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Members of Gainsborough Law secure discontinuance of charges

Gainsborough Law were instructed by a high net worth individual who faced a serious assault allegation. A conviction would have impacted upon his employment, travel and charity commitments. Camilla Whitehouse and Colin Witcher worked together to offer a reassuring and comprehensive representation of the defendant. The same culminated in detailed representations, which persuaded the Crown to discontinue proceedings. The Client had previously been represented by leading Queen’s Counsel before Colin took over conduct of the case and worked with Camilla on seeking to avoid a trial and neutralise all potential reputational damage concerns.
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“Gainsborough Law leading the way on wellbeing”

Gainsborough Law have been congratulated by the Bar Council and joined seven other chambers in receiving a Wellbeing at the Bar Certificate of Recognition for their work on wellbeing.
The Bar Council’s Wellbeing at the Bar Working Group stated ‘Gainsborough Law has clearly worked hard to create a supportive environment where people are comfortable in discussing wellbeing.  It is also good to see such a focus on mentoring and the introduction of discussions around managing relationships at the Bar, stress and emotional and financial wellbeing for their interns’
Read the full case here –
Employment Tribunal Podcast

Employment Tribunal cases: 3 tips for employers


Podcast hosted by Tosh Polpitiye, Managing Director of Astute HR solicitors.

During this 30 minute informal podcast, Camilla Whitehouse gives her top tips to employers facing an Employment Tribunal claim. Here’s the content highlighted for your ease of reference:

  • Introductions and topic in context: 0 – 07:55
  • Follow your Employer Grievance policy & process: 08:10
  • Top Tip – Follow the ACAS process: 14:00
  • Top Tip – Disclosing evidence & complying with Tribunal deadlines: 19:55
  • Top Tip – How to handle evidence that you think may undermine your case: 27:47
  • How to contact Gainsborough Law: 30:50
  • Introductions and topic in context: 
  • Follow your Employer Grievance policy & process: 
  • Top Tip – Follow the ACAS process: 
  • Top Tip – Disclosing evidence & complying with Tribunal deadlines: 
  • Top Tip – How to handle evidence that you think may undermine your case: 
  • How to contact Gainsborough Law: 

0 – 07:55

08:10

14:00

19:55

27:47

30:50

 

The information, opinions, and recommendations presented in this Podcast are for general information only. It should not be considered professional legal advice. To discuss your Employment Tribunal case or would like advice or representation in employment law, please contact Gainsborough Law on 020 7078 7286 www.gainsboroughlaw.com

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Sailing out of lockdown: What can I do and when can I do it?

Anna Roffey of Gainsborough Law discusses the easing of the Covid-19 restrictions on the marine industry. 
 
On 11 June 2020 the Government released specific guidance for boat users in the UK. Before then, the industry was left to draw conclusions from guidance offered to other businesses and industries and wait for comment from the Government on how the Regulations should be applied. The situation has not changed, with no further formal guidance issued in respect of boating. But there has been some comment from Government, albeit via Twitter. Let’s review the full picture:
 
The applicable law
 

The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) Regulations 2020 (“the Regulations”). came in to force at 1300hrs on 26 March 2020 and accompanied the Coronavirus Act 2020 (“the Act”) which came in to force on 15 March 2020. The Regulations are made by the Secretary of State by powers conferred by the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984(a). There have been various amendments, all of which can be found here.

The Regulations did not and do not specifically impose closure restrictions on marinas. British Marine helpfully sought clarity from the UK Government as to how marinas should interpret and apply the Regulations. The Government confirmed to British Marine that there is no explicit requirement to close marinas [per Reg. 4 and Reg. 5] but that marinas should be treated the same way as ‘caravan parks’ which have been directed to close – save for specified exceptions as set out in Reg. 5(4)(a).

Under the Regulations, businesses responsible for providing holiday accommodation, whether “hotel, hostel, B&B, holiday apartment, home, cottage, bungalow, campsite, caravan park or boarding house must cease to carry on that business during the emergency period”. HOWEVER – per Reg. 5(4) (a) (i – iv) a business of this nature MAY continue to carry on their business and keep any premises used in that business OPEN :-

a. To provide accommodation for any person, who –
i. is unable to return to their main residence;
ii. uses that accommodation as their main residence;
iii. needs accommodation while moving house.
[further reasons cited but not relevant to this Note]
 
Note, the above confers an express discretion upon the business i.e. the marina (and an exception to enforcement by the Police (or designated others) under Reg. 8), and a consequential right of sorts (subject to the use of discretion by the marina) for persons who are the subject of Reg. 5(4)(a)(i) – (iv) i.e. unable to return to their main residence, use the accommodation (i.e. boat) for their main residence, or needs accommodation while moving house.
 
The Government produced clear guidelines on the exceptions (which permits and envisages premises (i.e marinas by analogy) remaining open for these purposes) as set out below:
 
“Where people live permanently in caravan parks or are staying in caravan parks as interim abodes where their primary residence is not available, they may continue to do so” [1]
 
Many marinas have been responsibly keeping the circumstances of stranded berth holders under review during this period, and, where appropriate permitting them to remain on their vessels. This, of course, includes liveaboards and those with residential moorings.
 

The June guidance

On 11 June 2020 the guidance (COVID-19 (coronavirus): using a boat inland and on the coast [2] was published. In a nutshell: marinas may now open to allow people to visit and move their boats, and should have measures in place to ensure social distancing.

The main restrictions remain i.e. that you must (at the time of writing) not stay overnight on any boat, unless it’s your primary residence. Operators should not allow skippered day boat hire or skippered day charter boat hire. Operators must not allow hire or charter with any overnight stays. Tourist and trip boat operators must remain closed. Tourist and trip boats will re-open when restrictions on ticketed leisure activities are lifted.

From 23 June 2020, the Government announced a new set of lockdown easing measures. While none of the measures have been applied specifically to boat use, it is reasonable to consider that some of them ultimately will. British Marine (supported by Maritime UK) has published the following statement including a tweet from Nigel Huddleston MP, the Minister for Sports and Tourism:
 
“Holiday hire set for restart in every region of UK – statement made on 23 June 2020
 
The Prime Minister has announced a further easing of restrictions across England which will be welcome news for many. Speaking to MPs, Boris Johnson said that “from 4 July, provided that no more than two households stay together, people will be free to stay overnight in self-contained accommodation.”
 
British Marine supports the statement from the UK Government and understands that the announcement does include overnight stays on boats. Therefore, overnight stays are permitted from 4 July. At this time, we understand this to include the hire of craft by two households as long as they adhere to the new social distancing guidance. However, we are waiting for the UK Government to confirm its guidance where there is more than one household that intends to hire a boat. We were pleased to see the Tourism Minister Nigel Huddleston confirm in a tweet that households can now book a boating holiday. 
The revised social distancing guidance says that people should remain two metres apart where it is possible. Where it is not possible, the guidance now says that a distance of one metre or more should be observed and further mitigation should be taken to reduce the risk of transmission. 
 
The announcements made by the UK Government and the Devolved Administrations over the last few weeks mean that more tourism-related activity will recommence shortly.
 
Every region of the UK now has a timetable and an expected date to work from. In Scotland, the tourism industry is set to reopen on 15 July. In Wales, more self-contained accommodation is expected to reopen from 13 July and in Northern Ireland the re-opening of some self-catering accommodation is set to start on 26 June.  
 
The full statement from the Prime Minister can be read here. We will post further updates soon and understand that additional guidance is set to follow.” [3]
 
As of 24 June 2020, the RYA has republished the Government guidance as announced yesterday (23 June 2020) [4] They have not yet published any further specific guidance for boat users. It is likely that a further update will follow in line with the statement from British Marine.
 
Many marinas are making preparations to permit overnight stays from 4 July 2020 including MDL who were quick to send an email update to all berth holders. Premier (at the time of writing) are yet to confirm their position, though they will likely follow suit.
 
Government Guidance FAQs can be found here [5]. As soon as further specific guidance is published, we will post further details.
 

Gainsborough Law is a boutique barristers’ chambers based in London, set up to service the needs of its clients in a professional, modern and innovative way. To find out more about us and our expert areas of practice, visit www.gainsboroughlaw.com.

References

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Covid-19: The 3 things we do to promote a positive chambers’ culture

The practice management team at Gainsborough Law share their experiences of keeping the show on the road during the current Covid-19 crisis.

Our last practice management team meeting was dedicated to reviewing the effect the pandemic has had on the culture of our chambers.  At a time when it is so easy to focus on negatives, we wanted to reflect on the positive things we are doing to support our solicitors & public access clients, barristers, support team and our wider community, during this period of unprecedented business interruption.

Much has been written in the media about how organisations will be perceived in the future, dependent upon how they treat their employees and customers during the Covid-19 crisis.  Factors such as reputation, brand and employee engagement are all at risk of significant damage and will influence customers’ future buying patterns.

In the legal profession, we can sometimes view our chambers or firms as exempt from comparison with this general narrative.  As such, we have asked ourselves to what extent do we invest time in considering the relevance of these factors either strategically, or in our day-to-day operations?

At Gainsborough Law, we have recognised through our team discussions, the importance we all place on being part of an organisation whose principles align with our personal values.  We also recognised how this extends to our personal buying power and our individual role in society. Probably the subject of a future post!

Our personal values have certainly laid the foundations for us to build on what elements we already have in place to support the positive working environment of our progressive chambers.

So, what have we done in Gainsborough Law over the last 2-3 months to maintain a positive chambers culture, during a time of uncertainty and change for everyone?

Here’s our list of top 3 things that we’ve been doing-

  1. Recognising we’re all in this together. We understand that our clients are all experiencing different challenges at different times. We have done our best to reach out via Zoom, Skype or telephone to just touch base and share experiences. Overall, we have spent more time talking and listening to our clients. We recognise the two-way benefits this has provided. It’s been humbling to be able to develop deeper relationships with others. We welcome emails to enquiries@gainsboroughlaw.comand telephone calls on 020 70787286. We have also made it easier than ever to stay in touch by launching our Twitter and LinkedIn accounts. Come and say hi!
  2. Keeping the show on the road. As a modern and innovative barristers’ chambers, the lockdown presented us with little change regarding our clerking and administrative processes. We have always operated in a mostly paperless environment, with VOIP telephony and cloud-based case management systems in place to allow us to work remotely. Working in this way has always been advantageous to us, but in lockdown, with everyone working from home, it has given us a competitive edge. Our clients have been reassured that our services remain unaffected by the changes to our working locations. Importantly for us, we have avoided the nightmare of reactively figuring out how to transfer (overnight), our operations efficiently and confidentially, to follow government lockdown regulations. However, keeping the show on the road is not just about systems and processes, it’s also about the well-being of people and teams. Internally, we have all invested more time in talking to each other. Sometimes, just sharing a remote coffee or alternatively problem-solving or working on future plans.  During busier times in the future, we aim to keep this going as we have recognised the value in team contributions and supporting each other.  It’s also enabled us to brainstorm some exciting ideas for the future. It’s certainly kept us sane (almost!) while working from home.
  3. Supporting our community. Right from the beginning, we agreed that we would aim to support our community during the pandemic, in as many ways as we could. Here’s a sample of what we ‘ve been doing and plan to keep doing:
    • Volunteering – supporting everyone to take on voluntary roles. From one of our barristers volunteering with the NHS, through to one of the practice management team leading Covid-19 village support teams in his local community;
    • Supporting our local business service providers – from our business premises to our catering suppliers, we have been looking at ways to ensure we continue to contribute to their businesses in light of financial uncertainty;
    • Offering career guidance and opportunities – ensuring that paid work experience placements, recruitment and career advice continues remotely;
    • Promoting diversity and social mobility – seeking advice, ideas, policies and initiatives to help aspiring barristers who are traditionally under-represented at the Bar.

We recognise there’s so much more we can do! However, we also know the importance of keeping things realistic and practical during these times, as well balancing our own well-being. How are you keeping your own work culture positive during these times?  We would love to hear your views and ideas.

Gainsborough Law is a boutique barristers’ chambers based in London, set up to service the needs of its clients in a professional, modern and innovative way. To find out more about us and our expert areas of practice, visit www.gainsboroughlaw.com.

 

Gainsborough Law Twitter Account

Let’s connect on Twitter!

Come say ‘hello’ to us on our twitter account @GainsboroughLDN 

We’re on twitter to connect, learn, share and tell you more about who we are and the services we offer.

We look forward to seeing you there!

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We’ve moved!

Gainsborough Law is pleased to announce that it has moved to new premises at 8 Devonshire Square, London, EC2M 4YF. We look forward to welcoming you to our new office space from Friday 18th October 2019. Should you wish to arrange a meeting to discuss how we can help you, please get in touch with our friendly team by telephoning us on 020 7078 7286 or emailing enquiries@gainsboroughlaw.com.

Anna Roffey Gainsborough Law

Gainsborough Law welcomes Anna Roffey

We are delighted to announce that Anna Roffey (formerly of Old Square Chambers) has now joined Gainsborough Law.

Anna, called to the Bar in 2014, has a broad practice covering the areas of property, insolvency, public and regulatory, company and commercial law. Anna has particular expertise in the areas of aviation and dispute resolution and is currently being led by Michael Rawlinson QC in numerous claims against multiple airlines relating to toxic cabin air.

Commenting on the news, Head of Chambers, Camilla Whitehouse said:

“We are absolutely delighted to welcome Anna to Chambers. She brings expertise that further enhances the legal services we offer to our clients. Anna’s dynamic and approachable personality commends her to her peers, solicitors and clients alike and we very much look forward to working with her.”

Anna’s full profile can be viewed here. If you are interested in instructing Anna, please contact Chambers’ friendly clerking team on enquiries@gainsboroughlaw.com or 020 7078 7286.

Spinone Puppy

Camilla Whitehouse, instructed by the UK’s leading canine solicitors Cooper & Co, secures excellent result in an unusual injunction matter concerning the sale of pedigree puppies

Q: Who let the dogs out?

A: Camilla Whitehouse

Background

Camilla Whitehouse was instructed to represent two well-respected KC registered Italian Spinone breeders. In April, her clients had sought a dog to breed with their bitch. A stud dog had been identified and mating had successfully resulted in a litter of 7 puppies. In late July, a dispute arose between the owner of the stud dog and Ms Whitehouse’s clients as to the appropriate consideration for the mating, namely whether the stud’s owner should receive the first pick of bitch puppies, in lieu of a stud fee.

Ex parte urgent injunction

In early August, the stud dog owner applied and was granted an urgent ex parte injunction preventing the disposal or sale of all puppies. The stud owner continued to seek an order for specific performance, namely the provision of the bitch pick of the litter.

Ms Whitehouse, acting at short notice, drafted a fully pleaded defence to both the substantive cause of action and the prohibitory and specific performance injunctions sought.

Following her representation at a fully contested hearing, Ms Whitehouse successfully secured the discharge of the prohibitory injunction and dismissal of the interim application for specific performance. Further, Ms Whitehouse secured an order for the opposing party to pay, without deduction, all her clients’ legal costs. Thereafter, despite representations from opposing counsel, Ms Whitehouse succeeded in her applications for transfer of proceedings and track allocation.

The matter is now listed for trial of Ms Whitehouse’s clients’ damages claims, during which the Judge will hear from leading Spinone breeders.

This success follows Ms Whitehouse’s successful representation of a KC Judge in his appeal against the Kennel Club’s disciplinary board following an altercation at Crufts.

Pictured: Trevor, one of the Spinone puppies subject to the now discharged injunction.