Legal Updates

Research performed by Search Flow predicts that there will be growth in conveyancing work this year. Last year, 75% of Conveyancers experienced at least a 10% growth in their work, and 41% of them saw a work increase of 25% or more.

Because of this, 52% of Conveyancers are looking to increase their workforce over the coming year. This is good news for Legal Secretaries Diploma graduates or experienced Legal Secretaries with Conveyancing skills.

Take a look at this interesting infographic about the future growth of Conveyancing which has been produced by Redbrick Solutions.

As of 4 December 2014, new stamp duty rates will be in place for anyone buying a house anywhere in the UK. These new rates have been introduced to reduce stamp duty for most people buying a home and to make the charges fairer for everyone. You will be affected by the new rates if you buy a residential property in the UK which costs you over £125,000.

2014 was a year of extremely important changes in the field of employment law, with various updates having been made as well as the introduction of new legal ideas. Listed below are the most notable changes which have taken place during 2014 that you should be aware of.

TUPE Reforms

In January 2014 TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006) was reformed to allow employers to have greater flexibility to dismiss or make changes to a contract following TUPE transfers. Importantly, redundancies made after a TUPE transfer has been made are not automatically counted as unfair dismissal anymore. However, in February, a dismissal of an employee made after a TUPE transfer when they refused to accept contractual changes was deemed automatically unfair.

Minimum Wage Penalties

Thousands of claims for compensation have been given the green light following a decision by the Supreme Court on 31 October. The case raises issues in both contract and civil litigation. For those airline customers who are familiar with their contractual and civil rights, they may be in line for an early Christmas present.

History of the dispute

Compensation for delayed flights has been available for passengers since 2004. The rules were created by the European Commission and can be found in EC regulation 261/2004. The most recent Supreme Court case about the scope of these rules involved two airlines – Thomson and Jet2 – which raised a number of legal challenges on when they should pay compensation for delayed flights. 

Residential conveyancing in England and Wales is about to undergo a change thanks to a new online system called Veyo. The new online conveyancing system will allow for easy access to information and documents for purchasers, mortgage lenders, estate agents, and government agencies such as HM Land Registry and HM Revenue and Customs. This will not only bring conveyancing into the modern age but also give solicitors and licensed conveyancers more control over what information is shared and with whom. Once the system is fully implemented, the entire conveyancing process will be streamlined and made much more secure than under current conveyancing methods.

Conveyancing for the Digital Age

The Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs recently introduced a new Family Law unit to its Legal Secretaries Diploma course. This month we are considering possible changes to the law relating to marital property and prenuptial agreements. 

A prenuptial agreement is the term commonly used to describe a range of different agreements. These agreements are designed to set forth how property and finances will be dealt with if a married couple separate. A prenuptial agreement is one entered into before a marriage. A postnuptial or separation agreement is one entered into after marriage. 

An article was last published in this Journal about the law of intestacy in 2009. There had been a Law Commission paper published on the 29th October 2009 with a number of proposals that might be formed into a new bill. Well, nearly five years later that proposed bill has been made into an Act of Parliament as the Inheritance and Trustees’ Powers Act 2014, receiving royal assent on the 14th May. The commencement date for the Act is the 1st October. So what has changed?

Key changes include simplifying how assets are shared when someone dies intestate and recognising more modern family structures (i.e. the fact that many in today’s society choose to cohabit rather than marry). 

The Intestacy Rule Changes 

Family law is in need of an update, according to the interim report of a working group set up by Sir James Munby, head of the Family Division. This isn’t necessarily surprising and may well be overdue, as the Family Court is falling behind the Crown Court in regard to how it treats vulnerable witnesses. Given that many of the witnesses who speak in the Family Court are children and others who might be considered ‘vulnerable’, there is an obvious need for this to be addressed.

The Chancellor, George Osborne, has stated that the government needs to get to the bottom of allegations against politicians over child abuse claims in the 1980s. Speaking from India, where he is touring with the Foreign Secretary, William Hague, Osborne said: “We need to get to the truth…We need to get to the bottom of what happened in many of our institutions, including potentially at Westminster.”

The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has been asked to set up an inquiry into how the Home Office handled the allegations at the time. There has also been a call for a full public inquiry to run alongside a criminal investigation.

This month we are continuing our review of recent changes to Civil Litigation Procedure. Our focus in this article will be on a new procedure that must be followed before any Court action can be taken in road traffic claims (RTAs), claims against employers or public liability claims. This procedure is referred to as the RTA pre-action protocols.