Local News
Press release – AUGUST 2016
MUNDAYS GROWS PARTNERSHIP Cobham-based law firm Mundays has promoted property litigation senior associate Nick Martyn to Partner. Nick Martyn joined the firm in 2007 and acts for clients in all areas of commercial and residential property litigation. He is recommended for property litigation in The Legal 500 UK guide and recognised as a leading individual in Chambers and Partners UK guide which credits his experience in advising on strategic and contentious property matters, including commercial lease renewal matters (both opposed and unopposed), lease and freehold covenants, rent reviews, exit strategies, insolvency-related property issues, rights of way, mixed-use schemes, dilapidations, statutory obligations, forfeiture and possession actions. Nick specialises in leasehold enfranchisement matters, including advising on lease extensions and freehold acquisitions (in respect of houses and flats), compulsory acquisition actions and
obligations under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1987 relating to tenants’ right of first refusal. Recent experience includes: • acting for a major international plc in a commercial lease dispute in the High Court concerning the nature of an assignment of a lease from a previous tenant and the current tenant’s resulting liability in relation to rent, service charges and dilapidations following its purported exercise of a break clause in the lease; • acting on behalf of an owner of a prime central London flat in a private prosecution under the Environmental Protection Act against a chain of London restaurants concerning noise and odour pollution caused by the restaurants; • representing an international freight cargo company in complex proceedings
Newly promoted partner Nick Martyn.
with an airport concerning commercial premises within the airport site; • defending an international logistics company in proceedings concerning a substantial claim for terminal dilapidations. Commenting on Nick’s promotion, Valerie Toon, Managing Partner at Mundays, said: “Nick understands the importance of building relationships with clients, what they need and how they think. We are delighted to be welcoming Nick to our partnership.” ■
Council Member’s Report Since my council report in June 2016, we had the referendum on BREXIT. I hope all of you have been refreshed after the summer break and back to your desks before we look forward to the Christmas break. Photo: Sushila Abraham
As for BREXIT please see this link from the Law Society http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/supportservices/brexit-and-the-legal-sector/ There is an update from the SRA which will be out on 13th September 2016 and it is online “Exiting the EU and update for lawyers”. It will be on the Hot Topic page on the SRA website. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) have released an interim report in July 2016. I have only gone through it very quickly and the issue raised is that only 17% of Solicitors provide or publish up front information about their charges and that consumers choose Solicitors through recommendation. Interesting reading. They will publish their final report in January 2017. The Legal Services Board published their report just before the interim report from CMA and they say legal services should be more competitive. As I had mentioned before and repeat my requests for all of you to please respond to the consultation papers on Looking to the Future – Handbook and Accounts Rules, both consultations close on 21st September 2016. It is vital all Solicitors and a firm response is required. These are vital consultations and affects all of us. http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/Policy-
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campaigns/Articles/solicitors-regulationauthoritys-looking-to-the-futureconsultation-law-society-briefing/ As of 1st November 2016 the new Continuing Competence scheme will come in which replaces the old CPD. The SRA are moving to a more flexible, modern approach to learning and development. This means from November the old hoursbased approach to CPD is being replaced. Instead, you will need to reflect on the quality of your work to make sure you deliver a proper standard of service. An annual declaration will have to be made to the SRA that you have done your training. Please note it is important that firms and individuals both have a responsibility to see that they do continue with the training. SLS provide very good training events and please do take advantage of this. Enterprise Insurance have gone under and I hope we do not have many from Surrey who were insured with them for PII. Renewal of PII is underway so do try and insure with a good “A” rated insurer. No doubt you would have had an email from the SRA about renewing your Practicing Certificates. Their advice is to log on to your MySRA and update your SRA profile now before you proceed with renewal.
The Law Society is now working towards enhancing the Solicitor brand and there will be a campaign coming out soon. There will be more consultations in the pipeline so please look out and also check the SLS, TLS and SRA websites for links. There are a number of Committee vacancies on the Law Society and if anyone wishes to get involved on the committees then please use this link http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/aboutus/our-council/boards-andcommittees/committee-membervacancies-2016/ for full details. As always, if you have any queries and wish to discuss anything or would like to raise anything with the Law Society then please contact John or myself. I can be contacted by email on sabraham@sabrahamsolicitors.co.uk or on 02083900044. ■
by Sushila Abraham TLS Council Member for Surrey