The Bar Standards Board which regulates barristers, proposes to impose a positive duty to “act in a way that advances equality, diversity and inclusion”. It sounds innocuous but it is a step too far. Professionals already require barristers not to “discriminate unlawfully against any person”. A professional person should not need guidance like this. Solicitors will remember the infamous “green card” in the 1990s issued by the Law Society to warn solicitors about the dangers of mortgage fraud. As Sir David Napley said at the time “A solicitor does not need a “green card” or any other colour card, to…
Leading barristers and Kings Counsel are not immune to allegations of sexual misconduct. Najot Sidhu KC faces charges that he used his highly respected senior law status to harass his female pupils and trainees. One pupil said that on an overnight work trip he invited her to stay in his bed, putting pillows down the middle to “act as a barricade” between them. He denies the charges and his application to have the hearing held in private was denied. He now faces an eight day public hearing and no doubt the press will have a field day. When reading this…
Junior lawyers at a US firm work on average for more than 14 hours a day, clocking in from 9.19am to 11.11pm. Starting salaries verging on £180,000 p.a. translate to brutal working hours. Recent press reports of 60 or 70 hour weeks for young lawyers in the UK in exchange for huge starting salaries, have brought into focus how long the working week should be. In a perfect world a lawyer, or anyone else running a business, should be able to make a reasonable living and profit working a 40 hour week but, in the real world, any self-employed person…
Should bad conduct – domestic violence, economic or other abuse – be taken into account by judges when splitting family assets? Judges do not like trawling over the history of marriages. Such cases used to take weeks when that was done and were hugely expensive and often just ended in ‘He said/ She said’. Conduct is only taken into account if it is so, gross or horrible that it is “inequitable” and “unfair” to disregard it. This used to be serious violence, sex in the marital bed or paedophilia. Nowadays however, judges tend not to want to go into the…
An essential step to winning any form of dispute, court case, benefit fraud investigation or legal battle is to record everything carefully and promptly. This simple step is best done in a Chronology Word document, which Hylton-Potts can supply free of charge. The key advice is to make the entries and record things on the day they happen. Months later you might be asked by a judge or somebody “How do I know this happened as you have written it”? You can reply “Because I did it the same day on legal advice”. This works and is very important.
Whether it be benefit fraud, tax credit fraud, a court summons or a family problem, bad news tends to arrive in a brown envelope (or these days on a Portal). It might say that Universal Credit want to see your bank statements and you know that, when they do, a problem will be revealed. It might your partner’s lawyer, saying you cannot see your children. The natural reaction is to freeze up and go into a blind panic. Perfectly normal. Almost universal. You have to remember, however, that you are, in effect. on a stage in a play. From that…
In a recent article, we gave a step-by-step guide to what happens when a benefit fraud investigation letter lands on your doormat. We mentioned then about the possibility of appealing a tax credit decision, and today we’d like to explain this in a little more detail. Benefit fraud and tax credit law can be difficult topics to understand, as the rules seem to constantly change. We at Hylton-Potts prefer to strip back the complicated language and leave you with the facts, but of course, if you find any of the following information confusing, please don’t hesitate to give us a…
With the new year brings a new raft of emails landing in our inbox from people who have been accused of benefit fraud. Many of them have had their benefits suspended as a result, and the year has gotten off to a worrying and unstable start. Many of them are concerned that they will not be able to pay bills or even feed their children, and if this sounds all too familiar to you, take comfort in the fact that it’s our priority to help you. While we give very specific, tailored advice to each of our clients and their…
While everyone else has been eating until they burst and drinking until they’re merry over the festive season, we at Hylton-Potts have still been keeping our ear to the ground when it comes to bringing you the latest news from the complex world of family law. At this time of year, when people look to the future and possibly reconsider their current situation in life, it is known widely as a time when divorce rates spike. However, it appears that 2017 is already off to a good start for couples, as the Office for National Statistics revealed a huge drop…
At Hylton-Potts, it’s important to us that you see us as your go-to source for news and advice within the legal profession, and over the last month, we’ve seen a couple of cases relating to divorce which have left us concerned. Every day we are faced with families who are being torn apart by divorce, and whether it’s mutually felt that the split is needed and the pair treat one another with civility, or whether it is a daily battle of hostility, it’s vital that we are there to diffuse the situation, and provide calm, unbiased advice. We separate ourselves…
