The Government needs to slash the costs of employing staff to help companies and their employees emerge from the Coronavirus crisis, according to business leaders in Coventry and Warwickshire.

A patent is a published document which describes an invention and provides the inventor with a monopoly right to exploit that invention for a specified period.

Wednesday 25 July 2018, the Supreme Court dismissed Tini Owens’ appeal in Owens v Owens, one of the most significant divorce cases to be heard in recent years.

Against a backdrop of a wider court reform programme, the government has just announced (in June 2020) a radical change to the family justice system following the conclusion of a year-long review by an expert panel commissioned by the Ministry of Justice.

The government’s promised ‘right to repair’ regulations finally entered the statute books in July 2021. The right to repair is about a consumer’s right to repair goods they purchase – either themselves or by using a third party.

The long-awaited Guardianship (Missing Persons) Act 2017 comes into force in England and Wales on 31 July 2019. The Act was given Royal Assent in April 2017 and will be well received by many.

Kevin Hall, Partner and Adam Morris, Solicitor provide an update on VAT being imposed on school fees and what that means from a VAT and employment law perspective.

Our news roundup covers various topics including Defra’s cap on the amount of land that can be taken out of production under SFI; taxation of ecosystems; the latest rises to wage and statutory rates; hedgerow protection legislation; support for those whose land has been flooded via the Farming Recovery Fund; free advice via the Future Farming Resilience Fund; and the introduction of poultry licensing for those with fewer than 50 birds.

Conveyancing liability: Solicitor ordered to pay £1.8 million in damages for failing to report on a planning search.

“An Englishman still remains at liberty at his death to dispose of his own property in whatever way he pleases or, if he chooses to do so, to leave that disposition to be regulated by the laws of intestate succession” Re Coventry (deceased) [1980].