Probate modernisation – help or hindrance?
Since January 2019, HM Courts and Tribunals Service’s (HMCTS) has outsourced key parts of its probate function to a private company called Exela, which it says has “30 years of experience in the bulk scanning industry”. Exela has been contracted to scan wills and issue grants of probate digitally. At first glance, the new online […]
Read MoreRestaurant chain collapses highlight extent of company directors’ personal liability
The restaurant business has always been notoriously precarious. Fashionable one year and passé the next, restaurants are subject to rapidly changing consumer taste. In the last two years, well-known chains such as Carluccio’s, Prezzo, Byron Burger and Gourmet Burger Kitchen have closed numerous outlets amid rising costs from higher wages, an increase in property taxes […]
Read MoreDivorce law reforms – simpler, faster, friendlier
After sustained lobbying from all sides, the government finally announced in April that divorce laws in England and Wales will be reformed and updated. The impetus for reform has gathered significant momentum over recent years. Prominent members of the judiciary, the Family Mediation Taskforce and Resolution, the national organisation of family lawyers, have all argued […]
Read MoreHow do employers overcome unconscious bias in their HR processes?
Unconscious bias has become firmly embedded in the thinking of HR departments in many organisations, even though it only found its place in modern psychology just over 20 years ago. In 1998, the University of Washington and Yale published the world’s first research on the subject which revealed that it is remarkably prevalent: 90-95 per […]
Read More24% would contest a will: the avoidable & costly route to resolution
A recent poll by Direct Line suggested that 24% of UK residents would contest a loved-one’s will, if they were unhappy with the division of assets. Claimants made over 8,100 applications to halt probate in 2017. That figure increased by 6% last year. The idea of freedom of testation has deep roots in English law. […]
Read MorePartner pressure and promotion promises can foster dishonesty to meet billings targets
Last year, the legal media devoted considerable coverage to Kirkland & Ellis as it overtook Latham & Watkins to become the world’s highest billing law firm with gross revenues of $3.165 billion – a 19 percent increase in its top line over the previous year. Meanwhile Kirkland also saw its profits per equity partner rise […]
Read MoreThe elusive quest for High Street survival
Structural economic change can be painful. The demise of Britain’s industrial base in the 1980s saw the domestic coal industry unable to compete with cheaper international rivals because it was uneconomic. The National Coal Board closure programme started with a hit list of 100 pits. The end result was that all the mines eventually closed […]
Read MoreAfter Carillion – where now for corporate accountability?
Carillion’s 2016 annual accounts carried the now-ironic tagline: “Making tomorrow a better place”. By mid-2017, the company was issuing profit warnings. By January 2018 it collapsed completely, leaving debts of £7 billion in its wake. MPs squarely blamed the “recklessness, hubris and greed” of Carillion’s directors for the debacle. Carillion’s collapse wreaked financial havoc on […]
Read MoreEqual pay test claim in the retail sector could affect many businesses
The challenge Morrisons is facing over equal pay at the employment tribunal comes mostly from women who argue their pay is unfair because it is less than their male counterparts employed in distribution centres. Male workers there are paid £1 to £4 an hour more than their female colleagues who work in supermarkets, they claim. […]
Read MoreHarrassment & bullying – employers are letting themselves down
In a dramatic wake-up call for the legal profession to examine its culture and working practices, the preliminary findings of a recent International Bar Association (IBA) survey, revealed in October 2018, found that bullying and sexual harassment are rife. According to more than 5,000 lawyers in 120 jurisdictions, one-third of male lawyers and half of female […]
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