sole advisor is still incredibly important, candidates need 

to be able to show that they can also work well in complex teams. 

The ability to be both generalist and specialist: Recent shifts within 

the profession have led to a somewhat paradoxical expectation of 

legal professionals. Increasingly employers are looking for individuals 

to have both specialist knowledge and a wide generalist skillset. 

In order to differentiate themselves in an increasingly crowded market 

place, professionals need to adopt this dual role. Firms are now 

looking for individuals with both experience working in incredibly 

specialist practice areas, as well as having a broad sense of commercial 

awareness. Law firms are placing a greater value on commercial 

acumen tests during the recruitment process, so professionals need 

to ensure that they are able to demonstrate a thorough understanding 

of the ‘business of law’ and can combine a sense of commercial 

awareness with sound legal reasoning. 

Lynn Sedgwick is Managing 

Director of specialist 

recruiter, Clayton Legal. 

For more information visit 

www.clayton-legal.co.uk 

or call 01772 259 121 

The ability to work collaboratively: Workplaces are being ever more 

collaborative, and the legal profession is adopting increasingly cooperative 

working practices. As cases become progressively more

14 Feature 

Talking Heads 

From January 2018 the Messenger will be published as a digital magazine, so we 

asked practitioners "What are your fondest memories, articles or stories from the 

paper version of the Messenger magazine?" 

Geraldine McCool 

Partner 

Irwin Mitchell 

Past President of MLS 

Michael Clavell-Bate of Eversheds 

was a hard act to follow 

as President of this 

Society. I am not referring 

to the sterling work that 

Michael did on Access to 

Justice and other issues that 

affected our members. I 

refer instead to the challenge 

that he set himself to 

have a photograph with a 

celebrity for each monthly 

Presidents column in the 

Messenger. 

With city intelligence (I 

blame Fran) he managed to 

meet the challenge. Back 

then we are talking about 

proper celebrities playing at 

the Arena or filming locally. 

I recall that the challenge 

was for charity but even this 

failed to improve my mood. 

However Michael showed 

that serious legal matters 

could be combined with a 

social side and that typified 

what the Society was about. 

I have looked back at some 

of the photographs and noticed 

that Michael does not 

seem to have aged. My bad 

mood continues. 

Adrian Mursec 

The E-Word 

I mostly read the Messenger 

to keep up to date with 

what my work wife Fran Eccles-Bech 

had been up to. 

Over the years I've known 

her she's always been able 

to give me helpful advice 

and I'm grateful she's always 

there to talk to over a coffee 

(preferably a glass of wine). 

In the January 2017 Messenger 

she shared a personal 

story about how she 

discovered she had stage 

two cancer which did unnerve 

me but she followed 

on to share the good news 

about how her son Jack 

who finally tidied his room 

for once in typical Fran humour. 

Thankfully the February 

issue continued the story to 

let us know she had the "all 

clear" and how happy she 

was. I too was very happy although 

I knew nothing 

could beat Fran. She's a positive 

unstoppable force. 

Ruth Shearn 

Managing Director 

RMS PR 

I’ve chosen four pieces, all of 

which are linked by a strong 

sense of pride in Manchester’s 

unique legal community. 

Back in 2010, I loved reading 

about the success of the inaugural 

Manchester Legal 

Awards, which continue to 

be one of the most anticipated 

events in the region. 

The article captured the excitement 

of the event and 

provided a perfect platform 

to showcase and celebrate 

the superb legal talent here 

in the north west. 

Two years later, Fran’s piece 

about doing a parachute 

jump to raise money for 

Breakthrough Breast Cancer 

made me laugh and cry in 

equal measure. And raise 

money she did – over 

£25,000. No mean feat for 

someone who doesn’t like 

sport or heights! 

World War I was commemorated 

by Julia in 2014. 

The fascinating and deeply 

moving article paid tribute 

to the many lives lost from 

the legal community after it 

was singled out to ‘do its bit’ 

for the war effort. 

My final choice has to be 

from July 2017, when The 

Messenger led with a piece 

about the very positive and 

generous action being 

taken by Manchester’s legal 

community to help victims 

of the Manchester Arena attack. 

This work continues to 

this day and serves to 

demonstrate the decency 

that abounds in the region’s 

legal sector. 

The Messenger is dead, long 

live The Messenger. 

Craig Phillips 

Associate Partner 

Express Solicitors 

My fondest memories of the 

Messenger without doubt 

has to be Fran’s column 

throughout the years. 

“Fridge wars” was hilarious 

and gave some laughs during 

what has otherwise 

been quite a tumultuous 

and challenging year with 

the constant threat of legal 

reforms being dangled by 

the Government. Also, at 

the risk of blowing one’s 

own trumpet I’d have to 

mention the January 2017 

edition where I was named 

Lawyer of the Month as a result 

of successfully appealing 

of a finding of 

fundamental dishonesty. It 

was a career highlight and 

has pride of place on my office 

wall. 

Jeff Lewis 

Partner 

Brabners 

I'm going to show my age 

here in two respects: first, by 

bemoaning the fact that I 

will no longer be getting my 

beloved hard copy of the 

Messenger (sorry, but it just 

won't be the same online!), 

and, secondly, by harking 

back 21 years to a particularly 

memorable article. 

When a huge IRA bomb exploded 

in Manchester in 

1996, it wrecked large parts 

of the city centre. Many solicitors' 

offices (including 

the firm I was with) were inaccessible 

for at least a few 

days, and when we did venture 

back into Manchester 

we were greeted by a scene 

of devastation. Of course, 

many businesses and individuals 

suffered particularly 

seriously, both financially 

and physically. 

It felt like our wonderful city 

of Manchester had been 

ripped apart. And the mood 

of the city - stunned but defiant 

- was articulated beautifully 

in a wonderful article 

by Michael Clavell-Bate of 

Eversheds (and at the time a 

MLS Council member); all 

these years later the power 

of the article remains with 

me. 

Of course, its sentiments 

resonated again only a few 

months ago, after the terrible 

attack at the MEN Arena. 

Plus ca change. If only the 

Messenger could stay the 

same too. 

Bill Kirby 

Director 

Professional Choice 

Consultancy 

I have observed and participated 

in the Messenger in 

hard copy for over 10 years. 

Most satisfaction has come 

from some of the responses 

where I have had the opportunity 

to throw challenges 

(and advice) out in the Management 

Matters column. 

Management checklist, 

working capital management, 

costs of abdication. 

See some of the others at 

http://professionalchoiceconsultancy.com/articles.ph 

p 

I enjoyed the hard copy, 

they get read at different 

times and passed around. 

Digital of course is the way 

forward, so much is going 

that way often too soon 

though. Perhaps as compensation 

it may encourage 

more on line response to 

points made and debates 

getting underway. Let’s 

hope as many people read 

it. 

It has been a great journal, 

supporting individual members, 

corporate members, 

MLS Advantage suppliers 

and general sponsors and 

advertisers – a real Manchester 

contribution” 


Publisher 

The Messenger 

Over the past 23 years, I 

have published 276 editions 

of the Messenger and I have 

many fond memories going 

back over the years. I have 

interviewed such a broad 

range of people, all with 

their own story to tell. 

I also feel that the Messenger 

has assisted in some way 

by bringing together local 

campaigns, such as the one 

against competitive tendering, 

court closures and many 

years ago; Legal Aid Franchising. 

The challenges to 

the profession over the past 

23 years have been many. 

On a more personal level, I 

enjoyed looking into the history 

of Manchester Law Society 

and one topic which 

consumed my life for several 

months was the commemoration 

of Manchester solicitors 

and clerks who served 

their country in WW1. 

However, Manchester Law 

Society is one that looks forward 

and the world is very 

different to that of 1994. 

Law firms have embraced 

technolgy, the membership 

is becoming younger and 

the Messenger must now 

change to remain relevant 

and sustainable. 

My heartfelt thanks to all our 

contributors, advertisers 

and readers and I hope that 

you will continue to enjoy 

the Messenger in its new 

digital format. 

Fran Eccles-Bech 

Chief Executive 

Manchester Law Society 

There are so many memorable 

editions of the Messenger 

I have struggled to 

choose just a few editions. 

However, one edition in 

1995 was memorable for 

the wrong kind of reason. In 

the ‘old days’ adverts were 

sent directly to the printers, 

and when the Messenger 

came out there, in full technicolour, 

was an advert for 

“Gentlemens’ Heavening” 

strip club! The President at 

the time was “incandescent” 

to say the least! 

Over the years each of the 

Presidents have written 

their columns, but of course 

Michael Clavell-Bate was set 

a challenge each month to 

have his photo taken with a 

celebrity. Not many legal 

publications can boast having 

Ali G, Des O’Connor, 

Reeves & Mortimer, Lesley 

Garratt, Alex Ferguson, 

Kevin Keegan, Michael 

Greco, Tony Hadley Shirley 

Bassey, Suranne Jones and 

Clive Anderson featured on 

their pages. 

And of course we have the 

Legal Awards, now in its 9th 

year. We have covered the 

triumphs, the victories and 

the disappointments and 

each year the number and 

standard of applications increase 

and I hope this continues. 

Finally, on a personal note, I 

have been featured in a 

number of editions, in particular 

when I was a “Booby 

Bird” raising funds for Breakthrough 

Breast Cancer. The 

Messenger featured a very 

unflattering photo of me 

skydiving in a bright pink 

jumpsuit. Who could forget 

that? I wish I could!

Atttention 

to detail. 

In these unpredictable times, `good enough’ isn’t good enough. 

You can’t risk using products or services that leave you open to mistakes. 

Practical Law and Westlaw UK provide trusted answers, which are 

comprehensive, up to date and precise. So you can take the right action 

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tr.com/confidence

16 Case Comment 

Improving Access to Justice? What the Changes to 

Cost Capping in Planning and Environmental Claims 

Really Mean? 

Killian Garvey, planning & environmental law barrister at Kings Chambers, 

discusses the recent High Court ruling to re-impose fixed costs for disputes in 

planning and environmental cases. 

You will likely have the seen the headlines which accompanied 

the decision taken by the High Court in September 

to re-instate fixed costs for disputes in planning 

environmental cases – overturning rules introduce by 

the Ministry of Justice in February. 

To understand the full implications of the ruling, it is important 

to first understand the background against which the 

decision is set. From there, we can understand the likely impact 

of the ruling, and what it will means for disputes in 

planning and environmental cases going forward. 

The background 

Going back to 1 April 2013, we can see that the Civil Procedure 

Rules were amended to include new rules for claims 

that fell within the Aarhus Convention. 

This applied to any claim for judicial review that, in simple 

terms, engaged environmental matters. The definition of 

environmental matters within this context was intended to 

be broad and comprehensive. 

Moreover, it provided a strong incentive against challenging 

whether the matter is environmental. If such a challenge 

was unsuccessful, the defendant would be ordered to pay 

indemnity costs for having raised the matter (per CPR 45.44). 

Where the matter was a judicial review that engaged environmental 

issues, CPR 45.41 provided the claimant with the 

mechanism to secure a protective costs order. This meant 

that, even if the claimant lost their claim, they only need to 

pay £5,000 in costs to the other side, or £10,000 where the 

claimant was an organisation. 

In Venn,[1] it was held that these provisions could be read 

across to statutory challenges to an Inspector’s decision.[2] 

However, they did not apply as a matter of course. The 

Claimant would need to demonstrate that they required the 

protective costs order in light of their financial resources. 

These provisions in the CPR had, therefore, acted as a mechanism 

whereby claimants can pursue judicial reviews, whilst 

significantly limiting their costs exposure. 

However, on 28 February 2017, at the behest of the Ministry 

of Justice, the CPR was amended to soften these provisions 

through CPR 52.19A. 

The changes meant that the Court had the power to vary 

the costs cap of £5k or £10k, to a much higher figure depending 

on the claimant’s personal resources and or access 

to funds (including from supporters). 

Accordingly, the previously fixed costs cap became a flexible 

figure, which could be varied on each occasion. 

The challenge 

A number of charitable groups invested in environmental 

decisions (eg. the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) 

pursued a judicial challenge of these provisions in R. (RSPB 

and others) v Secretary of State for Justice [2017] EWHC 

2309 (Admin). They contended that the rules were in breach 

of the Aarhus Convention. 

The challenge was pursued on three grounds, namely: 

That the provisions meant the costs of litigation were no 

longer ‘reasonably predictable’, which would dissuade parties 

from pursuing challenges and compromise access to 

justice 

That it was improper that parties had to disclose their financial 

resources in a public forum 

That the costs involved in bringing the claim had to be relevant 

to the assessment of whether the costs would be prohibitively 

expensive. 

Dove J found that the amendments to the CPR were not unlawful, 

however, he provided clarity on their application. 

As regards ground 1, Dove J held that where a protective 

costs order is to be challenged, it should be done in the acknowledgment 

of service. The level of costs should be determined 

at the outset of the claim, so that the claimant can 

know early in the process their potential costs exposure. 

As regards ground 2, the Court found that where the 

claimant’s financial resources were to be considered, the 

hearings should be in private with such information being 

kept confidential. 

This was to avoid ‘the chilling effect, which the prospect of 

the public disclosure of the financial information of the 

claimant and/or his or her financial supporters’ could have. 

As regards ground 3, the Court found that the Claimant’s 

own costs were relevant to assessing whether the costs 

were prohibitively expensive. 

Following the ruling the law firm acting on behalf of the 

charitable groups claimed they had won ‘major concessions’ 

from the Government which ‘make it radically better for access 

to environmental justice and go a considerable way to 

allay legitimate concerns of a chilling effect on otherwise 

meritorious legal claims.’ 

In particular, as result of Dove J’s judgment, the costs cap 

must be set at the permission stage of the proceedings; 

whereas previously it was understood that at any stage of 

the proceedings the Court could vary the costs cap. 

Similarly, the Secretary of State for Justice has equally 

claimed success, on the basis that the amendments to the 

CPR have been upheld in substance, albeit their application 

might have changed. 

For practical purposes, the judgment confirms that the previously 

fixed costs cap can now be varied in judicial review 

claims. However, only time will tell as to whether the Courts 

will typically be open to varying the costs cap in any appreciable 

manner. 

Moreover, in light of the need for hearings in private, it 

might be the case that the costs associated with arguing this 

point outweigh the savings made in varying the costs cap 

in any event 

At this stage there is potential for the High Court ruling to 

play out in a number of ways. Planning and environmental 

lawyers will watch with interest to see whether the amendments 

to the CPR have much difference in practice. 

References 

[1] Venn v SSCLG [2013] EWHC 3546 (Admin) 

[1] Pursuant to s.288 of the Town and Country Planning Act 

1990 

Killian Garvey

PEN 

OR 

NTRIES 

For more information: 

Event host Media partner Marketing partner 

www.manchesterlegalawards.co.uk 

@MLAwards

18 News 

Hall Brown’s “secret weapon” strikes award target 

The woman credited with playing a key role in the success 

of one of the country’s most dynamic family law 

firms has been recognised as a star in her own right. 

Joanne Wilson, the Office Manager of Hall Brown Family 

Law, has been honoured at an awards ceremony for Manchester’s 

top personal assistants. 

Mrs Wilson, a self-taught secretary who has worked with 

many of the city’s leading family lawyers over the last 30 

years, was named Line Manager of the Year at the prize-giving 

organised by the Manchester PA Network. 

Hall Brown co-founder and Senior Partner Sam Hall described 

her success as richly deserved because of her contribution 

in helping the firm’s “stunning” start. 

“It’s no exaggeration to say that whilst all of our lawyers are 

responsible for the most direct involvement with clients, it 

is our back-office staff who enable us to be quite so efficient. 

“That’s important for any organisation, regardless of 

whichever industry they operate in. For a small and rapidlygrowing 

firm such as ours, it is absolutely critical. 

Mrs Wilson has worked exclusively as a PA in the legal sector 

since securing a Youth Training Scheme (YTS) position 

upon leaving school in 1987. 

Having joined with March Pearson Skelton – which was later 

known as Pannone until its takeover in early 2014 by Slater 

and Gordon – the following year, she juggled day-to-day 

work with teaching herself essential secretarial skills and 

raising two children. 

Mr Hall said that Mrs Wilson’s decision to join Hall Brown had 

been instrumental in efforts to recruit highly-rated partner 

Andrew Newbury, with whom she has worked for the last 21 

years. 

He added that she was responsible for leading a sevenstrong 

administrative team in a firm which has grown from 

three staff to 22 in only 18 months. 

Mrs Wilson’s award also caps a year to remember for her 

both on professional and personal terms, having married 

this summer. 

It is also the latest recognition for Hall Brown in the 18 

months since opening its doors. 

The same classification named more Hall Brown partners 

than any other North West firm in its top tier of ‘Leading Individuals’, 

while Chambers and Partners noted that Hall 

Brown offered “best-in-class” advice and was an “very exciting 

and energetic practice”. 

In June, Hall Brown was the only boutique firm outside London 

to make eprivateclient’s annual list of the UK’s 45 leading 

family law practitioners. 

“We’re delighted, therefore, that the role played by Jo has finally 

been recognised. She has been with us since we 

launched the firm and we regard her as our secret weapon. 

“In fact, it’s fair to say that there are scores of lawyers across 

the city who doubtless share those sentiments bearing in 

mind the valuable, very professional service which she has 

provided over the last three decades.” 

The firm has already secured a string of impressive write-ups 

by the most prestigious rankings. 

Only last month, it was listed as “among the best for matrimonial 

finance outside of London” and identified by the listing’s 

organisers as “the firm to watch for the future” in the 

prestigious Legal 500 rankings. 

Monthly Competition 

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Inspire us with your ideas and we will turn them into a stylish arrangement! 

To win a £100 voucher answer the following question: 

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no later than 15th December 2017 

The winner of the Nu Spa competition was 

Matthew Ashforth, Senior Associate, Eversheds Sutherland

Legal Costs Update 

19 

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. 

Last month we wrote about the “hot” news that the Court of Appeal had heard 

the appeal in BNM v MGN and that guidance would finally be given about how 

the “new“ proportionality test in CPR 44.3(5) should be applied to work undertaken 

from 1st April 2013. We now have the judgment and unfortunately it is 

“cold” news, or to put it in a more seasonal context just after Guy Fawkes night, 

little more than a damp squib. Whilst the court was unanimous in allowing the 

appeal by deciding that the rule does not apply on a standard basis assessment 

to a “pre-commencement funding arrangement” as defined in CPR 48.1 , no 

wider guidance was given, so practitioners are still in the dark about how the 

CPR 44.3(5) proportionality test is to be applied in practice 

. 

With judgment yet to be given in May v Wavell Group, the other proportionality 

appeal heard by HH Judge Dight in January, the uncertainty about how 

much (if anything) a receiving party stands to lose at the end of the line by 

line assessment when and if the “new” proportionality test is applied, remains 

uncertain and unpredictable. It is a very unsatisfactory state of affairs as it is 

understood that many detailed assessments were stayed voluntarily to await 

the judgment in BNM. Now, the wait goes on. More on BNM below. 

Time for commencing detailed assessment proceedings 

Ordered to pay the costs? Is your opponent actually entitled to have them assessed? 

It ought to be a straightforward question to answer (see CPR 47.1) but 

until Khaira v Shergill 2017 5 Costs LR 953 (in which co-author Nick McDonnell 

of the Kain Knight Manchester office acted for the successful appellants!) 

that had not been the case in so far as costs orders made in the Court of Appeal 

have been concerned. The key point is whether the disposal of a self contained 

issue on an interlocutory appeal without any direction for an 

immediate assessment, permits the receiving party to have the costs assessed 

without having to wait for the proceedings as a whole to be concluded. Hamblin 

J in Crystal Decisions (UK) Ltd v Vedatech Corporation (2007) EWHC 

1062 (Ch) had said that the High Court could do so subsequently “…because 

the court has the conduct of the proceedings…and because they are discrete 

costs…”. Patten J in GB Gas Holdings Ltd v Accenture (UK) Ltd (2011) 1 Costs 

LO 64 , had said that it could not because the purpose of keeping CPR 47.1 was 

“… to lay down a general rule, the costs of part of the proceedings are not be 

assessed until the conclusion of the proceedings as a whole…” 

David Richards LJ preferred Patten J’s approach, holding that there is nothing 

to suggest that another court can exercise a jurisdiction clearly vested in the 

Court of Appeal since an appeal is not a proceeding in the High Court, but in 

the Court of Appeal. In Khaira, the Supreme Court had allowed an interlocutory 

appeal and had directed that the appellants’ costs be paid both in that 

court and in the Court of Appeal. However, that did not mean that the Court 

of Appeal costs could be assessed and paid immediately as the Judge below, 

Deputy Judge Spearman QC had permitted, because the Supreme Court had 

not turned its mind to the point. Neither a judge of the High Court, nor a costs 

judge under paragraph 1.3 of the PD to CPR 47 can exercise a jurisdiction 

clearly vested in the Court of Appeal to make such an order, so the appeal was 

allowed. 

In short, if you are awarded your costs on an interlocutory application/appeal 

and the claim is ongoing, you must seek a ‘forthwith order’ or an order for an 

‘immediate assessment’ to commence detailed assessment proceedings. Without 

one you cannot. 

CPR Part 36 

Houghton v PB Donoghue (Haulage & Plant Hire) Ltd [2017] 5 Costs LR 857 

is a short but interesting judgment about the perils of not accepting a decent 

Part 36 offer. Six months before the trial, the defendant had offered £330,000 

to settle the case but the claimant turned it down. Two days into the trial, the 

claimant changed his mind and applied to Mr Justice Morgan (who was not 

the trial judge) to accept it out of time under CPR 36.11(3)(d). The Claimant’s 

application failed. To do otherwise, the judge said, would permit a party to see 

which way the wind was blowing at the trial and to repent of the decision not 

to accept the offer if the case was going less well or more badly than had been 

predicted. The outcome? Disaster- the trial continued for another three days 

and the claimant lost! (see 2017 EWHC 1475- Mr M Rosen QC). 

Costs Budgeting 

Although the authorities lack consistency about when parties can apply to vary 

costs budgets, Jscezhdunarodiny Promysenniy v Pugachev [2017] 5 Costs LR 

861 demonstrates that it can be done partway through the trial. Before Birss 

J, it had become clear that an additional day and a half would be needed as the 

matter could not be completed in the allotted eight days, so the claimant applied 

for an extra £84,000 and got it, thereby avoiding the need to satisfy the 

costs judge on any subsequent detailed assessment, that there had been “good 

reason” to depart from the budget. The case is noteworthy for another reason: 

the judge indicated that the hourly rates charged and the daily rates for counsel 

and for the claimant’s solicitors, were reasonable and proportionate “at least 

for the purposes of approving the budget”. 

Estimates scrutinised under the Solicitors Act 1974 

Solicitors still get into tangles about estimates. Harrison v Eversheds [2017] 

5 Costs LR 931 is another example. The client had been given two estimates 

(£333,102 and £548,054 respectively) and whilst Mrs Justice Slade accepted a 

submission that he could not possibly have been relying on both at the same 

time, the bill of £1,602, 436 which the client had subsequently received, required 

more explanation and justification than the court below had been provided 

with when allowing an increase of over £300,000 in profit costs. 

Counsels’ fees had risen from £170,500 to £476,576.48 and whilst the increased 

length of the trial from four days to ten days had warranted an increase, 

the absence of additional reasons to justify such a rise had been an 

error . 

The assessment was remitted back to the Master for determination of what 

would be a reasonable sum for the client to pay for the solicitor’s profit costs 

and counsel’s fees. 

Interim and Final bills under the Solicitors Act 1974 

Richard Slade & Co Solicitors v Boodia & Boodia [2017] EWHC 2699 (QB) is 

another journey into the arcane world of interim account bills, interim statute 

bills and final bills. It has, however, a difference. If the solicitor is entitled to submit 

monthly bills for profit costs expressed to be final for the period to which 

they relate, what are their status if separate bills for disbursements are delivered 

subsequently? Here, the Boodias had received 61 invoices of which 43 

were for profit costs and 18 for disbursements. According to the solicitors, they 

were all “statute” bills and it was too late to have them assessed under s.70 of 

the Act. That argument failed, Slade J holding that under s.67, disbursements 

are to be regarded as costs for the purposes of statute bills, and as none of the 

bills had included a charge for both profit costs and disbursements, they were 

not interim statute bills, so time was not running against the Boodias for applying 

for an assessment until the last in the series had been delivered. 

Failure to comply with an unless order 

Miscreants do so at their peril. Michael Wilson and others v Sinclair and others 

(2017) 5 Costs LR 877 is a good example. The first and second defendants 

had failed to meet costs orders of £1,173,111.53 and advanced Article 6 arguments 

revolving round denial of justice were an “unless” to be made, all to no 

avail. Sir Richard Field granted the claimant’s application and directed that unless 

payment was made within 28 days, the defendants would be debarred 

from defending the action. 

Back to BNM and proportionality 

For practitioners, the issue was two fold : first, if you have a pre-1st April CFA 

with a success fee and an After-the-Event insurance policy, does the “new” proportionality 

test apply to them if the case concludes on or after that date : second, 

what yardstick does the court use in applying the “new” test? In BNM, the 

costs judge decided that CPR 44.3(5) in force from 1st April 2013 applied and 

after completion of the line by line assessment, which had resulted in the bill 

being reduced from £241,817 to £ 167,389.45 , that sum would be halved to 

£83.964.80 make those costs proportionate, as well as reasonable and necessary. 

On appeal, the court said that the “new” test did not apply. The “old” CPR 44.2(4) 

and the Lownds test did, so the bill would have to be sent back to the costs 

judge to reconsider the proportionality of the costs he had allowed, applying 

those tests instead, and that was that. No guidance provided about how CPR 

44.3(5) should be applied and what criteria should be used in reducing the reasonable 

and necessary costs, as assessed, still further to make them proportionate. 

In fairness, the court addressed some very legalistic submissions such 

as whether, on the ordinary and natural meaning of the words in the definition 

of “costs” in CPR 44.1(1) as it now is, a success fee is a “fee” and an ATE premium 

is an “expense,” but in terms of helping those involved with detailed assessments 

about how to advance and defend proportionality arguments, we are 

no further on. As Simon Browne QC, who led the appeal, predicted, BNM has 

not been the “Sermon on the Mount” on proportionality that many have been 

hoping for. 

Finally, the case that got away! 

We cannot tell you much about this one because the judgment has disappeared 

! D Ltd v A & others [2017] EWCA Civ Crim 1604 appeared on Bailii on 

24 October 2017 and featured in the Law Society Gazette the same day under 

the banner headline “Eye-Watering £415,000 costs slashed because solicitors 

too involved,” only for the transcript to be “Taken down by order of the court 

on 24/10/2017’ and shortly thereafter, to disappear from the Society’s website 

as well. No reason given. If anyone knows why, we shall be very interested 

to find out! 

Please feel free to contact us for more information, guidance or discussion 

about any of these cases or indeed any other costs issues. 

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

20 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 


This month: 

• Partners/Directors/Owners/Managers 

• The buck really does stop with you 

• GDPR 

• Working Capital 

• Resource use and more GP 

• The changing world is happening to everyone 

Failure to act could be very expensive in many ways 

Probably long before the Management Checklist that appeared 

in this column back in November 2014 I have 

strongly advised partners/directors/owners to check things 

out for themselves and not necessarily rely on others. 

Things like business continuity, disaster recovery are essential 

now for business survival, we then more recently have 

had cyber security in all its guises and now we are faced 

with GDPR. 

There are thousands of papers, events, lectures, on line 

courses and many think that they have heard enough on 

the subject. Within MLS Advantage we have experts on the 

subject 

www.nasstar.com and www.xyonecybersecurity.co.uk who 

it would do no harm to consult with – even a lot of good. As 

a basic how many of you are seeing the actual results of 

penetration test on your systems. 

At the end of the day the responsibility and the penalties 

and fines for security breaches sit with the business owners 

– they must not let it happen and if they do they are the 

ones who will pay the penalties which apart from reputation 

destruction will be very expensive. 

This month I have spoken with Brian 

Rogers,brian@riliance.co.uk Director of Regulation & Compliance 

Services at the Riliance Group www.riliance.co.uk . 

He will certainly be known to some of you. 

He has evidence that “Law firms, like all other businesses, need 

to get themselves ready for the introduction of the new General 

Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) in May 2018, yet 

many either haven’t started looking at the new requirements, 

or think they are already compliant” and “many firms that 

thought they were ready for GDPR were in fact not when questioned 

in more detail about their preparations” 

“Preparing for GDPR is not something that can be done in a 

day, so those thinking they can wait until the last minute and 

then be completely compliant need to think again! “ 

The Information Commissioner has set out 12 key steps that 

need to be taken in preparation for GDPR, including: 

• mapping the data you hold 

• determining the lawful basis for processing 

personal data 

• obtaining the appropriate consent from data 

subjects to hold and process their data 

• putting in place systems and procedures for 

dealing with data breaches. 

Mapping the information you hold is an essential first step 

in any GDPR project, and covers areas like: 

• Understanding the data flow – the transfer of 

data from one location to another 

• Describing the data flow – how, what, when, why, 

where? 

• Identifying key data elements – data items, 

formats, transfer methods, location, 

accountability, access 

Some of the key challenges of data mapping include 

• identifying personal data 

• identifying appropriate technical and 

organisation safeguards 

• understanding legal and regulatory obligations 

Brian confirms that Many of the firms that think they are 

compliant have not undertaken a full data mapping exercise, 

and it is only once this has been undertaken that they 

realise that compliance means much more than; 

• just putting in place policies and procedures 

• nominating a data protection officer where 

appropriate 

• undertaking some training! 

Brian’s challenge is “Do the firms that think they are already 

compliant or on the way to being there really believe they 

will be compliant” – only 5 months to go 

brian@riliance.co.uk. 

Working Capital 

I am still very concerned about the management of working 

capital in many firms and as stated previously it is a real 

management issue with c300 firms in severe trouble or indeed 

going out of business annually – large and small. The 

world these days is not about demonstrating profit but 

making sure it turns into cash 

• Partners/Owners/Directors have to be right on 

top of this subject 

• Department Heads must have delegated 

accountability for their own teams 

• Finance teams must provide forecasts, KPIs and 

reports to give warnings of the need for action – 

PLUS they have to be listened to. 

On my website 

http://professionalchoiceconsultancy.com/articles.php do 

look at the articles from August 2015 and July 2016 that will 

demonstrate what I mean. 

But in very simple terms: 

• On client inception as well as giving the 

mandated estimate talk about payment terms. It 

will surprise you that the number of people 

facing £6k in 6 months-time would rather start 

paying £1k a month from the start 

• Ensure fee earners record correctly their billable 

hours – minimum of 5 hours per day and make 

sure there are KPIs around to enable querying on 

a weekly basis 

• Make fee earners validate their accumulated WIP 

at least on a monthly basis confirming what will 

be billed and when and accepting write offs or 

amended estimates – needs proactivity and it 

needs checking 

• Make sure bills are raised and issued in 

accordance with terms and followed up as per 

policy 

• Do not allow WIP adjustments where WIP has 

grown but billing hasn’t taken place to show 

more profit unless all the WIP has been validated 

• This should be a main board agenda item every 

month. 

More gross profit and enhanced image. 

Last month I wrote about the www.documentdirect.co.uk 

acquisition of Voicepath as a clear indicator of market uptake 

of outsourced transcription -This saving secretarial 

costs certainly for peaks and troughs, holidays and cover. 

I have done more research over the last month and have discovered 

that on occasions it isn’t just transcription that 

causes firms a problem but massive loads of document production 

– new documents – Word, Excel, Powerpoint, even 

marketing department document creation. We also have 

still many fee earners printing precedents and doing handwritten 

amendments. 

The demands on internal resourcing is massive – volume 

and skills, limiting profitability even affecting fee earner 

time at crazy costs – getting others to meet the demands 

for this again must be addressed. 

Changing World 

Hey bigger firms – things are catching up on you 

During October MLS Advantage supplier www.nasstar.com 

took two more law firms live onto its hosting platform 

www.hickmanandrose.co.uk and www.grosvenorlaw.com, 

The move to this platform provides business continuity, disaster 

recovery and a more secure environment with; fully 

managed IT services on a 24/7 basis, the ability to work from 

anywhere with access to IT systems from a web browser, enhanced 

disaster recovery and SRA compliant data management, 

cyber-crime countermeasures that ensure their data 

and clients are protected, 24/7Mobile Device Management 

that ensures company data on mobile phones is protected 

and managed to the firms IT policy, new local network ensuring 

protection from hackers and reliable communications, 

predictable per user pricing that enables easy 

budgeting and them to focus on their client’s needs, not 

their IT needs. 

Obviously another couple of firms seeing the light BUT perhaps 

more significantly in the same month Nasstar has 

signed a 1,000 people media company that will get the benefits 

above and with resourcing enhancements. 

There has been resistance for such a shift for larger law firms 

to date and very few in the Top 100 will even discuss it – perhaps 

a deal like the one above may get our bigger firms 

considering the options too. 

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

Interview 21 

City Profile: Andrew Toolan of MIDAS 

Andrew Toolan is the Acting Head of Business Development: 

Financial, Professional and Business Service at 

MIDAS, which is Greater Manchester’s inward investment 

agency. 

The aim of MIDAS is to secure significant levels of new investment 

and employment for the city region. This is 

achieved through the global business marketing of Manchester, 

targeting key markets and sectors, and the provision 

of an extensive, free and confidential package of advice 

and assistance for potential investors. 

Born and raised in a pub in London, Andrew came to Manchester 

University to study geology and fell in love with 

Manchester. After graduation he returned to London and 

worked as a recruitment consultant specialising in property 

and finance roles. He joined MIDAS in 2011. 

The main focus of Andrew’s role is to encourage business, 

from both the UK and abroad to invest in Greater Manchester, 

which is made up of ten local authorities. Andrew talks 

to businesses who may be expanding or re-locating with 

the aim of bringing business into the Greater Manchester 

region. Andrew says this can be involve helping build the 

business case on why to invest to offering advice on a more 

practical level such as sourcing office space, PR and marketing 

advice and making links with the universities for recruitment 

of new talent. 

The Greater Manchester Financial, Professional and Business 

sector, the largest outside of London, is made up of around 

324,000 people and is responsible for generating twenty 

percent of the local economy, which equates to approximately 

£57 billion. Over the last 10 years, Manchester’s FPBS 

sector has doubled in size and new business districts such 

as Spinningfields has contributed to this growth. 

Andrew says that Manchester has been successful in attracting 

a number of US and London-based law firms to the city, 

as well as a number of banks, and has become the most successful 

city for attracting foreign direct investment outside 

London. 

Over the past few years, a number of law firms have moved 

to Greater Manchester, attracted by the deep talent pool 

and strong business environment. These include Freshfields, 

Latham & Watkins, Berwin, Leighton Paisner and TLT. 

MIDAS is part of the Growth Company, which supports the 

growth and prosperity of Greater Manchester. They run a 

number of events and round table events thoughout the 

year for the various sectors and have a Law Firm forum, 

which is open to all. Details of the events can be found at: 

investinmanchester.com 

Andrew says that Greater Manchester’s devolution deal 

gives the region unparalleled control over key facilitators of 

business growth such as skills, transport and business support, 

uniquely enabling us to create a very strong business 

environment which is at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse. 

Andrew says that his job allows him to continually learn 

more about the city he loves and in his spare time occasionally 

joins the Blue Plaque walking tours. He also enjoys cycling 

and reading and also goes to the gym a couple of 

times a week, occasionally returning to London to meet up 

with family and friends. 


Andrew Toolan 

Andrew can be contacted via email 

Andrew.Toolan@Midas.org.uk

22 Charity & CSR 

News from the President’s Charity: 

St Ann’s Hospice 

The President’s Charity of the Year, St Ann’s Hospice, is calling on Manchester Law 

Society members to join them for their annual Golf Day. 

Sign-ups have opened for the popular fundraising event, which will take place on Thursday 

17th May 2018, and will raise money for the thousands of patients St Ann’s cares for 

from across Greater Manchester. 

Dr Eamonn O’Neal DL, Chief Executive of the hospice, explained: “Our Golf Day is always 

one of the highlights of our fundraising calendar each year, and is a great opportunity for 

people to join with friends or colleagues to help the hospice. 

“There’s always a great competitive – but friendly – spirit, and the golf is always followed 

by a relaxed meal, competition presentations and a luxury raffle. We’d love to see as 

many of the Manchester Law Society’s members there as possible. You’d be very welcome, 

and may even win a prize or two!” 

This year’s Golf Day will take place at Dunham Forest Golf and Country Club and teams of 

four will be invited to arrive at 12.30pm for a light lunch, followed by a Shotgun start at 

2pm. 

Tickets will also include refreshments throughout the afternoon’s play and a barbeque 

meal. 

Eamonn added: “If golf isn’t your cup of tea - or tee! – then you can still join us for the 

barbeque and presentations too. Everyone is welcome, and every penny raised really will 

help us to make a difference to the people with cancer and other life-limiting illnesses we 

care for.” 

For more information on how to register for the event, or to find out about sponsorship 

opportunities on the day, please contact Clare Henderson at St Ann’s on 0161 

498 3631 or email corporate@sah.org.uk. 

Law firm makes five-figure donation 

to road safety charity 

Manchester law firm 

Simpson Millar has donated 

£15,000 of unclaimed 

client funds to 

road safety charity, Brake. 

The Solicitors Regulation 

Authority (SRA) allows law 

firms to donate residual 

client account balances providing 

certain criteria are 

met. 

With those funds now totalling 

over £80,000, the 

firm asked employees to 

nominate their favourite 

charities, from where a dedicated 

committee chose a 

final five to divide the funds 

between. 

Brake is a charity dedicated 

to preventing the tragedy of 

road deaths, to making the 

streets safer and to supporting 

people affected by road 

traffic incidents. Abi Smith 

from Brake says: “The donation 

from Simpson Millar 

was the most amazing surprise, 

and completely unexpected. 

“Simpson Millar has supported 

our fundraising initiatives 

in the past and we 

are very grateful for their 

continued support. 

“This amazing donation will 

feed into a whole range of 

On 20th October, 200 

guests joined leading 

Manchester law firm JMW 

Solicitors to fundraise for 

two of the charities the 

firm supports; the Child 

Brain Injury Trust and 

Headway Preston and 

Chorley, at JMW’s first 

Sporting Lunch event, 

held at INNSIDE Manchester 

Hotel. 

Hosted by ex-premier 

league referee, Jeff Winter, 

the lunch event saw international 

players from the 

world of football past and 

present take to the stage to 

share stories with the audience 

about their experiences 

in the beautiful game 

and support these two 

great causes. 

The audience was regaled 

by tales from ex-England 

initiatives including our 

work in schools and with 

the police. In 2016, our free 

phone helpline dedicated 

more than 1,900 hours supporting 

those most effected 

by road crashes, and our 

community engagement 

projects reached over 

285,000 children across the 

UK. Simpson Millar’s donation 

goes an incredibly long 

way in continuing this vital 

work.” 

Rose Gibson from Simpson 

Millar in Manchester says: 

“We were keen to support 

local charities, particularly 

where there was synergies 

with some of the work we 

do. 

“Five people a day are killed 

on UK roads, and over 60 are 

seriously injured. In the 

football player Tony Dorigo, 

ex-Manchester City player 

Jon Macken and Team GB 

Paralympic captain and 

England seven-a-side captain 

Jack Rutter, who sustained 

a head injury at the 

start of his career, and overcame 

it to travel to the 2016 

Rio Paralympics. 

The audience also had the 

opportunity to hear from 

another head injury survivor 

– Carl Galvin, who has 

been supported throughout 

his injury and recovery 

process by Headway Preston 

and Chorley. 

Thanks to a raffle and auction, 

with excellent lots donated 

to the event 

including a TAG Heuer Formula 

1 watch (kindly donated 

by Watches of 

Switzerland), a week’s stay 

wake of road traffic incidents 

comes the most horrendous 

grief. Lives are 

changed forever. Brake does 

an amazing job in raising 

awareness of road safety – 

something we know makes 

a real, measurable difference. 

“This is a charity that saves 

lives by preventing serious 

incidents, and that is most 

definitely worth supporting.” 

Among many other initiatives, 

Brake runs a helpline 

for road crash victims, 

which provides information 

and emotional support. The 

charity also helps schools 

provide road safety lessons, 

which are otherwise not 

part of the national curriculum. 

JMW’s Sporting Lunch Shoots and 

Scores for Charity 

in Porto Cristo (kindly donated 

by Joy Kingsley, JMW 

Solicitors), a signed Lancashire 

County Cricket Club 

bat (kindly donated by Lancashire 

County Cricket Club) 

and a pair of Ricky Hatton 

gloves (kindly donated by 

Gordon Cartwright, JMW 

Solicitors), JMW was able to 

fundraise £11,283 for these 

two wonderful causes. 

The firm will run two events 

to support these wonderful 

causes in 2018 – a fashion 

lunch event and 2016’s very 

popular Glitter Ball Dance 

Off, where amateur and pro 

dancers will take to the 

stage to impress the audience 

and judges alike. If 

you would like further details 

of either event, email 

danielle.gibson@jmw.co.uk 

Send your charity and CSR events to 


for the January edition by 

15th December

CILEx Update 

Local Groups 23 

Training: 

The Greater Manchester CILEx Branch would like to thank 

Caroline Wood from Park Square Chambers will be providing 

training on Experts and Part 35 Questions. 

The training was an interactive session with Caroline providing 

examples of both good and bad questions. 

Diversity in the Judiciary 

The next training event will take place on Thursday 23 November 

2017 at 6pm. Judge Rebecca Howard will be discussing 

diversity in the Judiciary. If you intend to progress 

to a Judge this training will give you the opportunity to ask 

questions. 

The Constitution Select Committee of the House of Lords 

has recommended that Chartered Legal Executives who 

demonstrate the requisite attributes should not be prevented 

from becoming senior judges. 

This aligns with CILEx’s ongoing campaign to see the eligibility 

criteria for senior judicial roles modernised so that 

Chartered Legal Executives can have their applications considered. 

Fellows of CILEx – three quarters of whom are women - are 

currently eligible to apply for judicial roles up to the level 

of District Judge, whilst lawyers from other professions are 

eligible to apply for roles at any level. In practice a Chartered 

Legal Executive already holding judicial office could apply 

for other judicial roles, though they are the only legal profession 

to whom different eligibility criteria apply. 

CILEx recently launched its Judicial Development Programme, 

which provides aspiring Chartered Legal Executives 

with one-to-one mentoring from judges, and tailored 

support in preparing themselves for applying. 

At the recent Graduation and Admission ceremony, CILEx 

members were encouraged to enter the ranks of the judiciary 

by, amongst others, the Solicitor General Robert Buckland 

QC MP. 

Christmas Party 

The Greater Manchester CILEx branch Christmas Party will 

take place on at 6pm 7 December 2017. The event will take 

place at the Slug and Lettice, Piccadilly Gardens. 

Tickets will be £10.00 for Greater Manchester Branch Members 

and £15.00 for non-members. The drinks at the event 

will be sponsored by Conveyancing Data Services. 

If you would like more information, please email 

greatermanchester@cilec.org.uk 

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. 

MTSG Update 

FELT Director Amanda Cheung said following the event "It was great to see familiar faces 

and new ones at this event. Everyone enjoyed the wine and food - it was the perfect way 

to welcome the festive season and for FELT members to get to know each other!" 

Charity 

A great night was had by all on 9th November when MTSG members met for the charity 

bowling night at Bog Bowl. The sell out-event, which was kindly sponsored by Michael Page 

Legal, raised hundreds of pounds for one of the MTSG’s charities of the year, JDRF, which is 

a charity committed to creating a world without type 1 diabetes. The fun-filled evening 

treated attendees to food, drink and (of course!) bowling whilst getting the chance to meet 

new people and help a very worthwhile cause. A charity raffle was also held on the evening 

with some amazing prizes won. 

A special thanks to our Charity Directors Heena Kapadi and Karlis Rullis for all their hard work 

in organising the event. 

Keep an eye out for details of our next charity event, which is to be held on Thursday 7th 

December at Kiehl's Boutique, located on King Street. Tickets will be just £4.00, and on the 

evening attendees will be able to enjoy a number of treats including canapes from Grand 

Pacific, hair and make-up tips from Blow Ltd, a showcase of Stella & Dot’s jewellery, hand 

and arm massages from Kiehls, healthy skin checks from Kiehls, product offers and some 

fantastic raffle prizes. An event not to be missed! 

FELT 

November saw the return of the MTSG FELT wine tasting event, which again was a huge success. 

Kindly sponsored by our friends at BCL Legal, the event was a perfect excuse for FELT 

members to socialise and network whilst spending the evening welcoming in the festive 

season with some delicious wine and food. 

MTSG Winter Ball 

The MTSG held their annual ‘Winter Wonderland’ ball on 30 November at the Museum of 

Science and Industry. Attendees were treated to a spectacular evening, where fairy lights 

from the Christmas tree sparkled amongst historical exhibits from the world of science and 

engineering – a truly stunning backdrop. Hosted by Capital FM’s James Hall, the evening included 

a drinks reception, 3 course meal, hours of dancing and even personalised cupcakes. 

Attendees won some fantastic prizes during the charity raffle, successfully raising funds 

for our sponsored charities and continued the celebrations into the night at the official after 

party which was held at Guilty By Associated in the Northern Quarter. 

I would like to say a massive thank you to the MTSG Ball Directors, Charlotte Tyrer, Nicole 

Rourke and Beth Ashton, who put hours of work into making the event such a huge success. 

A special thanks also to the event sponsors, Aurelius, who were hugely involved with 

the planning of the event alongside Charlotte, Nicole and Beth – thank you for your continuing 

support of the MTSG. 

Wishes from the MTSG Committee 

On behalf of myself and the entire MTSG committee, I would like to wish you all a Merry 

Christmas and a Happy New Year. See you in 2018! 

Charlotte King 

Chair of MTSG 

Trainee Solicitor at JMW Solicitors LLP 

Wishing all our readers and 

contributors a Merry Christmas 

and Peaceful New Year...

24 Outsourcing 

Outsourced cashiering and your bottom line 

By Julian Bryan, Managing Director, Quill 

Success in business 

The ultimate marker of a successful business is the strength of 

its bottom line. Profitability is everything if you want to survive 

and thrive. The route to healthy profits is maximising income 

and minimising costs. 

You don’t necessarily need us to tell you about the former of 

these – maximising income. Revenue generation is your forte, 

achieved by good marketing to create new business opportunities 

in the first place, and even better legal service provision 

and client care thereafter to secure a stream of repeat and referral 

business. 

Your legal software provider can assist in this area by offering 

solutions containing features such as automation to reduce 

your workload, application availability for greater uptime, intuitive 

time recording to capture more chargeable activity and 

advanced analytics to monitor performance, to name a few. But 

that’s not the main focus here. We’re concentrating on the latter 

– minimising costs. 

Where cost cutting’s * concerned, * * we’re * going * * to show you how 

" 

outsourcing & & & services, specifically outsourced legal cashiering, 

can " help you to drastically decrease your overheads. 

In-house 

" 

vs outsourced 

" 

costs 

" 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

To begin, consider the standard costs associated with employing 

an " in-house " " cashiering " staff member. Outgoings encompass 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

" 

recruitment and selection; induction, mentoring, training and 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

development; " " " annual " bonus; " " overtime; " " temporary " " cover " " for 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " 

long-term sickness, maternity and paternity; 10 metres of office 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

space " necessitating rent, rates and service charges; IT hardware 

" 

equipment 

" " 

and 

" 

office 

" 

furniture; 

" " " 

1 

" 

user 

" 

licence 

" 

for 

" 

legal 

" 

accounts 

" 

software; " telecommunications; " " " " " " tea, " coffee, " " sugar, " milk, water 

" 

and fresh & & fruit provision; & & social events including Christmas parties; 

" other financial rewards such as referral, length of service 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " 

and staff " introduction " " awards; " " and miscellaneous " " " schemes " " including 

car " parking, " " healthcare " " and " gym " membership. 

" " " " 

This extensive 

" " " 

list 

" " 

can 

" 

easily 

" 

run 

" " 

into 

" 

tens 

" 

of thousands 

" " " 

of 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

pounds. " And " it’s " by " no means " " the " biggest " expense which is, of 

" 

course, salary. To give you an impression of average cashier 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

earnings, " this " " " table " compares " " " " salaries " " by " region:- " " " " " 

" 

" 

Note: " These averages were calculated from jobs advertised on various 

recruitment platforms throughout June 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " 

2017. 

In comparison, outsourcing’s charged at a set affordable, 

" 

monthly, " transaction-based fee all-in which scales up or down 

according to your own level of busy-ness. Clearly, then, outsourced 

cashiering is by far the most economical way to manage 

this highly skilled, time intensive and heavily regulated 

business process. In real terms, outsourcing means doing the 

same job (better, we would argue, as your supplier is a specialist 

in its field), namely all the normal cashier duties, for substantially 

less cost. 

Finding the right people, training them on an ongoing basis, 

paying a regular salary and benefits, providing a physical workspace 

fitted out with all the requisite technology and telecommunications 

is an extremely costly affair. 

Not forgetting workplace pensions which warrant special mention. 

It’s yet another mandatory overhead, relatively newly introduced, 

if you employ just one person. To fulfil your Pensions 

Regulator obligations, you must enrol your staff into a pension 

scheme and contribute towards it. The minimum employer contribution 

is currently 1%, rising to 2% in the 2018/19 fiscal year 

and 3% from April 2019 onwards. More if you’re a generous employer. 

Staff retention 

* * * * * * 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " " 

" " " " " " " " " " " " " 

" " " " 

:(/-%.* ;+$,-(&

Case Comment 25 

Case Comment 

Mr Andrew Steele - v - PJM Valeting Limited (1) – and - Hertz (UK) Limited (2) 

Application on behalf of Hertz (UK) Limited (2) to strike 

out pursuant to CPR 3.4(2)(a) – namely that the statement 

of case discloses no reasonable grounds for bringing 

the claim 

Stockport County Court – before District Judge Dignan 

Shortly after filing their Defence, and prior to the parties 

dealing with Directions Questionnaires, D2 filed the abovementioned 

application. The solicitor’s witness statement in 

support of the same contained three specific arguments. 

The first subsequently fell away (prior to the application 

being heard the Claimant successfully amended their Particulars 

of Claim). 

The second was based upon ‘common sense’ with reference 

to case law (involving distinguishable facts). 

The third was the most unusual, namely that: 

· The QOCS provision was originally implemented to ensure 

that the ‘deserving claimant’ could still gain access to 

justice and protect their case; 

· In D2’s solicitor’s experience an unfortunate and unintended 

consequence of the reforms is the bringing of frivolous 

claims; and 

· This claim amounted to wasteful litigation and common 

sense dictated that the claim should be struck out with 

D2 then being in a position where they could enforce the resulting 

costs order. 

From the Claimant’s perspective, it very much seemed as 

though the application was motivated by a desire to circumvent 

the QOCS principle. Importantly, this latter point (the 

third submission re QOCS and the ‘deserving claimant’) was 

not pursued by Counsel at the hearing, and therefore the 

application hung simply on the ‘common sense’ argument 

and the case law. The Claimant deployed a wealth of arguments 

in response to the application, and indeed succeeded 

in their submissions that the application should be dismissed. 

In reaching his decision the Judge concentrated on 

the point that the evidence (that would be forthcoming in 

due course) needed to be considered; he noted that the 

case relied on by D2 was based upon a decision whereby 

the evidence did not establish that the object was not reasonably 

safe. 

The decision on costs was particularly interesting. 

The Claimant, pursuant to CPR 45.29H, would usually have 

been limited to fixed recoverable costs in the sum of £250 

plus VAT. 

The Claimant applied under CPR 45.29J for a finding that 

there were exceptional circumstances in this matter, requesting 

that the Judge summarily assess costs utilising a 

costs schedule that totalled £2905 plus VAT. 

The Judge focussed on three main points in finding in 

favour of the Claimant that exceptional circumstances applied 

(noting that exceptional circumstances means consideration 

of all of the circumstances) which can be 

summarised as follows: 

1. The hurdle of the claim needing to be ‘bound to fail’ (CPR 

3.4.2) was, as found by him in his judgment, never to going 

to be reached. D2 had exhibited to their application a Court 

of Appeal decision that was fact-specific. It’s easy to say in 

hindsight that the application shouldn’t have been made, 

but it certainly shouldn’t have been when it pinned its 

colours to an irrelevant case. 

2. If this application had succeeded it would have meant the 

claim was dismissed and QOCS would automatically be disapplied 

pursuant to CPR 44.15(1)(a). D2 would have been 

able to enforce an order for costs without permission from 

the court. That is a “significant, a very significant, potential 

outcome”. The consequences of the application were therefore 

critical. 

3. D2’s Counsel quite rightly didn’t refer to the third submission 

as found in the in the solicitor’s witness statement in 

support of the application (re QOCS and the ‘deserving 

claimant’). The argument offered a critique of the QOCS provision 

and made reference to policy decisions and the truthfulness 

of claimants. It was a misconceived ground and 

there was no basis for making that argument. 

The Claimant was ultimately awarded £2,200 plus VAT in 

costs, a grand total of £2640, nearly 9 times the fixed recoverable 

sum. 

Barrister Nyssa Cronie from Express Solicitors (In house) 

Solicitor with conduct of the case Kimberley Kirkby Express 

Solicitors

Compli by Weightmans 

weightmans.com 

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Telecoms: Mobiles 

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Viewpoint 

Today’s law firms are embracing technology – recognising the value that it can deliver 

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Xyone Cyber Security 

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Asset Finance 

Capitas is dedicated to supporting the broad asset and commercial financing requirements 

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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 

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We have a team of solicitors who not only underwrite our policies but actively work 

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of all types through legal expenses insurance and funding if needed. We can offer individually 

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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 

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Dedicated Cloud computing for law firms including hosted desktop, colocation, 

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Working with our partners will ensure that our members have improved 

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Top level cyber security consultancy for law firms designed to identify 

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On-line anti money laundering, bribery, data protection and equality 

and diversity training. 

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? 

Compli 

Audio Visual 

Collaboration 

We’ll help you 

A bespoke compliance consultancy service for lawyers, 

investors and insurers, to suit your needs and your budget. 

intuitive, progressive & durable technologies 

VISUAL ENERGY 

designed e d & 

managed a by viewpoint-av 

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v 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABS feasibility studies and licence applications 

Complaints and claims handling 

Compliance, risk and emergency audits 

COLP & COFA/ Risk management support 

Disciplinary investigations 

Due diligence exercises on merger and acquisitions 

E-learning compliance courses 

Orderly closures/WIP purchases 

Audio Visual 

Designs 

Room 

Booking 

and 

Management 

Systems 

Communications 

& Conferencing 

for 

Collaborative 

Working 

Digital 

Signage 

and 

Media 

Development 

Client 

Services 

Viewpoint is an audio visual integrator, with over 20 years 

experience delivering solutions to clients UK-wide. With a 

passion for delivering technologies that support and enhance 

your business 

environments, 

we provide design solutions to 

meet your needs and budget. 

As a Manchester Law Society Advantage partner, we have the 

proven knowledge and expertise to provide solutions that 

meet the demands of legal business. 

With our technology partners, we continue to provide 

innovation 

in design. Working with your brief and business, we will develop 

an agile and sustainable environment 

to deliver connectivity 

and effectiveness. 

ectiveness. 

For further information please contact: 

Michelle Garlick, Head of Compli 

on 0345 070 1047 or email 

compli@weightmans.com 

compli.weightmans.com 

@compl_i 

Compli 

Contact: 

Scott Wilson 

01925 284038 

scott.wilson@viewpoint-av.comom 

“The rockstar of compliance. 

TOP advisor!” 

www.viewpoint-av.com.com 

- Chief executive of a PI law firm ABS.

T: 0161 237 7725 | M: 07984 879124 

 

 

T: 0161 237 7739 | M: 07872 501955 

 

 

 

 

Professional Indemnity Insurance: 

 

RISK 

update 

 

 

2017 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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In this month’s issue, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

issue, we are focusing on 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

you wish to discuss an 

If 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

wish to discuss any aspect o 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

aspect of 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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: 0161 237 7725 | M: 07984 879124 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

T: 0161 237 7739 | M: 07872 501955 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

: 0161 237 7739 | M: 07872 501955 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

: 0161 237 7739 | M: 07872 501955

30 Wine 

One Foot in the Grapes 

This month sees the start of our new monthly wine column 

by journalist Jane Clare... 

Christmas is simply the best excuse to push the boat out and try some wonderful 

wines. I’m excited now, just thinking of crunches of sweet parsnip, huddles of 

sprouts, my favourite lemon-dashed, herb-mottled stuffing … oh, and the turkey. 

All of those flavours will be demanding my attention and then wine will add another 

layer of complexity for my palate. Which wine to choose? 

My Christmas dilemma was eased when I was invited to a wine pairing Christmas lunch 

and it would be rude of me not to share some ideas with you. 

Gosset Grande Reserve NV 

Our festive occasion began with the most wonderful champagne, 

Gosset Grande Reserve NV (RRP £45-£49, widely 

available including Selfridges and Harvey Nichols) from the 

oldest house in Champagne. It had a classic brioche nose, 

dappled with sweet spice, and shivers of fine, elegant 

bubbles delivered citrus flavours with an elegant biscuity 

backbone. 

I carried my champagne to the table and it sipped seamlessly 

with our starter of marinated 

salmon, Dorset crab in pink 

pickled ginger and lemon 

dressing. It wasn’t meant to 

be the wine star of the 

show; I’ll now introduce you 

to a sauvignon blanc and an 

Australian white blend. 

Seresin Estate Sauvignon 2015 (£14.99, 

winedirect.co.uk) This is a lovely sauvignon blanc and 

it isn’t one of those heady New Zealand wines which 

grapples with your senses. The reason is there is 11 per 

cent semillon in the blend, which 

calms everything down and brings 

Mchenry Hohnen 

Amigos White 2012 

a touch of Old World order to this 

New World wine. It has tropical and 

citrus aromas, with some classic gooseberry 

notes and a delicate creaminess. 

Seresin Estate Sauvignon 2015 

McHenry Hohnen Amigos White 2012 (£15.99, winedirect.co.uk) 

This was a wow with the crab and salmon. It is a 

blend of chardonnay, marsanne and roussanne from the 

Margaret River region. Murray McHenry and David Hohnen 

are brothers-in-law, with Hohnen having a fantastic pedigree 

as founder of the iconic Cloudy 

Bay winery. This wine wants you to 

sit up and notice it … and I did. It 

has notes of peaches, nuts and 

waxy lemons with a heartbeat of 

minerality. 

Over to the main event, the traditional turkey and 

trimmings. I always opt for a pinot noir with my Christmas 

lunch and so I was very much open to new ideas. 

Viu Manent ViBo Vinedo Centenario 2013 (RRP £16.99, 

oddbins.com) A clue to this wine is in its name - the grapes 

are grown in vineyards planted over 100 years ago in Chile’s 

Colchagua Valley. Old vines are the wise things of the vineyard. They 

don’t produce lots of grapes, but the ones which are harvested 

have a special concentrated quality. It is a blend of 51% cabernet 

sauvignon, with malbec and a dash of petit verdot. It is 

intense with blackcurrants but there is an element of mint, 

of freshness, of complexity, of subtlety, which didn’t overpower 

my plate. 

Vidal-Fleury Cairanne 2012 

Viu Manent ViBo Viedo 

Centario 2013 

Vidal-Fleury Cairanne 2012 (RRP £13.50, also Oddbins) 

Shiraz takes the blending lead in this Côtes du Rhône Villages 

red, with grenache and mourvèdre following along 

on the coat tails. It is bold with black and red berries, but 

earthy and herbal too, which contrasts nicely with the 

powerhouse fruit. Oh, there was spice (and all things nice) 

which gave a good bit of extra bite. 

Finally, if you want some inspiration for cheeses, how about a 

Jane Clare is a journalist who has followed her heart with the launch of One Foot in 

the Grapes - writing about wine and offering fun, immersive, informal and informative 

wine tastings. 

The former editor and creative editorial director first began writing about wine 10 

years ago and is now published in more than 30 newspapers and lifestyle magazines 

across the UK. 

Jane is a member of the Circle of Wine Writers and is studying for the Wine & Spirit 

Education Trust diploma. She can be found as One Foot in the Grapes on social 

media and online; or contact Jane on 07795 121 003 or 

email jane@onefootinthegrapes.co.uk 

Beaujolais wine, Henry Fessy Brouilly 2015 (RRP 

£12.99, Waitrose) Beaujolais is great with many cheeses 

because it is fruit-forward and light in body. It offers a 

raspberry medley with the cheese and doesn’t demand 

a palate battle. 

For your pudding? Well one of my favourites is Madeira 

and Blandy's 15 YO Bual (RRP £25, also Waitrose) I love 

the story behind Madeira, which is a fortified wine and 

aged under heat. Centuries ago it was discovered that 

wines were “cooked” when shipped across the heat of 

the equator and were much better for it, not just in 

flavour but in robustness. The underlying notes of nuts, 

raisin and caramel are perfect for your Christmas pudding 

and hard cheeses. 

Have a wonderful Christmas and I’ll see you in 

January. 

Medeira and Blandy’s 

15 YO Bual

When the new season of The Apprentice aired recently 

on BBC1, Twitter exploded with tweets about what the 

contestants were wearing on their faces. This seasons 

group of aspiring business partners for Lord Sugar appear 

to be aiming to impress him with their eyewear. 

However, judging by the Twitter response all attempts at 

eyewear style have backfired for these individuals. One 

tweet is enough to give you the general idea: “These 

three deserve to be fired for their glasses alone.” 

Never before has the boardroom seen such a diverse 

array of eyewear and it brings into focus a whole host of 

questions like: Will the right eyewear get you hired? Can 

glasses really make you look more attractive? More confident? 

More intelligent? 

At Jones And Co. Styling Opticians we regularly see 

clients who want to sharpen up their look before starting 

a new job. So yes, the right glasses can do wonders 

for your image. But as demonstrated by Lord Sugar’s 

hopefuls it is easy to get this wrong. So beware! One contestant 

Michaela from Bolton, was even harshly accused 

of mistakenly wearing her grandfather’s glasses by Twitter. 

Now, one of the realities of Twitter is that it gives anybody 

with an opinion a platform from which to shout it, 

whether their opinion is qualified or not. So an intelligent 

strategy would be to take all tweets with a pinch 

of salt or ignore them entirely. However what Twitter 

does extremely well is highlight what is in the mind of 

the people. And from Twitters response to the Apprentice 

there is no denying that if you wear glasses it is one 

of the things that people notice first about you. Your 

choice of eyewear says something about you to your colleagues, 

peers and professional acquaintances. The right 

eyewear reflects your personality and character and your 

individual sense of style. 

Unfortunately, none of the budding Apprentice contestants 

have discovered an enlightened optician like Jones 

And Co. and the poor souls have fallen afoul of the minefield 

that is choosing the right glasses. One misstep and 

your attempt at eyewear style can easily blow up in your 

face. Many of the contestants look like they have either 

purchased their glasses online, found them in the street, 

or visited an optician that doesn’t know how to fit a pair 

of glasses. 

As an optician, I feel for the contestants because I know 

the odds are heavily stacked against them. Most opticians 

think the best way for you to choose your glasses 

is to stand you in front of a great wall of glasses. After a 

few minutes of this your eyes glaze over and all the 

frames start to look the same. You don’t know if it’s a 

man’s frame or a woman’s frame. Will it even fit you? 

Does it suit you? And with each frame that you try on 

you’ll get a reassuring comment like “they’re lovely” from 

a well-meaning sales assistant. 

I however am willing to tell you the harsh truth and declare 

that the ‘normal’ way of choosing glasses is idiotic. 

It’s a painful combination of trial and error, pot luck and 

torture. 

This is the one problem my team and I have been obsessively 

working on over the last 8 years. Here today I will 

lay bare our top-secret business plan here for your eyes 

only. (Perhaps I should make my case to Lord Sugar also.) 

Here it is. Our aim is to transform the process of choosing 

glasses to remove all the frustration, stupidity and 

hassle for glasses wearers. Our secret recipe is as follows. 

Step 1. We replace trial and error with professional expertise, 

insider knowledge and good, practical advice 

from a qualified, passionate team of dispensing opticians. 

Step 2. We remove pot luck and instead add an eyewear 

styling consultation tailored to your individual requirements. 

We guide you through the glasses selection 

process. We banish ordinary, boring, run of the mill, mass 

produced glasses and replace them with extraordinary 

eyewear. Eyewear that makes the right statement for 

you. We travel to Paris, Milan and beyond to source the 

world’s best independent eyewear. 

Step 3. We remove all acts of customer torture and replace 

them with a five-star experience including everything 

from Prosecco to glasses shaped chocolate 

sprinkles floating on frothy cappuccinos. 

This is our calling. We take it so seriously I’ve even written 

the book on the subject “The Definitive Guide To 

Choosing Glasses That Make You Look Good: The 6 Common 

Eyewear Buying Mistakes And How To Avoid Them.” 

If you wear glasses this book will give you all the practical 

advise, insider knowledge and know-how you’ll need. 

Don’t buy any glasses until you read this book! 

Readers of The Messenger can request a free copy of the 

book at www.jonesand.co.uk or by emailing hello@jonesand.co 

and we’ll post a copy to you free of charge. Or 

pop in to Jones And Co. Styling Opticians at 82 King 

Street Manchester. 

BBC’s The Apprentice Brings Unstylish Eyewear 

Into The Boardroom 

Optometrist and Director of Jones And Co. Styling Opticians, Conor Heaney responds to 

the flurry of Tweets about eyewear evoked by the new season of The Apprentice. 

To get your copy and steer clear of 

these mistakes just email 

hello@jonesand.co 

and we’ll happily post you a free copy 

of the book. 

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Lifestyle 31 

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'

How to Get the Body You Want this Christmas & New Year 

The end of the year can go one of two ways; achieving 

or at least making significant steps towards the 

body you want and better health, or letting it all go 

for December with the intention of hitting it hard in 

January. 

The consequences of the season of excess can be felt 

for years to come. It’s estimated that most people gain 

the most fat around Christmas year on year, but fail to 

lose it, leading to a cumulative effect over the years. 

Here’s what to do if you want to enjoy the festive season, 

get the body you want, and not let your health suffer: 

1/ The basics become even more important! Make 

sure you keep your nutrition and exercise tight – eat 

real, whole, nutrient dense food, increase your vegetable 

intake, and move your body. Preparation will be 

essential, as when you’re feeling less optimal than 

usual, your natural propensity will be to hunt down 

some comfort food and dodge your exercise! 

2/ Keep an eye on your overall calorie intake. With 

additional evening engagements come the potential 

for extra calories from both food and alcohol. And that’s 

before you actually get to Christmas and New Year itself. 

Don’t make excuses for yourself, if you’re going way 

over in terms what you’re putting into your body one 

day, make sure you’re balancing things out over the 

course of the week. That goes for Christmas Day too – 

have fun but account for it if you want a better body 

and great health! 

3/ Let your festive food and drink buying match 

your goal. A standard scenario for this time of year is to 

buy enough food and drink to supply the International 

Space Station for a year, and eat / drink it in the space 

of a couple of weeks, and possibly well into January! 

Remember that Christmas is just one day – so shop accordingly! 

Sure, it’s Christmas Day, so eat and drink 

what you want, but many people not only treat most of 

December like it’s open season on eating and drinking 

junk, but also end up eating huge quantities of food 

well into January because the house is full of it. 

Only buy enough for Christmas Day, maybe Boxing Day 

too, then you’re not tempted to carry on into New Year. 

In your head, isolate those two days and then get back 

to your usual routine – much easier to do when your 

cupboard isn’t bulging with Pringles! 

If you treat your December as a pre-emptive strike in 

gaining the body and health you want, rather than a 

last hurrah before knuckling down in January (which 

most never do), you’ll be well set for 2018. 

To your lean, healthy, optimised future, 

Matt 

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 

QMS Skin Spa Offer 

Enjoy this summer afternoon tea for two with 

the relaxing spa. 

Pick from two treatments to spend your time in the spa. 

q Express facial 

q Express polish on your hands (shellac removal and 

application not included.) 

q Express polish on your feet (shellac removal and 

application not included.) 

q Back, neck, shoulder massage 

q Eye lash wax and tint 

q Express pedicure (shellac removal and application not 

included.) 

q Express manicure (shellac removal and application not 

included.) 

Minimum of 2 people £99 Monday to Thursday and 

Friday to Sunday weekends there would be an additional charge of 

£20 supplement pp 

! 

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Guests can book online through the 

Lowry website if they wish. 

Call; 01618274034 

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Email; spa@thelowryhotel.com 

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T&C 

All express treatments are 25 mins long. If you would like to upgrade your 

treatment to longer or a bespoke treatment to your needs, this can also be 

done however this will be an additional charge. Why not upgrade your afternoon 

tea to champagne afternoon tea for £10pp.

Lifestyle 33 

Mental Wellness 

Stress Response and the Brain – Are You Strong Enough? 

By Dan Little, 

coach and psychotherapist 

One of the biggest myths I hear about stress is the perception 

that when a person is suffering stress they are 

not mentally ‘strong’ enough to ‘cope’. 

As a life coach and psychotherapist, I often experience 

this attitude from managers (either directly by what they 

say or by how they treat people) and wonder why organisations 

are not doing more to educate staff about managing 

mental wellness. 

This false stereotype needs to be put straight in the bin 

where it belongs as stress, put simply, is a physiological 

reaction (fear) to a perceived threat within our environment. 

Stress is a physiological response and not one that 

is controlled by our thinking or emotions. The demands 

in current work culture (threats) are very real for people 

(and often unrealistic to achieve) making it difficult to 

find a work life balance or ‘safety’ from the ‘threat’. 

The stress response starts in the brain. By taking an evidenced 

based approach to understanding how the brain 

works and how chronic stress impacts us physically, we 

can then take effective actions to heal ourselves from the 

damage that it causes. 

Let’s understand how the brain responds to stress 

The first of two components of the stress response in the 

brain starts with the activation of the amygdala, which 

plays a part in emotional processing, memories and decision 

making. It is responsible for detecting and responding 

to fear, but not necessarily feeling fear. When 

a threat has presented itself and the amygdala is triggered 

it will then send a signal to the hypothalamus. 

The hypothalamus is the part of the brain that communicates 

with the rest of the body via the autonomic nervous 

system (ANS). This response is what he now more 

commonly refer to as the fight, flight or freeze response. 

It is more helpful and accurate to think about the brain 

as being systems based and not one part being solely responsible 

for one action. So for example the amygdala is 

only part of the process around sensing and feeling fear, 

not the part that solely houses fear. 

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls various 

involuntary processes such as our heart rate, blood pressure, 

breathing and contraction or dilation of the blood 

vessels. It is made up of two separate systems, the sympathetic 

nervous system (SNS) and the parasympathetic 

nervous system (PNS). The SNS can be thought of as 

being the accelerator which when triggered causes the 

‘flight & fight’ response. So if the SNS is the accelerator, 

the PNS is the brake which helps to relax the person and 

promote the ‘rest & digest’ response after the danger has 

passed. 

The hypothalamus activates the SNS which triggers the 

adrenal glands to release epinephrine (more commonly 

known as adrenaline). This is released throughout the 

body and various physiological changes occur as a result, 

such as an increase in heart rate, increase of blood to 

muscles and other important organs. The brain will also 

receive more oxygen which helps to increase alertness 

in order to better perceive and respond to threats. 

Epinephrine will also trigger the release of glucose into 

the bloodstream which helps to supply energy to all of 

the body. This will all happen before you can even notice 

it and helps to explain why people can have such fast reactions 

to threats before they have even had time to 

think about how to react. This faster response is referred 

to as the sympathetic-adrenomedullary (SAM) system. 

Second stage stress response 

If the threat continues the hypothalamus will then activate 

the second stage of the stress response, which we 

refer to as the HPA axis. This is the hypothalamus, the pituitary 

gland and the adrenal gland. The hypothalamus 

releases corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) which 

then triggers the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone 

(ACTH) by the pituitary gland. This in turn makes 

the adrenal gland release cortisol. All of this helps to 

keep the body in an alert state to help combat what ever 

threat a person faces. Once the cortisol levels fall the PNS 

is activated which helps to calm the body down to its 

naturally homeostatic state. 

So why is all this important to know? 

As I see all too often in my clinical practice, people find 

it really difficult to ‘put the brakes on’ which means that 

they spend a lot of time with chronic levels of stress. 

Chronic stress keeps the HPA axis activated which long 

term has been shown to have negative effects on the 

brain and body. 

If the body uses too much epinephrine (adrenaline) for 

too long this can cause damage to blood vessels, increase 

blood pressure and raise the risk of heart attacks. 

Chronically raised levels of cortisol may lead to build up 

of adipose (fat) tissue and weight gain. Too much can 

also result in the loss of synaptic connections in the prefrontal 

cortex which helps to regulate behaviours such 

as concentration, decision-making, judgement and social 

interaction. 

Ultimately this all goes to show just how much of an impact 

chronic stress levels can have on you and why you 

really need to get a grip on this very damaging process. 

Everything discussed above is part of an unconscious 

process that the brain goes through. This means that before 

you can start to manage your stress levels through 

thinking about problem solving you may need to address 

the physiological responses first. This is where 

learning mindfulness techniques, yoga or physical exercise 

can help. 

It is only after this psychological response occurs do feelings, 

such as fear and anxiety come into consciousness 

and we are able to process them. It is at this point where 

people often become ‘stuck’ and are unable to make 

sense or put words to their experiences. For example, 

how often have you heard someone saying they are 

‘stressed’ without given any other explanation as to what 

this means to them. This is where I can help you to understand 

and ultimately take control over your own 

unique way of experiencing stressful situations. 

Chronic stress has seriously detrimental consequences 

for people which is why at Optimised Personal Wellness 

we will work to effect change in every aspect of your life 

ensuring that you are at your physical, mental and emotional 

best. 

Email: danlittle@trenpatherapy.co.uk 

Call: 07795 403645 

www.trenpatherapy.co.uk 

Ultimately this all goes to show 

just how much of an impact 

chronic stress levels can have on 

you and why you really need to 

get a grip on this very damaging 

process. Everything discussed 

above is part of an unconscious 

process that the brain goes 

through.

WOMEN IN THE LAW AND BUSINESS UK 

MANCHESTER, UK 

Classified Directory 

Expert Witnesses 

Notary Public 

Notary Public 

John Cusack 

worldwide documents 

Notarised 

accessible & efficient service 

home & office visits 

well-established (since 1984) 

& experienced 

tel: 0797 332 9791 

jocusa@live.co.uk 

Lifestyle/Gifts/Entertainment 

Woodpecker Bakery 

To encourage and support the next generation of lawyers 

Allowing junior and senior members to learn from each other 

Connecting the law and business 

We provide bespoke baked 

goods made to order. JOIN TODAY 

Be an ambassador for woman in the law 

Contact for more info and sponsorship opportunities 

Our specialities include brownies, 

salted caramels and marshmallows. 

Womeninthelaw2012@gmail,com 

Ideal gifts for family, friends, clients 

or just to say thank you. 

Situations Wanted 

Senior Residential Property 

Solicitor 

seeks position 

(full time or part time). 

Over 30 years conveyancing 

experience 

(29 years as a sole practitioner) 

Anywhere in the Greater 

Manchester area. 

Email: davidswann8491@hotmail.co.uk 

or telephone David on 

07896 617287 

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 

2017 EVENTS WITH INSPIRATIONAL SPEAKERS 

carla@woodpeckerbakery.com or 

07834073628 

to discuss your personal 

quotation 

. 

31st October - Investec - How To Get More Out Of Your Money 

Free event to members and optional £10 to non members 

Held at Investec offices in Spinningfield. Fizz and nibbles. 

4th November - Bar Conference and Young Bar Conference, London 

9th November Women - Jobs in for the Girls. Law Careers and Business on the Bench UK and beyond. 

30th Events November with - - inspirational Clarity speakers 

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 

To advertise in 

The Messenger 

call Julia on 

01204 303323 or 


Wishing all our readers and 

contributors a Merry Christmas 

and Peaceful New Year...

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Messenger December 2017

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