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Actons

20 REGENTS STREET, NOTTINGHAM, NG1 2AX

What we say about the firm's legal practice in East Midlands

Corporate and commercial

Within Nottingham and Derby, tier 4

The continuing high regard in which longstanding clients hold the corporate and commercial team at Actons can be attributed to the focus of Adrian Foster’s group on maintaining and growing relationships with the owner managed business sector. The team includes corporate finance expert Simon Dakin (who impresses clients with his ‘personal attention to assignments and commercial approach to finding solutions’) and rising star Peter Flowerday, and advised on matters including a £1m MBI in the building industry; the sale of a specialist UK packaging distribution business; and the establishment of an upstream supply network in the Far East and distribution arrangements in the UK and the US for a leisure and fitness industry client.

Dispute resolution

Within Debt recovery , Actons is a third tier firm,

Actons’ personalised service has attracted new client The Nottingham Park Estate Limited to its collection of high street retailers and equipment coding concerns for whom it provides bulk debt collection services. Insolvency debt cases are a distinguishing feature of the practice.

Within Nottingham and Derby, tier 4

Actons continues to represent its owner-manager client base on matters including partnership disputes and issues arising from business sales, and has a developing niche in equine law cases, which has resulted in instructions on several substantial disputes. Mediation is the method often best suited to clients of Chris Murratt and insolvency specialist Richard Leman.

East Midlands Overview

Finance

Within Insolvency and corporate recovery, Actons is a first tier firm,

At Actons, stand-out lawyer Nicky Calthrop-Owen’s contentious insolvency skills were put to use in a variety of complex fraud investigations and asset recovery cases in 2008. Leading player Richard Leman has 30 years’ experience, and Chris Murratt adds to the litigation prowess of the team, which ‘competes easily with larger regional and national competitors’.

Human resources

Within Employment, Actons is a third tier firm,

At Actons, the ‘down-to-earth’ Claire Bell is noted for her data protection experience. Employers and senior employees have instructed the firm on equal pay, sex and race discrimination and dismissal matters.

Insurance

Within Personal injury and clinical negligence - claimant, Actons is a third tier firm,

Tom Payne has joined highly experienced head Peter Seymour and Gary Chadwick at Actons, which works for claimants in road traffic and employer’s liability cases.

Private client

Within Family, Actons is a third tier firm,

Regarded as a ‘very safe pair of hands’, Michael Spencer at Actons assists clients on financial disputes arising on divorce, through trusts and estates, and on incapacity. He has recently achieved notable successes in high-value ancillary relief matters involving an expatriate client and a settlement on realisation of property when the divorce occurred 34 years earlier.

Within Personal tax, trusts and probate, Actons is a third tier firm,

Actons’ clients range from individuals to charities and NGOs seeking advice on trusts, tax and the legislation relating to trusts and public guardianship matters.

Real estate

Within Nottingham and Derby, Actons is a third tier firm,

Susan Lawson at Actons has recently advised two European banks on the financing and re-mortgaging of a waste recycling centre and a hotel; and Amanda Gordon has assisted with the acquisition of development sites for housing associations. The group has niche specialisms in minerals and transactions involving medical practices, in addition to handling the full range of property matters.

What we say worldwide

Please choose another Actons office to view full details of what we say in that region, or choose from this list to view a specific editorial reference in context.

East Midlands

Offices in Nottingham

Legal Developments in the UK

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to

  • Changes to the child visitor immigration rules from 1 January 2010

    From 1 January 2010, students from countries outside the European Economic Area will be able to apply to enter the UK for up to six months on an exchange or educational visit to a state-maintained school, a non-maintained special school, an independent fee-paying school or an independent non fee-paying school. They will not require entry clearance, unless they are nationals of countries who require a visa to enter the UK.
    - Penningtons Solicitors LLP

  • Introduction of biometric processing for tier 2 in-country applications  - a reminder

    Regulations extending identity cards for foreign nationals (ICFN) to skilled workers came into force on 6 January 2010. All tier 2 applications made inside the UK now involve the enrolment of the applicant's biometric information (fingerprints and photograph).
    - Penningtons Solicitors LLP

  • Pulling the plug on a television documentary:a case study

    Out of the blue, you receive a call from a broadcaster proposing to feature your company in a prime-time documentary. The broadcaster tells you that they have footage covertly filmed inside the company by a former employee, accompanied by sensational stories from the same source. After carrying out initial enquiries, you ascertain that the former employee left on bad terms, the footage is staged and the stories are, in some instances, untrue and, in others, wildly exaggerated. You must stop the broadcast. Your next two calls are to your PR or communications team and your media lawyers. These teams will work alongside each other to apply just the right amount of pressure on the broadcaster to ensure that the story is dropped. You gather your team around you and prepare as much information as possible to hand over to the media lawyers.
    - Schillings

  • Stop the press:the Reynolds defence

    Reynolds v Times Newspapers Ltd & ors [2001] established a new defence for libel claims in which the story is in the public interest and the publisher acted ‘responsibly’. The Reynolds defence is designed to protect serious investigative journalists acting in good faith and reporting on matters of public interest. Even where allegations are false and hugely damaging to the subject of the publication, publishers can make use of this defence. However, Reynolds has also provided a useful tool for subjects to delay, if not prevent, publication of defamatory allegations.
    - Schillings

  • Fire safety: a burning legal issue

    Heralded as the biggest overhaul of fire safety legislation in 40 years, the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order (FSO) 2005 was introduced in April 2006 with the intention of streamlining existing legislation, reducing the burden on business and improving safety by allowing fire authorities (the bodies responsible for fire brigades in each area) to concentrate on high-risk premises; all of which are laudable aims. But over three years on what’s been the reality?
    - Bond Pearce LLP

  • Terminal traps in insurance contracts

    The terms of any insurance contract can be categorised as conditions, conditions precedent, warranties, or terms delimiting the risk. The status of conditions and warranties in mainstream contract law is reversed in insurance law. Breach:
    - Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

  • Samsun Logix and developing cross-border insolvency issues

    With the ever-increasing trend towards globalisation, it is often observed that there are few businesses of reasonable size that do not trade across borders. At this difficult economic time, many are likely to have overseas suppliers, contractors, counter-parties and customers undergoing financial difficulties. For these businesses, cross-border insolvency issues are cropping up frequently. At the same time, the law is rapidly developing, with cases on cross-border insolvency issues regularly brought before the English and foreign courts.
    - Holman Fenwick Willan

  • Agreement finally reached on EU telecoms reform package

    On 5 November 2009 the European Commission announced that the European Parliament and Council of Ministers had finally reached an agreement on the issues outstanding in the reform of the EU Common Regulatory Framework for Communications (CRF). Disagreement between the European Parliament and the member states (via their position in the Council) earlier this year had threatened to significantly delay the vital reform of the CRF.
    - SJ Berwin LLP

  • Dispute resolution clauses in IT contracts

    Given the relatively frequent occurrence of disputes over contracts for the supply of software and IT services, dispute resolution provisions are an important feature. In the recent case of Ericsson AB v Eads Defence and Security Systems Ltd [2009], the High Court had an opportunity to consider such provisions and their relationship with rights of termination and remedies under the contract.
    - SJ Berwin LLP

  • Under review: current consultations and market studies

    THE EU and UK competition authorities are carrying out several consultations on revised legislation and guidance, as well as a number of market studies.
    - Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP
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