Sunday Times - Non-Executive Director Awards 2016 - Congratulations! (Sort Of ?!)

Many congratulations to 'Good Friend' of Equitable Law, Ms. Heather Love (Chairperson(?) of the Battersea Dogs & Cats Home) for her 'Runner Up' commendation in the 'Not-For Profit & Public Service Organisation' category of the Non-Executive Director Awards 2016.    

I note that the commentary with regard to the winner, the Chairman of Dementia UK, records that when he joined the board of that charity, it was 'running at a loss of nearly £500m.'

Wow!  That's a fairly shocking loss - Even for the parlous state of many current U.K. charities!

Mystery solved! - It would appear that the relevant interested parties and / or the promoters (The Sunday Times, Barclays, Peel Hunt) meant that text to read 'Five Hundred Thousand Pounds (GBP £500k)'!

What's being out by a factor of one thousand times (x 1,000) 'here and there' / 'between friends' etc.

That's one the roles NXDs are for - Spotting errors & oversight!  

All in an attempt at good-natured humour!

Regards

Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com

+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)

www.EquitableLaw.com

P.S. Does anyone know where the time since 2002 has gone?!

EMI Schemes - Share Option Plan Rules - All Updated For 2016-17 Season!

Equitable Law is delighted to announce that Mr. Dan Johnson has recently updated this Solicitor's Practice's Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) Share Option Plan Rules (As seen below):-

Please feel free to contact me to discuss any aspects of or issues with EMI.

Regards

Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com
Principal & Business Law Solicitor

+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)

www.EquitableLaw.com  

Certificate of Solicitors' Compulsory Professional Indemnity Insurance 2016 - 17

. . . The most expensive 'piece of paper' that my business has to buy (and it's annual)! 

Although, to be fair (and 'touching wood' as I write), with an entire career (to date) that has been claims free - It's a reasonably bearable business cost overhead!

Never forget to ask my competitors for sight of their insurance . . . .

Regards

Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com

+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)

  

Settlement Agreement & Release - Updated

Not my most frequent area of work - I aim to ensure that Equitable Law's clients are quite clear what has been agreed and that dispute / acrimony is avoided.

However - Equitable Law does becoem involved situations of discord, and this business' standard settlement agreement & release has accordingly been updated.

Please feel free to let me know if you have disputes which need resolving clearly & definitively.

With best regards

Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com

+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)  

Knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing . . .

I reflect this afternoon (with apologies to Oscar Wilde - 'Lady Windermere's Fan') upon my working life interactions with prospective clients.

The background is that I spent a number of hours earlier this week, carefully considering the position of a younger generation member of a wealthy family, who was in need of a tax efficient investment structure for a family property investment venture he was leading.

I scoped the work, logically and succinctly explained my views as to what he should do, and provided a carefully budgeted fee estimate for undertaking the relevant work.

Some hours later, the relevant individual somewhat sheepishly contacted me - indicating that he had been subsequently contacted by someone, who had indicated they would undertake the work for less than me.

To his credit, he offered to pay me for my relatively limited time incurred (he recognising that I had added considerably to progressing his project - much other time having been wasted in prior discussions he had had with others).

To lighten the mood of a conversation he was clearly slightly embarrassed to be having, he added :

"I've got to stop doing this! - I spent so long attempting to negotiate the purchase price down, and seeking to save a couple of hundred pounds on the mortgage & conveyancing costs, that I missed the [recent] Stamp Duty deadline [i.e. imposing increased costs on residential properties bought for rental purposes], and it has cost my family an additional GBP £6,500 per unit".

I paused

"Did you not say to me earlier, that your family is buying ten units to be placed in the relevant investment structure?" I said (genuinely thinking I had misunderstood the position).

The ensuing silence really was embarrassing!

   

Website Contracts - All Updated for 2016 / 17

EquitableLaw.com has recently updated its website template contracts - so as to take account of a range of updated legal issues & aspects now relevant in the U.K.

Please feel free to discuss our prospective legal advice & assistance - with matters such as 'Terms of Website Use' (Such as our example template - an extract from which is shown below) .  

Please feel free to contact me - at your convenience (for a further no-obligation discussion)

Regards

Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com
Principal & Business Law Solicitor

+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)

www.EquitableLaw.com

Event Organisers - Participation Agreement : Assumption of Risk, Limitation of Liability and Indemnity

As I trust you are aware, it is not possible under UK law to limit or exclude liability for death or personal injury resulting from your negligence.

However it is possible to ensure that a participant in an 'event' - which (say) has elements of physical activity or location risk  - clearly assumes the inherent risks of such an 'event' activity - which should assist in potentially defending possible claims against you.

Equitable Law has now undertaken similar legal advice & assistance for a number of relevant clients in the recent past, and now has a well developed template agreement (see annexed extract) - which if you are a relevant event organiser - should be possible to relatively easily adapt for your needs).

We would be fully prepared to potentially assist you with this (or any other legal matter).

Please do not hesitate to contact me for an initial (no-obligation) discussion.

Dan.Johnson@EquitableLaw.com

+44 (0) 7788 537 187 (U.K. Cell. Tel.)

www.EquitableLaw.com