Recent News

Time Is Of The Essence

The Problem

In order to determine who the members of a company registered in England and Wales are it is possible to do so by inspecting the company register. Indeed this is likely to be the only reliable and accepted source of information and can be of considerable importance.

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I was privileged to be asked to be a member of a delegation arranged by the Law Society of England & Wales to travel to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. The Law Society International Department arranged a number of meetings on 1st and 2nd July. Given the 12½ hour flight to Kuala Lumpur, and the other meetings I had arranged myself, I left early arriving late on Thursday evening.

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"Business is lost on price rather than gained. Although this may force prices down, it makes it difficult for solicitors to provide a proper full professional service at a profit. The incorporation of AI and blockchain may assist in reducing solicitors' fixed expenses in some areas of law."

Nicholas Woolf has been extensively quoted in the Bellwether Discussion Paper 2019: The Changing Face of Law, and in the Law Society Gazette, discussing the challenges posed and opportunities arising out of the SRA's price transparency rules.

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Contact With Witnesses Giving Their Evidence

Solicitors can often be placed in a dilemma when their client is giving evidence in the witness box, as the hearing day draws to a close or amid giving evidence. Notwithstanding the Judge’s inevitable warning to the client, telling them that they cannot discuss their evidence with anybody overnight, the client is often has a burning desire to discuss the case with you.

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Some Internal Settlement Discussions Not Covered By Litigation Privilege

In WH Holding Limited and West Ham United Football Club Limited (together, “West Ham”) v E20 Stadium Limited (“E20”) [2018] EWHC 2784 (Ch), the Court of Appeal considered the question of whether six emails passing between the Board Members of E20, created with the dominant purpose of discussing a commercial settlement of a dispute when litigation with West Ham was in contemplation, were covered by litigation privilege and therefore whether E20 were entitled to inspect those emails.

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Nicholas Woolf summarises a Brexit panel event jointly hosted by Nicholas Woolf & Co and Newington Communications

Yesterday I sat on a panel with Beth Rigby, deputy political editor for Sky News, Stewart Jackson, former special adviser and chief of staff to David Davis and Chris White of Newington Communications, who chaired a discussion with an invited audience on the prospects of the current Brexit negotiations and their possible political consequences. At the end of the meeting, the general consensus appeared to be that Mrs May, who was said to be fairly private about the real progress made in the negotiations, was unlikely to remain as Prime Minister much beyond 29th March 2019, although she may try and hang on; there being no clear and popular successor.

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Nicholas Woolf & Co has published the first edition of its new magazine, containing articles written by members of the firm on important contemporary legal matters.

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A bankruptcy order set aside for want of purpose

To many, the decision of HHJ Hodge QC in Lock v Aylesbury Vale District Council [2018] EWHC 2015 (Ch) may seem a little strange. In that case, the Council had presented a bankruptcy petition on Ms Lock in respect of £8,067-odd unpaid council tax. At first instance, the District Judge made a bankruptcy order, which was appealed by Ms Lock on the basis that she had absolutely no assets to satisfy any liability in bankruptcy. This, she said, meant that a bankruptcy order would serve no useful purpose and would not benefit the Council.

The Judge on appeal agreed with Ms Lock, and the bankruptcy order was set aside.

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