Legal news: Brabners scrums down; Hill Dicks; Exchange Chambers; Pinsents & more
THE sports law team at Brabners Chaffe Street has advised on the new four-year England Elite Player Squad agreement reached between the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the Rugby Players’ Association (RPA) and Premiership Rugby.
The agreement covers the England senior, Saxons and Under-20 squads until June 30, 2016. It also includes the 2015 Rugby World Cup and includes confirmation of squad and match fees and performance bonuses.
Partner David Bentham and solicitor Oliver Sadler acted for the Rugby Players’ Association in representing the England squad during the negotiations. The RFU was represented by its in-house legal team.
Mr Bentham commented: “It was great to be involved in assisting the players in securing such an important deal, especially at such an exciting time for England rugby in the run up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup.”
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LAW firm Hill Dickinson’s Manchester office has donated £25,000 to Manchester City Football Club to sponsor the club’s ‘Strike a Balance’ healthy living programme.
The firm’s sponsorship over the last year has enabled the City in the Community (CITC) team to educate more than 5,000 young people across Manchester on how to lead healthier lifestyles and combine exercise and fun through football-based activities.
CITC’s award winning health programme ‘Strike a Balance’ is a five week programme where a member of the CITC health team visits the Year five children in schools across Manchester to provide them with a one hour educational classroom session followed by one hour of football-based
activities.
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BARRISTERS Mark Cawson QC and David Mohyuddin from Exchange Chambers in Manchester acted for Leeds City Council in its successful defence against a £43.5m damages claim last week.
Property firm Montpellier Estates took the council to court claiming around £43.5m in damages for deceit over the way the council handled the competition to build the Leeds arena.
Mark Cawson QC said: “This judgment vindicates Leeds City Council in the way it handled the developer procurement process for the building of the city’s arena, avoiding a bill for damages that could have cost the city’s council tax payers millions.”
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LAW firm Pinsent Masons is hiring staff for a new flexible resource service called Vario, which will be launched in the spring.
Vario will be a hub of freelance legal professionals available to undertake a wide variety of assignments from fixed-term projects to maternity cover.
It will provide clients with high quality, flexible lawyers to help address resource, cost and skills issues which often affect in-house teams.
Vario’s clients will be able to quickly access lawyers from paralegal to partner-level, enabling them to scale-up or down resource in line with demand.
David Ryan, managing partner of Pinsent Masons, said: “The legal market is changing and we are committed to changing with it.
“We know that our clients often face periods of high demand and value the ability to ramp-up resource for a specific purpose, often at short notice and for a defined period of time. By launching Vario we aim to marry client demand for lawyers who meet Pinsent Masons’ high professional standards with the aspirations of lawyers for a stimulating but more flexible career.”
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NORTH West law firm SAS Daniels has launched a new business service aimed at start-ups and SMEs in the region.
The launch follows an increase in demand for advice across a full range of issues affecting smaller companies and organisations, including succession planning, commercial contracts, real estate and dispute resolution.
The new service is being headed-up by Jean Walker, the firm’s SME business services partner.
Formerly the managing partner at TWP Solicitors before it merged with SAS Daniels, Jean Walker has a wealth of experience in matters affecting smaller businesses including the purchase and sale of businesses, shareholder and partnership agreements, and commercial property.
The launch is expected to drive growth for the Stockport firm in the areas surrounding its four offices and is part of the firm’s overall growth strategy which has put it on track to increase turnover 10% to £6.5m in the year to April.
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LANCASHIRE commercial law firm Garricks solicitors has won three new clients.
It has been instructed by Blackburn-based KKL Windows, Darwen conservatory and window manufacturer S&A Developments and Yorkshire-based beauty salon No 1 The Crescent to advise on a number of commercial legal matters.
Greg Boyes, partner at Garricks, said: “Economic uncertainty often leads to an increase in legal issues for businesses to overcome and we have seen more companies, particularly owner-managed businesses and other SMEs, needing advice on contractual matters, employment issues and financial affairs.”
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