Allington Hughes Get on Board with Chris Russell Sailing

We're delighted to announce a new partnership with Olympic Laser Class Sailor Chris Russell and his campaign to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Allington Hughes are continuing to build various positive links with local teams and events, such as strong associations with the North Wales Crusaders RugbyLeague team in Wrexham, Nant Conwy Rugby Club in Llanrwst and becoming title sponsors of the high profile Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival which is held annually at Chester Racecourse.

As a firm who try to get involved as much as possible with local events and sports clubs, we are extremely excited to have the chance of being involved with Chris’s qualifying campaign for the Rio Olympics in 2016. Having met Chris on more than one occasion and getting to know a little bit more about his schedule, it is going to be fantastic keeping our Blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts up to date with where he is in the world and how his progress is coming along.

Chris has spent time with Allington Hughes over the past few months, getting a better understanding of how the firm operates and how we are supporting local community activities, he had this to say:

"It’s always great to have the support of local businesses, in this case a higher profile regional solicitor. I have no doubt that Allington Hughes will be able to take advantage of our Medal Club and we'll be able to drive a hugely successful partnership moving forward".

Allington Hughes are very much looking forward to supporting Chris throughout the next three years, and wish him the best of luck in his campaign and events leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games.

For more information on Chris Russell and his team, you can visit his website http://chrisrussell2012.wix.com/chrisrussellsailing. 

There will also be regular updates on Chris's progress via our Blog, Twitter and Facebook accounts.

Chris Russell and his car at our Chester office. Chris's car was kindly provided by another of his sponsors, North Wales Honda.

Chris on one of his visits to the Allington Hughes offices.

Employment Law Update 2014

2013 saw some of the biggest changes to Employment Law  including:-

• The new consultation period for collective redundancies 
• Changes to the rules on Whistle-blowing
• Capped compensatory awards
• The implementation of pre-termination discussions
• The renaming of Compromise Agreements to Settlement Agreements
• The implementation of Employment Tribunal fees

The changes are set to continue in 2014.

Melissa Bramwell from our Employment Law team has taken the time to produce a document detailing all of the reforms that will come into effect in the new year.

You can view the document here.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B89ggDYd5hkaQlYtMEZyanB0a2s/edit?usp=sharing

Melissa Bramwell is part of the Employment Law team in our Wrexham Office

If you require any further information, or have an Employment Law query, then please feel free to contact any of our offices on 01978 291000 for Wrexham, 01244 312166 for Chester and 01492 641222 for Llanrwst.

Recent Case Law - Housing

Leicester CC-v-Shearer 2013 (EWCA) Civ1467 (if you have been affected recently by loss of accommodation following the death of a family member then you may wish to take onboard the outcome of this particular case). 

The Defendant’s husband had been a Council tenant in succession to his mother. This means that when his mother died he was able to take on the tenancy with the consent of the Local Authority.  When he died there could be no further succession. Once the Defendant’s husband died the Council sought possession of the property and they wanted to evict the Defendant and their children. 

The Defendant correctly defended indicating that the decision to seek possession had been unlawful because the Council had failed to consider granting a new tenancy of the house as a “direct let” under the Exceptional Circumstances Act “provision in its housing allocation scheme”.  The Council argued that the Defendant had not made a formal application complying with its scheme.  The possession claim was dismissed.  The Council appealed to the Court of Law but this was also dismissed.  The Council had acted unlawfully when commencing possession proceedings against the Defendant without giving any or any proper consideration to the option of making a direct let.  

If you have been affected or are currently being threatened with possession proceedings as a result of succession then please do not hesitate to contact us for further advice. 

01978 291000 - 01244 312166 - 01492 641222

Alison Stace is a director of Allington Hughes and also head of the Housing department

The Launch of the Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival 2014 brought to you by Allington Hughes Law

Here at Allington Hughes we are very excited to announce that we will once again be sponsoring the Chester Food, Drink and Lifestyle Festival which is held at Chester Racecourse around Easter.

On the back of a fantastic event over the Easter Bank holiday this year we are thrilled to once again be joining the Festival and the thousands of people who come to seek the delights of locally produced food and drink.

In December last year we held the launch party for the event at our Chester office on Vicars Lane, however this year we scaled up and headed over to Bar Lounge in Chester. We were very pleased to welcome over 100 guests to celebrate our renewed association with this tremendous event and to sample some hot Cheshire mulled cider alongside some tasty accompaniments. 

The launch was a huge success and everyone at Allington Hughes would like to thank the guests who attended to make it such a wonderful evening.

In 2014 the 3 day Food and Drink Festival will be held from the 19th-21st of April at Chester Racecourse and is already on target to surpass all records and expectations set at this years event.  

It really is an occasion to put in the diary and we hope to see as many of you there as we did last year!

From Left to Right: Cheshire Celebrity Chef David Mooney, Chairman and Director of Allington Hughes David Parry and Chair of the Chester Food and Drink Festival Jane Mooney. 

For more pictures of the fabulous Launch night please head over to our Facebook page.

Wrexham Christmas Tree 2014

It is a long standing tradition at Allington Hughes to sponsor the Christmas Tree that sits proudly in the centre of Wrexham in Queens Square.

We are delighted to be doing so again this year and with the tree now standing tall in the centre of the town it is great to see so many people appreciating what a wonderful tree it is!

In the coming weeks, Wrexham County Borough Council and Allington Hughes will be running a 'Guess the Height' competition, which will give the people of Wrexham the opportunity to win a luxury hamper, just in time for Christmas!

Keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter page for further details of the competition!

         

        The Christmas Tree in its natural habitat!

The final result! The Christmas Tree looks amazing fully dressed!

New Housing Advice Drop In Clinic

With recent changes and cutbacks to Legal Aid, it has become increasingly important for people to know where they can access free legal advice.

Allington Hughes have gained a contract from the Legal Aid Agency to continue providing Legal Aid for Housing and Debt matters, which means we are the only firm of Solicitors in Wrexham to provide such a service.

In order to offer even greater access to this service, head of the Housing department and a Director of the firm Alison Stace has started a free drop in service for advice on all Housing matters. 

Starting this Friday 15th November from 10am to 4pm at our Wrexham office on 10 Grosvenor Road, anybody with a Housing matter can come into our Wrexham office and receive a free consultation with Alison or a member of the Housing team.

If you would like to ring ahead and book an appointment for the drop in clinic, please call 01978 291000.

Alison Stace, head of Housing and a Director of Allington Hughes Law

Free Employment Law Drop In

We currently run a free Employment Law advice service at our Chester and Wrexham offices.

Mondays 9.30am to 12.30pm in our Wrexham office you can call in and have a free consultation with Employment Law specialist Melissa Bramwell.

Tuesdays 9.30am to 12.30pm at our Chester office you can call in for a free consultation with Employment Law specialist Gerallt Hughes. 

If you would like to call and book an appointment rather than just turning up on the day, please feel free to call our Wrexham office - 01978 291000 or Chester office - 01244 312166.

           

            Employment Law Specialist, Gerallt Hughes.

     Employment Law Specialist Melissa Bramwell.