Author: Catherine Bates

I often refer to certain aspects of law as like having an insurance policy. You don’t take out household insurance because you think your house will burn down. But you recognise that it’s a risk, and if the worst should come to the worst, that policy will be worth it’s weight in legal fees. By […]

It often comes as a surprise to clients when I talk about a company being an entity in its own right. You may own it and run it, and you may have built it up from being just a gleam in your eye to a multi million pound industry, but it still has it’s own […]

It’s not uncommon for people to have misconceptions about the law.   Common misunderstandings are things like “common law spouse” which doesn’t exist, yet people still assume that if they have lived with their other half for a set period of time, they have automatic protection. They don’t.   I’m also often told that there […]

Two women discussing a man they have just met at a bar. He’s good looking, easy to talk to, and has told them that he has a corner office in a £400,000 facility and they are suitably impressed. They both decide that if the guy asks them out, they’ll accept as he clearly has prospects. Unfortunately, whilst […]

Being on time is a big part of the law. You regularly have to file documents on time at court, issue proceedings within the right time to avoid being time barred, and serve notice by a particular time to take advantage of break clauses in leases.  Even if you are not involved in the law […]

People often get themselves into trouble not for what they say, but how they say it. Telling someone that they look amazing is obviously a great compliment and will make them feel good. Telling someone that they look so much better than the last time you saw them will not. In reality you’re not really […]

Winning can be expensive Although obviously not as expensive as losing! Which means that no matter how happy Colleen Rooney must be feeling at the moment she must know (and I’m sure her solicitors have warned her) that she will never recover every last penny from Rebekah Vardy. The reality is that even though the […]

I’m sure that it seems strange to be talking about Christmas when it’s the summer and we’re in the middle of a heatwave. Or perhaps it’s even more strange to talk about diaries. Gone are the days when we all had physical diaries on our desks, that we wrote appointments in and used for keeping on […]

    Even Carlsberg only say that it’s “probably” the best larger in the world, and cannot say that it definitely is – because it’s subjective. Or perhaps because it might get sued otherwise! Clients often get upset with themselves for the mistakes they have made. They might feel foolish for having done business with someone […]

    We’re all familiar with the age old saying about you get what you pay for and never is that more true than in the legal world. For example, the conveyancing market is full of legal firms who will offer you property transaction services for less than we do, and if you are price […]