Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one

Posted by John Chesworth Dec 2nd, 2010, in In HD enewsletter

In HD is the Harrison Drury enewsletter – welcome to our first edition. The aim of our regular bulletin is not to bore you with legal jargon, but to provide some helpful information and advice on business issues, some background information on our services and details of how we have delivered results for clients – which is what we are all about.

While the origins of Harrison Drury date back to 1901 the past three years has seen the firm undergo a huge transformation. Our aim is to be a diverse, high quality provider of legal services to businesses as well as offering a discreet private client service.

As part of our transformation, as many of you already know, we have strengthened the team across all areas and our commercial team is now a genuine full legal service provider to businesses. As such, we have brought to the firm Roger Spence to head up our new employment law division, Owen McKenna as commercial property partner, Andrew Bartlett who heads up our Garstang office, and recently David Filmer, our company and commercial solicitor. They are high quality additions who represent our mission to provide clients with the best lawyers in the region without having to go to the biggest law firms.

Two of our new additions cover important legal issues in this edition. Roger Spence talks about our new HR Compass service while David Filmer looks at what businesses can learn from the recent Liverpool FC takeover battle.

Both issues highlight the need to have the right protection and agreements in place to prevent legal issues becoming disruptive problems for your business. As we are still in the depths of the economic downturn, we have seen gaps in terms and conditions, policies, procedures and agreements get ruthlessly exposed, often to the detriment of our clients’ business and in many cases their personal lives.

So why not take advantage of our free review of employment contracts and handbooks, and terms and conditions. David and his team also offer a free review of shareholder agreements.

I hope you find our bulletin useful and please contact any one of our team if you need any help or information.

Best wishes.

In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial

Remove the burden and risk of employment claims

Posted by Roger Spence Dec 2nd, 2010, in Employment Law, In HD enewsletter

Written by Roger Spence, head of employment law and partner

Harrison Drury has recently launched a new service called HR Compass which aims to protect businesses against increased employment claims.

Why have we done this?

The facts speak for themselves. In September 2010, new statistics revealed the number of employment tribunal claims in the first quarter of this financial year rose by 24 per cent. In these difficult economic times, businesses require concise and practical advice on how best to deal with employment issues which may include redundancy programmes, disciplinary action or long term sickness absence.  However, due to recent legislation and increased awareness of their rights, employees are more likely to pursue claims against their employers than ever before.

How our scheme works

HR Compass comprises three core components that have been designed to offer seamless financial and business continuity protection.

They include:
- The audit (health check)
- Expert advice (ongoing support and dialogue)
- Insurance policy (financial security)

The latter insurance component covers our legal fees, settlements and any compensation awards made again your business. This radically minimises your exposure to unexpected financial loss and caps all your employment law and HR costs giving you peace of mind that employment disputes (which happen to all businesses) won’t have a catastrophic impact on your business.

The price of HR Compass varies according to the size of the business but it is a fixed annual cost and can be spread over instalments.

Our HR Compass brochure can be downloaded here.

If you would like us to provide a proposal and a quote, please call me on 01254 258321 or on roger.spence@harrison-drury.com

In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial

Case study: contract guards against unfair competition

Posted by Roger Spence Dec 2nd, 2010, in Business Protection, Case studies, In HD enewsletter

A client in the North West automotive sector approached us after a disgruntled employee resigned and set up in competition, while also pursuing a legal claim for constructive dismissal.

How your key players can become arch rivals

The former employee’s lawyers were threatening to go to an Employment Tribunal following allegations he had been unfairly treated in a number of ways, which included the level of bonus payment awarded to him.

Although our client had a robust defence, the prospect of having to defend an Employment Tribunal claim represented a major management headache. However, the former employee had signed a post-termination restrictive covenant, drafted several years earlier which barred him from competitive activity for a specific period.

Why restrictive covenants are crucial for safeguarding a business

We countered the move to bring a constructive dismissal claim by threatening to seek an injunction at the High Court to enforce the post termination restriction. Almost immediately, the other side hoisted the white flag.

Not only did the ex-employee drop his constructive dismissal claim, but also agreed to sign binding and enforceable undertakings that he would immediately cease trading and would respect the post termination restrictions.

The restrictive covenant was so tightly drafted in favour of our client that the issue was settled quickly and efficiently, avoiding the need for an expensive and time-consuming Employment Tribunal.

Vital steps you should take

All businesses can protect their legitimate business interests by barring key employees from dealing with or soliciting work from customers and suppliers for a period of time. This can be done within the employment contract. However, it is vitally important that such restrictions are drafted on a bespoke basis to avoid the risk of the courts determining they are too broad to be enforceable.

When recruiting key members of staff who will soon have the ear of your customers and suppliers, it is crucially important to ensure restrictive covenants are added to their employment contracts. An audit of your existing key employees is also highly advisable to ensure that they too are covered.

By taking this cost-effective action, a business will gain a set period when it can focus on strengthening relationships with customers or suppliers who might be tempted to move to a competitor or a new business set up by an ex-employee.

If you require advice on post termination please call Roger Spence on 01254 258321 or email roger.spence@harrison-drury.com

In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial

Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war

Posted by David Filmer Dec 2nd, 2010, in Business Protection, In HD enewsletter

Written by David Filmer, associate solicitor

These days we are used to hearing about the power struggle between the owners of a football club and its manager but the recent High Court battle between the owners and the directors of Liverpool Football Club (LFC) highlighted a different problem which is potentially relevant to any incorporated company.

The matter focused on the areas of company law relating to the control of a company, and the power of shareholders to control who is on the board of directors. The basic position with any incorporated company is that the shareholders own the company, and the directors run the business. In many smaller companies, the same people may fulfil both functions, but this is not always the case.

Where disputes arise, these different roles can give rise to conflicting interests. For example, while the directors run the business, they are under a duty to do so in the interests of the shareholders. In addition, shareholders have the power to remove directors from office, providing that they adhere to certain procedural matters, most notably, giving 28 days’ notice of their intention to do so.

In the case of LFC, it would appear that the owners agreed to cede the power to hire and fire directors to the chairman, Martin Broughton, in addition to giving undertakings to Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), to whom the company owed some £237m, that they would not do anything which would frustrate a potential sale.

It would appear that the court considered their actions to be unlawful in seeking to effectively sack the existing board, and replace it with one of their own choosing. It also ruled that they breached the undertakings to RBS, paving the way for the sale of the club, and for the bank to recoup its money.

For any company, no matter what the size, clarity is essential when these sorts of disputes arise.

Due to documentation put in place at the outset, the court was able to ascertain exactly what the position was and to make a ruling. Unfortunately, many companies neglect to put correct documentation in place, such as shareholder agreements, or bespoke articles of association, leading to uncertainty when disputes arise.

If you would like me to conduct a free headline review of your current shareholder agreement, please call me on 01254 258321 or email david.filmer@harrison-drury.com

In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial

Delivering results: testimonial

Posted by Communications Director Dec 2nd, 2010, in In HD enewsletter

“Handelsbanken is in great shape, well capitalised and liquid. We are winning a lot of new banking business in Preston and need quality professional firms to support us as we grow. We have a meaningful and productive relationship with the growing team at Harrison Drury. They have acted on a number of our deals and we have found them to be efficient, responsive and business minded. They give straightforward advice and work well to a deadline”

Simon Raine, Branch Manager

Handelsbanken, Preston

In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial

The Harrison Drury blog

Posted by Communications Director Dec 2nd, 2010, in In HD enewsletter

The Harrison Drury blog was launched in 2008 and contains a raft of easy to read articles across business and private client matters. We also have a comment facility for visitors to ask questions. Since its launch we’ve had over 20,000 viewers and we post a new blog each week. Please click through to www.harrison-drury.com to see our bloggers in action.

In HD news articles:
Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one
Remove the burden and risk of employment claims
Case study: contract guards against unfair competition
Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war
Delivering results: testimonial

In HD: November 2010

Posted by John Chesworth Nov 25th, 2010, in eNews Stories

Welcome to In HD, our enewsletter. Please click on any of the links below to view our latest edition.

Welcome to our enewsletter, In HD, issue one

Remove the burden and risk of employment claims

Case study: contract guards against unfair competition

Don’t let boardroom disputes become a turf war

Delivering results: testimonial