Founding Partner of GatwickDiamondJobs.com
by Jason Edge, April 3rd, 2012
We are pleased to announce that Mayo Wynne Baxter are founding partners of GatwickDiamondJobs.com whch you may be surprised to learn is more than just a great place to advertise your vacancies and find a job.
GatwickDiamondJobs.com also provides information on education, training, news and a round up of what is happening in the Gatwick Diamond. We have also provided a section for employment law advice.
Check out this short video:
We’ve merged with Allen Ticehurst
by Jason Edge, January 3rd, 2012
It’s an exciting start to the year for all of us at Mayo Wynne Baxter as we’ve today merged with East Grinstead solicitors Allen Ticehurst. The deal makes us the largest law firm in Brighton, Eastbourne, Lewes and now East Grinstead.
Allen Ticehurst Solicitors’ 17 employees join more than 160 of us at Mayo Wynne Baxter.
Founding Partner Peter Ticehurst set up the merger to secure the firm’s future after he retires later this year. Managing Partner Stephen Bird will become a consultant and all other employees are staying on in their current positions.
The team at Allen Ticehurst are particularly experienced in personal matters such as family law, conveyancing, employment, personal injury and Wills as well as business law and dispute resolution. These services will complement the niche specialisms that we’ve developed at Mayo Wynne Baxter. For example our experts in clinical negligence, commercial litigation, agricultural law and contentious probate will now be available to clients in the Gatwick diamond area.
Explaining the move our Chief Executive Chris Randall said “We’re always exploring new possibilities and this merger fits our core strategy. Despite the difference in size there is a great cultural match, with both firms committed to evolving legal services to deliver what customers want. Allen Ticehurst’s people have just the right combination of expertise and ambition. I look forward to welcoming them.”
Stephen Bird said “This merger is a fantastic opportunity to build on our success in the region. We’re looking forward to offering clients a wider range of services with the same commitment to excellence.”
Professional Will writers, why bother?
by Jason Edge, December 16th, 2011
‘You get what you pay for’ is a saying that is as old as the hills and, with few exceptions, is as true today as the first time it was uttered and it applies to writing a Will too.
To make Will writing cheaper for people there are only a few variables that you can play with:
- Use cheap, unqualified or unskilled labour to bring your costs down.
- Cut corners
- Work for nothing
- Don’t adhere to all the guidelines and regulations
Our highly qualified, experienced and well trained legal advisors can produce a Will for you from just £150 + vat which most agree is a small price to pay to protect those that you leave behind. Yet surprisingly there are a number of Will writing services springing up that charge less.
It should come as no surprise that many of those getting their Wills written cheaply have come a little unstuck and their plight has reached the news:
Thousands ‘ripped off’ by unregulated will-writers – BBC
Unregulated will writers ‘rip-off thousands every year’ – The Guardian
Call for greater regulation of ‘cowboy’ will writers – Liverpool Daily Post
Unscrupulous: The disturbing industry profiting from our fear of death – This Is Money
Although a serious topic we have produced a short animation to highlight the benefits of using a regulated professional to write you Will.
It can be a false economy trying to save a small amount of money on something so important.
Proud Sponsors of the Snowman Ball
by Jason Edge, December 5th, 2011
On Saturday 3rd December Mayo Wynne Baxter sponsored a fundraising event for Chestnut Tree House at the Metropole in Brighton. The event was attended by over 600 of the county’s most influencial people (including some of our Partners) for an evening of dinner, dancing and raising money.
Entertainment came from top magician Paul Zenon, Royal Variety performer Alex Poulter and Mooky the Clown from Cirque du Soleil amongst others. Mitch Winehouse (yes, Amy’s Dad) was also there singing with the backing of the band Funkification.
On the night Chestnut Tree managed to raise a little over £221,000 which was amazing.
This is the second big fundraising event that we have sponsored the year. The Best of British lunch at the Grand in Brighton back in June raised over £177,000 making the total raised from these two MWB sponsored events at around £400,000!
It costs a little under £7,000 per day for Chestnut Tree House to provide the essential services to the people of Sussex so if you feel able to help out with a little donation (even £1 will help) then visit our Family Footprints campaign page.
Brain Injury Specialists
by Jason Edge, November 16th, 2011
We are celebrating the success of the Brain Injury Group – of which Mayo Wynne Baxter is founding member – having won an award for innovation and inspiration last Thursday (10th November) at The United Kingdom Acquired Brain Injury Forum (UKABIF) Awards.
“We are delighted that the Brain Injury Group gained recognition for its innovation in the field of brain injury “ said our Head of Clinical Negligence, Melanie Minter. “Having already set up our own Catastrophic Injury Unit it made sense to join the Group to bring about significant benefits in the way brain injury claims and rehabilitation are carried out and it’s good to see that we have won professional praise and an Award.”
The Brain Injury Group is a national network of specialist brain injury lawyers working in tandem with a range of other professionals involved in welfare, financial and family services to support people with acquired brain injuries. Bringing all these elements together under the Brain Injury Group banner creates a clear route for brain injured clients and their families to access the support they need from accident through rehabilitation and on to compensation. By having members across the country, the Brain Injury Group ensures its clients and their families can find specialist brain injury advice and a full range of support services close to home.
When presenting the Award Bill Braithwaite QC said: “The creation and development of the Brain Injury Group will doubtless be a significant step forwards in providing an improved service to all those who suffer serious brain injury.”
Could Misspelled Search Terms Cost You Business?
by Jason Edge, October 27th, 2011
In a world where a high percentage of goods and services are researched and bought on the web it is essential that you make yourself visible to potential buyers.
For most businesses this means using an SEO specialist to help your site rank well in search engines like Google and striving for that ever elusive top spot on page one of results for your keywords. However there have been some examples of brands being hijacked in order to gain traffic and business.
In the High Court recently, Interflora claimed that M&S was infringing its registered trademarks by purchasing several keywords containing the mark INTERFLORA. Consumers searching on the Internet using these keywords would be shown a sponsored link to M&S’s online flower-delivery service. You don’t have to have an in-depth knowledge of trademark infringement to know that this is a little ’Black Hat’ in approach.
Slightly less obvious are those competitors that prey on misspellings of your company name or product. By registering domains that are misspellings of a competitor or optimising your site to pick up these search term errors can also mean that you could end up in court.
Although we have a great team of brand protection lawyers it is always better to adopt a ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach. I recommend that you use a spelling typo generator to help you determine the different ways your brands could be misspelled either through missed or inserted keys, double letters, skipped spaces or skipped letters.
If you feel that any of these misspellings could be used by others then it may be worth you registering the domain yourself or asking your SEO agency to look at ways of including these on your site.
Having done this exercise myself I was surprised to see how just how many ways Mayo Wynne Baxter could be misspelled:
It makes sense for us to protect our own brand but our name is so distinctive that it would be hard for someone else to defend using any of the above to promote their law firm. Check out yours and if you find that a competitor is already using one of your misspellings then I have some great lawyers who would be happy to look into dealing with this for you.
We are victorious!
by Jason Edge, July 25th, 2011
- (L-R) Ross Osbourne, Steven Holt & Simon Holt
I am sure that you will all be thrilled to learn that the Mayo Wynne Baxter team was victorious at the Borough Means Business Golf Day on Friday 22 July, narrowly beating Seymour Mullins into first place. In total, 16 teams of key professionals and business contacts from Eastbourne competed but it was the town’s leading law firm that took home the silverware.
The day was great fun and the team trophy is currently sitting in reception in our Eastbourne offices. It still needs to be engraved and I understand that Eastbourne Borough will organise this and the trophy will be re-presented at the next Borough Means Business lunch which will no doubt be reported in the local press.
Due to some last minute substitutions, the Mayo Wynne Baxter team comprised of Steven Holt (MWB Captain), Ross Osborne (Smith Osborne) and Simon Holt (Mobicom), and, in addition to the team trophy, each person received an individual trophy, a £50 voucher to spend in the pro’s shop at Lottbridge Golfing Park and a crate of beer!
However, we should also admit that a member of MWB staff was in the now infamous ‘Desh’s All Stars’ which took the wooden spoon for the second year running.
Wooden Spoon Winners
El Presidente
by Jason Edge, July 14th, 2011
There has been much ‘cap doffing’ in the corridors of MWB Towers today as The President passed through the office. No not that president. I’m talking about the newly elected President of the Sussex Law Society – Mr Dean Orgill.
Dean also happens to be our Deputy Managing Partner and Head of our Media & Creative Industries Team.
The Sussex Law Society was founded in 1860 which is the same year that our origins can be traced to.It is a professional organisation representing solicitors in the Sussex area that is independent of other Local Law Societies and of the solicitors’ main controlling body, the Law Society.
The Society’s members include employed solicitors, sole practitioners, firms specialising in particular areas of law, firms carrying on general practice, substantial regional firms like Mayo Wynne Baxter and firms with international connections. As a result, the range and depth of expertise of its members for both the private and business client is extensive.
The Society’s principal stated objects include:
- The protection of the character, status, rights and interests of its members and of the profession of solicitors generally.
- The promotion of honourable practice among solicitors.
- The consideration of questions affecting the profession at large, or the alteration or administration of the law, and
- The promotion of legal education.
Dean takes over the presidency from David Edwards of Burt Brill & Cardens and we are confident that he will continue the great work for the Society.
Supporting essential legal services for the community
by Jason Edge, June 22nd, 2011
On the day that the government published the controversial justice bill announcing cuts to legal aid members of Mayo Wynne Baxter took part the Brighton Legal Walk to help raise much needed funds for local agencies that assist and support some of the most vulnerable in our community.
The team of walkers who braved the 10K hike were Melanie Minter, Katy Meade, Lisa Burton-Durham, Dominique Wilson, Miranda Jackson, Rob Bell, Susie Parsons, Sorrel Bourne, Andy McKay and Gemma Hope.
Other walkers included members from the local support agencies, 1 Crown Office Row (a local Chamber of barristers), local District Judges and Lord Clarke of Stone-cum-Ebony.
Needless to say the walkers were all initially a bit weary of the British weather, however the sun decided to make an appearance resulting in pleasant conditions for the walk. The walk started off at Brighton Magistrates Court and then went along the seafront, up past East Sussex Golf course, through Ovingdean, along the under cliff pass and back along the seafront. The walk finished off at Brighton Jubilee Library where the walkers were kindly met by Bob Nightingale MBE of London Legal Support Trust who helped organise the event.
This year’s beneficiaries include Brighton Housing Trust, Brighton & Hove CAB, Lewes & Seaford CAB and Brighton Money Advice (MACSS). These agencies do a fantastic job in preventing homelessness, resolving debt problems, gaining care for the elderly and disabled and fighting exploitation.
There are lots of pics of the walk on our Facebook Page and there is still time to sponsor us by clicking here
Argus Angels Awards 2011
by Jason Edge, June 16th, 2011
As you may know, one of the many strings to the Mayo Wynne Baxter bow is that we are specialists in media and creative industries law. As a consequence we felt that it was important to show our our firm commitment to the world class creativity that Brighton and the surrounding areas has.
The Argus Angel Awards were introduced in 2007 to award artistic excellence during the Brighton Festival and Brighton Festival Fringe. From theatre and dance to music, live literature and exhibitions – The Argus Angels are presented to artists and performers who truly stand out from the crowd.
Back now for their fifth year we were proud to be Sponsors of these unique awards. The Argus team of critics were out reviewing events night and day to make sure they didn’t miss any performance worthy of a handsome golden statue. Based on the famous Herald Angels of The Edinburgh Festival, the trophies are carved by hand and carefully flown down from Scotland in the suitcase of the sculptor himself.
Kim Protheroe, The Argus Features Editor, said: “These awards are for the truly exceptional performances and events we see during the festival period”.
For pictures and details of the worthy winners visit our Facebook page