The Legal 500

Borneos

CHANCERY HOUSE, 199 SILBURY BOULEVARD, MILTON KEYNES, MK9 1LJ
Tel:
Work 01908 696002
Fax:
Fax 01908 677640
DX:
54471 MILTON KEYNES 1
Web:
www.borneolinnells.co.uk
Email:
Newport Pagnell, Milton Keynes, Bedford

This general but increasingly commercially focused practice, based in Bedford, Milton Keynes and Newport Pagnell, has strength in company commercial, corporate employment, commercial property, commercial litigation, family, trusts and probate, and residential conveyancing.

The firm: With roots going back to 1869, the firm has expanded significantly over recent years and is now a leading practice in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire. In 1998 Borneos opened its Milton Keynes office and in 2000 it took over the Newport Pagnell firm Bull, McHale & Barker. More recently, Borneos’ Milton Keynes office was joined by the former Banbury practice Alan Hamblett and Co, which increased the firm’s presence in commercial litigation and debt recovery throughout the region.

In the past year, the firm has focused, in particular, on developing its commercial practice in Milton Keynes. Borneos takes its corporate social responsibilities seriously and supports various local and national charities, including RSPCA, Age Concern (Milton Keynes), the Road Accident Victims’ Trust and the Ibbett Trust. As a supporter of the arts, the practice is also involved with organisations, such as the Milton Keynes Gallery and Milton Keynes Community Foundation, together with a wide range of other locally based charitable bodies.

Types of work undertaken: Company and commercial: services include advice on all legal aspects of business including company secretarial services, partnerships, LLPs, shareholders’ agreements, management and trading agreements, and finance arrangements. Expertise is also provided on corporate finance, business sales, M&A, management buy-ins and buy-outs, and advice on company reorganisation. The department also advises on agency and distribution agreements, confidentiality agreements, IT agreements, e-commerce and all aspects of intellectual property.

Commercial property: wide-ranging expertise in property sales and purchases, land development, leases and licences, licensed premises, agricultural property, and providing advice on mines, minerals and landfill. The Milton Keynes commercial property and company and commercial departments also have particular expertise in the sale and acquisition of residential care homes and significant expertise on environmental issues, such as contamination of land, cleanup agreements and asbestos management. The Bedford commercial property and company and commercial departments also have highly specialised expertise on green energy issues, including biofuels, anaerobic digestors, biomass, wind farms and green leases.

Employment: assists employers in managing the relationship with their workforce, including advising on the wide range of policies, procedures, documentation needed to maintain or terminate employment relationships. The corporate employment services department complements both the company and commercial and commercial property departments, with detailed advice on the employment law ramifications of their clients activities, including TUPE, redundancy, information and consultation, and equality and human rights.

Commercial litigation: provides swift and cost-effective results for a range of problems, such as disputes between shareholders, contract claims, negligence claims, claims arising from leases or other property-related disputes, copyright, trade mark or other intellectual property issues. The Milton Keynes office has a designated debt recovery team and also provides expert advice on insolvency proceedings.

Residential conveyancing: services are offered from all three offices. However, the specialist practice residential property department is its Newport Pagnell office, which also houses the HIP department.

Family: expertise ranges from cohabitation and prenuptial agreements to all matters relating to children, care proceedings, separation, divorce, financial orders and domestic violence. All cases are dealt with by a large, experienced and dedicated team.

Crime: offers a full range of criminal law services ranging from representation at the police station through to representation at the magistrates and crown courts. Representation is also provided in respect of corporate crime, corporate manslaughter, fraud and regulatory compliance, and environment agency prosecutions, as well as acting in all prosecutions for the RSPCA within the Milton Keynes area.

Wills, probate and tax planning: provides advice and guidance on wills, estate administration, lasting powers of attorney, trusts and tax planning, and wealth protection supporting the services offered to both individuals and partners, and directors of owner-managed businesses.

Other offices: Milton Keynes, Newport Pagnell

Breakdown of work %
Commercial 13
Conveyancing 29
Family 28
Civil 9
Wills 9
Crime 12

Number of UK partners 23
Number of other UK fee-earners 33

Above material supplied by Borneos.

Legal Developments in the UK

Legal Developments and updates from the leading lawyers in each jurisdiction. To contribute, send an email request to
  • Student employees – new restrictions on employment

    On 10 February 2010 a Statement of Changes to the Immigration Rules was laid before Parliament which is due to come into force on 3 March 2010.
    - Penningtons Solicitors LLP
  • Landlord & Tenant Briefing

    Dilapidations in commercial premises – ten points to consider
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
  • Being a helpful Landlord may be a mistake!

    Most landlords and their solicitors try to resist the impulse to be helpful, however, in these recessionary times when landlords are concerned to avoid empty space, there may be the temptation to take shortcuts to ensure a letting proceeds. In circumstances where it is intended that Part II of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 (the 1954 Act) should not apply to the tenancy, i.e. that the tenant should not have the benefit of security of tenure, then occupation before the lease has been finalised (and the appropriate ‘contracting-out’ steps taken) is a potentially dangerous step and needs to be taken only when the landlord has fully comprehended the potential consequences.
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
  • New regime for approval of major transport projects set to ‘switch on’

    The Planning Act 2008 (the Act) introduces a new regime designed to speed up the planning and, in turn, the delivery of infrastructure projects of national significance. For transport projects, it is one of the most important pieces of legislation in recent years. The new procedure will have to be used for any third runway at Heathrow, amongst other high-profile projects.
    - Bircham Dyson Bell LLP
  • Divorce and the media: the courts, the pay-outs and the speculation

    The rising divorce rate and some well-publicised settlements running into tens of millions of pounds have focused attention on a growing issue in divorce cases: just how far can spouses go to obtain information about their partner’s financial affairs?
    - Schillings
  • Top ten really useful cases of 2009

    If you want your panel solicitor to‘get off the fence’, need to know when a cause of action accrues or wondered whether the judiciary live in the 21st century, the following cases from 2009 provide some really useful guidance. With professional negligence claims on the increase, whether you are giving or receiving legal advice, the cases discussed below highlight practical points for all legal advisers to be aware of.
    - Bond Pearce LLP
  • The twilight zone: legal issues for directors

    there is no legal definition of the term ‘twilight zone’ (perhaps derived from the cult TV series, the writer would like to think), which is now widely used to describe a period of trading when a company has, or is predicted to have, insufficient cash to pay its debts as they fall due. This might be an immediate cash-flow crisis or the problem might be anticipated many months ahead.
    - Holman Fenwick Willan
  • Cloud computing:key issues for SMEs

    Although many definitions exist, broadly speaking ‘cloud computing’ is the outsourcing of specified IT functions via the internet (the cloud) to provide or receive services that would otherwise only be available if the end user had installed the appropriate hardware and/or software on desktops, or on local networks controlled by that organisation itself. Such services may include the use of software over the internet or remote storage of business data by a third-party provider. One benefit of this is that businesses can structure payment for these services differently (for example pay-as-you-go or on a subscription basis), rather than having to pay large sunk costs for long-term software licences, and the purchase and installation of IT infrastructure necessary to support the services locally.
    - SJ Berwin LLP
  • Commission victorious in ‘regulatory holiday’ action brought against Germany

    On 3 December 2009, following an action brought by the European Commission under article 226 of the EC Treaty (now article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU) the European Court of Justice (ECJ) confirmed that Germany had failed to comply with its obligations under the European regulatory framework for telecommunications (the Common Regulatory Framework (CRF)). The ECJ’s judgment in European Commission v Germany [2009] confirms that Germany acted unlawfully by adopting a national law excluding ‘new markets’ from regulation – so called ‘regulatory holidays’.
    - SJ Berwin LLP
  • New Commission

    On Friday 27 November 2009 the new European Commission, which will begin its mandate early in 2010, was announced by Commission President José Barroso. This announcement followed a week after the appointment of Herman Van Rompuy and Catherine Ashton as the President of the European Council and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy respectively, the two new roles created by the Lisbon Treaty, which entered into force on 1 December 2009.
    - Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP