This is our latest update as the introduction of a “fixed costs” regime for most civil court disputes, where the disputed amount is over £10,000 up to £100,000, draws ever nearer.
Jenny joined Bermans in April 2023 as a paralegal in our asset based lending team and is currently a Trainee Solicitor in our Litigation and Corporate teams based in Manchester.
She graduated with a Law Degree in 2021 and the LPC with Business and Management MSc in 2022 at Liverpool University.
Jenny assists the Litigation team in forfeiture cases, commercial litigation matters and contract disputes. She also works with the Corporate team advising SMEs and owner managed businesses in mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and general corporate matters.
Outside of work, Jenny likes to stay active being a keen runner, skier and gym go-er.
When businesses enter into contracts with one another, it is common for them to want their own terms and conditions (Ts&Cs) to apply to the contract. However, whether these have been successfully implemented into the contract often does not seem to be of concern to the parties until a dispute presents itself. Having the Ts&Cs adequately incorporated is especially important since it is common practice for businesses to conduct their dealings through contractual documents such as purchase orders and invoices rather than having an actual written contract in place. By not having a signed contract in place, the parties open up themselves to scrutiny over which party’s Ts&Cs are to prevail in case of a dispute.
You have – all things considered – enjoyed a fruitful trading relationship with a supplier or customer over many years, or at least you have assumed that to be the case.
Then things go sour. You locate your copy of the contract, only to find that it was made by your predecessor company, or the other party’s predecessor, or even both. The change(s) may have been due to a corporate reorganisation. In any case there is no evidence in writing of consent to the change, as required under the contract.
Intellectual property rights are valuable assets of your business and it is important that you take steps to protect them. You can do this by registering your rights and ensuring that anyone infringing those rights is stopped as soon as possible.
Recent independent studies undertaken by the Legal Services Board and Xero convey a worrying and consistent theme that SME debt is a ticking time bomb.
UK SMEs are losing more than £40 Billion per year through disputes and have £131 Billion tied up in late payments. YouGov has reported that 82% of SMEs currently have outstanding balances with each firm owed an average £62,957.00.
This is the latest article (and first since 2019) in our series, following the slow but inevitable progress towards a “fixed costs” regime for most civil court disputes involving businesses.
Manchester Building Society (MBS) successfully appealed to the Supreme Court in a claim for negligence against its ex-auditors Grant Thornton (GT), after losing in the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
The facts of the case are quite unusual. However the judgment is of wider importance since the court took a different approach to assessing loss arising from an adviser’s breach of duty, from the previous line of cases going back to the 1990s, and the decision should signal a change of direction.
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This is the latest article (and first since 2019) in our series, following the slow but inevitable progress towards a “fixed costs” regime for most civil court disputes involving businesses.