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Bermans dispute resolution platform wins prestigious industry award
Escalate, Bermans ground-breaking commercial dispute resolution process for SMEs, has been named ‘Innovation of the Year’ at this year’s British Accountancy Awards.
Continue ReadingAre You Ready For A Tribunal Fee-Free World?
July 2013 heralded the introduction of fees in the Employment Tribunals (ETs) and Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT), with the Government proclaiming its aims were to discourage claimants from pursuing weak “nuisance” claims and to reduce the cost of the system to the tax. While at first glance these would seem to be perfectly reasonable objectives, there was in fact a steep drop in the level of claims by around 66-70%, with ACAS reporting that 1 in 10 potential claimants that contacted them decided against issuing a claim specifically because they could not afford the fees, which at up to £1,200 were not insubstantial.
Continue ReadingTake control of your lease
Many businesses will take on business premises for a fixed time period and then only consider important milestone dates once they arrive, sometimes using a reminder from their landlord as a trigger.
Bermans can help you take control of the process and put you in a better bargaining position with your landlord by considering all options. We are offering a FREE lease review service and have created this simple step by step guide to help you.
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Making your breakthrough with tried and tested tax efficient investment
Whilst being nothing new to the market place, the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) introduced over 20 years ago has been the launch pad for many ideas and developments that have gone on to bring great return and growth for small high risk companies that would have otherwise struggled to raise debt or equity finance.
Continue ReadingContracting as a Supplier – Precautions and Pitfalls
Suppliers will often not consider on what basis they are contracting for the supply of goods or services. This may be as they feel they can deliver on the contract and so there is no risk. Often, the issue for many is that they do not foresee a potential liability arising. Others may believe that they are contracting on their standard terms of business, though often these are not brought to the attention of the customer, either at the point of contracting, or at all. This note examines the potential issues facing a supplier through lack of a suitable contract.
Continue ReadingInsolvency News: Invoice Discounter’s Collection Fees Successfully Challenged
In the case of BHL v Leumi ABL Ltd [2017] EWHC 1871 (QB) the High Court required an invoice discounter to refund excessive collection fees charged after the administration of Cobra Beers Limited.
Continue Reading30 Years a Solicitor
Article by Andrew Koffman, Litigation Partner
1 October 1987, a typical grey autumn day in Manchester, a far cry from the hurricane-strength winds that buffeted Britain exactly 2 weeks later. But a big day for me; after 6 years of study and training, I was finally admitted as a solicitor. I had a moderately exciting morning serving a search order on a defendant although the location (a block of multi-storey flats) was about as unglamorous as it could get!
Continue ReadingMediation – a less costly way of resolving civil disputes
The Law Gazette recently shared this article titled ‘Low-cost Manchester mediation pilot aims to ‘fill a gap’ which discusses a new initiative involving the launch of new a pilot scheme encouraging mediation as a less costly way of resolving civil disputes.
Nick Harvey Partner and Head of Litigation, comments on this recent article, whilst discussing Bermans new dispute resolution product – Escalate.
Continue ReadingAdded Value from the Courts
We have in the past been critical of faults in the court system and the drive towards ever increasing fees, so it is only fair that we also give credit where credit is due.
Continue ReadingCautious welcome from Creditors for new Insolvency Rules
The process of replacing the Insolvency Rules 1986 and 28 subsequent amendments has necessarily involved difficult balancing exercises between the interests of numerous stakeholders, but the general consensus among creditors is that The Insolvency (England and Wales) Rules 2016 (SI 2016/1024) (“IR 2016”) which came into force on 6 April 2017 are likely to significantly improve the insolvency process for most creditors.
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