A West Midlands man has successfully sued the Chief Constable of West Midlands Police for damages for assault, wrongful arrest and unlawful detention for an assault when he was aged just 17. Ryan Clayton of Shenley Fields Birmingham settled his claim on 8 July 2020 for £15,000 plus legal costs.

In the context of a business lease renewal there are quite a number of new factors which both landlords and tenants of commercial property need to consider in the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdown. That is particularly so in circumstances where the tenant’s business is in leisure, hospitality, retail, or some other business which hasn’t been able to carry on in lockdown and no benefit whatsoever has been derived by the tenant from its leased premises. Rent during this period may well not have been paid and cash strapped tenants may have negotiated for rent suspension, or waiver. Fortunate indeed is the tenant which finds it has a business interruption insurance policy, such as that apparently issued by Hiscox, which seems to cover the risk which has “come home to roost” here.

The government’s pledge to “build, buld build” and its announcement of “Project Speed” surely represents a great opportunity for schools and academies who have struggled for years, if not decades, with school buildings and facilities seriously in need of refurbishment, to grasp this opportunity and get their school refurbished.

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, founder and managing director of Scott-Moncrieff and Associates, writes for the Law Society Gazette on the challenges and opportunitiesof becoming a virtual law firm: