Senior Legal Secretary and PA to Senior Partner

We are looking for a bright, personable, highly capable individual to join our thriving, well established law practice.

Excellent communication skills and proficiency in Microsoft packages are required together with a lively ’can do’ attitude and an ability to work as part of a team. Experience of the legal sector would be an advantage but is not essential.
You must have excellent organisational skills, a professional telephone manner and an ability to work under pressure and to tight deadlines.
This role is full time and is a great career opportunity for the right candidate.

Legal Secretary – Family Department

We also have an opportunity for an experienced secretary to join our busy family department. If you have good secretarial skills, and would like to be part of a successful team, we look forward to hearing from you.

Please apply with CV and covering letter to :jms@blytheliggins.co.uk

15th June 2016

The main sponsor of next week’s (June 12) 4,000-strong Two Castles run between Warwick and Kenilworth is asking any runner who has to pull out to let the organisers know so that someone else can have their place.

Richard Thornton, joint senior partner at Leamington solicitors Blythe Liggins, who are sponsoring the race for 11th consecutive year, said: “It is inevitable that some people who were lucky enough to get a place will now find themselves unable to attend. We have 650 hopefuls on the waiting list and I would urge anyone who has to pull out to cancel now so that their place can be offered to the next one on the waitlist.”

Mr Thornton urges non-runners to either contact organisers Kenilworth Rotary Club and Leamington Cycling & Athletics Club or, alternatively, to find a substitute and hand them the race number when they receive it – after they have logged in to their Fullonsport account and changed the registrant’s details to those of the substitute. Without a race number there will be no entry to the start at Warwick Castle.

In addition to sponsorship, Blythe Liggins will also be fielding a team of about 30 runners, manning a water station and providing marshals for the event, which raises around £100,000 for charity.

The 34th year of the race, will start at Warwick Castle at 9.00 am on Sunday June 12 with the winner expected at Kenilworth Castle just over 30 minutes later.

CAPTION: Two Castles race organiser Philip Southwell (left) with Richard Thornton from race sponsor Blythe Liggins.

Issued by Newsline PR

Leamington solicitor Jaz Virk has celebrated her new job with a beer at the House of Commons.

The lawyer, who has just joined the wills & probate department at Leamington solicitors Blythe Liggins, was at the Palace of Westminster with her husband Surj, where his creation, Empress Ale, is being served as a guest beer.

Jaz, who lives in Leamington, said: “I love being a solicitor, especially back in Leamington, and I thought the House of Commons was an exciting place to celebrate my new job with a glass of Empress Ale, which my husband created and is brewed in Leicestershire,” she said.

Jaz, who specialises in the administration of estates, is a former pupil of King Henry VIII School in Coventry. She gained her LLB at the University of Keele, attended the College of Law in Chester and qualified as a private client solicitor in 2003.

She has joined Blythe Liggins after five years with Sydney Mitchell in Birmingham.

CAPTION: Jaz and Surj Virk with a glass of Empress Ale at the House of Commons.

Issued by Newsline PR. Tel 01926 888308

The General Medical Council have issued new guidance for doctors who provide cosmetic interventions to ensure that they provide the best possible care for patients.

Cosmetic intervention includes any intervention, procedure or treatment carried out with the primary objective of changing an aspect of a patient’s physical appearance.

The guidance has been issued as a result of a report by Professor Sir Keogh into cosmetic surgery in England who highlighted the risks associated with cosmetic interventions and how patients need greater protection.

Professor Terence Stephenson of the GMC said, “It is a challenging area of medicine which deals with patients who can be extremely vulnerable. Most doctors who practise in this area do so to a high standard but we do sometimes come across poor practice and it is important that patients are protected from this”.

The guidance makes clear the ethical obligations doctors have towards patients and the standard of care they need to provide. It includes ensuring that doctors: –

• Market their services responsibly;

• Seek a patient’s consent themselves rather than delegate this to somebody else;

• Give patients all of the time and information they need so that they can make a voluntary and
informed decision about whether to go ahead;

• Take particular care when considering requests for interventions on children and young people;

• Consider patients’ vulnerabilities and psychological needs when making decisions with them about
treatment options.

Lois Harrison, a Lawyer in the Medical Negligence team at Blythe Liggins said, “This new guidance is a welcome step towards providing patients with clear information before undergoing such procedures. There has been an alarming lack of safeguards in this area in the past and I am pleased to see that the issue has been highlighted and steps are being taken to help consumers”.

If you believe that you may have received inadequate cosmetic intervention the medical negligence team at Blythe Liggins will be more than happy to assist.

Caption: Lois Harrison, Chartered Legal Executive – Medical Negligence Team

Sadly for many people their marriages end in divorce. Divorce is a real twentieth century phenomenon and there is no sign that the number of marriages that fail is likely to decline.

For those that do divorce some face the happy yet challenging prospect of remarriage. This is an exciting prospect but there are many practical issues that need to be considered apart from the wedding ceremony and the honeymoon.

Second time around, very often the parties will bring to the marriage children from a first marriage or a previous failed relationship. Quite clearly both parties want to be fair to their children and want to ensure that they are properly provided for during their lives and upon the death of their parents.

It is therefore really very important to bear in mind that the effect of remarriage is that it will automatically revoke any Will that has previously been made. It is for that reason that it is very important to make a new Will setting out financial provision in a fair and reasonable way, not only for one’s new spouse but for one’s own children and the children of one’s spouse.

If no Will is made at all, or if the Will has been revoked, then if one of the parties dies their estate would come under the intestacy rules that also apply to people who die without a Will. This means that where there are children a surviving spouse receives a priority legacy of £250,000, plus all of the personal possessions and one half of the remaining estate.

As a consequence, by not making a new Will or not making a Will at all, surviving children could be the beneficiaries of a great injustice, only receiving the other half of the remaining estate which in very many cases will amount to nothing. In such a situation not only do the children have to deal with the loss of a loved one, but they also have to come to terms with the fact that they will receive little or no inheritance.

All of the above unpleasantness and uncertainty can be put right by simply making a straightforward and well thought-out Will. A second marriage can be a great institution, but foundations need to be put in place for the future, one of which is the drafting of a Will.

CAPTION: Andrew Brooks. Partner, Family Team

Just when you think you know the score, all of a sudden the law can change.

Over the last decade there has been a move toward Judges accepting the terms of Pre-Nuptial Agreements as being binding. If the Pre-Nuptial Agreement has not been binding then it can be said to be of great weight, and as far as possible Judges have decided that they should stick to what the Pre-Nup says. We had a big case coming out of the Court of Appeal about 5 years ago called Radmacher which talked about the bindability and encouraged the bindability of Pre-Nups.

On top of the Judge made law, we had the Law Commission saying that draft legislation needed to be prepared to make Pre-Nuptial Agreements binding.

Against this background, however, a senior group of Judges made an announcement on 5th April that the majority of couples who sign a Pre-Nup are wasting their time. They went on to say that only the very wealthy can expect their wishes to be honoured and that most Courts would ignore Pre-Nups and base their decisions on “fairness”.

It is no wonder that member of the public, let alone family lawyers, struggle with the concept of Pre-Nups when on the one hand Judges say they should be adhered to in the main, whereas on the other a different group of Judges take a contrary view. Perhaps it is more about the Judiciary wishing to exercise their autonomy and discretion free from statutory regulation and Government dictat. Who knows?

What we do know, however, is that Pre-Nups have been around for a very long time and the general consensus of opinion is that the Courts will respect the Pre-Nup where it produces an outcome that is reasonably fair. An example of a Pre-Nup being unfair would be where the children ended up in a situation where they did not have a roof over their heads. Manifestly, that type of Pre-Nup scenario would need to be changed by the Court.

If Pre-Nups are going to be respected by the Court they need to be properly drafted and they need to be balanced and fair. There is no point in drafting a Pre-Nup that gives all of the assets to one of the parties since this is likely to be regarded as being unfair and therefore unenforceable. It is much more likely that a Pre-Nup will be upheld by the Courts where proper provision is made for both parties. Very often Pre-Nups can be structured in such a way that financial provision increases with the passage of time and may be enhanced when children are born into the family. The more balanced, fair and sophisticated the Pre-Nup, the greater chance it will be respected by the Courts.

There is no point in having a Pre-Nup where both parties bring into the marriage similar capital/wealth, but that is often not the case and to that extent one party might want to preserve their pre-marital wealth (and the other party might want also to respect that) and a Pre-Nup in those circumstances can be a formidable ally if the marriage ends unhappily.

Caption: Andrew Brooks. Partner, Family Team

Social Media is now becoming more prevalent in personal injury cases and is being used by Defendants to investigate the credibility of injured parties.

Whilst the majority of personal injury claims are of course genuine, social media is proving to be a useful tool in cracking down on fraudulent claims and in particular the ‘big business’ of staged car crashes where the parties claim not to know one another and yet their Facebook profiles, for instance, tell a very different story. They have also been used to challenge the credibility of a witness who claimed to be unable to work but who was in fact uploading videos of them refurbishing and racing sports cars!

Lois Harrison of Blythe Liggins said “It is an important lesson for all, not just those considering litigation, that your social media accounts can be seen by others and once something is uploaded onto the internet, your digital footprint may be there forever”.

CAPTION: Lois Harrison, Chartered Legal Executive

The annual scramble for places in the Two Castles Run will take place from midday on Tuesday (March 1).

Each year runners from across the country battle to secure one of the 4,000 entries in this ever popular race between the castles at Warwick and Kenilworth, organised by Kenilworth Rotary Club and Leamington Cycling & Athletics Club.

Places are snapped up within hours of the registration going live online, with hundreds of others joining the waiting list.

Race organiser Rotarian Philip Southwell said: “There is always a stampede for places as both the serious athletes and the not so serious recreational runners try to get their hands on an entry number. This will be our 34th year and the race has never been more popular.”

The race, on Sunday June 12, is being sponsored by Leamington solicitors Blythe Liggins for the 11th consecutive year. Joint senior partner Richard Thornton said: “It is a fantastic event and I can’t praise Kenilworth Rotary Club enough for their organisation – and for raising more than £100,000 each year for charity.

“We have been the main sponsor since 2005 and really enjoy our involvement. Most members of the firm get involved, either as runners or marshals or even manning our water station.”

Anyone wishing to register should visit www.twocastlesrun.org.uk after midday on Tuesday March 1.

CAPTION: Blythe Liggins joint senior partner Richard Thornton (centre) joins Kenilworth Rotarians (left to right) John Kelley, president, race organiser Philip Southwell and press officer Bob Kelley.

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Leamington paralegal Jessica McDonnell is training hard for the London Marathon by running three half-marathons over the next few months.

Jessica (24), who works in the wills & probate department at Leamington solicitors Blythe Liggins, said she had never run a marathon before but had taken part in half-marathons and the Wolf Run.

“This will be a big step up for me and I’ll be preparing by running half-marathons in Warwick, Coventry and Silverstone between now and the big race in London on April 24,” she said.

Jessica, who will be running with her brother Jonny to raise money for Whizz Kids – which provides wheelchairs and other mobility equipment for disabled children – can be sponsored at http://www.virginmoneygiving.com/JessicaMcDonnell

CAPTION: Blythe Liggins paralegal Jessica McDonnell.

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Leamington solicitors Blythe Liggins have raised a further £2,800 for The Myton Hospices – enough to pay for more than 100 hours of nursing.

The law firm first nominated Myton Hospices as its charity in 2012 to mark the hospice’s 30th anniversary and has continued its support ever since, raising £2,500 last year.

This latest sum was largely raised through Myton’s Make a Will Week campaign where Blythe Liggins waived the fee for those making a will and asked for a donation to the hospice instead.

Hannah Morris, corporate fundraising manager at The Myton Hospices, said: “Blythe Liggins have been staunch supporters over the last four years and we are very grateful for their donations and pleased to hear that they have again named us their charity for this year.”

Blythe Liggins joint senior partner Richard Thornton said: “We are delighted to be supporting the hospice again this year. They do a fantastic job in providing free-of-charge care for thousands of patients and their families at their hospices in Warwick, Rugby and Coventry.”

CAPTION: Paul England from Blythe Liggins’ wills & probate department with Myton Hospice’s corporate fundraising manager Hannah Morris (left) and press & media relations officer Sophie Beresford.

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