Former Blaser Mills solicitor Magda Bennett entered the Guinness Book of Records on Sunday, breaking the world record for the fastest marathon run by a female dressed as an insect!

Magda, who was dressed as a bumble bee, completed the London Marathon in an incredible 3 hours and 32 seconds, breaking the previous record of 4 hours. She ran for Cancer Research UK and has currently raised £1,168. Anyone wishing to donate can do so by following this link: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/MagdaBennett.

Also running in the London marathon was Blaser Mills trainee solicitor Linda Sheehan.

Linda, who is currently working in the conveyancing team at our Rickmansworth office, completed her first ever marathon in 4 hours and 31 minutes. She had only agreed to take part in the London Marathon when approached by a fundraising manager for The Children’s Society in January, and so far has raised a magnificent £1,566 for the charity.  Donations can be made by clicking on the following link: http://www.justgiving.com/Linda-Sheehan0

Finally, perennial marathon runner and head of the Blaser Mills Criminal Defence department, Steve Bennett, “staggered around” his umpteenth London Marathon in 4 hours and 42 minutes and is available to regale interested parties with stories of his blisters and of “hitting the wall” several times from mile 4 onwards!

Last year the government removed the right of employers to forcibly retire older workers once they reached the age of 65 and age discrimination in the workplace is unlawful under the Equality Act 2010.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court judgment in the case of Seldon v Clarkson Wright & Jakes confirms that employers may set a mandatory retirement age provided that this is a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim of the business.

Mr Seldon, a partner in the law firm Clarkson Wright & Jakes, was compulsorily retired in 2006 in line with his partnership agreement, having reached the firm’s mandatory retirement age of 65. He issued Employment Tribunal proceedings in March 2007, arguing that he had been directly discriminated against on the grounds of age.

In rejecting Mr Seldon’s claim, the Employment Tribunal had identified that staff retention and recruitment planning were legitimate aims of the firm and found that a mandatory retirement age was a proportionate means of achieving these aims. This week the Supreme Court agreed.

In practical terms the decision changes little. Employers will still need to give careful consideration to any retirement age they choose to rely upon. What is clear, however, is that the courts are prepared to scrutinise whether any such retirement age is justified and proportionate.

If you would like further advice please contact us at commercial@blasermills.co.uk

Sarina is a Paralegal specialising in personal injury law. She joined Blaser Mills in January 2011 and is based at the Harrow office.

She completed her law degree at King’s College London in 2006 and the Legal Practice Course at BPP Law School in 2008.

Sarina acts for claimants who have suffered an injury as a result of an accident on the road, including accidents involving taxis, motorcyclists, pedestrians, cyclists and users of public transport. She also has experience of dealing with accidents involving uninsured and hit-and-run drivers. All of her clients are funded on a Conditional Fee (“no win, no fee”) basis.

Emma is an Associate Solicitor in the Personal Injury Department and is based at our Staines office.

She initially studied Management Sciences and French at Southampton University before deciding to convert to law and completed the Graduate Diploma in Law and Legal Practice Course at the College of Law in Guildford.

Emma trained at Blaser Mills and qualified in March 2012. Early on in her training, Emma decided that Personal Injury law was the area in which she wanted to specialise and completed a year in this field before qualifying. She accepts instructions on a range of cases including claims arising from accidents at work, road traffic accidents, trips and slips and claims involving the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority.

Although the comments did not bring the employer’s reputation into serious disrepute, the harassment of a colleague was sufficiently serious on its own to justify the dismissal of the employee for gross misconduct. Furthermore, having made his comments public, the employee had no reasonable expectation of privacy for the purposes of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The decision adds to the emerging case law on misconduct dismissals involving social media, which includes:

-          an employment tribunal holding that the dismissal of an employee, for making ”relatively minor” derogatory comments (outside working hours) about her workplace on Facebook, was not reasonable in all the circumstances and was therefore unfair;

-          an employment tribunal finding that comments made by an Asda manager on Facebook that it would make her happy to hit customers on the back of the head with a “pic axe”, constituted misconduct (and indeed fell into the “misconduct” category within the examples given in the employer’s internet policy) rather than gross misconduct and the dismissal was therefore unfair;

-          an employment tribunal finding that the dismissal of an employee by Apple for posting derogatory comments on Facebook was fair,  Apple having made it clear in its policies and training materials that protecting its image was a “core value” and had drawn attention to the fact that making derogatory comments in social media was likely to constitute gross misconduct; and

-          an employment tribunal deciding that a pub manager had been fairly dismissed for gross misconduct having made inappropriate comments on Facebook about her customers in breach of the employer’s e-mail and internet policy.

What seems clear from the case law is that a  clearly stated internet and social media policy is becoming increasingly important for employers.

For further advice on your company’s internet and social media policies please contact us at commercial@blasermills.co.uk.

Owners of listed buildings have previously benefited from zero VAT rating relating to approved alterations to those buildings. George Osborne has, however, announced the removal of the zero rating, meaning that future works will be subject to VAT at the standard rate resulting in a 20% increase in the cost of works at the current rate.

The change will come into effect on 1 October 2012 although transitional arrangements will apply to contracts entered into prior to 21 March 2012.

Although the change will result in higher costs for those making alterations to listed properties it will also simplify matters, removing the distinction between an alteration and a repair to a listed property – often a source of dispute between developers and HMRC.

For more information please contact one of our property lawyers on 0845 604 2847.

The main rate of corporation tax for companies with profits above the upper limit of £1.5m is reduced to 24% from 1^st April 2012 and then 23% from 1^st April 2013. The main rate will be further reduced to 22% from 1^st April 2014 and it is believed that the Chancellor’s long term aim is a main corporation tax rate of 20%.

The small companies rate of corporation tax (which applies to companies and groups whose annual profits do not exceed £300,000) remains at 20% for the financial year commencing 1 April 2012.

Other highlights:

- The Finance Partnership and Enterprise Finance Guarantee Schemes are to be extended;

- a ‘Patent Box’ will allow companies to offset some profits against corporation tax for qualifying intellectual property from 2013;

- the computer game, animation and TV production industries will qualify for tax credits.

- consultation will begin on simplifying the way non-incorporated small firms (with a turnover of up to £77,000) are taxed;

- a new General Anti-Avoidance Rule to tackle tax avoidance will enter consultation and be introduced in 2013;

- a new stamp duty rate of 7% will apply to purchases of properties worth over £2m;

- significant increased taxes will be applied to the purchase and sale of properties through offshore companies;

- the VAT registration threshold will rise to £77,000 from April 2012.

For more information please contact us at commercial@blasermills.co.uk.

If you have been selected for interview an assessment day will be held on the 25 July 2012. If you have been successful you will be contacted by the end of June at the latest.

We normally require up to four trainees in any one year. The trainee will usually cover 4 areas of law (at least one contentious area and one non contentious area) throughout their two year training period. We give our trainees responsibility as soon as they are ready – but always under a partner’s supervision. Advice and help are always on hand and there are many opportunities to sit-in with experienced solicitors to observe and discuss their more interesting cases.

To apply please write in the first instance to Amanda Stopps at:

Blaser Mills
Park House
31 London Road
High Wycombe
Buckinghamshire
HP11 1BZ

Please enclose your CV and a short letter to explain why you are suitable for this Firm. Make sure that your CV tells the full story and that you explain any significant gaps in the continuity of your education and experience.

Written applications are preferred, but email applications will be accepted: trainee@blasermills.co.uk

The Department for Business Innovation & Skills (BIS) has issued a call for evidence seeking views on two measures to address concerns that dismissal procedures can be too onerous, particularly for smaller businesses.

1. Views are being sought on whether the Acas Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures could be made more accessible and easier to use by smaller businesses. The Australian Small Business Fair Dismissal Code has been suggested as an alternative that might successfully be applied in the UK.

2. Compensated no-fault dismissals for micro businesses (i.e. businesses with fewer than ten staff). If implemented, compensation for a no-fault dismissal would only prevent an employee from bringing an unfair dismissal claim, not any other type of claim arising out of their dismissal.

Please contact us should you have any queries – commercial@blasermills.co.uk