For vendors and landlords the stricter regime means they need to be more organised and get their ‘buildings’ in order if they are to maximise profitability and avoid penalties charges for non-compliance with the regulations.

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The great and good from Manchester’s creative industry gathered for a lunch last week to share ideas for the city’s inaugural film festival. The concept is the brainchild of local film director, Simon Powell, who was driven to provide the city with its own event after winning numerous awards elsewhere for his recent feature film; Poor Wee Me. “I’m amazed that a big creative and industrial city such as Manchester doesn’t have a major film festival, given the fact that we have become an international media hub in the last five years”.

The lunch meeting included guest speaker Ashok Rao, CEO of Excalibur Pictures based in Houston, USA, and was kindly hosted by Founding Partner Sunil Mohindra of the law firm Mohindra Maini who said “I am delighted to support this inaugural event for Manchester which I am sure will develop into a major event for the City”.  Festival Director, John Macaulay set out the festival’s ethos to inspire the next generation of talented filmmakers and toconnect the creative industries and local communities.

Attendees included those from MPA, Social Media Ventures, SaffreyChampness, HSBC, 235 Casino, IOD, EOS Law and Peel Media.  They were brought up to speed on the progress of the film festival project, which included news of support from local director Danny Boyle, actresses Maxine Peake and Michelle Holmes and organizations including The Cornerhouse, The Midland Hotel, BBC, Peel Media and The Odeon. The also team shared plans for how the festival would become the UK’s largest dedicated film festival within the next 5 years.

With the film festival team moving into their new offices at Media City UK at the end of the month,it promises to be an exciting few months ahead for those involved.  The inaugural festival is scheduled for October 2012 and with the key people in the city backing the plan, the momentum is gathering nicely. We doubt this will be the last you’ll be hearing about this exciting project.

For enquires contact:

Simon Powell 07534 926461

John Macaulay 07778 183299

As a result of the decision by the Madras High Court delivered last week foreign lawyers will be able to “fly in and fly out” for temporary periods for the purpose of giving legal advice to their clients in India regarding foreign law on diverse international legal issues.

Moreover, foreign lawyers will not be de-barred from conducting Arbitration Proceedings in relation to International Commercial Contracts.

Commenting on the decision Sunil Mohindra, Senior Partner with Mohindra Maini Solicitors, said:-

“This is a welcome decision and in keeping with India’s aim of increasing foreign investment and opening up the Indian markets to foreign companies. At present the majority of arbitration matters are dealt with either in London or Singapore There is no good reason to restrict English lawyers from advising clients on English law which affects their business. Indian lawyers have no such restrictions placed upon them in the UK”.

Sunil adds “Only time will tell whether there will be a shift towards conducting arbitration in India”.

Mr Anis Waiz Partner and Head of Banking and Finance Litigation and Specialist Practice in Mortgage Fraud and Asset Finance was instructed by an International client based in Ghana who received an email purportedly from a contact requesting $300,000 to be transmitted to a company registered in England.

The monies were transmitted to the account in England. The fraud then came to light when the client made further enquiries which revealed the email had been sent by a fraudster who had hacked into a contact’s email account and sent the client fraudulent payee details. Despite contacting its own Bank, our client was unable to recover those monies. In fact the recipient of those monies failed to return the monies.

The British Bank were, for reasons of confidentiality and data protection, unable to identify their account holder. Acting upon urgent instructions we obtained the first Freezing Injunction against an unidentified account holder and Orders for disclosure against the Bank.

From the disclosure we were then able to identify the account holder a local company Sweet & Mix Limited and its officer and shareholder based in Heald Green Cheshire and more importantly, uncover the fact that monies had been transferred between accounts. At very short notice Anis Waiz then appeared before the High Court and obtained a second Freezing Injunction against Sweet & Mix Limited and its officer and shareholder.

The officer and shareholder maintained their innocence on behalf of Sweet & Mix Limited as to the funds in the account. However at a further Hearing we explained that the background facts clearly showed that when Sweet & Mix Limited had ascertained that they were not entitled to the funds, the monies should have been returned to our client. The Court accepted our submissions and the funds were returned and our client awarded costs.

With robust swift action we were able to secure all of our client’s monies in a very short period of time and obtain costs. The email from the fraudster was very difficult to detect on first reading and it was only on very close examination that the fraud and the trail of monies came to light.

Part of the claim against the defendant was that they were in breach of trust in paying away the advance. The defendant sought to rely on section 61 of the Trustee Act 1925 (“the 1925 Act”). Lord Justice Rimer noted

“The careful, conscientious and thorough solicitor, who conducts the transaction by the book and acts honestly and reasonably in relation to it in all respects but still does not discover the fraud, may still be held to have been in breach of trust for innocently parting with the loan money to a fraudster. He is, however, likely to be treated mercifully by the court on his section 61 application.”

For full details of the case, please click below.

Lloyds TSB Bank Plc v Markandan & Uddin (a firm) [2012] EWCA Civ 65 (09 February 2012)

The case concerned monies which a lender claimed and had been wrongly paid away to the borrower by its Solicitor. The case highlights the issue of damages and remedies sought.

Please click below to view the case.

AIB Group (UK) Plc v Mark Redler & Co (A Firm) [2012] EWHC 35 (Ch) (23 January 2012)

The case arose as a result of the purchase by Vodafone of an Indian Telecommunications business owned through a number of subsidiaries by a company based in the Cayman Islands. Vodafone was also based outside India and acquired the entire shareholding of the Cayman Islands company. The issue in the case was whether or not the Indian Revenue could seek to levy Capital Gains Tax amounting to USD 2 billion arising from the sale of the shares. In its judgment the Supreme Court considered the manner in which many deals involving investment in India are structured (the majority of which take advantage of the India/Mauritius Tax Treaty) and approved such tax structures which seek to provide tax efficient exit routes for overseas businesses investing into India.

“The decision will create a more investor friendly view of India and bring confidence to foreign investors that the Indian judicial system is impartial allowing businesses to prosper. It is anticipated that many cross-border and foreign investment deals, which were awaiting the outcome of the Court case, will now be concluded” adds Sunil Mohindra.

For further information please contact Sunil Mohindra on 0161 236 9833.

Sunil Mohindra

Mohindra Maini Founding Partner, Sunil Mohindra has been elected to the Board of Trustees of one of the world’s leading entrepreneur organisations, TiE. Sunil was President of TiE Manchester from 2008. His work at his law practice at Mohindra Maini includes advising clients on inward investment into the UK and outward investment from the UK, in particular to India. Sunil says:“As India continues to expand its industrial and commercial bases, and in the process is developing its infrastructure, it is becoming an increasingly important market place. My new role, which encompasses TiE Chapters in 57 countries, gives me the platform to develop business opportunities through the TiE global network of 2,700 business leaders. Charter members offer their services to grow and develop businesses along the TiE principles and guidelines. My practice will benefit from working with such world class leaders”.

Sunil’s new appointment with the TiE Global Board will also involve him working closely with TiE’s expansion into Europe, having already opened chapters in Brussels, Stockholm and Frankfurt. At the heart of TiE’s excellent work are established entrepreneurs, mentoring young aspiring businessmen and women who have a passion for starting their own enterprise. In Manchester, TiE has been doing this for the last 6 years and for the past 3 years has won Global Awards including two Global Mentoring Awards.

For further information please contact Ann Jordan on 07710 500802.

Louis Doyle, Kings Chambers

Mohindra Maini law firm was delighted to be joined at its December Round Table Discussion by Louis Doyle a leading Barrister from Manchester’s Kings Chambers.

A hugely experienced commercial Barrister, Louis brought with him a wealth of knowledge to impart to the invited company directors around the table.

With recent clients including several Football League clubs, large corporates, banks and high net worth individuals, Louis was able to talk knowledgably and succinctly about how directors must exercise their duties, the pitfalls, and indeed how to avoid them. Louis centred specifically on various areas including the duty to promote the success of the company and how directors must be accountable for their decision making, whether through a third party or not.

Louis was joined in the Mohindra Maini boardroom by chair for the day Roger Thompson, Senior Commercial Lawyer at Mohindra Maini, Senior Partner Sunil Mohindra and a host of company directors from a wide range of industry.

Sunil Mohindra explained after the event, “To have a Barrister of Louis’ calibre, take the time out to speak at one of our events was greatly appreciated. All of our guests found the interactive approach and straight talking hugely beneficial and in such a complex area of law I think they were pleased to learn more about their responsibilities as directors.”

Louis added, “It is always a pleasure to be asked to an event such as this. The arena the Directors currently find themselves in is complex and it is important that they understand the risks of their actions as directors. Good directors make good decisions on behalf of the company and that is the simplest way to avoid the pitfalls.”

For further information please contact Gareth Glynne-Jones on 07833 148562

Roger Thompson of Mohindra Maini Solicitors provided sports-specific legal and commercial advice to complement the specialist IP and drinks industry knowledge of Halewood International’s legal team (led by Peter Horsfall, Legal & HR Director). Roger was pleased to be involved in such a positive deal and stated:

“The greatest challenge was to ensure that this long-term sponsorship agreement was able to benefit both the Crabbie’s and Hibernian brands. Fortunately, the deal worked both commercially and emotionally and, acknowledging both brands’ nineteenth century roots in Leith, the historic port of Edinburgh.”

“The parties worked together to ensure the agreement complied with both the spirit and letter of the relevant regulations covering the promotion of alcohol. Uniquely, the parties agreed that it would be responsible for junior replica shirts to utilise a non-alcoholic brand.”

“I am sure the relationship, which formally commences on 1 July, will be a success for both Hibernian and Crabbie’s.”