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Irwin Mitchell and Criminal Defence

Sometimes, you or someone you know will be taken into custody by the police and held at the police station. In these situations, getting vital legal assistance is important and even time sensitive. Irwin Mitchell can help in these situations. They have lawyers on staff that can be contacted at any time. They understand that arrests can occur outside of working hours therefore they make themselves readily available.

Irwin Mitchell’s criminal defense lawyers can be with you from the start of your case. They have a great deal of experience with all aspects of a case including the investigation, arrests, charge and summons. They have represented many clients and have earned an excellent reputation. They help their clients seek the best possible outcome.

Contacting a criminal lawyer at Irwin Mitchell as early in the process as possible is key. This might include at the time of arrest or when released on bail. They can provide advice and provide representation in court if needed. Irwin Mitchell lawyers do their best to get the charges dropped and avoid further legal action.

In some situations, police will try to interview a suspect under caution. These interviews can occur on one’s consent or if the individual is under arrest. If it a very wise idea to obtain a lawyer’s services to prepare for this interview. Also, many lawyers like to be present for the interview. Keep in mind not only the police can conduct interviews under caution: other agencies can do as well. Again, having legal representation is important. Hiring a lawyer from Irwin Mitchell will provide you with advice as when a question should be answer. It also provides advice for when the question should not be answered and a person’s right to silence invoked. The criminal defense lawyers at Irwin Mitchell have been involved with many similar cases and can help out immensely.

For more information about the vast array of services offered by Irwin Mitchell, and want to learn about their role as personal injury solicitors in Manchester then visit www.irwinmitchell.com.

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Posted December 21st, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Conveyancing update

The Conveyancing Quality Scheme

38 firms in the North West are now able to boast that they have the Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation, which is an important new standard introduced this year.

The CQS demonstrates that a law firm has been carefully vetted by the Law society not only for competence but also that systems are of a high standard, so as to reassure clients of high quality advice and service. Monitoring and checks, including spot checks continue for all firms achieving the standard.

For more property law advice, visit some other pages on our site such as here or alternatively here.

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Posted June 23rd, 2011 in Uncategorized, property law |

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If You Need to Get Plastered – Ask Your Landlord

When it comes to repair obligations under a lease, most of the respective obligations of landlord and tenant are clear. Occasionally, however, something crops up for which responsibility isn’t clear; and then, the scene is set for a dispute.

 
Recently, the Court of Appeal had to decide just such a dispute. It dealt with a simple question – ‘If a landlord is responsible for the walls of a property, is it also responsible for the plaster on the walls? ‘
 
The question was raised by a tenant who had systemic damp problems in the property he rented and who wanted to force the landlord to take remedial action.
 
The Court ruled conclusively that in such circumstances the responsibility for maintaining the plasterwork on the walls lies with the landlord.
 
 
Grand v Gill [2011] EWCA Civ 554

Posted June 20th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Scaffold Fall Brings Compensation

Scaffolding on buildingScaffolding is a big risk when it comes to health and safety law and personal injury and there are hundreds of accidents each yera which are prevantable in this araea.
Often the problem arises simply due to rushing as in this case in question a 45 year-old man lost his balance on scaffolding as a ladder leading up the scaffolding was not properly secure.
The injury could have been much more severe as falls from relatively low heights do regularly result in very bad injuries and even death, but this was far from a minor injury as the victim suffered a ruptured knee and was absent from work for 8 months as a result.
The man made a personal injury claim against his employer. Liability for the accident was admitted and the compensation payout amounted to  £44,000.

If you have been injured at work through no fault of your own, you could be entitled to compensation. Contact us for advice on making a claim.

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Posted June 17th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Home on the Farm Policy to Tackle Rural Housing

Village HouseThe availability of affordable housing in rural areas has been a problem for many years, with young people often having to move away in order to find employment that will enable them to get on the housing ladder.

 
Such housing as is available in the countryside is often bought as holiday or weekend homes by people from outside the area, keeping the cost of housing unaffordable for those employed locally and, in some cases, causing the creation of ‘ghost villages’; which are virtually deserted a lot of the time, especially on weekdays in the winter. The effect on the local retail economy can also be devastating.
 
In a bid to combat these issues, the Government has suggested that councils in rural areas consider changing their planning policies to allow unused farm buildings to be converted to use for residential purposes, rather than insisting that they only be used as farm buildings.

This idea is part of the 'Home on the Farm' scheme, the aim of which is to turn unused farm buildings into affordable housing. It is hoped that young families will thereby be able to remain in their local communities, rather than having to move to cities to find housing.

The Government hopes to adopt the scheme nationally. It has been outlined in the Government's response to the Commons Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee's report into farming in England's upland areas.

Posted June 16th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Half a Million Face Offshore Cash Probes

Hotel Pool 2HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) claim that they have been informed of half a million people who hold cash in offshore tax havens…indicating that the stashing of cash in low-tax areas is a pastime of the middle classes as well as the wealthy.

 
The discovery has led HRMC to increase their estimate of the potential tax yield to ‘billions of pounds’. The information has been obtained through a series of information-sharing agreements between HMRC and foreign tax authorities and includes information from banks and ‘whistleblowers’.
 
HMRC offered a series of amnesties for taxpayers to ‘come clean’ about such accounts in exchange for beneficial treatment by tax inspectors, but it would appear that their entreaties have been largely ignored.
 
Recently, a whistleblower based in Geneva gave HMRC the names of 7,000 UK customers who collectively hold some £13 billion in accounts in Switzerland.
 
The information received to date has led to many raids by HMRC officers and eight arrests.
 
A specialist unit is being set up by HMRC to investigate those with undeclared offshore assets and those who seem to have lifestyles which cannot be financed by their disclosed income.

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Posted June 16th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Prize Scam Resurfaces

We recently ran a news item dealing with the successful prosecution of firms running bogus ‘prize draws’ which promised prizes to people. The catch being that the procedure which had to be followed in order to claim a ‘prize’ cost several pounds.
 
The prizes allocated to most ‘winners’ were of far less value than the payments made to the organisers and the scheme was designed to yield a good profit for them. The Office of Fair Trading successfully prosecuted the organisers and it was hoped that this would be the end of this type of scam.
 
Regrettably, the scam is back, offering prizes as before, but with a subtle twist. Now, the procedure requires you to apply for a ‘claim number’ (to see if you qualify for a prize) at a cost of at least £9.
 
The scheme is clearly designed to run at a profit for the organisers and is based at a very similar address to that of the companies prosecuted earlier in the year.
 
The OFT have been informed. If you have relatives who might be inclined to enter such prize draws, it is worth having a word of warning with them.
 

Posted June 15th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Expert Report Disclosable, Says Court of Appeal

Sometimes, people tell you things you don’t want to hear. When the person doing the telling is an expert witness you have instructed, problems can result.

 
In court proceedings in which an expert witness report is needed, unless a ‘single joint expert‘ is appointed, each party to the dispute will appoint its own expert. In practice, this is normally organised by the solicitor, who informs the other parties to the dispute who the expert will be.
 
Although it may seem perverse, when an expert witness is instructed by the firm representing you, the witness is not ‘your witness’ because the expert owes a duty to the court to prepare a report that is fair and free of bias.
 
Accordingly, it is by no means unusual for the expert’s report to come as something of a disappointment. When this occurs, there is something of a dilemma.
 
Until the expert’s report is used in proceedings, it is a legally privileged document and the ‘other side’ cannot demand it is disclosed. Accordingly, one option is simply not to disclose the report.
 
Another option is to obtain a second report in the hope that it will be more to one’s liking. However, the problem with this approach, as confirmed by a recent case in the Court of Appeal, is that once the decision is made to use the second report and it is disclosed, the Court can order the disclosure of the first report.
 
The appointment and use of experts is a matter requiring considerable knowledge and experience. We can assist you in the effective pursuit of any legal claim or litigation.

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Posted June 14th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Torex Three Face Trial

Three former directors of software company Torex will face criminal charges brought by the Serious Fraud Office. The company’s former chairman, accountant and legal director will have to answer to charges of conspiracy to defraud.
In January, two other former directors of the company were convicted of the same offence after the company had reported more than £1.6 million in fictitious profits in the company’s accounts for 2005 and 2006. The two were jailed in February, disqualified from acting as company directors and ordered to make contributions to the costs of their prosecutions.
The fraud came to light when the (then) chief executive discovered it and acted as ‘whistle blower’.
If your business has concerns about possible fraud or you want advice about business fraud prevention, please get in touch to find out how we can assist. Click here to visit our business litigation page.

Posted June 10th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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Government Consults on Further Changes to Employment Law

As part of its comprehensive review of employment law, the Government has launched a consultation on plans to introduce a new system of flexible parental leave from 2015.
Under the proposals, mothers would be entitled to 18 weeks’ maternity leave and pay, taken in one continuous block, around the time of their child’s birth. Once the early weeks of maternity and paternity leave have ended, parents would be able to share 30 weeks of additional parental leave, of which 17 weeks would be paid. Unlike the current system, this leave could be divided into blocks between the parents, with both parents able to take leave at the same time should they wish. Employers would have the ability to ensure that the leave is taken in one continuous period if agreement cannot be reached. They would also be able to ask staff to return for short periods to meet peaks in demand or to require that leave be taken in one continuous block, depending on business needs. In addition, there would be four weeks of parental leave and pay available to each parent, to be taken in the child’s first year, and the father’s current right to take 2 weeks’ paid paternity leave around the time of the baby’s birth would be retained.
Business Secretary Vince Cable said, “These measures are fairer for fathers and maintain the existing entitlements for mothers – but crucially give parents much greater choice over how to balance their work and family commitments.”
Flexible Working
The consultation also proposes extending the right to request flexible working to all workers who have been with their employer for 26 weeks. To achieve this, the system for considering flexible working requests would be made more adaptable, with the statutory process replaced with a new duty on employers simply to consider requests ‘reasonably’. A statutory Code of Practice would be published, setting out best practice on the benefits and adoption of flexible working, including guidance on what is a ‘reasonable’ process for handling requests. It is proposed that employers should be allowed to take into account employees’ individual circumstances when considering conflicting requests. There are no plans to alter the current 8 business reasons for a business to turn down a request.
Equal Pay
It is proposed that where an Employment Tribunal finds that an employer has discriminated on the ground of gender in relation to pay, it will have the power to order the employer to conduct a pay audit and publish the results.
The Working Time Regulations
Amendments to the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) are also planned, including a tidying up exercise, to bring the WTR into line with recent judgments in the European Courts, so that annual leave entitlements can be rescheduled, and carried over to the next leave year, when a worker falls ill during planned annual leave. The proposal is to limit this to the four weeks’ minimum annual leave entitlement under the EC Working Time Directive.
The consultation document can be found here. The consultation closes on 8 August 2011.
Please visit the employmnet law part of this site. Resources can be found here and here.

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Posted June 10th, 2011 in Uncategorized |

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