This document provides general guidance regarding divorce procedure in relation to divorces commenced before 6 April 2022. Your family lawyer will be able to provide specific advice based on your circumstances. How do I apply for a divorce? To apply for a divorce, you must have been married for at least a year. It doesn’t matter where in the world you were married, but you can only apply for a divorce in England and Wales if either you or your spouse meet certain residence conditions or are domiciled here. You should speak to your family lawyer about this if you are in any doubt. The divorce process is generally administrative. This means that usually neither of you will need to see a judge to get a divorce as it is almost always agreed by a judge on the paperwork. The process is simple as long as your spouse does not decide to defend the proceedings and ask the court not to grant your divorce. When this happens, it is called a defended divorce and is a different

Employment analysis: Homa Wilson, partner at Hodge Jones & Allen Solicitors, discusses practical considerations for employers during Diwali. Wilson advises employers to be sensitive to the needs to their diverse workforce and have a clear policy that covers religious observance.

Scenario A client has just called to tell me that after some last minute management meetings, they would like to give notice urgently to end the lease of their HQ. The break clause states the following: ‘If the Tenant wishes to determine this Lease on the fifth anniversary of commencement of the Term and gives to the Landlord at least 6 months' prior written notice of that wish, then on expiry of the notice the Term is to cease and determine immediately, but without prejudice to any rights or remedies that may have accrued’ The Term commenced on 1 March 2009. It’s 2.30pm on Friday, 30 August 2013. Can I still serve notice effectively and what should I put in my notice? Timing • Determine what is the fifth anniversary of the Term. If the Term commenced ‘on’ (rather than ‘from’

Complaints to the Legal Ombudsman (LeO) do not have to be made by clients of law firms. Paragraph 2.8(a) and (d) of LeO’s Scheme Rules say the complaint ‘must relate to services which the authorised person provided to the complainant’ or ‘offered, or refused to provide, to the complainant’. LeO’s Scheme Rules FAQs state: ‘In relation to Scheme Rule 2.8(a), this means if the complainant is receiving the benefit of a service, even if they did not directly instruct the lawyer or pay their fees, they fall within our jurisdiction.’ In the course of investigating a complaint by a third party, eg a residuary beneficiary, LeO may request information that you consider confidential information of your clients or which is subject to legal professional privilege. This Q&A considers whether you are under a duty to disclose client information to LeO in relation to a third-party complaint and what you should do in response to such a

This Q&A reflects the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, as amended. There is no blanket requirement to establish the source of funds for every customer and matter. However, understanding the source of funds and the source of wealth will help you to manage the risk from a transaction. MLR 2017 requirements The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 (MLR 2017), SI 2017/692, as amended, do, however, require you to establish the source of funds involved in a transaction in relation to ongoing monitoring (where necessary), and also require you to establish source of funds and source of wealth: • when conducting customer due diligence (CDD) on politically exposed persons (PEPs) including family members and known close associates, and • when conducting CDD in relation to any business relationship with a person established in a high-risk third country or any relevant transaction where either of the parties

From 13 June 2014, the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 replace the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 and Cancellation of Contracts made in a Consumer's Home or Place of Work etc Regulations 2008. The regulations apply if you enter into an off-premises or distance contract with a consumer client. At the heart of the regulations is the duty to give the client: • notice of their right to cancel (called Instructions for cancellation), and • a prescribed Cancellation form A retainer is a contract to provide legal services for the purpose

CPR 7.8 deals with the form for defence. CPR 7.8(1) states that a claim form must be served with: • a form for defending the claim

We are not aware of any specific guidance on this point. However, SRA requirements would apply alongside the UK GDPR and may be applicable even where there is no obligation to take action under UK GDPR. The SRA enforcement strategy points out that information security is of high importance to the public. In the context of parallel actions with other regulators, the SRA gives the example of a data breach, saying that while enforcement of data protection legislation is a matter for the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), if a data protection breach also involves the disclosure of confidential client information, the SRA would investigate that as a regulatory offence. For more information on the position under UK GDPR, see the Practice Compliance subtopic: Data breaches—compliance—overview, and in particular Practice Note: How to manage a personal data breach.

In answering this Q&A we have assumed that this is a civil action and the issue arises due to a freezing injunction having been ordered. We also assume that the third party became an intervener in the proceedings. An intervener is a third party to proceedings and depending on the wording of the freezing injunction they may be able to apply for a variation or discharge of the injunction itself or they may oppose any application to vary the injunction. Where a third party has successfully intervened in the action, its reasonable costs will generally be ordered to be paid by the party which obtained the freezing order. This was set out in Project Development Co Ltd v KMK Securities Ltd where it was held that such costs would be assessed on the solicitor and own client basis, ie an indemnity basis, with a special

This response is written on the basis of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The GDPR applies when you process personal data, ie: ‘any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (‘data subject’); an identifiable natural person is one who can be identified, directly or indirectly, in particular by reference to an identifier such as a name, an identification number, location data, an online identifier or to one or more factors specific to the physical, physiological, genetic, mental, economic, cultural or social identity of that natural person.’ Clearly, therefore, when accepting instructions from a named individual in a corporate client, you will be processing the personal data of that named individual,

Correspondence sent by third parties to a firm in the course of a matter generally belongs to the client, and copies of that correspondence made by the firm for its own benefit or protection generally belong to the firm—see Q&A: Who owns the matter file—law firms? However, the UK General Data Protection Regulation (the UK GDPR), Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679 provides that data subjects have the right to obtain confirmation from a data controller as to whether or not personal data concerning

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) contains extensive information requirements. See Practice Note: Privacy notices—information requirements and Precedent: Privacy notice audit. You do not have to provide this information to existing customers if they already have it. You should therefore consider whether you have updated the