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Latest newsAccreditation for KirstenApril 30th 2010 Following a stringent test of her legal expertise, Kirby Simcox’s family lawyer Kirsten Hale is celebrating Kirsten, who qualified in 2003, has worked as part of Kirby Simcox’s large family law team since she joined the firm in 2007. She achieved the specialist accreditation status with particular specialisms in Advance Financial Provision, Private Children Law and Domestic Abuse.
To gain the accreditation Kirsten had to provide two summaries of cases she had conducted in each of her specialist areas, as well as answering detailed questions on a fictional case study for each of her specialist areas. The second stage of the assessment required Kirsten to answer detailed questions on four additional fictional case studies covering any area of family law. This examination section is made harder as it has to be completed over a weekend period with the question papers arriving with the candidate on a Friday and the completed answers having to be handed in on the following Monday.
Commenting Kirsten said, “I am delighted to have gained this Resolution Accreditation status. It was very hard work trying to combine studies with a busy full time job but is has been worth it. We now have five Resolution Accreditated Lawyers in our family team, which is one of the largest specialist family departments in the region.”
Celebrating Shakespeare's BirthdayApril 23rd 2010 Kirby Simcox Solicitors are celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday this Friday 23 April with a Big Book Sale in the firm’s three offices in Bristol, Thornbury and Kingswood and all proceeds will go to help support their chosen charity for 2010, The Tall Ships Youth Trust. Staff across Kirby Simcox’s offices have been raiding their shelves to find books to donate which will
 go on sale to colleagues and visiting clients on Friday for just £1 each. All the proceeds will help support the firms’ year long fundraising campaign to raise enough money to help a disadvantaged youngster from Bristol take part in a voyage of a lifetime with The Tall Ships Youth Trust next year.The Tall Ships Youth Trust is the world’s oldest and largest sail training charity dedicated to the education and personal development of young people through the crewing of ocean-going sail training vessels.
Partner Tom Sharkey who came up with the idea of the book sale said, “It’s almost summer and people will be going on their holidays very soon and most people like to take a couple of books away with them. We all have unwanted novels at home, so we thought it would be a good fundraising idea for staff to donate theirs for this worthy cause. We have collected hundreds of books from a diverse range of authors, so there is hopefully a book to suit most tastes. Shakespeare’s birthday on Friday 23 April, seemed like a great day to launch the Big Book Sale.”
Pictured: From left to right: Samantha Williams, Sharlie Sollars, Jeremy Johnson and Kirsten Hale
New Tax Year UpdateApril 12th 2010 The new tax year is a good time to make sure your HR policies and procedures are up to date. Kirby Simcox’s James Bell highlights some recent changes for Employers to be aware of: Right to Train
From 6 April 2010 new Regulations come into force for employers who have over 250 employees and in 2011, they will apply to all employers. They give a new right for employees to request time off from work for training or study. Think of them operating in a similar way to the current flexible working rules.
Fit Note Scheme
Quite a big one, this: from 6 April 2010, GPs will produce “fit notes” which will focus on the work that an ill person is able to do, rather than what they are unable to do. As an employer, you will need to know how to respond to it. Adjust your procedures so that you give due consideration to any recommendations by a GP. As with flexible working and the new right to train, don’t forget to keep proper records.
Allowances
From 4 April 2010, although the period of statutory maternity pay remains the same, the rate of statutory maternity pay, paternity pay, adoption pay and maternity pay is going up. SSP stays the same.
Paternity Leave
New rules from 6 April this year, apply to families with babies due on or after 3 April 2011. They allow fathers who satisfy certain conditions up to six months’ paternity leave. Employers will be pleased to know that mother & father cannot take the maternity leave at the same time. The mother must take leave first and then the father can take time off if the mother goes back to work. Even though the right can’t be exercised until 2011, now is a good time to dust off your existing maternity leave policy.
Equality
Hot off the press is the new Equality Act. This is due to take effect in October 2010. This is such a big one that we’re doing a whole separate article on it and James Bell will be organising training courses over the next few months. Watch this space for details.
For more information, contact James Bell at www.KirbySimcox.co.uk.
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having achieved Resolution Accreditation as a Specialist Family Lawyer.