Philippa Baty joined Bermans in October 2024 and is a Solicitor in our Property team.
She studied at the University of the West of England qualified as a Solicitor in 2017.
Philippa primarily assists the team on a variety of commercial property matters, including freehold and leasehold sales and purchases.
Outside of work, Philippa enjoys playing the drums and cycling, as well as seeing friends and family, going for walks/to the beaches on the Wirral…plus the odd psychological thriller or true crime documentary!
Jessica joined Bermans as a Paralegal in April 2022 and is currently a Trainee Solicitor in our Property team based in Liverpool.
Jessica obtained a First Class Law Degree and completed her Legal Practice Course and Masters Qualification at Liverpool John Moores University. She also has experience in advising Commercial Employment, Public Sector Employment and Business Immigration clients.
Jessica assists with a variety of property matters, including but not limited to, property finance transactions, commercial and residential property acquisitions and sales, bridging finance deals, re-finances, buy-to-let investment acquisitions and sales.
Jessica prides herself on providing effective commercial solutions for her clients.
We were rather surprised recently to see a commercial law firm attempt to impose Third Party Debt Orders (“TPDOs”) both on an invoice financier and on debtors whose debts had been assigned to it, in each case in favour of a claimant who had secured a court judgment against the assignor.
TPDOs were formerly known as Garnishee orders, and are governed by Rule 72 of the Civil Procedure Rules which provides:
In a recent Briefing we commented on the case of Haydock Finance Limited v Starcruiser Bussing Limited [2021] EWHC 622 (Comm) in which we successfully represented a funder in defeating an unmeritorious challenge, backed up by the debtor’s “expert evidence,” to the technical aspects of an asset financier’s securitisation process: see https://www.bermans.co.uk/securitisation-and-the-right-to-sue/
We wondered whether this sort of challenge might spread across to invoice finance, so we were interested to see the Court of Appeal reject a series of technical challenges to the assignment process in the recent judgment in a series of cases reported at [2021] EWCA Civ 1682.
The business of law has changed significantly over the last couple of decades, ranging from significant developments in terms of the structure and operation of commercial law firms servicing business clients, to the funding models of “ambulance chasing” litigation covering a wide range of claims from alleged financial mis-selling to simple road traffic accident claims.
It is some time since we examined the topic of invoice finance for lawyers in a Briefing, and we were reminded of its significance in a recent court judgement involving a claim by a funder against a solicitor’s insurer which would have been of great interest to the invoice finance industry had it succeeded.
In 2002 Becker was charged and convicted of tax evasion by Munich District Court after pleading guilty to evading about 1.7m euros tax by claiming to live in Monte Carlo at a time when his main residence was in Munich.
More recently, on 21 June 2017, Becker was declared bankrupt by the High Court following a petition from private bank Arbuthnot Latham presented against him on 28 April 2017 after Becker defaulted on loan repayments for a loan of circa £3.5m for a property in Mallorca.
Andy Wood is a tax adviser and Barrister with ETC Tax. His clients include entrepreneurs, high-net-worth individuals, sports persons and entertainers and private companies. He believes passionately that all clients should get clear and decisive advice that should be delivered in plain English.
Introduction
This is the second and final article in this series. In the first, I considered fungible tokens such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. In this part, I consider Non-Fungible Tokens (“NFTS”), crypto-mining activities and other miscellaneous crypto activities. I also touch on compliance.
Late March saw the end of some long-standing temporary changes in the law due to COVID-19, and the introduction of some new ones! Commercial landlords and tenants are affected.
From early in the first lockdown in 2020, commercial landlords were banned from exercising most of the usual remedies available to them to enforce rent arrears that fell due during the period of the pandemic, as a measure to protect tenant businesses.
Intellectual property rights are valuable assets of your business and it is important that you take steps to protect them. You can do this by registering your rights and ensuring that anyone infringing those rights is stopped as soon as possible.
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Trainee Solicitor
Robert Maddocks, qualified as Solicitor in 2008 and joined Bermans in July 2019 as a Senior Associate in the Employment team.
