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legal focus 37 Why compromise? Some choices are hard. Choosing White & Black isn’t one of them. wablegal.com


Ruling shows fixed retirement age can be legitimate


Weybridge-based chartered accountancy firm Midgley Snelling is advising employers that there may be circumstances where a fixed retirement age can be justified, following a recent court ruling.


Since the default retirement age of 65 was scrapped in October 2011, employers can no longer force someone out of their job on the grounds of age alone.


However, in the first age discrimination case of its kind, the Supreme Court recently found that a Kent-based law firm may be justified in forcing its partners to retire at the age of 65 on the


grounds that it enables the firm to retain younger solicitors who might otherwise go elsewhere, by opening partnership opportunities. This was a legitimate aim of the partnership, the court ruled.


The decision effectively paves the way for businesses to be able to force employees to retire, provided they can demonstrate that such a move is justified on reasonable grounds other than age alone in the particular circumstances of the employment.


James Beecher, partner at Midgley Snelling, said: “While the law is clear that age alone is no indication of someone’s


ability to do their job, this ruling shows that fixed retirement can still be legitimate if an employer can demonstrate that it is necessary in order to achieve the aims of their business.


“However, far from being an easy way to bypass age discrimination laws, company directors and HR departments will have to give careful consideration as to whether mandatory retirement rules can be fairly justified, and whether or not the business aims could be achieved by a retirement age other than that proposed, before making such a decision.”


Details: www.midsnell.co.uk Consequences of civil costs reform


The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act received the royal assent on May 1, 2012. It contains a number of reforms of civil litigation costs, which will have significant consequences for litigants and their advisers, writes Will Richmond-Coggan director and solicitor-advocate in the dispute resolution team at Pitmans LLP


For example, where (previously) claimants with strong cases could enter into conditional fee agreements and after the event insurance policies, and pass the success fees and premium costs onto the other side if they were unsuccessful, those additional costs (which claimants will still be allowed to incur if they wish) will now have to be paid by the party incurring them in any event. These added costs burdens, even if the claimant wins, are likely to make claims pursued on this footing considerably less commercially attractive.


On the other hand, new forms of funding will be available. The long-standing ban on contingency fee agreements (where the lawyer can be paid a capped share of the damages recovered, in lieu of a fee) is to come to an end, giving claimants greater flexibility in the way in which they share risk with their advisers.


These reforms, coupled with other changes that THE BUSINESS MAGAZINE – THAMES VALLEY – JUNE 2012 www.businessmag.co.uk


are in the pipeline which may ultimately see claims as high as £15,000 falling into the “small claims track” (and therefore under a regime where each party bears their own costs whatever the outcome), and an increasing emphasis on mediation and alternative dispute resolution, are set to dramatically alter the dispute resolution landscape in the coming months and years.


Details: Will Richmond-Coggan 0118-9570369 wrcoggan@pitmans.com www.pitmans.com


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