Aspiring lawyers are being given the chance to boost their CV by winning a week’s work experience at a long-established law firm in Leamington Spa.

Blythe Liggins Solicitors is inviting future legal eagles to submit a short article for the chance to win a placement at its offices in Rugby Road.

The competition is open to over 18s and will offer the winner the chance to gain experience across the firm’s various legal teams, including family law, wills and probate, employment law, and personal injury.

To be in with a chance of winning the placement, entrants must submit a 500-word piece about who or what has inspired them to pursue a career in the legal profession.

Jessica McDonnell, Senior Associate Solicitor at Blythe Liggins, said: “This is a great opportunity for someone who is interested in a legal career to spend a week with our team, gaining valuable experience of the day-to-day work involved in practicing law.

“With work placements and job roles in the profession becoming increasingly competitive, this competition offers a fantastic chance for our winner to set themselves out from the crowd and demonstrate their passion for law.

“We look forward to receiving everyone’s entries and hearing all about why they have been inspired to pursue a law career.”

The deadline for submissions is 5pm on Friday 28^th March 2025. All entries must be a maximum of 500 words in length and sent via email to jm@blytheliggins.co.uk.

For more information, visit blytheliggins.digitalglue.website/work-experience-competition/

CAPTION: Jessica McDonnell, Senior Associate Solicitor, and Trainee Solicitor Loren Coles from Blythe Liggins launched the company’s work experience competition at Coventry University’s recent Law Fair

A Leamington Spa solicitor is urging people to make a change for the new year by prioritising making or updating their will.

Jessica McDonnell, senior associate solicitor at Blythe Liggins Solicitors, says that she often hears of people thinking there is ‘no point’ in making a will as they have ‘nothing to leave behind’.

But, she says, this is not always the case, as wills cover everything from who will benefit from a person’s estate – their money, property, possessions and investments – to care arrangements for their children if they pass away.

It is recommended that everyone over the age of 18 has a will in place, but research from Lifetime Lawyers has found that 49 per cent of adults in the UK don’t have one – while one in 10 adults have started making a will but haven’t yet finished it.

Jessica said: “We are all so busy with the day-to-day that making or updating a will is a task which we can mean to get around to but never do.

“With the arrival of the new year, it’s a good time to get this dealt with so it’s not just another job on the to do list.

“My advice is that everyone aged over 18 should have a will in place, and especially those who have children or own a house.

“None of us like to dwell on it, but having a current will in place gives you the peace of mind of knowing that your wishes will be dealt with in the way you’d like, as you go on living and enjoying life.”

Once a will has been made, Jessica recommends reviewing and updating it every five years – or sooner in the event of a life change such as a divorce, marriage, death or new arrival.

She said: “Once a will is in place, it’s important that it is periodically reviewed to check that it reflects your current financial status and family dynamics. When circumstances change, this is a particularly important time to double check that your will still meets your needs and reflects your preferences.

“It is also important to remember that, in the case of unmarried couples who live together, they are not entitled to anything from their partner’s estate in the event of their passing unless a will is in place to specify this – so, if one has not been made, they will not be provided for financially.

“So, I cannot stress enough the importance of unmarried couples making wills to ensure that both parties are provided for and will have somewhere to live in the event of an unexpected death.”

CAPTION: Jessica McDonnell, Senior Associate Solicitor.

A Leamington Spa family solicitor says she is seeing an increasing trend of couples signing pre-nuptial agreements before entering into marriage.

With Valentine’s Day coming up and potential proposals in the offing, Sophia Mellor, head of family law at Blythe Liggins Solicitors, says the agreements – which pre-agree the split of the couple’s respective assets if the marriage ends in divorce – are becoming increasingly commonplace.

A Supreme Court ruling in 2010 gave more weight to pre-nups in this country, making it more likely that agreements which had been voluntarily entered into by both parties would be enforced in court.

Since then, Google Trends data shows that interest in them has slowly grown, hitting peak levels late last year.

Sophia said that take-up of the agreements was becoming increasingly popular and, while pre-nups may be perceived as unromantic by some, she believes they are the opposite.

Sophia said: “Pre-nuptial agreements are becoming increasingly commonplace and now carry more weight before the courts.

“It’s not unromantic, in fact it’s quite the opposite – by having a pre-nup, the couple are saying that they love their partner, not their partner’s money.”

In practical terms, Sophia said the cost of taking out a pre-nuptial agreement to protect pre-marital acquisitions was “negligible” compared to the cost of a potential court battle if a divorcing couple cannot agree on division of their assets.

She said: “Pre-nups are certainly advisable, especially in the case of second marriages, where there are pre-marital assets, or when there are children from a previous relationship involved.

“In the latter scenario, there are potentially more third parties to consider in any subsequent dispute over financial assets brought into a marriage if it ends in divorce.

“Having a pre-nup in place is a cost-effective way to prevent disputes and further friction at an already difficult time in the event of divorce.”

Sophia is urging both those intending to propose or those who have been proposed to, to consult with a specialist family law solicitor for advice.

She said: “A specialist family law solicitor will enable you to make an informed decision as to whether a prenuptial agreement is suitable for you.

“While some may think of pre-nups as being something which is just for the rich and famous, they are becoming increasingly common and can help you and your partner to organise your finances ahead of committing to marriage.”

Caption: Sophia Mellor, Partner and Head of the Family Department.

Blythe Liggins is a well established and respected legal practice based in Leamington Spa.

Due to expansion, we are keen to recruit an additional fee earner for our friendly and hard-working team.

The ideal candidate will

• Have knowledge of Wills, Probate and Court of Protection work.
• Be responsible for dealing with clients by phone, email and in person
• Have excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Be accurate and pay close attention to detail
• Be able to manage a heavy workload efficiently
• Have good organisational skills and able to prioritise multiple tasks

If you have a minimum of 12 months’ experience and are looking to further your career, please send your CV to dmb@blytheliggins.co.uk

Would you like to win a week’s work experience at Blythe Liggins? If so, enter our competition to be in with a chance to win!

Blythe Liggins invite you to write a short article to explain who or what has inspired you to pursue a career in the legal profession.

Enter by 5pm on Friday 28^th March 2025.

There is a 500 word limit and all entries must be sent by email to jm@blytheliggins.co.uk.

Terms

• All entrants must be over the age of 18 years.
• The work experience will take place at the firm’s offices at Edmund House, Rugby Road, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire CV32 6EL.
• The hours of the work experience will be 09:00 – 17:30 Monday to Thursday and 09:00 – 17:00 on Friday.
• The winner must take up the offer of work experience by the end of 2025.
• The work experience is unpaid.
• All other queries should be directed to jm@blytheliggins.co.uk.

Preparations are well under way for this year’s annual Two Castles run between Warwick and Kenilworth, which is being sponsored by Blythe Liggins for the 13th consecutive year.

The race, which attracts 4,000 runners, will be run on Sunday June 10. Organised by Kenilworth Rotary Club it is one of the main events in the Warwickshire Road Race League.

Race organiser and Rotarian Philip Southwell, who was responsible for introducing the ballot last year – replacing the previous ‘first come first served’ system – said there had been the usual rush of applications for a place and that those who had been unsuccessful have been placed on a waiting list.

Blythe Liggins, in addition to being the headline sponsor, will also be fielding a team of runners and manning a water station.

Richard Thornton, joint senior partner, said: “The Two Castles run is an excellent event and we are delighted to be supporting it once again. The move to a ballot system, which is obviously used so successfully with major events such as the London Marathon, has proved to be a much fairer way to ensure registration for the thousands who wish to take part in this increasingly popular run.”

CAPTION: Rotarian Philip Southwell (left) with Blythe Liggins joint senior partner Richard Thornton.

So what is ‘unreasonable behaviour’?

There is no such thing as no fault divorce. This is because the 1973 Act of Parliament (now 44 years old and many say painfully out of date) sets out the grounds for divorce and provides a limited framework for a divorce petition to be acceptable to the court and for the parties to ultimately divorce. There are other grounds for divorce, but very often these are not available to the parties. It is for this reason that a divorce based upon ‘unreasonable behaviour’ is so very often the only way forward.

One of the grounds for divorce is, ‘unreasonable behaviour’. In a recent high profile case involving Mr and Mrs Owen, a divorce was refused because the, ‘unreasonable behaviour’ was described, to be at best, flimsy. For example, one of the allegations was that the husband in the case was slow putting the bins out for collection.

It is, therefore important to ensure that when a divorce petition is drafted it meets certain criteria, meets a certain threshold which will be acceptable to the Judge. It is not the Judge’s job to rubberstamp the divorce petition based upon unreasonable behaviour, but to vet it carefully. If the petition is weak or flimsy the District Judge has the discretion to dismiss it. This can waste a great deal of cost and time.

Mr and Mrs Owen even appealed. The case went all the way to the Court of Appeal in London, to the most senior Judges in the land and they decided that the law must be respected even though nowadays most people simply want to get divorced without apportioning blame. That is just not possible, there has to be substantial ‘unreasonable behaviour’, without which and in the absence of other grounds for divorce, a petition will be dismissed and the divorce thwarted.

Drafting a divorce, petition based on ‘unreasonable behaviour’ is a challenge for family lawyers. On the one hand they do not want to inflame the relationship between the husband and wife, but on the other hand they need to ensure that the petition is strong enough to be acceptable to the Judge, when later on, he or she vets its content. Expert family lawyers are adept at dealing with this emotionally charged situation and seek, as far as possible to advise clients on what constitutes ‘unreasonable behaviour’ without causing offence.

Perhaps the motto is “not to fall out over the wheelie bin” but seek proper legal advice.

Caption: Andrew Brooks. Partner – Head of the Family Department.

Andrew Brooks and Louise Sheasby from the Blythe Liggins’ Family Department presented a cheque to Myton Hospice in relation to monies raised at our employment seminar.

Blythe Liggins are looking forward to their post-Christmas raffle in aid of Myton Hospice which is taking place today.

Every year, the staff at Blythe Liggins bring in any unwanted Christmas gifts and raffle them off in order to raise money for Myton Hospice. It is a fantastic cause and it is the first of many fund raising events which take place each year.