Commonwealth Fencing Silver For David Gregory

David Gregory is a local Fencer who many of the firm have had the pleasure of meeting. 

We found out about David's goal to achieve a medal at the Commonwealth Championships a few months ago now, and we were delighted to sponsor him and help out with his campaign.

This week David has been competing in Largs in Scotland with the Welsh team, and was part of a terrific effort to bring home a medal from the tournament.

The Wales team made it all the way to the final of the competition, but unfortunately lost to Singapore in a closely contested final.

Allington Hughes would like to take this opportunity to congratulate David and the Welsh team on their fantastic achievement by winning the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Fencing Championships. Well done guys!

Sponsored fencer David Gregory with his Commonwealth Championships Silver medal.

New Personnel and Promotions at Allington Hughes

Allington Hughes have made some key additions over the last few months in a number of areas along with some internal promotions for key members of staff.

The development of talent has always been at the core of the firm, with over 50% of the current Directors undergoing their training at Allington Hughes and progressing their career all the way through to becoming a director.

This has been the catalyst for some young and fresh additions to the firm. Ben Whiting, 23, has joined the Wrexham office as a Paralegal in the Conveyancing department while he undergoes his Legal Practice Course at the University of Law in Christleton. 

Sarah Beeley is also a Paralegal at the Wrexham office studying to become a Chartered Legal Executive. Sarah is currently an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) and is mainly based within our Wills and Probate team.

Our Family Law team in Wrexham also has a young Paralegal working within the team; Rachel D'abreu has been at the firm for a couple of months now.

Another exciting new addition to the firm is Ian Williams; A specialist Chartered Legal Executive who has returned to live in North Wales following 4 years working in Cardiff. Ian is a native of Caernarfon and will take up a position in our Llanrwst office at the beginning of December.

Ian completed his Law Degree at Bangor University in 2008 before going on to complete his Legal Practice Course at Aberystwyth University in 2009. Since leaving Caernarfon in January 2011, Ian went on to work for Hugh James in Cardiff where he specialised in Civil Litigation, namely Personal Injury.

Ian Commented. “It’s great to be back in the local area. I hope to bring my experience gained from working in Cardiff to the local area and it is a dream for me to work for such a well respected firm like Allington Hughes.” 

There have also been promotions in the firm recently, with Justine Reynolds becoming Principal Solicitor in the Family Law team at our Chester office.

Criminal Solicitor Ian Barnes has also been promoted to Principal Solicitor in our Wrexham office having recently completed examinations to become a Solicitor-Advocate, meaning he can now represent clients at the Crown Court and Court of Appeal, on top of already representing them through all stages of their case.

Allington Hughes are very proud of it's succession planning, and continuing the influx of young talent coupled with strengthening in key areas shows the firms determination to expand and develop.

Some of the team at Allington Hughes Ltd

Employment Law Update: Overtime and Holidays

Overtime should count towards the calculation of holiday

In the landmark case of Bear Scotland Ltd v Fulton (and others conjoined) case, the Employment Appeals Tribunal today passed its Judgment.

The primary finding affecting workers and employers being that overtime should be taken into account when calculating a worker’s holiday pay.

This means therefore that where a worker engages in overtime for a sufficient period, their holiday pay should include any overtime, as well as commission, thereby reflecting their normal remuneration.

Under the Working Time Regulations workers are entitled to 5.6 weeks holiday which can include public holidays. The finding that overtime should count towards holiday entitlement only applies to the basic 4 weeks leave and not the additional 1.6 weeks.

It will come of some relief to employers that the EAT concluded however that where there is a break of more than 3 months between any holiday pay claims, an Employment Tribunal will not have jurisdiction to hear the earlier claims. This will serve to restrict so much as possible, a worker’s ability to bring valuable claims for underpaid holiday pay.

This is by no means the end of the matter. Vince Cable has already confirmed that he is setting up a taskforce to assess the possible impact of the ruling on holiday pay. The EAT have also already granted permission for this decision to be appealed and be dealt with by the Court of Appeal, the outcome of which however will undoubtedly be some time away. 

In the meantime it would be prudent for employers to take stock of their current working practices and potential liabilities as a result of this matter in the anticipation of potential holiday pay claims. 

If you feel this is a matter which may affect you, contact our Employment Law team on 01978 291000 for Wrexham, 01244 312166 for Chester or 01492 641222 for Llanrwst or visit www.allingtonhughes.co.uk

Melissa Bramwell is part of the Employment Law team at Allington Hughes.

Welshpool Saler Cattle Sale 18/10/14

After a budding relationship formed at this years Royal Welsh Show, Allington Hughes were delighted to be sponsoring the 1^st Autumn Show Sale for the Saler Cattle Society.

The sale was held in Welshpool Livestock Market, and here we have a brief overview of the results.

The judge was Mr Evans from Maescarneddau, Llanwyddyn and he had a good selection of animals to judge. 

The winner of the female championship was Coland Fiona owned and exhibited by Mr Dennis Rogers. She then sold for £2,600.

 The winner of the male championship and the overall champion was Seawell Icebreaker owned by P.M.& S.M.Donger and he sold for £3,100. 

The top price of the sale, £4,000, was paid for a commercial heifer an her calf owned by Harri Pritchard – who is the current Society Chairman.

We look forward to continuing a very enjoyable relationship with the Saler Cattle Society, and look forward to being involved with future events.

Director of Allington Hughes Ltd Rachel Wynn Jones with the prize winning Saler Cattle

The Free 2 Network Business Awards 2014 - Finalists

Free 2 Network is a regular networking group that spans North Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire. With almost 20 different venues, the network is a fantastic place to meet new contacts and generate new business.

Allington Hughes have been Corporate members of the network for just under a year now, and we recently blogged about our involvement with the up and coming Free 2 Network Business Awards.

The awards finalists have been decided by this years celebrity guest judge, which is The Apprentice finalist and skincare entrepreneur, Saira Khan.

We are partnering the prestigious 'Business of the Year' award, with the finalists comprising of Handy Office, A470 Training, Fabian4 Online, Woods Squared and Carbon Zero Renewables. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all of the finalists and also everyone else who entered such a competitive category!

We are very excited to be shortlisted for 2 awards, the first being the 'Rachel Elnaugh Enterprise Award', which is judged on businesses showing initiative by being enterprising with the way they engage with their customer base.

Marketing Manager Louie Middlehurst has also been nominated for the 'Business Man of the Year' award.

The glittering awards ceremony will be held at the St Georges hotel on Friday 28th November and we would like to wish all of the finalists the very best of luck!

Selling Your Business? A Legal MOT

After being with Allington Hughes for over 40 years, from his training in 1971, through qualifying as a solicitor in 1975 and becoming a Partner in 1978, David Parry has seen it all when it comes to business.

David has taken the time to produce a Legal MOT detailing some of the common pitfalls when selling a business, and we dearly hope they are of use.:

"I deal with a lot of business sales during the course of the year and it’s well worth looking at some basic matters well before anything of this nature comes along as it can be very stressful to have to deal with basic legal and accountancy matters when so much else is happening at the same time.

1. The most important tip is “check your lease” - if your business operates from these premises only and the lease has only a short time to run, or has actually expired, the business is effectively unsaleable until this has been sorted out and you could then be looking vulnerable to a landlord who becomes aware of your intention to sell. I have had to renegotiate leases several times this year and, at the best, there is a significant delay in dealing with the sale transaction, and it clearly could be a lot worse.

2. "See your accountant” - don’t just deal with him/her at arm’s length each year about the accounts, arrange a meeting to discuss all aspects of your business, coupled with the suggestion that you might be considering a sale: there have been fundamental changes to the capital allowances rules which came into effect in April 2012 and, whilst these primarily relate to purchasers, you should be sure to get the best possible guidance from your accountant on all aspects of your business.

3. Still on the tax aspects, take a deep breath and “visit the HMRC website”: every time I go on to this, I am astonished at the quality of the information they give you – suggestions, model calculations and authoritative guidance. A lot of people think it will be impossible to understand, but the reverse is the case, and it could be really helpful, as well as profitable for your business, to get familiar with this massive site. It might also make your meeting with the accountant really beneficial to the bottom line of your accounts!

4. “Contact your lawyer at an early stage” - a brief initial chat will help enormously, so that preparatory work can be put in place, and it won’t trigger an enormous bill. I get a lot of matters where people think there is a saving to be made by leaving the legal work until the very last minute – I promise you this is not the best thing to do as it is always more expensive to have to drop everything else to service something which might have been dealt with in a more realistic time frame. It is also really worrying and stressful from the lawyer’s point of view – nobody likes having to rush things.

5. “Don’t go on holiday!” - I’ve actually had several transactions where the client gave me

instructions on a complex matter which would inevitably involve a lot of contact with them about the sale and then, at the end, mentioned that he was just leaving on holiday the next day – definitely not a good idea! Go away when it’s all over.

I hope these are of some practical help – best of luck with your business in the meantime!"

If you would like any further information on Business related matters, or anything else, then please feel free to get in touch with us on 09178 291000 for Wrexham, 01244 312166 for Chester or 01492 641222 for Llanrwst.

David Parry has been a partner at Allington Hughes since 1978.

D2R Foundation - Athlete Update

As you may have seen a few months ago, Allington Hughes have got involved with a fantastic new project supporting a sports foundation created by our Olympic Sailing hopeful Chris Russell.

The Allington Hughes Grant helps a group of young athletes who are on the verge of becoming international stars, yet receive no support from their respective sporting bodies. This is where the D2R foundation has come into play by providing a strong network of  services and personnel to help further develop the athletes' career. 

Here is how the athletes have been getting on over the last few months!

Benajmin Wempe (Sailing):  After one of the most successful summer periods, which saw him claim a Bronze medal at the Laser Youth World Championships, Benjamin has refocused his effort on his first year of University in Holland.  He aims to combine study with his campaign, with the next main regatta being the Dutch National Championship later this moth.

Xavi Tous (Sailing):  Xavi continues to train hard behind the scenes and is looking to peak for the forthcoming Europa Cup events in October.

Dewi Couvert (Sailing):  Similar to Benjamin, Dewi began her degree in Medicine in late August with the intention of balancing her sport and studies.  With the World Championships scheduled for home dutch waters next year, her eyes are set firmly on a prize.

Sarah Grace Spencer (Lacrosse):  Sarah Grace began pre-season training with the Welsh team earlier this month and is now back to regular winter practice ahead of what promises to be a great year or her.  Qualification for a spot on the World Cup team is up for grabs.

Jade Paveley (Motorsport):  Is preparing for the next stage in her seasons rally campaign - preparation has been going well and she continues to attract great attention from the world of Motorsport.

We are very proud to be supporting these young athletes, and we look forward to bringing further updates and competition results in the very near future.

The D2R Athletes during a team building exercise in North Wales during their recent week long training camp.