The firms, which are both executive sponsors, will play a key role in the awards with representatives on the judging panel and responsibility for presenting the awards for Medium Business of the Year and Business Person of the Year.

The awards, which are considered to be a highlight in the calendar of the region’s business community, are organised by Trinity Mirror Cheshire – the organisation behind the Chronicle series of newspapers across Cheshire and North Wales.

North West law firm SAS Daniels, which has offices in Stockport, Chester, Macclesfield and Congleton, is entering its third consecutive year as an award sponsor.

Nigel Haddon, chief executive at the firm, said: “Recognising the achievements of the most ambitious and hard working businesses and individuals is characteristic of Cheshire’s business community. Times are still tough and many see it as important to stop for a moment and look at what, as a region, we have achieved.

“For SAS Daniels, the Cheshire Business Awards is a great opportunity to meet other businesses helping to drive the region’s economy – we’re delighted to be involved again.”

Digital marketing and SEO specialist Click Consult won the EA Technology Large Business of the Year award in 2011 with managing director Matt Bullas voted Bentley Motors Young Business Person of the Year. Commenting on the awards, Matt Bullas said: “It’s common knowledge that we are operating in a difficult economic climate, and therefore it’s more important than ever to recognise success stories of businesses, no matter the size or niche. We are proud to have our brand attached to an event of this prestige.”

Key individuals and partners from both sponsors will attend on the night to meet nominees, guests and award winners.

Last year the Cheshire Business Awards attracted over 100 entries from more than 70 businesses in the region.

Carl Wood from Trinity Mirror Cheshire said: “The Cheshire Business Awards acts like a magnet, bringing together some of the most innovative and forward thinking businesses the region has to offer.

Success stories come thick and fast in Cheshire, despite the difficult economic situation, and it is a pleasure to invite those success stories to an event on this scale.”

The Cheshire Business Awards 2012 will be held at Chester Racecourse on Friday, 5 October 2012.

For more information or to enter the Chester Business Awards please visit www.cheshirebusinessawards.co.uk.

More and more businesses from large corporates to SMEs are taking up the idea. Recent research showed that some 92 per cent of employers who take on apprentices believe that the scheme leads to a more motivated and satisfied workforce.

However, the Employment team at SAS Daniels has noticed an increasing number of employers seeking advice after stumbling upon difficulty in their legal position with apprentices.

Those businesses considering taking on apprentices are being urged to be fully aware of their obligations when recruiting an apprentice and to consider the following legal ties before signing on the dotted line:

1. An apprenticeship is a contract between the employer and the apprentice, and as such has to be adhered to as in the case of any other contract. It is a fixed term contract with very limited scope for early termination.
2. If the employer breaches the contract, loss of earnings can be assessed over the remaining term of the agreement plus further damages for the apprentice’s lost opportunity to qualify into their chosen career.  This could be ten times the cost of an unfair dismissal claim.
3. It needs to be borne in mind that most apprenticeship commitments can’t be withdrawn if a business gets into financial difficulty and needs to make redundancies.
4. A certain amount of latitude is expected to be given to the apprentice to take account of any lapses in judgement or conduct. Behaviour that would ordinarily not be tolerated with another employee may need to be tolerated with an apprentices.

There is no doubt that most apprenticeship schemes are ultimately cost effective, motivational for other staff and are great way to bring fresh new talent and energy into your business – however employers need to be fully aware of their obligations and potential pitfalls when recruiting an apprentice and ensure all contracts, policies and health and safety assessments are planned with apprentices in mind.

For further legal advice on apprenticeships, contact John Cook on 0161 475 7664 or another member of the Employment team.

That said it may be possible to argue that a tenancy at will has been created if there is no agreed lease – a move which means that notice can be served at any time.

Nevertheless this may not work in every case and there is the risk of finding yourself stuck with a tenant on less favourable terms than you would have included in a formal lease. In particular, it is usual for landlords to exclude the statutory right of the tenant to renew the lease at the end of the term – a clause which keeps the control with the landlord as to what happens with the lease in the future.

More importantly, it is the norm in commercial leases for landlords to forfeit the lease for non-payment of rent. Some say this is rather archaic but it remains one of the most powerful tools in a landlord’s armoury for getting the rent paid.

So what should you do if faced with a keen tenant who is pushing to move into your premises before a lease is in place?

Firstly you should ask the tenant to provide details in writing of why they need to be in the premises before a lease is in place. It is also useful to ask the tenant for details of where they have previously rented premises, because enquiries made with previous landlords could uncover the serial offenders.

If you are going to allow early occupation, it is always wise to get the tenant to sign up to a tenancy at will or a tenancy for a term of less than six months. The statutory right to renew does not apply to either of these tenancies.

For further information on landlord and tenant disputes, please contact Chris MacCafferty in our Litigation team on 0844 391 5806.

It was hoped that by requiring people to meet with their former spouses/cohabitees before proceedings commence, that many matters could be agreed amicably and Court proceedings would be avoided.

The pre-action protocol and MIAM would effectively be a precondition of issuing proceedings, however at the same time the Government refused to make attendance at MIAM compulsory, on the ground that compulsory mediation was a contradiction in terms. The result, in some places, has been that the pre-action protocol is not being followed.

Despite this, mediation is considered to be a useful exercise and should be tried wherever possible. It really depends upon the personalities of the parties, the issues, whether or not they have a genuine desire to reach agreement as to how successful it is. It is clearly not suitable in cases where there has been an element of domestic violence and one party may be fearful of the other. In these cases each individual party can have a separate MIAM for example.

The difference between mediation and negotiation is that in negotiations solicitors acting on behalf of their clients try and reach a solution. When a solicitor negotiates a divorce or family dispute, the aim is to reach a solution about arrangements for the children, property and finances etc, rather than trying to get the couple back together.

Whereas in mediation a neutral mediator works with both the parties, who will still have their solicitor acting for them and providing legal advice throughout the process, in order to assist the parties in reaching a solution. Some trained mediators are also family lawyers however and although the mediator is not allowed to provide legal advice, having experience of family law benefits both the parties attending mediation. Therefore, the quality of the mediator is also an important consideration.

Mediation may be used where negotiation has been tried and reached a deadlock. If neither negotiation nor mediation works then the way forward would be to issue proceedings, this being the last alternative.

As solicitors at SAS Daniels we encourage our clients to reach agreement wherever possible and regularly refer cases to mediation in the hope that matters can be agreed.

We are always there to provide our clients with legal advice throughout the mediation process.

The number of cases referred to mediation increased by over 50% last year. It has to be said that agreeing matters with your former partner at mediation is preferable to issuing Court proceedings and a Court Order being imposed upon you.

Mediation however is not for everyone but if it assists the case in settling, it is an option that certainly should be followed, provided that an experienced family solicitor is there in the background to provide legal advice throughout the mediation process.

Should you require any further information regarding a referral to mediation or in respect of family problems generally, please contact Nicola McInnes in our Family team on 07989 538 396 or 01625 442 123.

Rowlinson, which is based in Stockport, has secured the facilities from HSBC Commercial Banking to support day-to-day operations and its international growth plans.

The firm, which has been in operation for almost 80 years, has around 50 per cent of the UK personalised knitwear market share. It already operates on an international level, importing from Asia and North Africa, and works with retailers including John Lewis.

Tom Cressey, partner at SAS Daniels, who advised on the real estate security aspects of the deal said: “This refinancing will place Rowlinson’s in the best position to continue its impressive international growth. It’s fantastic to see another Stockport firm going from strength to strength in what is still a difficult market.”

The funding package includes products to protect against foreign exchange risk, an overdraft and facilities to enable the firm to continue to invest in operations.

Chris Wormall, HSBC’s deputy regional commercial director for Manchester, said Rowlinson was a “prime example of a forward-thinking business” with a strong customer base in the UK.