We asked Jon Hussey, Director of Financial Planning at Lumin Wealth Management to sit down with us and talk about working alongside the teams at Sherrards.

Jon kindly played ball and also left us a glowing review!

“[Alasdair] has a good professional team around him, which makes things easy.”

Here, Jon talks about our Managing Partner Alasdair, their long relationship, and the Commercial Property teams who have supported Jon, his business, and its clients for nearly thirty years.

To find out more about Lumin Wealth, please click here.

We asked Prem Shergill, IFA at Grosvenor Wealth Management, to speak to us about how the Sherrards Private Client team supports her and her clients.

Prem kindly shares how her clients are often referred to our Private Wealth teams to help her clients to protect their assets.

She says “Everyone at Sherrards is very friendly, professional and full of knowledge and expertise.”

To find out more about Prem and Grosvenor Wealth Management, please click here.

Dan kindly played ball and also left us a glowing review! “With Sherrards, there’s no pretence, you get a great responsive service.”

Here is Dan talking about our Commercial Property team who have supported Dan and his ventures.

Recently our Corporate and Commercial and Employment team supported Dan with his recent venture and the acquisition of Soho Sandwich Company. You can read about that by clicking here.

We asked Anne-Maree Dunn, Client Partner and Head of Tax at WMT to sit down with us and talk about working alongside the teams at Sherrards. This comes as part of our client testimonial video project to showcase the Sherrards teams, the people we support and how we support them.

Anne-Maree advises business owners and individuals on tax opportunities and challenges and works closely alongside many of the team from Sherrards including our Corporate and Commercial, Commercial Property, Employment, Residential Property and Private Wealth teams.

These videos were filmed by Pearldrop Video Production at The Hub on Verulam.

To find out more about WMT and Anne-Maree Dunn, click here.

The obvious theme being the ‘dismissal’, and the fact that employment is ending or has ended. However, in many cases, those concepts are used interchangeably as if they all represent the same claim, yet they are all very distinct and separate claims that have to be considered against the applicable legal principles. A bit like an Urban dictionary, we will tell you what they really mean…

Summary Dismissal

This one is easy – a summary dismissal is a dismissal of an employee without any notice (and without paying them any notice either). Thus, it is quite common in cases of gross misconduct for the employee to be summarily dismissed. 

 

Wrongful Dismissal

This is a breach of contract claim, namely that the employer has dismissed the employee in breach of the terms of the employment contract.

If the employment contract provides that the employee is entitled to 3 months’ notice on termination, but the employer only gives 2 months’ notice, then this will give rise to a wrongful dismissal claim. It is a contractual claim, and the employee will point to the fact that they have suffered loss – 1 month’s loss of salary and benefits.

Often this claim is pursued when the employer terminates without any notice (see summary dismissal above), but the employee contends that the employer did not have grounds to terminate without notice. This claim is not concerned with the fairness of the procedure followed; it is simply an anaylsis of whether the employer has breached the employment contract.

This claim can be pursued in the Employment Tribunal but a cap of £25,000 applies on the value of that claim. Thus, if the wrongful dismissal claim is worth more than £25,000, it may need to be pursued in the High Court.

 

Unfair Dismissal

To bring a standard unfair dismissal claim, the employee needs 2 years continuous service with their employer. No such service requirement exists for wrongful dismissal claims.

If an employee has more than 2 years of continuous service and is dismissed by their employer (irrespective of whether notice was given), they can claim that they have been unfairly dismissed.

The Employment Tribunal will consider three key issues. Firstly, did the employer have a potentially fair reason to dismiss the employee. There are currently 5 recognised potentially fair reasons – capability, conduct, redundancy, breach of a statutory duty or restriction, and some other substantial reason. The dismissal must be for one of those reasons. Secondly, the Tribunal has to be satisfied that the employer followed a fair procedure in reaching the decision to dismiss and thirdly, that the employer acted reasonably in treating that reason as sufficient to warrant dismissal.

Thus, this claim is not about notice; it is about the fairness of the dismissal and will involve an analysis of the reason for dismissal, the procedure followed and whether the decision to dismiss was reasonable. 

 

Constructive Dismissal

The fundamental principle of a constructive claim is that the employee has resigned, as opposed to the employer expressly dismissing them. Note that like an unfair dismissal claim, the employee needs 2 years of continuous service with their employer to pursue a constructive dismissal claim.

In many cases, the employee will resign without notice, but equally, claims can be pursued even if the employee works their notice following their resignation. The employee typically argues that they are resigning either in response to a repudiatory breach of their employment contract by the employer (an express or implied term) or that the employer has engaged in cumulative conduct over a period, resulting in a ‘final straw’ incident, leaving them no choice but to resign.

There is much case law on examples of successful constructive dismissal claims, which can include reductions to, or non-payment of, salary or where the employer has breached trust and confidence.

In essence, the employee has to prove that they have been dismissed ‘constructively’ by their employer. If they are able to overcome that burden, then the Employment Tribunal will consider the fairness of the ‘dismissal’. 

All clear…well, brace yourselves…it is possible for an employee to be summarily dismissed (for say gross misconduct), who then alleges that they were unfairly dismissed (because, for instance, they do not believe the employer followed a fair process in dismissing them) and also alleges that they were wrongfully dismissed (on the basis that the employer did not have grounds to terminate without notice)…

We like to keep things straightforward at Sherrards; we cannot say the same for the law.

 

We asked Geoff Kent, Managing Director of Kent Family Nurseries Ltd to sit down with us and talk about working alongside the teams at Sherrards.

Geoff kindly played ball and also left us a glowing review! So, enjoy!

Here is Geoff talking about our Corporate, Employment, Immigration, and Commercial property teams who have supported Geoff and his business for coming up to ten years.

Spear’s is a multi-award-winning wealth management and luxury lifestyle media brand. The legal rankings they create are brought together by peer nominations, client feedback and interviews as well as research gathered by the Spear’s editorial team and are developed to help their readers make wise choices when it comes to their wealth.

Matthew Ball, Partner in the Litigation department at Sherrards and Head of the Classic and Supercar specialism was ranked alongside just five other ‘Top recommended’ Classic Car lawyers within the UK.

Matthew says “My colleague Jonathan Silverman and I have developed this specialism at Sherrards to support our clients with their cars, whether they are purchasing their first classic or supercar, adding to their collection, selling, or whether they need commercial advice on restoration. It is our passion, both commercially and personally, and I am very grateful to the Spear’s team for being recognised alongside such talent.”

Jonathan Silverman and Matthew Ball have many years of experience in assisting with legal matters relating to classic and supercars (alongside other high-value assets). If you would like to speak to Matthew or a member of our Classic and Supercar department, please contact him on the details below.

Firstly, we welcome Guy Morgan who joins us as Partner in our Commercial Property team. Guy specialises in banking and finances, and health and social care. He will also help to build up our international offering by supporting our French and German desks and joins our London office.

We also welcome Arthur Byng-Nelson, Legal Director, who will head up the newly formed Sherrards’ Art and Heritage Property team. Arthur joins our growing Private Wealth department and will be based in our London office.

Promotions

Shane Knight joined our Commercial Property team as a Senior Associate and has now been promoted to the Partnership. His client base includes property developers, offshore commercial interests with property investment portfolios, in addition to a range of clients from the charity sector.

Not only does Shane provide strength to our Commercial Property team, he also leads our German Desk, strengthening our international offering.

In the Litigation team, Greg Pooler has been promoted from Senior Associate to Legal Director. Greg’s experience stretches across several industries, where he has developed a joined specialism in cross-border disputes and international fraud. He has participated in numerous high-profile international cases and has established himself as an all-round excellent lawyer.

Recently, Greg spoke on behalf of the Firm in conjunction with Alliott Global Alliance at a Crypto conference in Mauritius and is developing this niche specialism at the Firm.

Emma O’Meara originally joined the firm as a consultant before engaging full-time as an Associate for the Employment team. She has quickly become the go-to lawyer for clients and referrers alike, with her pragmatic approach and commercial solutions. We are delighted to share the news that Emma has been promoted to Senior Associate.

Shen Hussein remains an integral part of our Residential Real Estate team. Based in our St Albans office, Shen has also been promoted to Associate level. Clients say they cannot recommend her enough and we tend to agree.

Piers Fransman has been promoted to Senior IT Analyst. Piers is our on-hand IT expert and in his short time with us he has proven himself to be extremely capable, helpful and kind. We are delighted to announce his promotion to Senior IT Analyst.

Abby Cowan a started at Sherrards in August 2021 as an Apprentice. Through her dedication and hard work, we are absolutely thrilled that she is staying on board and has been promoted to Marketing Assistant. 

Managing Partner Alasdair McMillin says, “It is great to see so many new faces at Sherrards, and also celebrating those in the team who have received very well-deserved promotions. We look forward to welcoming a number of new people to the team over the coming months as we continue on our growth strategy.”

A residential property solicitor is often concerned with ensuring that the Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) is never underpaid. They also hold an equally important duty to ensure their client does not overpay on SDLT.

One of the instances in where this can happen is when a property is purchased with the benefit of an annex or several annexes.

Buyers can apply for multiple dwellings relief (MDR) where they buy more than one dwelling in a transaction and rather advantageously this relief is extended to properties with annexes. 

To qualify as an annex, there are several criteria that must be met, and these are:

1. It must have a bathroom and kitchen area and must include ‘facilities for basic domestic living needs’ as required by Fiander and Bower v HMRC (2021).
2. It must have its own front door and have some privacy from the main house.
3. It must be capable of being a separate dwelling although it can be attached to the main house but must have a lockable door between the two properties.

Should the criteria be met, the SDLT can be calculated so as to divide the total amount paid for the properties by the number of dwellings.  The SDLT is then worked out on this figure and multiplied by the number of dwellings.

Solicitors must ensure they make the correct investigations on whether there is an annex by asking the surveyor, the estate agent and the seller’s lawyers.

Please feel free to reach out to me, on the details shown below, if you have a question on this article or any property matter.

As technology continues to rapidly advance, the law must play catch up. Greg and Max participated in this panel discussion to offer their perspective on how digital assets such as cryptocurrencies have been received within the legal and regulatory framework of the English jurisdiction.

Greg Pooler, a Legal Director within Sherrards’ commercial disputes team, advises clients in relation to disputes involving digital assets as part of his commercial fraud and asset recovery practice.  Greg provided a comprehensive overview of the legal position under English law as to the treatment and classification of digital assets.

Greg observed that: “Like many of the other jurisdictions represented on the panel, there is currently no coherent legal architecture specific to digital assets in the English jurisdiction.”  Unless digital assets exhibited the characteristics of financial products that fell within the perimeter of pre-existing financial services regulation (and in practice few digital assets do so), the sector was largely unregulated and investors in digital assets were afforded very limited protection.  Notwithstanding these deficiencies from the legislative perspective, the common law has made significant strides in accommodating digital assets within the conceptual framework of English property law, albeit the decisions to date struggle to reconcile the characteristics of certain digital assets with the traditional categories of property that the law currently recognises.

Max Marmor, a member of the Commercial Property team where we see a cross over in this area in terms of real estate investment, reflected on several key cases that have been decided by the English High Court in recent years.  These cases have grappled with questions concerning the classification and treatment of digital assets and the legal remedies that are available to litigants seeking to assert their rights over, or entitlement to, such assets. According to Max: “The English High Court has shown itself to be pragmatic and responsive to the evolving crypto industry. Recent decisions suggest England can be the appropriate jurisdiction for claims that often lack centralisation.”

One case Max was keen to highlight to the conference audience in Mauritius and those tuning in online was the seminal decision of the High Court in AA v Persons Unknown [1] in which the Court for the first time recognised that Bitcoin should be classified as property,  entitling the applicant in that case to freezing injunction relief. Greg emphasised the significance of this decision and referred the panel to a recent 500-page Law Commission report on virtual assets containing the radical suggestion that English law should recognise a third category of property called “digital objects”. This would capture the nuanced and idiosyncratic nature of certain types of digital assets that the current property law framework is ill-equipped to deal with.

Benita Elisa, founder of Wakanda 4.0,  which organised the Cryptoverse Summit and who moderated the event added: “Hearing from this international panel really helped set the scene for our event we believe that Metaverse platforms have the potential to transform how, when and where companies interact with their customers, as extended reality platforms enable businesses to deliver new experiences and provide information in new ways.

Greg and Max were joined on the panel by other members of the Alliott Global Alliance (alliottglobal.com) led by Ashveen Gopee from Lex Frontier,  Mauritius; Diego Nunes from Estudio Nunes & Associados, Argentina; Audra White from Platt Cheema Richmond, USA;  Anthony Marrin from H.Y.Leung, Hong Kong;  Kenneth Muhangi from KTA Advocates, Uganda  and Songul Top from STA Legal, France. Each offered unique insights and expertise on their countries’ varying approaches to the crypto industry. 

The recording of the Cryptoverse Summit and the Alliott Global Alliance panel with Sherrards can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdKXP0FvhC0&t=11877s&ab_channel=WakandaNews

Greg speaks 2:52.10 and Max is at 3:14.30.

[1] AA v Persons Unknown who demanded Bitcoin on 10th and 11th October 2019 and others [2019] EWHC 3556 (Comm)