Alex joined Bermans in March 2024 and is a paralegal in our ABL team in Manchester.
He assists in asset finance and invoice finance work for a broad range of lenders and has prior experience in both pro-bono work and the inquest sector of the Law.
Alex studied Law at Liverpool John Moores University where he obtained a 2:1 Classification in 2023. He also intends to begin his SQE studies by the close of 2024.
In his spare time, Alex enjoys a variety of activities. As well as being an avid golfer, Alex is also passionate about both playing and watching football. Alex also enjoys travelling, whether it be a beach holiday or exploring new cities abroad.
Invoice financiers grappling with the threats and opportunities posed by AI may be interested to learn of the impact AI, and in particular the recent developments in generative AI, are likely to have on their interactions with their lawyers and with the court system.
One of the most complex and uncertain areas of law which invoice discounters and their lawyers regularly have to deal with is transaction set off, namely the extent to which the customer’s claim arising from defective or late performance of the contract on which the relevant invoice is based can be set off against the value of the invoice.
Readers will be aware that it is very rare for a reported case in the higher courts dealing with invoice finance to emerge, so we were interested to see a report of a recent case in another area of financial services which raised squarely 2 legal concepts which are fundamental to invoice financiers:
Supporting wellbeing in the workplace is of increasing importance to employers. One hot topic is how those going through menopause or perimenopause can be best supported. Avanti West Coast’s latest attempt to tackle this may have resulted in a bit of an ‘own goal’. They have come under fire after handing out a goodie bag to female employees containing ‘gimmick’ gifts. Avanti confirmed that it had given staff a bag filled with ‘gifts’ including a jelly baby ‘in case you feel like biting someone’s head off’, a paper clip ‘to help you keep it all together’, a tissue ‘if you’re feeling a bit emotional’ and a pencil ‘to write down the things you might forget’. Other items included a fan ‘handy for the hot sweats’.
Where an employer knows (or ought to know) an employee is disabled, the duty to make reasonable adjustments applies. Under Equality Act 2010, employers must make adjustments to remove any substantial disadvantage that the employee would otherwise face at work because of their disability. The employer only has to make such adjustments as are reasonable.
The law protects employees from unfair dismissal on health and safety grounds. If an employee, in circumstances of danger which he reasonably believed to be serious and imminent, proposed to take steps to protect himself from the danger and was dismissed as a result, he will have been automatically unfairly dismissed under section 100(1)(e) Employment Rights Act 1996.
There are two claims which can be brought by employees associated with whistleblowing. The first is a claim of detriment. Employees can claim against their employer (and a wider category of individuals including colleagues) for unfavourable treatment on grounds of whistleblowing. This is a detriment claim. Employees can also bring a claim against their employer for automatic unfair dismissal where they claim that the main reason for their dismissal is whistleblowing.
The government has created an entirely new system of holiday accrual and holiday pay for part-year workers and irregular hours workers. For holiday years beginning on or after 1st April 2024, their holiday rights will no longer come from Regulation 13 and Regulation 13A Working Time Regulations 1998 as with all other workers. Their rights will be set out in Regulation 15B Working Time Regulations 1998.
Agency workers are different from employees and workers. They have a contract with an agency. The agency provides their services to a hirer. Typically, there is no direct relationship between the agency worker and the hirer.
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Paralegal
