Enigma strengthens relationship with Temple Legal Protection for the benefit of Clients; After-The-Event insurance explained

The new racing spinnaker sail of the Astraea

Enigma is fortunate to have and maintain a long-standing relationship with Temple Legal Protection, which provides After The Event insurance in litigation to Enigma Clients in appropriate cases.

The Directors of Temple are former solicitors and experienced underwriters who, in every case, assess any matter commercially before considering whether or not to offer terms.  Enigma’s Neil Mercer has successfully insured disputes with Temple over many years.  Enigma always considers the full range of products available and is not financially linked to any particular provider of insurance in any way; the reason that Temple’s products are so often chosen is quite simply because they are frequently the best on offer.  Part of Temple’s assessment criteria is inevitably the skill and experience of the solicitor bringing the action.

Recently the Partners of Enigma, Rory Smith and Neil Mercer, met with Mr Chris Wait (Managing Director) and Mr Michael Lent (Underwriting Director) of Temple Legal Protection to discuss ways in which Enigma can secure for its clients an even broader range of insurance protection and funding in relation to court proceedings.

Rather than hold the meeting in a board room or by telephone conference call, Rory and Neil were invited to discuss the matter onboard Chris Wait’s yacht, Astraea. Along with other guests, Rory and Neil sailed out of Portsmouth for the day from Gosport to the Isle of Wight and enjoyed lunch in the Cowes Yacht Club.  The Directors of Temple took the opportunity to raise their new racing spinnaker sail in the breezy conditions.
In civil proceedings the Court normally orders the unsuccessful party to pay the successful party’s legal costs (unless the case is heard in the small claims track of the County Court).

The costs of fully fought proceedings can be substantial and it is critical to consider this issue with your solicitor and, if appropriate, to take precautionary steps before embarking on litigation.

After The Event insurance is a form of insurance which will pay your opponent’s legal costs for you in the event of an unsuccessful outcome.
If you obtain After The Event insurance there is an insurance premium to pay. This is something to discuss with your solicitor on an individual basis. Often Enigma obtains terms of insurance through Temple Legal Protection Limited who offer a scheme whereby the premium is “self-insuring”. This means that you only become responsible for paying the premium in the event that you are successful with your case and at that point you will then be able to claim the premium from your opponent as part of your legal costs.

The insurance premiums can be very high and it is therefore important that you discuss with your solicitor the risks involved and in particular whether your opponent will be able to pay the premium, if you are successful.

Parties who obtain After The Event insurance often find that this is a factor which increases the likelihood of managing to settle the case rather than having to proceed to trial.

Enigma advises its clients in all appropriate cases about the role of After The Event insurance. If you would like to know more about After The Event insurance please speak to one of the Partners. For more information about Temple Legal Protection please visit their website.

Enigma Solicitors attend launch of new ale at Princetown’s Plume of Feathers

Mark Shackleton (far left), director of Dartmoor Brewery, at The Plume of Feathers for the launch of "Dragon's Breath"

Enigma’s partners, Rory Smith and Neil Mercer, attended the launch of a new winter ale, Dartmoor Brewery’s Dragon’s Breath, at Princetown’s Plume of Feathers on Thurday night. Attending at the invitation of Enigma Associate Sarah Ruffles, Landlady of the Plume of Feathers, they talked to Mark Shackleton, the brewery’s director, who described the ale as having a “hint of treacle or autumn fruits”.

Neil Mercer enjoyed several pints of Dragon’s Breath and thought that the beer should sell very well over the winter months.

Sarah Ruffles said: “The evening was a great success and the ale was very popular.” As mentioned in The Herald the day before the launch, Sarah had also prepared food using the ale – in mustard-and-ale mayonnaise for fish cakes, ale butter for a toad-in-the-hole and in sausages.

Dartmoor Brewery is geared up to make 1,000 barrels of Dragon’s Breath and Enigma Solicitors wish them success with their new ale, which is currently exclusive to certain Dartmoor pubs.

RollOnFriday: “Enigma Solicitors’ blog goes from strength to strength”

Enigma Solicitors' blog goes from strength to strength. Make sure you check out their photos, too http://bit.ly/ghqgmh

— RollOnFriday (@RollOnFridayWeb) November 23, 2010

RollOnFriday has noted that Enigma Solicitors‘ blog is going “from strength to strength” on its Twitter page.

The leading legal community site was described in The Law Society Gazette as being a “cheeky and irreverent site that provides news and gossip on the legal profession.”

Enigma Solicitors & Enigma Chambers

When you enter ‘Enigma Solicitors‘ into many search engines, the search results include Enigma Barristers’ Chambers as well our own site.

Enigma Chambers state on their website that the days when you needed to instruct a solicitor and barrister in the same matter are long gone.

Enigma Chambers correctly point out on their website the differences between solicitors and barristers.

They then suggest that if you directly instruct barristers from their Chambers you will remove unnecessary barriers and saves cost by the removal of solicitors, whom they describe as ’intermediaries’.

We do not agree with the views about solicitors expressed by Enigma Chambers.

We sue solicitors on behalf of clients for negligence on a regular basis. We have also been involved in negligence cases against barristers.
We wish to look beyond the labels of ‘solicitor’ and ‘barrister’ and try to provide an intelligent contribution to the debate about how the legal profession in the 21st century should modernise and best serve the needs of its Clients.

Barristers have an important role to play as experts in their own fields. Many of them of course have undoubted expertise in their specialist fields when providing drafting, advice and advocacy services. Solicitors also provide these services, in many cases without the assistance of a barrister. Solicitors will engage the services of barristers on cases when specialist advice, advocacy or drafting skills are required that can be provided in a more cost-effective manner and / or to a higher standard by the barrister than the solicitor.

Traditionally, solicitors have more experience than barristers in managing a case from start to finish and preparing the case for trial. Solicitors have much more experience of explaining the whole process to clients, as a case develops, and discussing their concerns with them. Traditionally, barristers have much less experience dealing with procedural and costs / funding issues.

Clients would probably in many cases welcome the prospect of their solicitor and barrister working in the same building, if not within the same organisation, as a more effective team.

In our experience, Clients want a specialist solicitor acting for them and taking care of their interests. Litigation can require detailed care and attention throughout, often at short notice or even in unsociable hours. Clients often need instant access to the person handling their case and instant action. A specialist solicitor should understand the strategic and tactical process from start to finish and manage the progress of your case throughout.  At Enigma Solicitors we have years of experience and an excellent track record of doing exactly that.

Our aim is to give our clients access to the best legal services available. Sometimes this aim will require the use of barristers. Our aim always is to act in our Clients’ bests interests to deliver the best service we can in the most effective and cost-effective manner.

The choice of legal representative can be extremely important to a Client.

We think that Clients should always consider this choice carefully by looking at all the options available and weighing up all the factors.

Legal costs are always an issue. We actively consider with clients ways in which they can reduce costs throughout their case.

We are happy to discuss all of these issues with clients and prospective Clients.

Enigma Solicitors are not linked to Enigma Chambers in any way.

Renowned sculptor Stephen Kettle wishes Enigma Solicitors success

The cryptanalyst Alan Turing is widely recognised today as a brilliant mind and an inspiration to many.  His ideas live on today in the modern theory of computers and numerical logic although his research into the Fibonacci sequence of numbers as they occur in nature is also influential.  The choice of name for Enigma Solicitors was prompted by his career and intellect.

During a recent piece of litigation against the Theatre Royal in Plymouth for Enigma Clients Acer Landscaping, it transpired that Mr Robbie Ryder of Acer knew Mr Stephen Kettle, the renowned stacked slate sculptor who created the remarkable sculpture of Alan Turing on display at Bletchley Park near Milton Keynes.  Neil Mercer of Enigma Solicitors had visited Bletchley Park in 2009 and photographed Alan Turing’s office (note the  coffee cup chained to radiator) and the sculpture in question.

Acer Landscaping’s Robbie Ryder and Stuart House recently kindly presented to Enigma Solicitors a signed limited edition print from Mr Stephen Kettle. The hand-written dedication to Enigma Solicitors on the print says: ‘Wishing you every success with Enigma — Stephen Kettle’.

The print depicts Stephen Kettle’s life-size sculpture of Alan Turing, the English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist, whose work in breaking the German Enigma code was described by Winston Churchill as the greatest single contribution to victory in World War II. Many historians consider that the work of the code breakers shortened the war by at least two years, saving countless lives. Further information on Alan Turing can be found on author Alan Hodges’ site, Turing.org.uk.

Next year Enigma plan to purchase and place on display an original sculpture of Alan Turing by Mr Kettle.  It is hoped that Mr Kettle will accompany the bust to set it up in its new home and will also find time to give an interview to The Herald.

Higher resolution images of the print can be viewed on Enigma’s Flickr page, together with picture of the sculpture itself and of Mr Turing’s office.

The Herald’s photograph from Enigma Solicitors’ launch party

The photograph that accompanied the article entitled “New firm a litigation specialist” from the 12th November edition of Plymouth’s The Herald is shown below.

© The Herald (Plymouth)

Katy Mercer and Elodie Smith cut  the ribbon to declare Enigma Solicitors officially open for business as the party’s guests and Enigma’s partners, Neil Mercer and Rory Smith, look on.

Enigma Solicitors complete lease negotiations

Enigma Solicitors‘ partners, Rory Smith and Neil Mercer, recently signed the lease to their premises on 77 North Hill, Plymouth.

Neil Mercer said: “Our landlords, Stratton Creber, have been a real pleasure to deal with throughout.  Enigma is delighted to have secured such modern and well-located offices and would like to thank our Landlords for their approach and faith in us during the lease negotiations.”

During the lease negotiations, Enigma were represented by Sarah Ruffles, former solicitor and current co-owner of The Plume of Feathers in Princetown. Neil Mercer added: “Enigma were fortunate to secure the services of Sarah Ruffles.  We are most grateful to her for her hard work and pleased that her impressive business is an associate of Enigma.”

The Plume of Feathers are hosting the launch of Dartmoor Brewery‘s new winter warmer ale, Dragon’s Breath, on 25 November 2010 from 7.30pm onwards. Rory and Neil will be attending and the inn will be welcoming all guests.

Related photographs have been collected on Enigma’s Flickr page, including several of the engraved glasses Sarah Ruffles presented to Rory and Neil to commemorate the signing of the lease.

Enigma Solicitors – contact details updated

Enigma Solicitors‘ contact details have been updated.

Enigma Solicitors featured on SouthWestBusiness.co.uk

The article about Enigma Solicitors‘ glittering launch party that appeared in Plymouth’s The Herald on Friday 12th November can also be read online at SouthWestBusiness.co.uk, a website that provides the latest business news from the south west including Devon, Cornwall, Wiltshire, Dorset, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Bath and Bristol.

The “secret gallery” on Enigma Solicitors’ homepage

Enigma Solicitors‘ homepage includes a “secret gallery”. By hovering your cursor over each letter of the names of Rory Smith and Neil Mercer on the “individuals” page, a different image is displayed. Included in the secret gallery are a selection of photographs taken by Neil Mercer during his service with the Royal Navy and several images taken by Peter Russell during a promotional photoshoot on Dartmoor in September.

The images from the secret gallery have now been collected on Enigma’s Flickr page.