Solicitors Blog | Allan Janes

Employee, Director, Shareholder: What’s The Difference?

October 11th 2021 | dispute resolution

In many businesses, especially small owner-managed or family business, the roles of employees, directors and shareholders are often unclear, as are the rights and responsibilities of each. Directors Directors are responsible for running the business on a day to day basis and most decisions about general management (including spending money, read more...

5 Things they do not teach you at Law School

September 22nd 2021 | dispute resolution

If you’re an aspiring lawyer or simply wonder what the difference between studying the law and practice, I’ve compiled a list of things that only working in the real world of law can prepare you for! Here are 5 things that I have learnt on the job or in the read more...

How Do I Change Someone’s Will After Their Death? What is the Court Process?

July 28th 2021 | dispute resolution

How do I change a Will? It is possible to change your inheritance under a person’s Will within two years of their death. You may wish to do this for a number of reasons, such as to reduce inheritance tax or to pass your inheritance on to a charity or read more...

Sexual Orientation Discrimination: Do you have a Claim?

June 22nd 2021 | dispute resolution

If you have been treated unfairly because of your sexual orientation, you may be able to file a discrimination claim in the civil courts or the employment tribunal. What is sexual orientation discrimination? Sexual orientation is defined by the law as an individual’s sexual attraction towards persons of the same read more...

Overcoming Barriers to Remedies for Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Harassment faced by LGBT People

June 3rd 2021 | dispute resolution

In 2014 a report commissioned by the Welsh Government found that, whilst there are universal barriers to accessing services for domestic abuse, stalking and harassment, a review of the existing evidence demonstrated that LGBT people faced specific barriers. Whilst this article does not seek to summarise the research and evidence, it read more...

What Happens with Costs in Applications to Modify or Discharge Restrictive Covenants? - Part 2: Unreasonable Conduct

June 1st 2021 | dispute resolution

In Part 1 of this blog series on costs in applications to modify or discharge restrictive covenants (which you can find here ) , I covered the general principles for costs and how they differ from the ‘usual rule’ in normal civil claims in the County Court and High Court. read more...

What Happens with Costs in Applications to Modify or Discharge Restrictive Covenants? - Part 1: The Principles

May 24th 2021 | dispute resolution

In most cases in the County Court or High Court the general rule is that the loser of a claim or application pays the winner's costs, subject to certain procedural rules (Part 36) and the parties’ conduct. But what about the costs of bringing (or defending) an application in the read more...

How Can Residents Protect their Local Area from Development?

May 20th 2021 | dispute resolution

One way to protect an area of land from development is to register it as a town or village green, if you can meet certain criteria. Land that has been given ‘green’ status is protected from development and local residents are given the right to use it for recreational purposes. read more...

Allan Janes Secures Apology, Retraction and Damages in Defamation Dispute with Major UK Bank

May 14th 2021 | dispute resolution

The Dispute Resolution team led by Toby Walker at Allan Janes LLP, has secured a settlement for a business client against a major UK bank. An employee of the bank had, on the bank’s letterhead, sent communications to third parties and in which they cast aspersions on our clients’ ability read more...

Understanding Joint Ventures: A Guide to Structuring and Enforcing Your New Business Venture

April 14th 2021 | dispute resolution

What is a joint venture? A joint venture is generally referred to as a business arrangement between two or more parties that have come together to pursue a common business goal. It can be a great way of combining business strengths, pooling resources and sharing responsibility for the associated profits, read more...

5 Reasons You Should Consider Online Dispute Resolution (ODR)

October 22nd 2020 | dispute resolution

Everyone that knows me also knows that I am a huge fan of mediation as one of the Alternative Dispute Resolution methods. Being both a people and "outdoorsy" person, I believe mediation provides a great context to see and hear what the issues are and set about resolving them through read more...

Inheritance Act Claims: Good News on the Price of Success

July 1st 2020 | dispute resolution

A recent High Court case has opened the door to Claimants in Inheritance Act claims recovering the additional ‘success fees’, where these were previously non-recoverable in most litigation since 2013. Those wishing to contest the probate of an estate, or to claim financial provision under the Inheritance Act 1975 (the read more...

“Please Sir, Can I Have Some More?” Just One More House - Restrictive Covenants Update

May 22nd 2020 | dispute resolution

In the recent case of Pethick the Upper Tribunal of the Lands Chamber modified a restrictive covenant to allow the building of a further property on land which was subject to a covenant limiting the number to just one house. The Applicants sought to discharge at a restrictive covenant relying read more...

Locked Out in Lockdown? A Commercial Tenant's Guide To Interim Injunctions

April 24th 2020 | dispute resolution

Our Managing Partner recently found himself accidentally locked out of both his home and the office. This tickled me given the rest of us are in lockdown, and gave me the idea for the title of this article. If you are a tenant of commercial premises, and if your landlord read more...

Cancelled Coronations and Coronavirus: Is My Contract Frustrated?

March 30th 2020 | dispute resolution

As a law student I remember learning about frustration of the purpose of a contract in what became known as the "Coronation cases", which arose from events surrounding the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1902. A man hired a room with a view of the street read more...

Unlocking Restrictive Covenants

February 10th 2020 | dispute resolution

Whether you are a homeowner with the benefit of a covenant, want to do a deal for the release of a covenant, or want to challenge a covenant to permit a change of development of land, our property dispute specialists at Allan Janes can help. What are Restrictive covenants? Restrictive read more...

Trusts Affecting Property: Who Owns What?

January 22nd 2020 | dispute resolution

One might be forgiven for thinking that the owner of property is the person named on the deeds or named as proprietor at the Land Registry. There are however a number of ways in which it is possible to establish a beneficial ownership of property. Beneficial ownership is a right read more...

Toby Walker Published in The New Law Journal (The Courts Approach to Costs on Discontinuance)

November 20th 2019 | dispute resolution

I am really pleased to announce that, together with my co-author Winston Jacob, we have recently been published in the New Law Journal. The article covers the Courts' approach to the issue of costs when a claim is discountinued. Please click here for the full article. read more...

Litigation Privilege: The Dangers of Discussing Litigation in Emails

October 22nd 2019 | dispute resolution

We have discussed before in a previous blog post the difficulties in maintaining privilege in documents produced for employment cases within a company. However, there is similar difficulties in maintaining litigation privilege in commercial disputes. But what is privilege? In order to understand privilege, you need to understand the process read more...

Builders, Payments and Building Contracts: Get it Right First Time or Pay the Consequences

July 4th 2019 | dispute resolution

The importance of following the right procedures in the management of payments under a building contract has again been underlined by a recent Court decision. It involved a contractor who applied for payment for building works carried out. The employer disputed the value of the work for which payment was read more...

Do Solicitors Have a Duty to Point Out an Opponent's Mistake?

June 25th 2019 | dispute resolution

In civil litigation, the solicitor’s main duty is to their client and to the court, but to what extent do they have a duty of care to the opposing party? In June 2019, the Supreme Court ruled on the case of Woodward & Another v Phoenix Healthcare Distribution Ltd. In read more...

Commercial Lease Renewal and Terminations under the 1954 Landlord & Tenant Act

May 2nd 2019 | dispute resolution

Richard Harriman, a Partner in our Litigation Department who deals with residential and commercial property disputes writes: “Does a tenant of business premises have security of tenure? The answer depends upon the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (“The 1954 Act”). There are two elements to the security provided:- Automatic continuation read more...

Can a Contract Be Varied Orally?

March 26th 2019 | dispute resolution

Not if the contract contains a "no oral variation" clause! In the recent case of Rock Advertising Ltd v. MWB Business Exchange Centres Limited, the House of Lords agreed that a contractual licence for a rented office between the parties, which stated that any variations must be signed and in read more...

Rights of Forfeiture and The Importance of Reading Leases Carefully

February 27th 2019 | dispute resolution

The recent case of Andrew Toms v Marilyn Ruberry is an interesting one; it illustrates why you should give careful consideration to the contents of the forfeiture provisions of a lease before taking enforcement action. This case shows the importance of interpreting the right of re-entry and forfeiture clause in read more...

Consideration For Restrictive Covenants

September 24th 2018 | dispute resolution

Many people might be aware of the basic contractual principles, including the rule that you must provide consideration for a contract to be enforceable, however when contracting to restrict a person’s right to work (such as including restrictive covenants in a contract of employment), the situation becomes more complex. What read more...

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