|
|
IN THE NEWS
7
April 2003
The
independent : Case
Summaries
Injunctions
Cream
Holdings Ltd and ors v
Banerjee and anor
(2003 EWCA Civ 103) CA (Simon
Brown,Sedley ,Arden LJJ)
13 Feb 2003.
On THE true
construction of s12(3) of
the human right Act 1998,
the word
"likely" did
not
mean "more probable
than not". The threshold
test as to whether or not
an injunction should be
granted to prevent
publication was whether
there was a convincingly
established real prospect
of success. Edward Barley Jones
QC (Wacks Caller) for the claimants; Victoria
Sharp QC,Catrin Evans
(Brabners Chaffe Street) for
the defendants.
13
March 2003
M&A
Olswang
chief executive Jonathan
Goldstein led a team to
advise Scarlett Retail
Group - a joint venture
between Minerva property
company. Lehman Brothers
and a management team - on
it's £135m acquisition of
Allders., the UK's
fourth-largest department
store chain. Macfarlanes
corporate partner Kevin
Tuffnell advised Allders.
Weil Gotshal & Manges
managing partner Mike
Francies let the team
advising Lehman on debt
and equity financing
issues to Scarlett. The
management team was
advised by Wacks Caller
corporate partner Kevin
Philbin.
Ashurst Morris Crisp
advised Taylor &
Francis Group on it's
£60m acquisiton of the
GRC Press group of
companies. The Ashursts
team was led by corporate
partner Jeffrey Suhoon,
supported by corporeate
assistant Julie Albery.
Blank Rome corporate
partners Lewis Hoch and
William Gramlich advice
the acquirer on US issues.
The vendor was advised
bye Willkie Farr
& Gallagher corporate
assistant Julie Coleman on
US issues.
Hammonds advised heating
plumbing and pipeline
equipment distributor. The
BSS Group on its £30m
acquisition of Tricom
Group, a distributor of
heating and plumbing
products through its two
divisions P&P
Wholesale and Tricom
Supplies. The Hammonds
team was led by corporate
partner Nicholas Butcher.
The management vendors of
Tricom were advised by EMW
Law senior partner Ian
Morris Funds managed by
lcrs Equity Partners, also
vendors in this deal, were
advised by Olswang private
equity partner Chris
Mackie, supported by
private equity assistant
William Sharpe.
13
March 2003
Law
Society's Gazette:
Protection Plane
Manchester
Law Firm Wacks Caller has
launched a tribunal
protection plan for clients,
involving a
'health check' of companies'
employment policies and
insurance against both
legal cost and awards made
by any employment
tribunals.
13
March 2003
Manchester
Evening News: DON'T TEXT-PLOIT
Companies
are being warned to be
careful of how they use
text messages in marketing
campaigns after a
Leeds-based firm was fined
£50,000 by the
Independent Committee for
the Supervision of
Standard Telephone
Information Services (ICSTIS).
The company, Moby Monkey,
sent out a promotional
text telling recipients
they'd won a 'mystery
award' and encouraged them
to call a premium rate
number. The ICSTIS ruled
that the message was
'seriously misleading' as
the prizes only consisted
of holiday vouchers, which
were themselves subject to
terms and conditions.
The watchdog also
criticised Moby Monkey for
unnecessary delays during
the calls and for
targeting children, both
of which are in breach of
its code.
Companies that plan to use
text messages as a means
of making money or even
for direct marketing
campaigns, should ensure
they are complying with
the 1998 Data Protection
Act, which states that
users must give their
consent to direct
marketing before being
approached.
11
February
2003
Manchester
Evening News: Wacks
Proactive
Manchester
Law Firm Wacks Caller Has
Been Appointed to Look
After Contractual
for the event and
hospitality business of
Wilmslow-Based soccer
agent Proactive.
The Wacks Caller team will
be led by Michael Kennedy.
03
January
2003
Business Insider:
Lawyers and Accountants
Insurance
and litigation powerhouse
Weightmans announced a 10
percent increase in
revenue and has attracted
a number of new star
players.
To find out more please click
here to download .pdf
file.
October
2002
North
West Litigators fear
nobody: North West
Business Insider
Another
big name in the news is
Russell Watson. Sued last
year for breach
of contract by his former
management team,
represented by Kit Sorrell
and
Harvey String fellow of
Wacks Caller, he should
find out later this month
when the case is scheduled
to come to court.
Will it be a case of
singing when you’re
winning for Watson?
Wacks Caller has also been
making a name for itself
in footballing circles.
Late last year partner
Michael Kennedy acted for
Blackpool FC and succeeded
in obtaining damages from
Stockport County over the
poaching of coach
Gary Megson. It is
believed to be the first
time in football that such
a claim
has been won.
He had to swiftly change
the colours of his scarf
later over the summer.
Manchester United fans
were sorry to learn that
Kennedy also successfully
defended former Carlisle
United director Michael
Knighton, who almost
bought
the Old Trafford club for
£10m in 1989, against the
FA over a series of
alleged financial
irregularities at the
club.
August
2002
Law
of the Land: North West
Business Insider
Law
of the Land – The
commercial property market
is busy and as regional
lawyers fight over the
spoils, Clare Green
shields asks what it takes
to stay
ahead of the pack.
Big isn’t necessarily
beautiful and according to
Elizabeth Mackey, partner
at
Wacks Caller, it’s not
about the number of people
you have but the quality
of
the service they provide.
"We’re suffering
from the blue whale
syndrome – the
big firms sucking up all
the plankton – but when
you look at some of their
work
you have to ask yourself
how they get away with
it," she says.
She adds: "Too many
have a sausage machine
approach to their deals.
It’s
important to sit down and
understand your client, to
take control of the
situation and pay close
attention to detail."
23 July 2002
Manchester
Evening News - Deals
Review
It's not the end of the
world, says lawyers
Martin Caller, senior
partner at Wacks Caller,
says his middle-tier law
firm is
still making hay despite
the lack of economic
sunshine. "It seems
that Wacks
Caller is 'bucking the
trend' somewhat in the
corporate legal
marketplace.
We certainly seem to be
busier than many others in
the same sector in terms
of deals activity. Much of
our client base seems to
be extremely active at the
moment. All in all, I'd
say that we anticipate
completing substantially
more
deals in 2002 than last
year."
21 May 2002
Manchester
Evening News -
Professional Business
City firms geared up for
Argie showdown
Wacks Caller Solicitors
has teamed up with
accountants Grant Thorton
and
insolvency practitioners
Tomlinsons to lay on a
buffet and bar at big
match
screenings at the Life Bar
and Corner house respectively.
Around 200 clients are
expected at each function.
Martin Caller said: “We
expect the whole of
Manchester will be
virtually closed
for official business
while the match takes
place.”
“The there will be TV
sets in our offices and
some people are bringing
in
radios. We are allowing
everyone an extended lunch
break”
“People work hard enough
and a couple of hours off
will not do any harm.”
“The Argentina game has
a bit if a history
attached to it, such as
the
David Beckham sending off
in 1998 and Maradona’s
‘Hand of God’ in
1986.”
21 May 2002
Manchester
Evening News - Annual Law
Review
Saying goodbye to the
smoke
Atha follows in the
footsteps of Robert
Harris, a partner with
Manchester
lawyers Wacks Caller. He
says the move was from a
legal factory that
employed so many people
personal contact was all
but impossible, to a legal
business in which
colleagues are on first
name terms.
Harris worked for various
large City of London law
firms during the 1980’s
and the early 1990’s
including Paisner &
Co., D.J. Freeman & Co
and ultimately
with Clifford Turner -
which became Clifford
Chance.
“When the 1990’s
property slump happened I
was with Clifford Taylor,
I was
highly paid and they
needed to cut costs, so I
got caught up in the
recession.
I never intended to come
back to Manchester but it
was a question of where
do you go? Manchester,
because it was still
relatively busy, was an
obvious
answer,” he explains.
“When I left Clifford
Chance in the early
1990’s, I came to the
north to work
for Wacks Caller, which
was then a relatively
small niche practice and,
at that
time, together with my
secretary, I was the
property department in its
entirety.
This was a total change
from Clifford Chance, but
I have never regretted
moving. On a personal
front, living in the north
west is much more pleasant
than living in the South
East and, in addition, I
do not have the commuting
problems that are always
associated with working in
the city of London.”
21 May 2002
Manchester
Evening News - Annual Law
Review
Law firms go transpennine
Wacks Caller senior
partner, Martin Caller,
added: “As independent
law firms
become bigger and bigger,
I see the probability of
transpennine mergers
becoming less likely. When
an independent law firm
grows and becomes a
stronger player in the
marketplace, the firm
becomes more inclined to
control
its future direction”.
April 2002
Manchester
Evening News Employment
Law Review
Ignore complaints at your
peril
Tony Dempsey, head of
employment law at Wacks
Caller Solicitors, says:
"There is often a
tendency, especially in a
dynamic and
entrepreneurial
working environment, to
discount or trivialise
complaints. If you can’t
stand
the heat - keep out of the
kitchen!"
This is increasingly a
dangerous and potentially
costly view to take.
Tribunals
have repeatedly indicated
that if an employer fails
to deal properly with
a staff complaint, this
may be enough for an
employee to walk out and
bring
a claim for unfair
(constructive) dismissal.
This may be the case even
where
the original complaint
would not itself have been
upheld."
But a long and costly
tribunal hearing could be
just the beginning, says
Dempsey. Aggrieved members
of staff could decide to
bring a claim for
discrimination - whether
on the grounds of race,
sex or otherwise.
Compensation for these
types of discrimination
may be unlimited...
According to Dempsey
employers need to take
complaints seriously.
There
is no need to panic - just
act sensibly.
"The answer is more
common sense than rocket
science. This means the
complaint should be
listened to in full,
thoroughly investigated,
and a fair
conclusion reached. The
complainant should be kept
informed at all times,
given an opportunity to
comment and - if the
resources of the employer
allow it - have the
opportunity to appeal if
he is unhappy with the
outcome."
March 2002
Do
You Comply With The Data
Protection Act?
Top Site Award Goes North
Innovative Manchester Firm
Wacks Caller
www.wackscaller.com have
an
online questionnaire to
help you find out. The
firm's website , after
negotiating
the inevitable 'Flash'
front page inviting me to
'enter here' (hey guys and
gals,
if I didn't want to come
into your site, I wouldn't
BE there, so why slow me
down?) is a joy. Top site!
Corporate partner Simon
Wallwork comments:
"With the deadline
for complying with the Act
now passed, businesses
need to
review their data
protection policies or
otherwise face the
prospect of
criminal charges. Our
online quiz provides organizations
with a free
and easy
service to review their
policies and be given
direction on the steps
they need
to take to achieve
compliance." The quiz
takes the user through an
online
flow chart of questions
and recommended courses of
action. If a business has
customer lists, supplier
lists, filed employee data
or even stores email
contacts
in an email address book,
and if this information
comprises of individuals
or
sole traders, it is likely
the business is storing
personal data and it must
notify
the Information
Commissioner. However, the
main crux of compliance
relates to the use and
storage of personal data.
In doing this, businesses
must comply with the Eight
Data Protection
Principles. These include
keeping
the data only for so long
as is necessary and
ensuring that the
collection of
data shall not be
excessive in relation to
its purpose.
February 2002
Manchester Evening News
–
The voice sued in contract
wrangle
OPERA
sensation Russell Watson
is being sued for hundreds
of thousands of
pounds. Two businessmen
claim they were dumped
after catapulting the
Salford singer to
international stardom. Mr.
Watson is fighting claims
he
breached a contract by
keeping earnings, which
should have been paid back
to the firm run by the
pair.
It is alleged in the early
days of the singer's
career he was bankrolled
by
his backers and on one
occasion it is believed
they even took Mr. Watson,
known as The Voice, to
sing for their bank
manager to prove his
worth.
Solicitors for Mr. Watson
deny their client owes his
success to the
Manchester-based
businessmen and say they
took advantage of the
singer's
inexperience to get him to
sign an unfair contract.
The dispute stems from an
alleged agreement signed
by Mr. Watson in
1998 which made him a
director and gave him a 49
per cent shareholding in
Arias Limited, set up to
support his career in
return for a share of his
future
earnings.
But
Mr. Watson, 35, currently
on tour in New Zealand, is
accused of dumping
Arias and a company called
Union Music Limited once
they had brought him
to the brink of success.
Now Kit Sorrell and Harvey
String fellow, partners in
Manchester law firm
Wacks Caller, are suing Mr.
Watson for breach of
contract on behalf of
Union
Music of Arias.
A High Court action,
started in Manchester in
December 2000 to force the
singer to hand over the
money, is due to have a
procedural hearing later
this
year.
Mr. Sorrell said: ''Union
Music Limited and Arias Limiter's
claim is that
having
discovered Russell Watson
and having spent the
greater part of £100,000
developing his career
Russell dumped them.''
It is also claimed the
company paid Mr. Watson a
salary equivalent to £50,000
year and gave him an Audi
car, which he still has.
Joseph Shammah, of law
firm Shammah Nicholls, who
is representing the
singer, said his client
was the victim of an
unfair contract.
Mr. Shammah said the effect
of the agreement Mr. Watson
is alleged to have
signed, and now the
subject of strenuous legal
challenge, was to give
Arias
Limited worldldwide
copyright in all the
singer's performances and
recordings,
and to dictate to Mr. Watson that he was to make
personal appearances and
provide public
performances and make
recordings as and when
''seen fit'' by
Union Music.
Mr Shammah added: ''Their
intention was to shackle
Russell through what was
a one-sided agreement in
their favour to a lifetime
contract which he could
never terminate, a style
of contract and commitment
inappropriate for the
19th century and wholly
odious and unfair in the
21st century.
''They attempted to
achieve this by both
relying on Russell's
naivety and by
persuading Russell that
there was no necessity for
him to obtain any
independent legal advice
at a time when he was
inexperienced in the
industry.
''All Russell is seeking
to achieve is freedom of
contract and the right to
pursue his career, a right
of every working person,
and not be enslaved
for life through means of
an unfair agreement.''
In just a few years Mr. Watson's sensational
career has gone from
singing in
working men's clubs to
performing for royalty and
the Pope.
In 2000 his debut album,
The Voice, became the
fastest-selling classical
record in British history
and lodged at the top of
the classical charts for
more than a year.
It was only nudged into
second position by the
release of his second
album,
Encore, which sold more
than 600,000 copies,
beating pop stars Madonna
and Kylie Minogue.
Decemeber 2001
North
West Business Insider
Waiting for the great leap
forward young turks
After gaining experience
at Pilkington advising on
acquisitions and disposals
in
Europe, Simon Wallwork
worked for Fox Brooks
Marshall before joining
Wacks
Caller in 1994. Married
with two small children,
his priority is his
family’s health
and happiness. Wallwork
believes his best
attributes are integrity
and sense
of humors.
Are there enough
opportunities in the North
West to satisfy your
career
ambition? Yes, Wacks
Caller is a growing firm
with a growing ambition
and
there are plenty of
opportunities for us
continue to build on this.
What are the main
challenges facing the NW
business community and how
may they impact your
firm’s own performance
within the region?
We need to value our
employees and the
contribution they make.
They are
not ‘bums on seats’ as
one managing partner of a
regional practice put it
to
me. We also need to move
away from ‘selling
time’ to selling value
added
services which contribute
to a client’s business.
October 2001
Wacks
Caller likes to play with
the big boys and rapid
growth
shows it can -Extracts
from The Lawyer
Wacks Caller is one of a
number of mid-tier North
West firms for which
the phrase 'punches above
its weight' could have
been coined. The
Manchester
firm has only 16 partners,
all based in its city center
offices, making it
a
minnow alongside regional
heavyweights Addleshaw
Booth & Co, DLA and
Eversheds. Nevertheless,
it advises clients
regularly and works on
deals that
may traditionally have
been the preserve of the
larger firms.
Senior and managing
partner Martin Caller
says: "The reasons
for this are
twofold. First, the firm
has grown by recruiting
high-quality lawyers,
often
from national practices.
Second, we've made a
deliberate decision to
restrict
ourselves to offering
high-added-value
transactions and have
avoided getting
involved in anything that
is not consistent with the
firm's core
business."
Founded in 1988 by Caller
and Arran Wacks, the firm
has a successful record
of attracting key partners
from larger rivals. Caller
himself is a former
partner
of Manchester firm Linder
Myers, while Wacks, now a
consultant, came from
Halliwell Landau via his
own firm Wacks & Co.
But until the late 1990s,
the
firm's growth, rather than
spectacular, was steady
and almost wholly organic.
Wacks Caller's powerhouse
is its corporate finance
team and it is mainly on
this that its reputation
was built. Led by Kevin
Philbin, the team
comprises
eight partners and four
assistants, making it one
of the largest corporate
finance teams in the North
West, including national
and regional firms. One of
the first high-profile
recruits was Michael
Kennedy, who joined the
commercial
litigation department from
Eversheds in 1996. Real
intent was signalled,
however, with the arrival
of Kit Sorrell from Davies
Wallis Foyster in
January 2000. Sorrell
became head of commercial
litigation and brought his
client base with him,
along with assistant
solicitor (now associate
partner)
Anna Duffy. His arrival
coincided with an almost
400 per cent increase in
business and a 40 per cent
increase in turnover.
Sorrell and Duffy brought
the total number of new
recruits to the litigation
department to 10 in 12
months, and with four
partners and 10
assistants, commercial
litigation now
makes up around a third of
the firm.
Two Hill Dickinson
recruits are Elizabeth
Mackay (formerly head of
commercial
property in its Liverpool
office), who joined Wacks
Caller last summer and
now works alongside former
Clifford Chance man Robert
Harris, and
Paul Stedman, a partner in
the em-ployment team.
Last year saw the firm
achieve a 34 per cent
growth in turnover and a
27
per cent growth in
profits. This year the
target is a slightly more
modest
25 per cent growth in
turnover. Caller claims:
"So far we are ahead
of plan."
July 2001
Manchester
Evening News –
Professionals Business –
Names behind the deals
David Houghton, of TNG
Corporate Finance, of
Manchester, structured a
deal
which saw Rochdale
security equipment maker
Gardiner Technology sold
to the
Risco Group, which is
based in Israel. Andrew
Smithson and Paul Stedman
of
Wacks Caller provided the
legal advice.
June 2001
Legal.co.uk
Deals Activity in the 1st
Quarter of 2001
Senior partner Martin
Caller makes the following
comments on the North
West’s economic climate
in the first quarter of
2001.
The past quarter in the
corporate sector in
Manchester has been
extremely
busy and although there
has been an appreciable
slowing down in the
publicly
quoted sector there has
still been strong
corporate activity
elsewhere with
buyouts and second round
funding being very much to
the fore. We at Wacks
Caller have in fact just
completed a record quarter
for corporate finance
work.
We are optimistic for the
forthcoming quarter. The
potential work seems to be
on par with that of the
previous quarter. Although
the Quoted sector is
proceeding in an
understandably cautious
manner, sound business can
always
raise funding. The
institutions are currently
flush with cash and they
will have
to invest that cash during
the forthcoming year and
thus despite a number of
pundits trying to talk
down the economy, I am
expecting the corporate
sector
in Manchester to continue
at the same levels.
We are currently working
on what we confidently
expect to be the largest
full
listing to come out of
Manchester during the next
twelve months. It will not
surprise anyone involved
in the corporate field
that this is targeted to
happen
towards the back end of
the year.
June 2001
EN
– The magazine for
entrepreneurs
Investing in intellectual
property protection is now
recognized as essential
if owner-managers are to
maximise the value of
their business. However,
it
can lead to a stream of
legal fees. Scott McCubbin
asks how an SME balances
cost with benefit.
Again, when you assess the
dangers of intellectual
property, the Internet is
the
medium gaining most of the
attention. "This is a
vast area where there are
no boundaries. We handle
small companies who are
just starting up and they
are not immune to
this," says Sarah
Gwyndaf-Roberts of
Solicitors Wacks Caller.
She points out a recent
case between E-bay and
Bidders Edge highlighting
the infiltration of
‘spiders’. Although
not breaching copyright,
Bidders Edge sent a
‘spider’ – a
software programmer that
looks at other
companies’ websites. It
then put the information
(auction listings in this
case) on its own site,
using
its own words. This falls
into the category of
trespassing.
June 2001
North
West Business Insider
Stake Holder Pensions -
The Stakes are High
Tony Dempsey, Head of the
employment law department
at solicitors
Wacks Caller, believes
companies need to take
action now to make sure
they
hit the 8 October deadline
and have a stakeholder
pension scheme in place.
He says, "If an
employer has five or more
staff, including
director-employees
and part-timers, and the
company does not provide a
company pension
scheme for all employees
or contribute at least 3
per cent of salary to a
personal pension plan for
all employees, then the
employer must consult with
their staff – and any
trade union or other organization
that
represent them –
about selecting a
registered stakeholder
pension scheme they can
join.
"Obtaining
information about the
stakeholder schemes that
are available can
be done through the 40 or
so financial institutions
that sell such schemes or
with the help of
independent financial
advisors"
May 2001
Manchester
Evening News –
Wacks Caller riding the
Manchester Storm
•
Tuesday 19th May 2001 –
Storm face legal action
• from
sacked coach
• LAWYERS
acting for axed Storm
coach Terry Christensen
are to launch legal
•
proceedings
against the club.
Christensen had one year
left on his contract
•
plus
an option for another year
— which he took up —
before he was sacked
•
last
month. Solicitor Tony
Dempsey, of Wacks Caller,
said a writ was being
• issued,
as he believed no progress
had been made to settle
Christensen’s
•
contract
and his client was still
out of work.
•
Christensen’s
contract was terminated
last month following the
worst season
•
in
the Storm’s six-year
history. He has now
returned home to Florida
where
•
he
has been linked with other
coaching jobs.
•
Monday 14th May 2001 –
Axed coach in contract
plea
• TC’s
legal adviser Tony Dempsey
was notified by fax that
his clients contract
•
had
been terminated – as
exclusively revealed in
the Sunday Pink.
•
Sunday 13th May 2001 –
Storm Coach Terry axed by
fax
•
Following
weeks of speculation, the
Storm Coach’s legal
adviser Tony
•
Dempsey
revealed last night that
TC’s contract had been
formally terminated.
•
Dempsey, of
Manchester law firm Wacks
Caller, said he had
received a faxed
•
copy of a
letter, which had been
posted to Christensen’s
former home in
•
Tallahassee
by Storm owner Gary Cowan.
•
Dempsey
said: "I am
disappointed in the way
this has been done. To be
•
notified by
way of fax to a lawyer is
not something we would
have expected."
•
"We now
hope that they honor the
remainder of Terry’s
contract."
•
Thursday 10th May 2001 –TC:
I didn’t quit storm
• Christensen
has tried to contact Cowan
both personally and
thro |
