Manchester Solicitors

Getting ahead of the legal pack online

admin — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 06:33:43 +0000

Lawyers are not generally thought of as being great at marketing, and compared to many kinds of websites, many law firm sites are very bland indeed, even when compared to those of accountants ! The accountants seem to understand that when searching online, we all tend to skim read, in a world which just gets faster and faster, if we want or need something, we want it now, in digestible form, often with a bottom line call to action, benefit or price.

Personal injury lawyers are definitely an exception to most other lawyers – they understand their clients and prospective clients, they tend to offer highly understandable messages such as “claim now”, their sites are far more visual and most pages only contain a few clear messages and easy option for personal injury claims.

Some of the general practice law firms do now understand better what’s needed, and many have a strategy of having a brochure style site, who they are, what they do, why they are good, plus some targeted microsites, perhaps on niche legal topics such as divorce or leasehold. This strategy is just one of many but it can work very well, and to differentiate the firm from so many others. One thing is for sure, law firms or any other businesses that continue to either ignore the web or to simply do the minimum that their competitors seem to be doing are likely only to be left behind and research suggest that in line with many other services online, up to 25% of instructions are now derived online. Can any business simply give up on 25% of the market ? We think not.

Irwin Mitchell and Criminal Defence

admin — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:23:59 +0000

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.

Conveyancing update

admin — Thu, 23 Jun 2011 06:39:00 +0000

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.

If You Need to Get Plastered – Ask Your Landlord

admin — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 10:35:00 +0000

<p> 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.</p> <div>  </div> <div> 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? ‘</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> The Court ruled conclusively that in such circumstances the responsibility for maintaining the plasterwork on the walls lies with the landlord.</div> <div>  </div> <div>  </div> <div> Grand v Gill [2011] EWCA Civ 554</div>

Prosecution HIghlights Need for Risk Assessment and Control

admin — Sat, 18 Jun 2011 08:46:00 +0000

<p> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;">A plant hire company has been fined </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt; color:#111111">£7,000 and ordered to pay costs of £10,000</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> following an accident on a building site in which an excavator bucket filled with concrete fell off the arm of the machine supplied by the company and crushed the site foreman to death.</span></p> <div> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;">The plant hire firm and the man who was operating the excavator when the accident occurred were both convicted of breaches of health and safety legislation. The operator </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#111111">was fined £700 and ordered to pay costs of £1,000.</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> The main contractor, which has now entered administration, also faces charges for having failed </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;color:#111111">adequately to plan, manage and monitor the construction work</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;color:#111111">and failing to take reasonably practicable steps that would have prevented the accident.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">The accident happened because of the failure to insert a ‘safety pin’ necessary to enable the bucket to be locked to the arm of the excavator. </span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">The plant hire company was convicted on the grounds that it ‘did not have a suitable regime of inspection for the plant it hired out to ensure</span><img alt="Diggers" src="/system/assets/357/small/100_0277.JPG?1294485211" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: left;" /> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">safety conditions were maintained’ and that it had ‘also supplied the eq</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">uipment without adequate safety warning signs, written information and instruc</span> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">tions or CE marking’. The company had also neglected to ensure the attachments supplied with the excavator were</span> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;"> maintained in an efficient state, working order and in good repair.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size: 10pt;">The operator had failed to take adequate care when po</span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;">sitioning the bucket.</span></div> <div> <span style="font-size:10.0pt;">When an accident could easily have been avoided, as in this case, the HSE often spreads the net of blame widely. It is important for those with health and safety responsibilities to be aware of the scope of their duties. Whilst an error may appear to be mainly the fault of one person, ‘liability creep’ can easily occur unless careful risk assessment and minimisation procedures are in place.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <b><span style="font-size:10.0pt;"><br /> </span></b></div> <div> <b> </b></div>

Scaffold Fall Brings Compensation

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:56:00 +0000

<div> <img alt="Scaffolding on building" src="/system/assets/358/small/100_0240.JPG?1294824214" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: left;" /><span style="font-size:12.0pt;">A maintenance operative who carried on working after suffering a fall was found to have ruptured a tendon in his knee after seeing his doctor the next day.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;">The 45 year-old man was carrying equipment down steps attached to scaffolding when he lost his balance. One of the steps had not been properly secured and, as he stepped on it, it tilted forwards causing him to fall heavily onto his left knee.</span></div> <div>  </div> <div> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;">After surgery to reconstruct his tendon, a wire was inserted into his knee to support it while it healed. Four months later, he had a further operation to have the wire removed and then began a course of physiotherapy. In total, he was unable to work for eight months while he recovered, resulting in a substantial loss of earnings. Although he has now returned to work, he has been told that he will never fully recover from the injuries he suffered.</span></div> <div>  The man commenced a personal injury claim against his employer. The employer’s insurance company admitted liability for the accident and the claim was settled for £44,000.</div> <p> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;Times New Roman";">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.</span><br /> <span style="font-size:12.0pt;Times New Roman";"><br /> </span></p>

Home on the Farm Policy to Tackle Rural Housing

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 15:21:00 +0000

<p> <img alt="Village House" src="/system/assets/602/small/100_0647.JPG?1303723306" style="border-width: 1px; border-style: solid; margin: 4px; float: right;" />The 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.</p> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.<br /> <br /> 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.<br /> <br /> 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.</div>

Half a Million Face Offshore Cash Probes

admin — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 07:56:00 +0000

<p> <img alt="Hotel Pool 2" src="/system/assets/51/small/IMAG0002.JPG?1264853286" style="border-width: 2px; border-style: solid; margin: 5px; float: right;" />HM 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.</p> <div>  </div> <div> 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’.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> The information received to date has led to many raids by HMRC officers and eight arrests.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div>

Prize Scam Resurfaces

admin — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 11:38:00 +0000

<div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div>

Expert Report Disclosable, Says Court of Appeal

admin — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 17:42:00 +0000

<p> 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.</p> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div> <div>  </div> <div> 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.</div>