New Starters

We are delighted to announce the appointment of three additional staff members.

Catherine Shaw joins our Commercial Litigation team specialising in Tax litigation, having worked in HMRC’s Solicitor’s Office handling VAT appeals in complex cases involving serious non-compliance or fraud. She also deals with Information law, together with contentious and non-contentious insolvency, having worked in the Government Legal Department and private practice, specialising in these areas for over 12 years.

She was also a non-appointment taking licensed insolvency practitioner from 2008 until 2015 having passed the JIEB examinations.

Laura Savage has joined our Family and Matrimonial team specialising in all areas of family law including divorce, dissolution of Civil Partnerships, financial issues arising as a result of the breakdown of a relationship and arrangements for children.

As a member of Resolution Laura encourages a pragmatic and cost-effective approach to achieve a resolution of family disputes by giving sensitive, fair and practical advice.

Kelly Grealis joins as new trainee solicitor in the company – her first seat is with Richard Etheridge in the Company and Commercial team.

We continue to expand and perform strongly across all departments as a result of the huge team effort from all staff members.

Rogers & Norton Law Academy 2019

We first launched our Law Academy last year and due to the overwhelming success we have continued to run the Academy again this academic year. As the Law Academy proved so popular last year we have expanded the reach to include six local schools (Notre Dame High School; Thorpe St Andrew; CNS; Wymondham College; Langley & The Norwich School). We are pleased to see that we have so much interest from both schools and their students and will continue to consider how we can include as many as possible.

We first launched our Law Academy last year and due to the overwhelming success we have continued to run the Academy again this academic year. As the Law Academy proved so popular last year we have expanded the reach to include six local schools (Notre Dame High School; Thorpe St Andrew; CNS; Wymondham College; Langley & The Norwich School). We are pleased to see that we have so much interest from both schools and their students and will continue to consider how we can include as many as possible.

The Academy comprises six monthly workshops that cover a range of departments across Rogers & Norton with an additional session on helping the students prepare and understand what they need to do to prepare for a career in law. The sessions will cover private client, conveyancing, matrimonial, personal injury, commercial and litigation. The aim of the Law Academy is to excite students about law and introduce them to different areas of practice. Rogers & Norton are then pleased to be able to continue to offer guidance and support to students considering a career in law

The initial workshop was run by our Private Client Solicitors Laura Rumsey and Charlotte Ranson and the purpose of the first session was to introduce students to Wills and Probate. Students were introduced to this area through a quiz, interactive tasks and case studies to help explain the area by preparing a Will and working through a probate scenario. Students were engaged through this session and asked questions about how the area applied to real life.

The next workshop will be led by Lauren Golder and Vikki Lambert of our Residential Conveyancing department. This will include interactive tasks to inform the students about the conveyancing procedure, provide examples of legal documents, and give the students an opportunity to complete some of the documents that are commonly used in Conveyancing transactions.

Further workshops will be presented by lawyers from our family, litigation, commercial and personal injury teams.

Last year’s Academy received excellent feedback from both the staff and students alike, with staff and parents attending the final session on planning a career in the Law.

Law is a popular subject to study at both A Level and University level. Many students are keen to study law at university with the intention of pursuing a career in law. A law course also has great transferable skills for other careers.

We are proud to be working with local schools and pupils to encourage and support them in their interest in law and entering the career in the future. We believe that an interactive Academy is the best way for students to understand what law is like in practice.

Border Force Restoration Success

The Rogers & Norton HMRC and UK Border Force Litigation team were delighted to help with the restoration of almost 400 litres of tequila for a local business.

The goods were seized by UK Border Force at Felixstowe Port, and after the team’s prompt and decisive action we were able to recover the valuable cargo for the company involved. We made a full submission that addressed legality (we considered the seizure was unlawful) and also submitted substantial grounds for restoration. Our client’s future was in jeopardy and our expertise not only secured the release of the goods but guaranteed our client’s future.

We are regularly contacted by individuals and companies who have had goods seized or detained by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) or the UK Border Agency and we have a high level of success in recovering the items.

The advice given on HMRC’s website on how to appeal can be confusing, so it is beneficial to seek legal advice if you want to challenge the seizure and apply to have your goods returned.

We have a wide experience in dealing with detentions, stoppages and the seizure of goods by UK Border Force. The team deals with the worldwide importation of goods to the UK, including the huge market from China, Europe, America and Mexico. We work with clients who want goods restored at all major ports of entry, such as Felixstowe and London Gateway, together with Stansted, Gatwick & Heathrow.

We are experienced in Magistrates Court proceedings; First Tier Tax Tribunal; Court of Appeal; European Convention on Human Rights; Administrative Court and Injunctions and can assist with Tax, Duty and Vat claims and issues.

20% reduction in LPA fees

15th Oct 2019

At Rogers & Norton we appreciate that some clients may require a little extra care, attention and support when making decisions. It may be making a Will; the death of a loved one; a Lasting Power of Attorney (“LPA”); thoughts of giving away their home, or just making sure that everything is in order for their nearest and dearest.

As we live longer, the incidence of strokes, dementia and loss of mental capacity is becoming more prevalent. The number of people over the age of 85 is expected to double in the next 25 years and the number of people over 100 has increased by 70% in the last decade. Therefore more assistance may be required from family and friends with both financial and health matters.

We all hope and expect to age without facing any of these difficult issues, but nevertheless a few simple planning meetings with the relevant professionals, will help ensure that things go as smoothly as they can.

When it comes to seeking out legal services in this area, it is important to find experienced solicitors you can trust. Working with a reputable lawyer, such as a member of SFE, will ensure that you have all the legal documents in place to get you what you have planned for and that you have considered the pitfalls that may face you in later life and how to avoid them if possible.

An LPA can be vital in achieving this as it enables you to nominate people to make decisions on your behalf if you become unable to. There are two types: one covering financial decisions and the other covering your health and welfare. You may find that you want both.

Without an LPA, if you lose mental capacity to make decisions, you would have no control over who ends up making decisions for you. The process to enable someone to help make those decisions on your behalf is also significantly more expensive for you and cumbersome and time consuming for your loved ones.

We passionately believe in the importance of LPAs as a way of planning for a secure future and have decided to promote this by offering a 20% reduction in the fees we charge until the end of the year.

If you would like more information or want to make an appointment you can contact us on wills@rogers-norton.co.uk or 01603 666001.

Refunds now available to people overcharged for deputy supervision

People in England and Wales, who were charged excessive deputyship supervision fees by the Office of the Public Guardian, are now able to begin to claim refunds under a scheme recently launched by the Ministry of Justice.

The OPG overcharged thousands of people for its supervisory service between 1 April 2008 and 31 March 2015. The number of deputyships during that period was rising rapidly, but the OPG failed to revise its estimates for the costs of supervision and continued to charge fees that were substantially higher than the costs it actually incurred.

No clients have been overcharged since the fees were revised in April 2015. .

More than 80,000 people are now owed refunds, most of which will be less than £200 – we have already been contacted by clients wishing to discuss and clarify as to whether they are eligible for a refund.

The refund system does not apply to fees paid to either Scotland’s Office of the Public Guardian, the Office of Care and Protection in Northern Ireland, or the Court of Protection of England and Wales. The deadline for refund claims is 4 October 2022.

We have a specialised team of Directors at Rogers & Norton who currently act as Professional Deputies for clients who have lost capacity and either have no close relatives or act for those where the clients need professional assistance. Rogers & Norton’s deputyship team have also become involved with a variety of clients who have been disabled from a young age or who have lost capacity due to old age and who now need assistance with their finances.

We deal with a wide range of cases from complex personal injury awards for young adults and children, to elderly clients with dementia in care.

If have any queries regarding court of protection matters please contact me on 01603 675645 or at lr@rogers-norton.co.uk.

New staff in Norwich and Attleborough

8th Oct 2019

We are delighted to announce the appointment of two additional members of staff at our offices in Norwich & Attleborough.

Picture: Aidan Tidnam (Practice Manager) and Ashleigh Skeet

Amber Tansley has joined our Personal Injury team in Norwich from another local law firm. After obtaining a degree from the University of Chester she went on to gain experience working in uninsured loss recovery.

After gaining experience in the role, she decided to train as a Chartered Legal Executive and has now progressed through CILEx to become an associate member in 2017.

She is currently half way through the level 6 Diploma in Law and Practice and has opted to specialise in Civil Litigation.

Our Conveyancing team in Attleborough has been strengthened with the addition of Conveyancing Executive Ashleigh Skeet. Having relocated to Norfolk from Essex, where she initially worked for a well-known regional law firm and from there went on to a large national housebuilder, thus giving her a wide experience of developers and new build sales.- she also particularly likes working with first time buyers.

Ashleigh deals with all aspects of conveyancing and is currently studying towards her Licensed Conveyancer Qualification.

We continue to grow and are looking to further expand and strengthen numerous other departments across the firm.

What is elder abuse ?

As a committee member of Your Voice in Breckland – “empowering local older people” I spoke at their latest event “What is Elder Abuse”.

The World Health Organisation defines Elder Abuse as “A single or repeated act or lack of appropriate action, occurring within any relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person”.

I was delighted to join three other speakers who discussed how abuse can take place against elderly people.

There was an interesting talk from Friends Against Scams representative Helen Barwick, who highlighted how scammers can get your information and how they target certain groups of people. Helpful tips were given which could assist in knowing whether something is a scam. The main message was that if something comes out of the blue or seems too good to be true then it probably is and you should investigate before proceeding any further.

There was also a helpful talk from Breckland Council on the steps that they are taking to ensure that elder abuse is highlighted how they and assist or refer when they can. They also explained initiatives they have in place to help try to prevent elderly people from becoming victims of abuse.

The third talk was by the founder of the Daisy Programme regarding domestic abuse and how this can impact on elderly people. This can be impacted by rural isolation and discussion was had to how a carer relationship could lead to abuse of both the vulnerable party but also the carer.

I was the final speaker and discussed how financial abuse can take place both informally in a setting between family members, but also through the abuse of legal documents such as Powers of Attorney.

I highlighted the importance of taking independent advice and putting these documents in place when you have full mental capacity and have been able to carefully consider how you should appoint without the pressure from anyone around you. The importance of using a company such as Rogers & Norton, is that we have a team of specialists that can assist in Mental Capacity issues but who will be able to see you individually to ensure that if you have any concerns these are discussed. All clients are seen at least twice in a Will or Power of Attorney transaction and our specialists will be trained to pick up upon any concerns that our clients may have and ensure they have the right people acting for them.

I also discussed that if someone has lost Mental Capacity and needs some assistance, then we are able to help family members make deputyship applications and explain to them that this would involved financial checks being done upon them and security bonds put in place. Accounts would also need to be submitted to the Office of the Public Guardian on an annual basis.

I finished my talk with discussing that in certain situations professionals may be the best people to be appointed to assist a vulnerable person either because they have been the subject of abuse, are at risk of abuse or have no loved ones capable of assisting.

If you would like further information on Powers of Attorney or Deputyships please click here.

If you would like to contact me to discuss any of these matters further please contact me on lr@rogers-norton.co.uk or 01603 675645.

If you would like to receive information from Your Voice in Breckland or come to any of their events in the future please find further information here.

20% REDUCTION ON LASTING POWER OF ATTORNEY FEES*

* 20% DISCOUNT ON FIXED RATE FEES FOR PREPARATION AND REGISTRATION OF LPAs. STANDARD COURT FEES WILL APPLY. APPLICABLE TO MEETINGS TAKING PLACE UP TO 31st DECEMBER 2019

Wellbeing in Later Life

Rogers & Norton were delighted to host the Norfolk Wellbeing Service’s workshop “Wellbeing in Later Life” last week at the Assembly House.

We were thrilled that some of our clients and professional contacts were able to join us to learn more about how we can promote wellbeing in later life. This session looked at how anxiety, depression and low mood amongst others can affect our wellbeing at any stage of our lives but focussed particularly on factors that may lead to these in our later lives.

We were able to consider one thing that each of us could do to assist with our wellbeing that we had forgotten to do or convinced ourselves that we were too busy to fit into our schedule, such as baking, reading, swimming or going to the gym.

The workshop was also helpful in suggesting ways which can improve our wellbeing and through either self-help or guidance from the Wellbeing service.

If you would like to find out more about how the Wellbeing service may be able to assist you then please click here.

If you would like to speak to a specialist in our elderly client team regarding legal matters then please contact Laura Rumsey who organised the event on 01603 675631 or email laura.rumsey@rogers-norton.co.uk.

Exam Success

20th Sep 2019

I was delighted to have recently achieved a distinction when completing my STEP Diploma specialising in advising vulnerable clients. This exam success has led to me being admitted into the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners as a full member, together with a further examination that allowed membership to the Solicitors for the Elderly.

The two admissions to professional bodies focussing on elderly and vulnerable clients, means that I am able to focus on advising these groups of clients on a specialist basis. I will continue to advice on Wills, Lasting Powers of Attorney and Probate matters and am also able to assist with Court of Protection work including Deputyships and Statutory Will applications. I am happy to assist clients who need professional assistance with dealing with their affairs.

Friend in Deed ‘Little Visitor’ session at Brooklyn House Care Home

11th Sep 2019

We were delighted with the success of the first Friend in Deed ‘Little Visitor’ session at Brooklyn House Care Home in Attleborough last Monday.

It was brilliant to see such a brilliant turnout of mums, toddlers and babies – the residents at the care home were absolutely bowled over. Everyone noticed how well the residents responded to the ‘Little Visitors’ and the staff at Brooklyn House are convinced that the sessions will bring a really positive impact, both socially and emotionally, for all involved.

We received really positive feedback from both the mums and residents – the sessions not only helps to alleviate loneliness for some of the mums, but really brought out the youth in the residents, who can’t wait for next Monday.

Aidan Tidnam, Ellie Walpole and Charlotte Ranson, from Rogers & Norton, attended and were really pleased with how well it went and to experience the joy it brought to all concerned. Charlotte, who is a solicitor in our Private Client team at our Attleborough office, will be attending on a regular basis to support the care home at the sessions.

If you are interested in taking part the residents would love to meet you and your youngsters just click going and register your little one as a visitor at the following link https://www.friendindeed.org.uk/volunteering (one form per child) and arrive on the day, bring along a couple of games/books for your little one to share.

UK Border Force Success for Litigation team

6th Sep 2019

We are delighted to report that our litigation team have had further success at Court in Southampton, recovering valuable nitrous oxide canisters. The gas was seized by UK Border Force earlier this year, as it is illegal to supply or import for personal use, unless it can be proved to be destined for use in cream chargers for use in the catering industry.

Oliver Powell from Outer Temple Chambers acted on our behalf and we were delighted with his work and advocacy.

Although the gas was previously a ‘legal high’, it is now illegal to supply or import Nitrous Oxide for personal under the Psychoactive Substance Act 2016. Nitrous Oxide is used as pain relief during medical procedures such as dental work – it can also be legally bought for use in whipped cream dispensers for catering purposes.

As the gas can be legally used in dispensers, it has led to companies having large scale issues with HMRC and Border Force retaining their goods as long as possible and asking for additional proof of the intended use for catering purposes. Such detention and seizures cause serious financial implications for businesses legitimately importing them.

The goods in question are a new product in a disposable gas bottle, filled with E942 food grade Nitrous Oxide. The idea is to make things simpler for the catering industry, who currently have to import the product in cream chargers.

It was the UKBF’s case that the Goods imported were liable to forfeiture under the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979 (‘CEMA’), because they were in breach of a prohibition imposed by s.12 PSA 2016. They were also liable to be forfeited under the Psychoactive Substances Act 2016 (‘PSA’), as they could be consumed by any individual for their psychoactive effects; and the importation was not for an exempted activity.

Following the initial argument and further evidence from the Company, the UKBF withdrew their application for condemnation of the goods the day before the trial was due to commence. Despite UKBF’s opposition to the application for costs, they were successful.

In addition, the decision had wider implications for the Company, with the UKBF agreeing to withdraw a further application for condemnation of goods seized from the Company that was due to be heard in Ipswich in autumn 2019.

Our litigation team have a wide ranging understanding and knowledge of the workings of HMRC Border Force, acquired over many years, enabling them to offer support and advice to clients who experiencing difficulties when importing goods. We are experienced in Condemnation Proceedings, Restoration Claims, Appeals to the First Tier Tax Tribunal, High Court injunctions and Judicial Reviews.

UK Border Force CBD clampdown continues – success for Rogers and Norton

The litigation team continues to be busy, having successfully recovered a consignment of cannabidiol (CBD) seized by UK Border Force.

As we have previously covered in an earlier article, there is considerable confusion in UK law around CBD oil and across the EU in general, with the vast majority of cannabinoids listed as controlled substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

However, CBD is an exception and is completely legal in the UK, provided it has been derived from an industrial hemp strain that is EU-approved.

For CBD oil to be legal in the UK, it must contain no more than 0.2% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which must not be too easy to separate from it. By contrast, cannabis oil, which has a higher THC content, is not usually allowed in the UK.

The legalisation of certain aspects of this rule has created uncertainty and misinterpretations of the law by both UK Border Force and those wishing to import the product, this has led to wide ranging and high profile seizures at points of entry into the UK.

The seizures are highly emotive and create anxiety for the importer, as they normally for medicinal purposes thus often making a difficult situation worse. The need to seek experienced and knowledgeable legal advice at an early stage is of paramount importance

An understanding of how UK Border Force works and to know the process of dealing with the courts, together with the basis of how to question the reasonableness of the seizure, is vital to the speedy and prompt return of the items in a very stressful scenario.

Rogers & Norton’s HMRC and Border Force litigation team specialise in handling HMRC Border Force claims relating to the detention and seizure of a wide variety restricted goods in addition to VAT, Tax, Duty and Tariff issues.

We are challenging seizures and seeking restoration on a variety of goods and seeking restoration, in addition to challenging Assessments.

The team deals with the worldwide importation of goods to the UK, including the huge market from China. We work with clients who want goods restored at all major ports of entry, such as Felixstowe and London Gateway, together with Stansted, Gatwick & Heathrow.

We have a strong understanding of Border Force systems and can act quickly and decisively to support our clients in getting their goods restored through the High Court, First Tier Tax Tribunal and also injunctions and Judicial Reviews.

A Friend in Deed

27th Aug 2019

Rogers & Norton are delighted to announce their continued sponsorship of the Friend in Deed ‘Little Visitor’ scheme. We will now be supporting visits to Brooklyn House Care Home in Attleborough every Monday between 10.30am and 12.00pm, to encourage intergenerational friendships.

Having previously worked with Corton House Care Home in Norwich, we had the opportunity for our team in Attleborough to get involved with Brooklyn House, which is great news as Friend in Deed has not arranged visits in the town before.

Our aim in supporting the ‘Little Visitors’ scheme is to help promote kindness and reduce loneliness. We have personal experience of the joy and happiness that the visits bring to the older generation at the home.

All the events are brilliantly supported, if you are interested in taking part the residents would love to meet you and your youngsters. Just click going, register your little one as a visitor https://www.friendindeed.org.uk/volunteering (one form per child) and arrive on the day, bring along a couple of games/books for your little one to share.