Whether you’re part of a small firm or a multi-national corporation, Kiteley’s can advise on all aspects of company and business law. If you own your own business, you’ll need a legal team you can trust, who are committed to getting your deals done and who can address the corporate and commercial questions that can challenge any organisation.

We are able to counsel you on such matters as:

•    Starting a business
•    Partnerships and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP’s)
•    Company formations
•    Commercial Property
•    Mergers and acquisitions
•    Share agreements and transfers
•    Employment issues
•    Licences
•    Franchises

Facebook was famously started by Mark Zuckerburg (although some would dispute this!), in his bedroom at Harvard, and is the epitome of a successful entrepreneurial enterprise. Starting your own business is certainly both an exciting and a daunting prospect; however first-class professional advice can assist you in navigating the sometimes complex process and help you to minimise any risk.

Once you have decided to become your own boss you will need to make decisions about how you wish to trade – whether as a partnership, a limited company or with you alone at the helm. Whatever it is that you do decide, we can help to safeguard your legal and financial position by ensuring that any business agreement is clear from the start. We will also ensure that paperwork is thoroughly investigated to guard you against any future problems.

At Kiteleys we aim to guide you at every step of the way, from the initial negotiations right through to completion, leaving you free to concentrate on the practical issues of making your new business a success.

A recent spate of television talent shows has once again raised the issue of child stars and their appearance on-screen.

In particular, Britain’s Got Talent attracts a number of young children and their parents, hoping to make it as performers. Last month saw nine year old Malakai Paul breaking down in tears during his performance in front of the panel of celebrity judges and a large public audience; provoking numerous complains and concerns over whether television companies were putting their ratings before the welfare of young children.

The laws protecting child performers, which look at things like working hours, educations and welfare, were introduced in 1968 and are currently up for discussion. Apparently ministers will begin meeting with broadcasters including the BBC and ITV and production companies such as Simon Cowell’s firm SyCo, to discuss ways to protect vulnerable young people taking part in high-profile series. The government report, which will be the focus of these discussions, has set out proposals to reform areas relating to working hours, medicals, education, children under 14 and chaperones.

As the world of entertainment becomes more commercialised, the need for good legal advice has become even more important, not only protect the value of your rights but also to take full advantage of the commercial opportunities which come your way. If you’ve chosen a life in the spotlight Kiteleys can offer you extensive advice on royalties, intellectual property, endorsements and artist agreements. Contact us here.

All of this bad weather may have you yearning for a holiday and, although a recent campaign featuring beloved celebrities may have been extolling the virtues of holidaying at home, a sun-soaked island could be just the thing to cheer you up.

However, despite any amount of careful planning, things don’t always go as you might have hoped and unfortunately you can just as easily become ill, or have an accident, abroad as you can at home.

The most common accidents that cause injury whilst on holiday are:

•    Tripping or slipping in your Hotel
•    Being involved in a road traffic accident whilst travelling to or from your Hotel
•    Becoming injured whilst on an excursion arranged by your tour operator
•    Becoming injured whilst using Hotel facilities
•    Contracting food poison whilst eating in your Hotel

However, all is not lost. If you do experience any kind of injury whilst abroad, then you may be entitled to claim compensation when you get home – whether that’s directly for your injuries, or for loss of enjoyment of your holiday and any loss of earnings incurred.

Furthermore, if you booked your holiday as a package deal through a tour operator then they owe you a duty of a care, to ensure your safety whilst on holiday. As such, if they have failed to provide you with a safe and hygienic environment in which to travel, then you may be able to make claim compensation through your tour operator on your return to the UK.

If you’ve been the victim of injury whilst abroad, and would like to make a claim, then contact us and we’d be happy to answer any questions.

When a husband and wife rented their home to a respectable couple, the last thing they might have expected was to find that it had been turned into a cannabis factory. However, when Shaun and Katie Thomas returned to the house, they found it filled with 500 cannabis plants worth £250,000.

Having rented their family home to a seemingly perfect pair of tenants, who produced good references and were able to pay £850 a month rent, Mr and Mrs Thomas moved to South Wales with their family. When the couple came back to carry-out a routine inspection they found tons of soil stored in the loft, “hundreds of plants, masses of lights and cables everywhere and ducts going up through the roof”.

The soil was found to have caused structural damage, other parts of the house were water damaged, and holes had been knocked into walls damaging the electrical supply. The tenants fled as the inspection was being carried out, and the landlords have been left liable for thousands of pounds of restoration work. Although the house was insured, they have received no compensation as they were not covered for ‘malicious damage’ and police have been unable to trace the tenants.

Although this sort of issue is not particularly common, many problems do arise when people consider letting their property.  If you are thinking of letting your property, Kiteleys can advise on drafting Residential Tenancy Agreements, as well as on many other areas of property law. Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

A couple of weeks ago, a widely circulated news-story brought in to question the laws surrounding age discrimination and unfair dismissal.

Leslie Seldon claimed that he had been unfairly dismissed, from his law firm in Kent, Clarkson Wright & Jakes, due to his age. Despite being told that he would have to retire at 65, the firm partner argued that he still “felt up to working”, and that he had concerns over his financial state if he was forced to stop work. Eventually, he decided to place a claim for unfair dismissal on the grounds of age discrimination.

Having ultimately had his case dismissed by an employment tribunal, the Employment Appeal Tribunal and the Court of Appeal, it finally came before the Supreme Court. However, the highest court in the country also dismissed his claim, accepting Clarkson Wright & Jakes argument that “it retired partners at 65 to allow younger solicitors to step up to partnership and to help retain talented lawyers”.

Despite the default retirement age of 65 being abolished last October, this outcome suggests that, if an employer can provide legitimate reasons for its retirement policy, then employees can be forced to retire. Specifically, in this case those reasons included:

•    Ensuring younger workers had the opportunity of becoming a partner after a reasonable period
•    Facilitating planning by having a realistic long-term expectation as to when vacancies will arise
•    Limiting the need to expel partners for poor performance

Although Mr. Seldon’s case was unsuccessful, there are numerous instances where an employee could be found to have been unfairly dismissed. These usually come under the headings of Automatic Unfair Dismassal, Constructive Dismissal, Wrongful dismissal and a breach of contract. For more information see our Employment page.

If you feel that you have been unfairly dismissed then please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Many countryside villages do not seem to have a voice to impact any real power but The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) is urging the Government to offer a balance between the 15% green energy target that they are aiming for by 2020 and the protection of England’s green and pleasant land.

Mr Bryson, President of the Campaign to Protect Rural England commented  “This countryside – ‘incredibly beautiful, dangerously finite and infinitely precious’ – will continue to change, as it always has. But the speed and scale of the change we are now seeing as a result of the proliferation of wind turbines is immense and threatens to damage the character of many landscapes for at least a generation.”

Alongside the obvious reasons against; turbines are seen as eyesores creating noise pollution, environmentalists now have concerns about this rapid and increased growth might alter the views of climate change campaigners.  Given the Government’s general ‘gung ho’ approach to planning, short-term strategy and lack of thought to the essence of environment; the countryside itself, these plans almost go against what they endeavour to preserve.

Planning processes have meant 2,445 turbines have been granted permission and an additional 2,974 awaiting a decision. When all is said and done to reach the sustainable energy levels required through wind power a total of 10,000 turbines will need to be built onshore.

On the flip side of the argument , Andrew Pendleton, Head of Campaigns at Friends of the Earth, believes the public particularly those from rural areas are supportive of wind energy, regardless of this recent research.

“It’s not surprising that wind power enjoys the backing of two thirds of the population – the clean energy it produces is essential for reducing our reliance on expensive fossil fuels and tackling rocketing fuel bills. He said

“It’s time to stop tilting at windmills and get on with the urgent task of building a clean British energy industry that will boost our economy, create jobs and save us all money.” Andrew continued.

The Legal Services Board which oversees the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales has found systemic problems with Will writing services, saying that 20% of Wills contain mistakes.  Research undertaken by the LSB indicates simple errors, consistent patterns of carelessness, and poor communication such as getting amounts and names wrong and worse still, it is proved to be happening far too often.

Currently anybody can supply a Will-writing service, the LSB wants to introduce all providers to be regulated and for solicitors to face closer inspections. Proposals have been put forward for a new directive on all Will-writing which aims to provide better protection to consumers and the services that they are paying for in good faith. Controversially, The Law Society has suggested that only solicitors should be allowed to offer Will-writing services.

David Edmonds, chairman of the LSB says “Making a Will is something everyone should do. It is one of the most important actions that individuals take,”

The LSB is currently discussing what other forms of legal advice should be regulated. At present advice on unfair dismissal and family cases can be provided by individuals who are not legally trained and questions as to their ability to offer the correct service and advice is currently under scrutiny.

At Kiteleys, we pride ourselves on offering our customers a professional and easy-to-understand, service. If you require our services, or have any questions, please feel free to contact us or pop in for a chat.

Some important changes to employment law came into force on April 6.  Employment reform, will double the time an employee has to work for a company from 1 year to 2 years, before being able to make unfair dismissal claim.

Employees taken on from 6 April 2012 will be affected by the new two year rule. If you are already in employment you qualify to take a claim against that employer after one year.  Currently you do not have to pay to take out an application; however the government intend to introduce a charge in 2013 to stop staff taking out petitions against employers, without sufficient grounds.

The change is part of a group of reforms that aim to boost business, by reducing demand for long-lasting and expensive employment tribunal hearings. The government states that businesses will directly save £10 million a year, and will enable businesses to take on staff and improve procedures when staff are let go.

The business secretary, Vince Cable, said: “For too long now the system in place for employment tribunals has been a bloated and bureaucratic obstacle for employers and the taxpayer. For employers they were finding that weak and vexatious cases were too much of the norm, too easy to bring forward, while for the taxpayer they were proving ever more expensive to run.

“We have seen claims drop in the last year and we want to see this continue as we introduce alternative measures in the coming months helping both parties resolve workplace disputes.”

Kiteleys Solicitors is delighted to announce that this year’s Red & White Appeal Day has been an overwhelming success.

It’s favoured charity; Southampton Hospital Charity, managed to raise an incredible sum of over £40,000 on Friday 9^th March for their Red and White Appeal.  This brings the trust fund of donations one step closer to the target which will enable the building of a new day treatment unit for blood cancer patients at Southampton General Hospital.

The red and white appeal day has allowed the charity to surpass their incredible £1million milestone.  The current total now stands at £1.15million, closing in on the £1.76million target.

We hope to see this proposed project become a reality as soon as possible, which will add significant benefits to patients who are receiving life saving treatments.

The next fundraising event will be; Horse or cycle ride, to take place 12^th May 2012, 10am start.  The event has been organised by the New Forest Rotary and will take place in Burley, the New Forest. Why not choose Southampton Hospital Charity as your charity?

Find out more about the Red & White Appeal.

It can be difficult to get your head round copyrighting and ownership of registered and unregistered design rights, and in the digital world, it is becoming forever easier for companies to rip of others’ designs. Millions of pictures and designs are posted online every day on blogs, websites and social media sites, and some large brands have been caught out copying images and using them as their own.

Fashion student Nicola Kirkbride was shocked to find that a photo of herself that had been posted on her blog had been printed on a yellow jumper stocked in Tesco. As she had not been asked or informed of the use of her image, she decided to fight back, and wants compensation from Tesco for using her photo.  When Nicola contacted Tesco they reportedly said they had no idea how the mistake happened, but they are apparently looking into it.

H&M has also been accused of plagiarism after copying artist Tori LaConsay, who painted ‘You Look Nice Today’ with a little red heart on a community billboard in Georgia to compliment her neighbours. The artist later found that an almost identical design had been used by H&M in their UK homeware collection. When Tori contacted H&M regarding her work being copied, immediately everything was denied. Since a social media backlash, the company has contradicted their original reply, saying that the design was not copied but influenced by her work.

There can sometimes be a fine line between infringement and influence, so if you need any advice regarding a possible breach of copyright or design rights, it’s best to get in contact with a solicitor.

At Kiteleys, we would be happy to offer you advice about protecting your designs or intellectual property offline and online, so get in touch if you would like to discuss how we can help you.