Lincolnshire-based Ringrose Law is celebrating a number of senior leadership changes after Senior Partner Paul Cooper and Partner Christine Pickwell announced their retirement.
Partner and Head of the Personal Injury & Medical Negligence Team John Knight will be stepping up to the role of Senior Partner from May 1, 2020.
The changes mark the end of an era, with Paul Cooper and Christine Pickwell having both been Partners in the firm since the early 1980s. They will retire in April 2020.
Paul Cooper, John Knight and Christine Pickwell
Paul began his career in private practice in 1979. His early years in Boston were spent working for Frost Gunning and Co, who merged with Grocock and Staniland in 1984 to form Ringrose and Co, now Ringrose Law.
Paul was made a Partner of Ringrose Law in 1986 and has taken on management responsibilities ever since. Paul has been Head of the Family Department and an accredited Family Mediator for many years with past accreditations for Mental Health Tribunal work and Personal Injury.
Paul is known throughout Lincolnshire and surrounding counties for his excellent reputation in the Family Law arena.
He was also Acting Senior Coroner for South Lincolnshire until the reorganisation of the county boundaries and despite which retains the post of Assistant Coroner for the new division of Lincolnshire he is also a Deputy District Judge and will continue both of these roles going forward on a part-time basis.
Christine has also established an excellent reputation in the county in the Family Law and Family Mediation arena. Christine has been practising in Family Law since the early 1980s and was the first female Partner since the merger of Adie Pickwell & Ringrose & Co in 1989.
Whilst Christine will be stepping back from the Partnership, she will remain as a Consultant & continue in her role as Family Mediator & head of the Ringrose Family Mediation Department.
John Knight has been appointed as Senior Partner
As the firm wishes good luck to Paul and Christine, it also looks forward to the appointment of John Knight as Senior Partner.
John joined the firm in 2003 and soon became Partner and in due course Head of the Personal Injury and Medical Negligence Teams. As well as his management role, John acts for clients with complex and serious injuries, alongside taking a very active Trustee role with the Charity Headway Lincolnshire, supporting survivors of Brain Injury.
John Knight said: “I would like to add my personal thanks, and those of the rest of the Partners, to both Paul and Christine for the tremendous amount of service they have given to Ringrose Law over the years. Their contribution to the success of the firm has been invaluable.”
As well as the appointment of John to Senior Partner, the firm has also announced further promotions to the Partnership, and welcomes Solicitors Richard Teare, Costa Kyriacou, Kelly Langworthy, Amanda Green and Emma McGrath.
Paul and Christine said in a joint statement: “We would like to wish the new Partners every success for the future, there is a lot of exciting change to come for Ringrose Law.
“The firm continues to adapt to the client’s needs, developing the software and technology that we have, and we are pleased to say there will be some further announcements being made over the next 12 months, to ensure that we stay a leading regional law firm.”
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City of Lincoln Council has approved a 1.9% tax hike despite a series of cuts for 2021-22 due to the financial uncertainty around the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 1.9% rise will take city council’s share of council tax for a Band D property in Lincoln to £285.39 – an increase of £5.31.
The executive committee agreed on increasing allotment charges, council house and garage rents.
Council bosses predict a budget gap of £1.75 million and said it must close the hole for financial stability.
Allotment charges will also see most tenants pay between £58.70-£78.30 per year from 2022, an increase of between 38p and 51 pence per week.
Council housing rent will increase by an average of 1.5%, while council garage rents will increase by 3%.
Attendees at City of Lincoln Council’s executive on Monday.
The authority said it faces a number of ongoing challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic and requires a substantial reduction in all of its budgets.
Cllr Ric Metcalfe, Leader of City of Lincoln Council said: “It’sareasonablymodestincreaseformostpeople,andwewill support lowincomegroups stillwiththeconcessions.”
The council has saved more than £9 million annually over the past decade, however will have to increase savings by £850,000 next year, rising to £1.75 million by 2023/24.
Due to the pandemic’s impact on government funded reliefs, empty properties and business closures, the authority estimates it will only retain £5.1 million of the £42 million of business rates generated in the city.
The draft budget will go to consultation and return before the council later this year for a final decision.
There have been 372 new coronavirus cases and nine COVID-related deaths in Greater Lincolnshire on Monday.
The government’s COVID-19 dashboard recorded 325 new cases in Lincolnshire, 30 in North Lincolnshire and 17 in North East Lincolnshire.
Some nine deaths were registered in Lincolnshire and none in North and North East Lincolnshire. These figures include deaths both in and out of hospitals, as well as residents in hospitals outside the county.
NHS England reported nine new local hospital deaths at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust and one at Northern Lincolnshire and Goole NHS Foundation Trust on Monday. Hospital deaths have now surpassed 1,000 since the pandemic started in Greater Lincolnshire.
National cases increased by 37,535 to 3,433,494, while deaths rose by 599 to 89,860.
Leader of South Holland District Council, Cllr Lord Gary Porter, put the spike down to outbreaks in two care facilities, one being a children’s care home.
A group of urban explorers who travelled from three different counties to look around derelict buildings were caught and fined in Grantham for breaching lockdown rules. Two groups of revellers in the woods near Woodhall Spa have also been fined.
In national news, Public Health England have confirmed 4,062,501 people have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Those in England aged 70 and over, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable, will begin receiving offers of a coronavirus vaccine this week.
Ten hospital trusts across England consistently reported having no spare adult critical care beds in the most recent figures available.
It comes as hospital waiting times, coronavirus admissions and patients requiring intensive care are rising.
All UK travel corridors, which allow arrivals from some countries to avoid having to quarantine, have now closed until at least February 15.
Travellers arriving in the UK, whether by boat, train or plane, also have to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to be allowed entry.
Supermarkets face increased inspections from local councils to ensure they are COVID-secure amid a push from the government to clamp down further on coronavirus transmission.
Local governments have been asked by ministers to target the largest supermarkets for inspection to ensure companies are enforcing mask wearing, social distancing and limits on shopper numbers.
Here’s Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rate up to January 17 according to the government dashboard:
Greater Lincolnshire’s infection rates from Jan 11 to Jan 17. | Data: Gov UK / Table: James Mayer for The Lincolnite
Coronavirus data for Greater Lincolnshire on Monday, January 18
Greater Lincolnshire includes Lincolnshire and the unitary authorities of North and North East (Northern) Lincolnshire.
44,374 cases (up 372)
30,784 in Lincolnshire (up 325)
6,927 in North Lincolnshire (up 30)
6,663 in North East Lincolnshire (up 17)
1,686 deaths (up nine)
1,196 from Lincolnshire (up nine)
268 from North Lincolnshire (no change)
222 from North East Lincolnshire (no change)
of which 1,006 hospital deaths (up 10)
612 at United Lincolnshire Hospitals Trust (up nine)
30 at Lincolnshire Community Health Service hospitals (no change)
1 at Lincolnshire Partnership Foundation Trust (no change)
363 in Northern Lincolnshire (NLAG) (up one)
3,433,494 UK cases, 89,860 deaths
DATA SOURCE — FIGURES CORRECT AT THE TIME OF the latest update. postcode data includes deaths not in healthcare facilities or in hospitals outside authority boundaries.
Eight people were fined for two separate COVID-19 rule breaches over the weekend, after being found partying and camping near Woodhall Spa.
Officers were called to two different incidents at Ostler’s Plantation, a woodland area near Woodhall Spa on Saturday, January 16 and on Sunday, January 17.
Five people were issued with £200 fines after a report of partying at around 11.08pm on Saturday.
The next morning, police were again called to the area at 8.21am after people were seen camping at the location.
Three people were fined as a result of this, again valued at £200 due to being first time offenders.
If these fines are paid within 14 days of the offence, the cost will be cut in half to £100.
On the same weekend, but this time in a different location, six urban explorers were fined after travelling from three different counties to try and gain access to an abandoned hospital in Grantham.
The behaviour of COVID-19 rule breakers has been described as “dangerous” by Lincolnshire Police’s assistant chief constable Kerrin Wilson, who referred to them as “Covidiots”.
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