Public holidays: The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee – when are workers entitled to paid time off?

Brodies | Employment Law Journal | May 2022 #230
With the long weekend for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee approaching in June, Katie Spearman explains whether workers will be entitled to an extra day off and considers some of the tricky issues when it comes to public holidays Whether workers will be entitled to an extra day off this year will be determined by the…

Misconduct: Can employers dismiss for committing a criminal offence?

Keystone Law | Employment Law Journal | May 2022 #230
In light of the police fines issued to those who attended Downing Street events during lockdown, Sungjin Park examines how to deal with employees who break the law A misconduct dismissal will be considered unfair if the employer has not formed a genuine belief on reasonable grounds that the offence in question has been committed.…

Demystifying employment contracts: Flexibility and mobility clauses

Shoosmiths LLP | Employment Law Journal | May 2022 #230
In the second part of this series, Amy Leech discusses the key legal principles and case law behind contractual flexibility clauses, including those concerned with mobility Drafting a flexibility or mobility clause too widely is likely to be considered unreasonable, rendering the clause unenforceable. Flexibility clauses are intended to do what they say on the…

Musings from Manchester: The new generation

Old Trafford Consulting Ltd | Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal | May 2022 #233
What is the best approach to training future trust and estate practitioners? Geoffrey Shindler draws on the past to learn lessons for the future Despite the numerous attempts, or proposals, put forward to resolve the issue there is never one agreed solution and certainly not one agreed for anything more than a very short period…

Mental capacity: A history of local authority interventions

Denzil Lush | Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal | May 2022 #233
Denzil Lush sheds light on the origins of local authority involvement in mental incapacity proceedings Commissioner Murray was wrong in believing that Cohen’s was the first case of its kind. An almost identical petition had been filed 30 years earlier in 1811, in the matter of Ann Pettman. The primary purpose of this article is…

Will construction: What constitutes a clerical error?

Burges Salmon LLP | Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal | May 2022 #233
Kevin Kennedy and Justine Reid analyse a case that outlines the steps taken for interpreting a will as well as the scope of the Administration of Justice Act 1982 The issue for the court was whether a solicitor copying and pasting a clause from a precedent bank that did not reflect the testator’s intention, and…

Farming disputes: The three ‘P’s – partnerships, proprietorships and proprietary estoppel

Wright Hassall Solicitors | Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal | May 2022 #233
Katie Alsop explores the latest developments in proprietary estoppel Despite the benefit which had been conferred upon them by virtue of the transfer of the farmhouse, that did not discharge the detriment associated with the promises and assurances made to Simon and Alison. The doctrine of proprietary estoppel is fast becoming known as the gift…

Wills: Documentary evidence trumps witness testimony

Charles Russell Speechlys LLP | Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal | May 2022 #233
Oliver Auld and Lydia Kember examine the inherent unreliability of witness testimony based on memory Solicitors will now be under a personal obligation to avoid producing witness statements that are over-lawyered or in any way present a narrative which does not match the witness’s own recollection. There is an inherent difficulty that many challenges to…

Valid execution: A will, but no way

Goldsmith Chambers (Chambers of Anthony Metzer QC) | Trusts and Estates Law & Tax Journal | May 2022 #233
Wilson v Spence is a useful reminder of the evidential burden on a party propounding a will. Dilan Deeljur discusses Practitioners (on either side, whether propounder or examiner of a will) should not simply take a will at face value and assume valid execution. In Wilson v Spence [2022] the claimants sought to propound a…