The Murray Way (Victoria)

Subject: The Murray Way (Victoria) Tue Mar 27, 2018 8:16 pm

Darby International
London Offices
London
England

10 May 2024

Dear Sirs,

The Murray Estate
Please take the following letter as instruction to undertake on the following amendments to the Murray Estate. These amendments are to be implemented by your firm with immediate effect from the date of this letter. Any queries arising upon the enclosed matters should be brought directly to myself.

1. Within the inheritance clause of the Murray Estate we are currently showing that only males can inherit the wealth of the Murray estate. Please remove such notions from the estate, and prepare amended documents to show that the first child will be named heir of the Murray family in the event of my death.

2. The amendments already made previous to this letter, and the amendments being implemented by this letter, will pass on to the eldest child of the Murray holdings. And, on to subsequent heirs, as set out in point one.

Finally, I will require that the mother of the heir have her rights of signature passed on to myself. The mother of the heir does not currently have the medical fitness to sign off on any documents to do with the Murray Estate. These should be worked to include the signature of such matters as marriage, divorce, and the custody of any Murray children.

As always, I expect there to be no issues with the above, and look forward to receiving the paperwork shortly.

Yours faithfully,

J Murray

Joshua Ethan Murray

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:03 pm

Victoria had been loaded with work from the Ministry since Christmas -- something the public had only really known since April that year. With the Minister having been murdered, and the lack of people willing to take up the responsibility in the wake of the event, Darby International had been called in to take care of many and more legalities. As someone who had worked with the Ministry before now, Victoria had been called on more than usual with her knowledge of the workings of the Ministry and more.

And, she would have loved to say things were getting better, but they really were not.

With no Minister, laws were slowing in the administration. No one wished to make decisions, and the decisions that were made were being made with a lot of 'are we sure's being thrown around. All in all, Victoria was wishing a new Minister would step up soon, or the UK was certain to end in turmoil.

But, this particular Monday morning had been an eye opener.

As Victoria sat in her office reading over a new law being proposed by the Auror squad -- which, in Victoria's short time of experience usually meant much too much muscle and not enough brain -- a knock came at the door that caused the young brunette to look up from the umpteenth page on the increased regulation of 'dangerous' weapons that still had not been detailed in full as to what constituted 'dangerous'.

"Victoria, I was wondering if I could borrow you," Angus asked, stepping in to her pod and closing the glass door behind him. Angus already knew, without asking, that Victoria wouldn't deny him. She had that kind of a work ethic where she always took on much more than she should possibly been capable of doing and managing to come out trumps in the end.

"Of course, how can I help?" Victoria asked, putting her pen down which had not stopped underlining pieces in the new legislation that would need amending to more appropriate terminology before it could be fully discussed with Angus. Or, parts where she would have to return to the Ministry for further information. Whatever Angus had, Victoria simply hoped it was not going to have been written by the men in her brother's profession, because she didn't think she could take much more of this.

"Mister Murray has written to the office." Angus explained, licking his lips in the most nervous of manners which spoke volumes to Victoria even thought she'd never met Mister Murray. That, of course, did not mean that Victoria didn't know who Angus was referring to. This proposition -- for Victoria knew that was what was coming -- was not one that was going to be taken lightly. "I need you to go over the inheritance documents we wrote up for him after his father's untimely death, and make the necessary adjustments as detailed in his letter."

With that, Angus produced the letter to Victoria, who scanned over the two numbered points before looking back to Angus. "Shouldn't be a problem, Gus!" Victoria told him with a smile.

"I didn't think it would be. But, I will need it turned around promptly, please, Mister Murray has just deposited one hundred thousand Galleons in to our account." Angus told the witch, and Victoria knew exactly what that meant.

"You'll have it as soon as I've ironed out all the creases." Victoria replied simply, accepting the file Angus had brought with him. With a thank you, the man had disappeared, and Victoria tidied away the work completed with the Auror squad, noting her time down on her time sheet before opening the file Angus had given her and getting on with her work -- firstly, reading through the existing inheritance documentation, and familiarising herself with the client.

***

By the end of Tuesday evening, Victoria had come through her first draft of the amendment to the inheritance issue for the Murray Estates. That much had been easy, an amendment in the definition of what constituted an heir in the Murray lineage had been a breath of fresh air for the American witch when dealing with the Pureblood clients of the firm. So many were stuck with the ideas that only a male could inherit, it would seem the Murrays had finally learned the value of equality. Writing these amendments had been easy, and Victoria had submitted them to Angus without a word of worry.

And, with that, the second point of Joshua Murray's letter had been addressed with as much ease as the first. That clause had been implemented in to the documents and brought along with the first, Angus had ushered Victoria away before she could raise her issue about the last point in the letter that had been raised.

So, acting on initiative, Victoria had taken out the headed paper of Darby International, and written to Joshua accordingly.

Mr J E Murray
Murray Manor
Cardiff
Wales

14 May 2024

Dear Mr Murray,

Re: The Murray Estate
Thank you for your letter dated 10 May 2024 in respect of the alterations required to the inheritance clauses of the Murray Estate. Darby International is currently undertaking the work necessary for the amendments to be presented to your for signature, and we hope to complete the work on your behalf at the close of the week at the latest.

On the matter of the mother of the heir and her rights to the signature of such documents denoted in your earlier correspondence, Darby International would require further information on the medical fitness of the mother, such as documents provided by the Healer who diagnosed the medical conditions. We may also need to have our own independent medical reports completed to confirm these points. Whilst we appreciate that such tests may be unnecessary in your opinion in order for the signatures to be enforced by law.

Please can you forward the documents from your Healers at your earliest convenience so that we may proceed with this matter further.

Yours faithfully,

V Newbury

Victoria Newbury LLB
Darby International

With that, Victoria had sent the letter off to her client, knowing that she was not going to move on with that paperwork without all the information being provided to her.

After all, she couldn't just sign off on something like that now, could she?

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:22 pm

The reply Josh had received from Darby International was not, in the slightest, something the head of the Murray house had been expecting to receive. Of course, he'd expected a meeting to be drafted in order that he could run through the documents with the lawyer who covered his Estates, but queries? Joshua Murray had never expected queries to be raised from his clear instructions to the firm.

Still, the young man had decided that, perhaps, this was an act of thoroughness. To ensure that the information being provided was not somehow made up, it was, therefore, understandable, if not somewhat annoying.

Darby International
London Offices
London
England

15 May 2024

Dear Ms. Newbury,

Re: The Murray Estate
You will find enclosed the relevant documents on the health of the Lady Murray within the envelope denoting her current medical history, and the most recent report as supplied by the Healer in charge of her continued care.

No further examinations will be necessary for the continuation of the work requested from your firm.

Yours faithfully,

J Murray

Joshua Ethan Murray

The documents had gone with the information of his Azalea's health. The head healer within the Murray Manor had -- under Josh's scrutiny -- signed off that all the information included within the report was correct at the date of the letter, and a second opinion would not be necessary.

No one within the Manor had so much as suggested that the employee of Darby International had every right to get the conditions confirmed, and Josh was not under the impression that he would be challenged further as his correspondence swooped out of the window in the talons of the owl waiting dutifully to take the reply to one Victoria Newbury LLB.

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Tue Mar 27, 2018 9:47 pm

The information that had been sent back from the Murrays had been quite detailed. The condition of the Lady Murray -- this had been the one point where Victoria had come unstuck. The name of the Lady Murray was nowhere to be found. The records of which Darby International had access -- which was rather extensive -- showed no note of marriage between Joshua Murray and another. No betrothal in place that was usually being bound up by pre-nuptials or other paperwork denoting what could and could not be claimed in the event of a divorce.

No, so far as Victoria could find, there was no Lady Murray to be noted.

Only Lady Eleanor Murray was of note in the files, and according to everything on file, the Lady Eleanor Murray was not of ill health.

Victoria had researched each of the medical shortcomings denoted by the Healers -- looking up those she was not familiar with and writing her extensive notes on the information provided to her. There were, in her opinion, the grounds for which she could file for Joshua Murray to become the power of attorney of the mother of his heir, but she couldn't simply sign off on the word of a Healer who had -- per the records of his estate -- been in the employee of Joshua Murray for numerous years.

The conflict of interest... it was much too high.

Victoria knew, though, of course, that the insistence on the second opinion was not going to go down well if she tried to converse such a matter in another letter. No, such a thing would likely only upset her client, and Victoria believed that if she were to explain this in person... Mister Murray surely had to understand that she was only ensuring that these amendments were airtight in case they ever needed to be used.

Which was precisely why Victoria had gathered the final draft of the amendments of the inheritance documents from Angus, before inviting Mister Murray to the Darby International offices on Friday afternoon to run through the paperwork that would allow his fist born child -- male or female -- to inherit the family's fortune and title.

And whilst she was going through all of the technicalities with Mister Murray, she would encourage him to reconsider his position in respect of the second opinion on the Lady Murray's health.

***

Shortly before four pm on the Friday Victoria had arranged the meeting room with the copies of the amendments, her file full of carefully written notes, queries and questions for Mister Murray. Tea and coffee together with a pitcher of water adorned the cabinet to the side, and Victoria straightened her skirt once more with a fleeting glance towards the lifts. The young attorney wished to make a good impression, show that she was capable of doing her job, despite being quite young, but also that she would not be bullied out of the necessary paperwork just because the man thought he knew what she did and did not require.

As the blonde figure of Mister Murray emerged from the lifts -- something that was easily noted by the way the receptionists became thoroughly attentive to the young man, Victoria had to give pause to that thought. Young man. Joshua Murray was not all that much older than her, but he had made an impression already.

Anyone else might have felt a little bit scared, but Victoria did not.

Instead, the American witch moved out of the room in time to catch Mister Murray before he came in to the room.

"Good afternoon, Mister Murray, I'm Victoria Newbury, I've been working on your amendments this week." She greeted, holding out her hand to the man to shake because all good business relationships started with a good introduction.

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:19 pm

When no response had come back from Darby International on the information that had been requested of his Azalea, a small assumption had been made by Josh that the matter had been dealt with. Small because Joshua would not rely on such an assumption until such a time that it was confirmed.

The memo from the reception desk of Darby International of a proposed meeting had been taken by the staff, and the vacancy in Josh's diary had been filled with a meeting in London. The head of the Murray household had left his Azalea in the conservatory room of the Manor with a member of staff and Darr. The summer sun was filtering through the windows to leave a nice warmth upon her skin, and the smell of the mimosa plants was beautiful as it crept in from the gardens just outside.

Yes, here, here his Azalea would be perfectly happy, Josh reflected as he left the Murray Manor and floo'd to London.

***

The streets of London had been manic, a stark contrast to the quietness of the grounds of the Murray Manor. Even the shortest of walks across the street from the Ministry in to the monstrosity of the building resigned for the international firm of lawyers. Josh held no liking for the firm, he simply knew they were very good at what they did. It was the only reason they had been gifted the honour of the work with the Murray Estate.

Being shown to the right floor, and then to the meeting room for that day, Josh's eyes fell upon one of the smallest witch's he'd ever seen. The woman before him could have been nothing more than five foot tall, almost child like in her features, if it had not been for her attire making her seem older, Josh could quite possibly have mistaken her for a child.

And the smile as she steppe forth to greet him.

"Good afternoon, Mister Murray, I'm Victoria Newbury, I've been working on your amendments this week."

Josh's expression remained unmoved by the words presented to him, and he cast the faintest of looks towards the witch's hands but did not move forth to accept it. Or to shake it. Instead, the head of the Murray household stepped past the woman in to the meeting room he'd been in before, and moved to the head of the table where the paperwork sat. The lawyer would likely have wished to have taken this seat in a display of power, but Josh was not in the mood for making her feel comfortable about herself.

"I assume all of my points have been covered within the paperwork, as set out in the letter to the offices." Josh spoke, reaching for the paperwork which seemed to have been clearly labelled where the relevant adjustments had been made in the form of small, sticky arrows. Josh had no interest in allowing the witch to lead, after all, she was not the one with the power in this situation.

That much rested solely with him.

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Tue Mar 27, 2018 10:48 pm

As the proffered hand to the male was not so politely declined by the blond male, Victoria made a mental note of that much. Perhaps he was not the kind of person who liked physical contact with another. Perhaps he had missed it -- Victoria was giving him the benefit of the doubt in that moment -- and therefore didn't accept it. But when no greeting came, Victoria believed she understood the situation enough. Joshua Murray was not the usual kind of man who would at least pretend to be accepting of formalities.

Which only became more apparent as he moved past her, in to the meeting room without an invite, and proceeded to make himself comfortable in the chair Victoria had planned to take up herself. Victoria, though, was okay with improvise, so as the male took her seat, she simply moved to the cabinet.

"May I get you a drink, Mister Murray? Tea, coffee, water?" Victoria asked, pouring herself a glass of water and looking to her client. No response came to that question, though, and once more Victoria could feel this getting much harder than it really needed to be between them.

Still, Victoria was undeterred by this much.

Taking the seat beside him, Victoria placed her glass of water away from the paperwork, knowing she would only look silly if she were to spill it across the paperwork. Mister Murray had, however, already pulled a copy of the amendments towards himself, and was already getting to the points she'd highlighted which included the changes.

His question brought the smallest of smiles to Victoria's lips. Of course she had done the work he'd asked of her.

"I have, if you can turn to page fifty seven, you will see that we have redefined the term of heir in the context of the Murray Estate." Victoria explained, waiting for Mister Murray to turn to the page as she turned to it herself. "This sets out that the heir will be the first born child to yourself and the Lady Murray, as and when the child is born. The child's gender will play no part in the matter of the inheritance from the date of signature of the amended documents." Victoria explained to the male, waiting to see if he would have any questions, or react to that much, but she was met with nothing in that moment.

"There are minor adjustments on each of the subsequent pages, you will notice." Victoria continued, motioning to the stickers that protruded from the file. "In these cases, we have removed any mention of the words he, his or him, and replaced them with gender neutral pronouns in the event the first born child is female.

"Then, if we turn to page ninety four of the document, you will see the amended version of the clause we wrote for yourself, in that the heir takes over the rights to make their own amendments to these documents as they see fit, after you have passed." Victoria explained, her voice becoming quite gentle as she finished the sentence because talking of such a young man dying was not something she felt entirely comfortable. Death might be something that happened, but when they were both so young, it seemed like an eternity away.

It seemed this was going well, as Mister Murray's eyes scanned over the amended wording of the documents, she did not see any notion of unhappiness in his features, he seemed, if she was correct in the assumption, to understand the wording of each of the amendments, and he raised no questions to her to further explain what they were going over.

Too smoothly, Victoria thought as she reflected on the meeting.

Undeterred as always, though, Victoria moved on to her next point, drawing the file of the Murray Estate -- or, this specific matter, anyway -- towards her and opening it to the medical report she had received from Mister Murray, together with his covering letter.

"I have a concern to raise with you, Mister Murray." Victoria started, turning the paperwork towards the male. There was a light tremor in her hands as she deposited the paper, but nothing of huge note. Nerves were normal when you were dealing with clients for the first time, but they would not slow the witch down. "I appreciate that you would believe it unnecessary for the Lady Murray to be subjected to tests performed by third parties. You may find such an idea... intrusive, or unnecessary. However, from the information we hold I would find it inappropriate to use the diagnosis prepped by your own Healers due to the close proximity of his patient, and yourself.

"I believe this to be a conflict of interest, which therefore makes it necessary for me to insist upon another opinion being made." Victoria told the man, meeting his gaze in that moment to show she was not going to be bullied from the position she'd taken. "I would also like to speak with one of the Lady Murray's relatives, if possible, to ask them to verify her condition, and that she would have been happy for you to take the position of the power of attorney on her behalf.

"This is standard procedure, Mister Murray, and if you would be willing to allow me these two additional avenues of information, I can assure you that we will be able to commence work on the paperwork you have asked of us." Victoria explained. She might not be happy with the choice of such important decisions being taken from a woman, it went against all her principles, but Victoria would admit that if someone was not well enough to make their own decisions, then this would... or could, be necessary.

Victoria, however, was not hopeful that Mister Murray would take this much easily. The wording of his previous correspondence had spoken of a man who knew exactly what he wanted.

But Victoria knew what the law needed in order to hold up in court.

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Wed Mar 28, 2018 12:47 pm

The pleasantries of water, or other refreshments, were ones that Josh didn't even look towards when the young witch offered. He had little to no interest in such things, and it showed clearly in his mannerisms that he wished to simply get on with the business that he'd come here to do.

As the witch talked him through the information on the amendments, Josh turned to the pages, reading over the information as Victoria spoke of what was changed as if her clear labelling with pointed arrow stickers was not clear enough. Josh read over it in silence, checking the wording in his own mind and finding it airtight.

The childlike creature beside him obviously knew what she was doing as she continued on to explain that the terminology within the document had been altered to show gender neutral terms rather than specific to a male heir. Those parts were simple, and Josh had not expected to be shown through the document with each individual change, but the thoroughness in this instance was promising.

"I have a concern to raise with you, Mister Murray."

The previous assumption that Joshua had temporarily placed upon the lawyer sat before him vanished from memory in that moment, as Josh took in the familiar paper with his signature upon it denoting no further information would be necessary from the witch. His eyes moved to the witch's as she spoke once again about how she did not find his word, and the word of his Healer to be enough to continue forward on the final point of the assignment.

Insolence, Josh thought to himself in that moment.

Especially on the question of his Azalea's family.

"Lady Murray has no family." Joshua replied coldly to that line of questioning. Perhaps she would think it to be some tragic story of the deaths of all close loved ones, perhaps Miss Newbury would believe she had written off all contact on her illness. Josh did not care for which avenue the witch before him chose to believe, so long as she backed off of that need. "She has only me, and our child."

Case closed.

"As I told you in the letter you've presented me, Miss Newbury, a second opinion is not necessary. Lady Murray is not well, further tests would only cause her distress, and as she is with child, I cannot permit it." Josh explained, patient on the outside even if his patience was waning with the witch before him.

"And, if you're not willing to do it, I will ask for someone else to take this case." Josh added, knowing the threat of a lost income stream such as his would power play with even the biggest firms in the country.

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:31 pm

Victoria hadn't expected the response that came from Mister Murray in that moment. The short answer that the current Lady Murray did not have any family was one that made Victoria feel uneasy, as anyone would upon hearing such news when they hadn't considered such a negative answer. The American witch took a moment to deal with that information in which time Mister Murray added enough to finalise that line of enquiry.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Mister Murray. I'll make notes accordingly that family opinion on this matter cannot be obtained outside of the party seeking to become power of attorney." She explained, drawing the file close to her and writing a quick meal which she could expand upon once the meeting had been finalised.

"Oh, and congratulations," she added as an after thought. Where Victoria might usually gush and make further enquiries on a child, the young witch had had enough time with Mister Murray to know that such behaviour would not be acceptable. The witch, therefore, kept the excitement to herself.

The controlling mannerisms with which Mister Murray continued on, denoting that he would not permit the necessary tests, checks and verification she would require to write up the document that he'd asked for, Victoria watched him for a moment, considering him, before he threatened her.

Did he truly believe that his money had any sway on her work being done with completeness?

Or was this threat based on past experience where bullying became the necessary way to achieve his means?

Whatever the case, Victoria gave the blond male a small, patient smile. "Mister Murray, please forgive me, I understand that your concern is with the Lady Murray's health, from the file you sent me I understand completely that she is not well. However, I am not asking for such things to be awkward, I am asking this much of you to ensure that if you were challenged in the future we could present in the court of law documents with merit so that we could throw out anyone who thinks they could beat us.

"I am doing this to serve you, as our client, in the best way possible, Mister Murray. If you don't comply... we won't be able to ensure a water tight document." The witch finalised, looking back at him hopefully. Surely he had to see the sense in her logic, didn't he?

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Wed Mar 28, 2018 1:44 pm

The line of enquiry that was being pressed on to him was not one that Josh was at all accepting of. Used to the lawyers bending to his will with the six figure sums being deposited in to their accounts, Joshua Murray had never been challenged by someone as insignificant as a young attorney.

She could call it whatever she wanted, but thorough was not the word Josh had in mind as Miss Newbury tried once more to sway his opinion to allowing her what she wanted.

The idea of his Azalea being exposed to more tests, more scrutiny and becoming stressed in the process... of there potentially being harm to their unborn child because the woman before him thought she could make the deal airtight with another person's opinion on what Josh already knew from ten years of research.

"Miss Newbury, you're not listening. I have told you that you will not be permitted a second opinion. You have before you the information you require, another opinion will bring forth nothing more for you." Joshua told the witch, the tone unmoved by her pleas.

"If there is still a problem, I suggest you go and get your supervisor and you can explain to him how you're about to lose this firm's largest client. Or, you can assure me you'll get to the paperwork, and we need not continue with this meeting any longer, as you're now wasting both our time."

With that Josh sat back in his chair, indicating without saying that the ball was now in the young witch's court.

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Subject: Re: The Murray Way (Victoria) Wed Mar 28, 2018 2:27 pm

Mister Murray was not swayed by her words, that much Victoria could tell by his unchanged demeanour as he spoke. The finality that she would not get the additional information she required to ensure the success of any possible court cases was enough to make the youngest Newbury sibling purse her lips.

The challenge he posed of whether she would head off to collect her supervisor, or whether she would simply submit to the wishes he'd imposed was one that Victoria had little and less difficulty with.

There was only one way forward.

"If you wouldn't mind giving me a few moments, Mister Murray, I need to discuss this matter with Mr Tibbets before we proceed." Victoria explained, standing from her seat and exiting the glass meeting room before heading across the walkway towards Angus' office. She would tell him everything, of course, and explain that she was not prepared to move forwards until Mister Murray allowed them the information they needed.

Angus would, Victoria knew, back her completely.

He always did.

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