News Archive

Birmingham law firm Shakespeare Putsman is planning a night out at the theatre in the company of the Lost Boys, Peter Pan, Wendy and Captain Hook! The Birmingham Rep will be packed to the rafters on 10 January with all 800 seats in the main theatre reserved by Shakespeare Putsman for the evening performance of Peter Pan. Staff and their families from the firm will be in the audience, along with families from three local children's charities ...

One of the most active venture capitalist teams in the Midlands has been bought out by its own management team acting with advice from Shakespeare Putsman. Birmingham-based Midven, which has invested in nearly 100 Midland firms in its 15-year history, was bought from its retiring shareholders by a team made up of managing director Tony Stott, directors Roger Wood and Andy Muir and investment managers Surjit Kooner and Nicholas Moate. The buyout will help more businesses in the ...

The last coach will leave Birmingham's Digbeth coach station at 7.30pm on 12 November signalling the beginning of a landmark re-development of one of the most neglected areas of Birmingham city centre. All around the station the city's eastside development continues apace and last week permission was granted for what will become Birmingham's tallest building. This rapid geographical development has brought with it a sea change at the city's legal property departments, according to Kevin Nagle, Shakespeare ...

Shakespeare Putsman has launched a regulatory helpline to answer any regulation-related queries. If you have pressing issues with the FSA, the FOS, the FSCS or MiFID one of our specialist advisers will answer your questions today without charge. Don't panic, call us on 0121 237 3003. There are lots of other ways we can help too: Compliance and regulatory updates and fill in your details to subscribe for our compliance and regulatory update emails, sent as and when ...

Commercial lawyer Bronwyn Hardie has joined Shakespeare Putsman as an associate in the latest in a succession of new hires for the Birmingham firm. Bronwyn becomes part of the firm's expanding commercial team and brings with her extensive experience of technology markets and of deals in the IT sector. Bronwyn said: "This is a really exciting opportunity for me to develop my skills as an independent adviser. I've always enjoyed working in-house in my previous roles ...

Shakespeare Putsman has advised accountancy firm Wenham Major in its acquisition of rival HKM, a deal which makes it one of the largest independent accountancy firms in the Midlands. Gary Davie, corporate Partner at Shakespeare Putsman, acted on behalf of Birmingham neighbours Wenham Major, already ranked the fastest growing firm of accountants in the UK in Accountancy Age league tables published in June. Executive chairman John Joyce indicated though that the firm has entered a new ...

The thorny issue of whether or not workers are entitled to smoking breaks and how employers should treat the traditional "fag break" has been thrown into relief by the introduction of the smoking legislation at the beginning of July.Under the legislation smoking is not permitted in "enclosed" or "substantially enclosed" spaces. Banished to the street or car park and with the government's current focus on encouraging people to give up the habit; smokers may feel defensive about ...

The rights of people placed in private care by local authorities will be reviewed by the government following the case of YL vs Birmingham City Council, heard by House of Lords last month. The likely outcome of the review is new legislation to entitle people referred to private care by local authorities to the protection of the Human Rights Act. The June case ruled that the Act did not apply to private care providers but, despite this, ...

Birmingham-based law firm Shakespeare Putsman has advised the outgoing shareholder of Clearlight Electrical on the company's sale to Denmans Electrical Wholesalers for an undisclosed sum. The deal sees Clearlight - and its parent company Power Industries - become part of Rexel, the world's number one distributor of electrical supplies. The acquisition of Erdington-based Clearlight was carried out through one of Rexel's main UK trading subsidiaries, Denmans Electrical Wholesalers. Denmans is a £60m turnover business with 64 stores across ...

Jo Bewley has joined Shakespeare Putsman's expanding commercial property team as an associate. The firm now has one of the city's top five commercial property teams by size and Jo's appointment brings further specialist experience across a range of property work including secured lending; the acquisition and disposal of nursing and residential care homes; and work with doctors' and dentists' practices. Having trained at Eversheds, Jo worked in the Cheltenham area for six-and-a-half years - most recently as ...

Shakespeare Putsman has advised the shareholders of Flint Distribution Limited on its sale to Avnet Time, part of global electronics business Avnet Inc. Leicestershire-based Flint is one of the UK's leading specialist electronic component distributors. The newly-formed business will have annual revenues of 31m Euros and will play an important role in Avnet's plans for growth across Europe. Carl Barton, manager and co-founder of Flint, will lead the new, larger Avnet Time Business in the UK and Ireland. ...

In October 2006 Putsmans announced the promotion of three Associates from the Insolvency, Property Litigation and Private Client departments. Sam Payne, who specialises in Insolvency, Richard Thorpe in Property Litigation and Simon Vaile in Tax, Trusts and Estates have all received promotion to Associate status within the firm. These appointments are announced in conjunction with the recent news that Putsmans are soon to merge with Birmingham based law firm, Shakespeares. Terry Lipscombe, Chairman said: "We have always been committed ...

Shakespeares has been recognised for outstanding achievement in the latest Chambers UK Guide, which ranks solicitors and barristers in over 60 specialist areas of law. The firm has been ranked in the top five law firms in the Midlands for Debt Recovery, Employment, General Commercial, Trust and Personal Tax, with both Mike Hibbs and Mark Beesley recognised for their contribution. Chambers researchers speak to a vast range of lawyers and clients to assess the firm's technical legal ...

Shakespeare Putsman has beaten off stiff competition to retain its place as one of Capgemini's advisers on employment law in the UK. Capgemini, a global leader in the field of consulting, technology and outsourcing, employs around 9,000 staff in the UK alone. Capgemini had previously used Birmingham-based firm Putsmans for employment advice and, following a tendering process and a combined bid by the then distinct Shakespeares and Putsmans employment teams, has retained the firm on its legal panel. ...

A mother's rights to return to work following maternity leave may not be as black and white as previously thought following a landmark case, successfully defended by Stockton on Tees Borough Council against the claim of Reception Teacher Mrs Blundell. Mrs Blundell, a Teacher at St Andrews Primary School, had correctly instructed the head of the school that she was pregnant whilst still a full time teacher. Later, and as a matter of course, the school had ...

What have you got planned for your Dad this Sunday? Breakfast in bed, an extra sports' channel...or six months' additional paid paternity leave? The extra leave for fathers is among the Government's planned family-friendly legislative changes. It sounds good in principle and indeed works well in Scandinavia. But just how willing will our British Dads be to take it up? Statistics still suggest that men earn more than women and so from a financial perspective fathers may ...

The decision by KFC to back down in its dispute with a Yorkshire pub shows why businesses need to take a balanced and commercial view when it comes to protecting their brand. Martin Noble, Intellectual Property solicitor at Birmingham law firm Shakespeare Putsman, said: "A brand carries with it a reputation which can be the life blood of a business. A good reputation can boost revenue; but one that has been tarnished can wipe the value from ...