Author Archive Michael Morrison

Divorce – Does each party need their own solicitor?

‘No-fault divorce’ which came into force earlier this year has prompted some couples to instruct one solicitor to act for them both. As long as no domestic violence is involved which could lead to intimidation this procedure seems to be being slowly adopted.

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Diversity Discrimination in the City

Black job seekers are more likely to secure employment in the City if their skills are assessed. Financial and management consultants employed a vast number of black people recently using such methods as opposed to cover letters, CV’s and interview presentations.

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How to Win an Appeal

The Court of Appeal handed down a judgment on the 5th April 2022 which gave this guidance:-

i) An appeal court should not interfere with the trial judge’s conclusions on primary facts unless it is satisfied that he was plainly wrong.

ii) The adverb “plainly” does not refer to the degree of confidence felt by the appeal court that it would not have reached the same conclusion as the trial judge. It does not matter, with whatever degree of certainty, that the appeal court considers that it would have reached a different conclusion. What matters is whether the decision under appeal is one that no reasonable judge could have reached.

iii) An appeal court is bound, unless there is compelling reason to the contrary, to assume that the trial judge has taken the whole of the evidence into his consideration. The mere fact that a judge does not mention a specific piece of evidence does not mean that he overlooked it.

iv) The validity of the findings of fact made by a trial judge is not aptly tested by considering whether the judgment presents a balanced account of the evidence. The trial judge must of course consider all the material evidence (although it need not all be discussed in his judgment). The weight which he gives to it is however pre-eminently a matter for him.

v) An appeal court can therefore set aside a judgment on the basis that the judge failed to give the evidence a balanced consideration only if the judge’s conclusion was rationally insupportable.

vi) Reasons for judgment will always be capable of having been better expressed. An appeal court should not subject a judgment to narrow textual analysis. Nor should it be picked over or construed as though it was a piece of legislation or a contract.

An appellant’s case will fail if:-

i) It seeks to retry the case afresh.

ii) It rests on a selection of evidence rather than the whole of the evidence that the judge heard (what I have elsewhere called “island hopping”).

iii) It seeks to persuade an appeal court to form its own evaluation of the reliability of witness evidence when that is the quintessential function of the trial judge who has seen and heard the witnesses.

iv) It seeks to persuade the appeal court to reattribute weight to the different strands of evidence.

v) It concentrates on particular verbal expressions that the judge used rather than engaging with the substance of his findings.

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Property Prices Are Soaring

The residential property market is achieving price levels seen only once before since 2007. In London this was a 0.3% increase above the national average.

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Intellectual Property – Patents, Copyright and Designs and the European Union

Since Brexit solicitors have lost their right to appear before the European Intellectual Property Office. In practice our solicitors have strengthened their European connections and can act as agents if necessary.

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No Fault Divorce starts on the 6th April 2022

The Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act 2020 will finally come into force on the 6th April 2022.

No Fault Divorce will:-

i) Ensure plain English is used e.g. applicant = petitioner, conditional order = decree nisi and final order = decree absolute
ii) Enable both parties to complete the application i.e. a joint application will now be available if desired
iii) A statement of irretrievable breakdown will replace one of the five conditions previously required
iv) Contesting the divorce will no longer be possible
v) Apply to the dissolution of civil partnerships.

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Immigration – Tier 1 Closed

Due to current concerns over the influx of money the tier 1 investor visa has been closed. This allowed people with a free £2,000,000 to invest in businesses to acquire a visa.

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Landlord & Tenant – Evictions of Persons Unknown Can Proceed

Landlords can now evict travellers from their land without having precise knowledge of their identities. This was the essence of a judgment of the Court of Appeal this month which said that the injunctions were lawful.

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Data Protection – Cabinet Office fined £500,000

For releasing the full postal addresses on line of the recipients of New Year’s honours in 2020 the Cabinet Office has been fined £500,000.

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Landlord and Tenant – Commercial

Commercial tenants have been given a stay of execution by the Government on unpaid rent and evictions, that have accumulated during the pandemic, until March 2022. This has been instituted so that serious negotiations between the parties can now ensue to mitigate any credit damage that would be caused by court judgments.

In March a new arbitration process will commence in an attempt to provide closure for any stubborn organisations.

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