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Thinking - Blog

UK Government wants understanding of video games to move to the next level

Published on 12 Jun 2023. By Gowri Chandrashekar, Senior Associate and Zoe Harvey, Associate

On 30 May 2023, the UK Government published a Video Games Research Framework which encourages research on video games and emerging game-related technologies.

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Thinking - Blog

BSA: new guidance for principal accountable persons to assist in registration with BSR

Published on 09 Jun 2023. By Alexandra Anderson, Partner and Katharine Cusack, Partner

Our team explain the Health & Safety Executive's new guidance for Principal Accountable Persons detailing what key building information they need to provide when registering a high-rise residential building with the Building Safety Regulator, and what PAPs should be doing now in preparation for registration, which closes on 30 September 2023.

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Thinking - Blog

When is a 'tunnel' not a tunnel, for capital allowances purposes?

Published on 07 Jun 2023.

In HMRC v SSE Generation Ltd [2023] UKSC 17, the Supreme Court confirmed that capital allowances are available in respect of parts of a hydroelectric power station.

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Thinking - Blog

The CAT's new approach: I can't afford a carriage (dispute)

Published on 02 Jun 2023. By Chris Ross, Partner

Since the collective proceedings regime in the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) kicked off, a number of carriage disputes have arisen. So-called 'carriage disputes' arise when there are two or more competing proposed class representatives (PCRs) seeking certification (and therefore 'carriage') of overlapping class actions.

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Thinking - Blog

Crypto: issues for solicitors and their PI insurers

Published on 31 May 2023. By Simy Khanna, Partner and Harriet Keltie, Senior Associate

We explore the types of work lawyers are doing in this area, the risks this work may give rise to and issues for solicitors and their PI insurers to consider.

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Thinking - Blog

Tribunal confirms tax assessments out of time

Published on 31 May 2023.

In Ramasamy Danapal v HMRC [2023] UKUT 00086 (TCC), the Upper Tribunal (UT) held that discovery assessments founded on the alleged careless and/or deliberate conduct of a taxpayer's accountants were out of time as the requisite conduct had not been established.

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Thinking - Blog

Automatic conversion of shares held invalid

Published on 30 May 2023.

The High Court has interpreted that a right for preferred shares to be converted to ordinary shares is subject to class right approval by the preferred shareholders.

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Thinking - Blog

Binance successfully challenges interim proprietary injunction over deposited cryptoassets

Published on 24 May 2023. By Dan Wyatt, Partner and Christopher Whitehouse, Of Counsel

In Piroozzadeh v Persons Unknown and Others [2023] EWHC 1024 (Ch), the cryptocurrency exchange Binance successfully applied to discharge an interim proprietary injunction obtained by a claimant whose misappropriated cryptoassets had been deposited at the exchange. This is the first recorded case of an exchange successfully having discharged such an injunction.

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Thinking - Blog

The fit-out problem

Published on 24 May 2023. By Arash Rajai, Partner and Jon Ely, Partner

An article considering the insurance strategy of fit-out works, which looks at co-insurance following the Court of Appeal's judgment in FM Conway Ltd v The Rugby Football Union and others [2023] EWCA Civ 418, the approach under JCT contracts, public liability insurance and the tenant's liability.

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Thinking - Blog

Tribunal confirms that HMRC may open an enquiry into a protective SDLT return

Published on 24 May 2023. By Alexis Armitage, Senior Associate

Upper Tribunal confirms that HMRC may open an enquiry into a protective SDLT return and that no special limitation period applies to SDLT closure notices.

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Thinking - Blog

A Portfolio Letter for SIPP operators – are the goalposts being moved again?

Published on 23 May 2023. By James Parsons, Associate and Rachael Healey, Partner

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published a Portfolio Letter for SIPP operators setting out "old" concerns and arguably introducing new expectations under the Consumer Duty. The letter is likely to leave SIPP providers feeling uneasy about what is expected of them going forward and what the new Consumer Duty means for their business.

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Thinking - Blog

Take notice: the importance of complying with formal notification requirements

Published on 23 May 2023.

A recent judgment of the High Court has highlighted the potential hurdles thrown up by notification clauses in share purchase agreements.

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Thinking - Blog

How a Supreme Court ruling could cause surge in claims against directors

Published on 22 May 2023. By Ben Gold, Partner

Ben Gold, explains how a recent Supreme Court case (BTI v Sequana) confirms company directors owe a duty to creditors if the company nears balance sheet or cash flow insolvency.

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Thinking - Blog

Mitchell: taxpayer confidentiality and a crisis of confidence?

Published on 17 May 2023. By Liam McKay, Of Counsel

Dismissing the taxpayer's appeal, the Court of Appeal held that the First-tier Tribunal is not empowered to adjudicate on the exercise of HMRC's powers of disclosure under section 18 of the Commissioners for Revenue and Customs Act 2005.

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Thinking - Blog

Senior executive leaving? Six steps to protect your business

Published on 17 May 2023. By Patrick Brodie, Partner, Head of Employment, Engagement and Equality and Ellie Gelder, Senior Editor Employment & Equality

When an executive or key strategic employee departs your organisation, protecting your organisation's business interests is paramount.

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Thinking - Blog

Tips On Implementing Menopause Support Policies At Work

Published on 16 May 2023. By Ellie Gelder, Senior Editor Employment & Equality and Kelly Thomson, Partner, ESG Strategy Lead

The conversation around menopause and its associated challenges is undoubtedly becoming more open and frequent, with people in the public eye speaking out about their experiences and urging women and others experiencing menopause to seek support and treatment.

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Thinking - Blog

QOCS rule changes now in force – has the imbalance been restored?

Published on 16 May 2023. By Georgie Jenkin, Associate

A review of the amendments to the QOCS regime and the impact on costs recovery for defendants and insurers.

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Thinking - Blog

EU set to tackle greenwashing with Green Claims Directive

Published on 15 May 2023. By Ciara Cullen, Partner, Retail & Consumer Sector Lead and Sophie Tuson, Senior Associate, Environment and Climate Change Practice Lead

On the 22 March 2023, the European Commission published its proposal for a new 'Green Claims Directive' setting out standardised rules for the assessment, substantiation and communication of green claims.

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Thinking - Blog

What the fix?!

Published on 15 May 2023. By Will Sefton, Partner, Head of the Lawyers Liability and Regulatory Group and Aimee Talbot, Knowledge Lawyer

Fixed recoverable costs in professional negligence claims: new rules applicable from 1 October 2023

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Thinking - Blog

The "Unicorn Kingdom's" AI White Paper

Published on 12 May 2023. By Helen Armstrong, Partner and Ricky Cella, Senior Associate and Joshy Thomas, Knowledge Lawyer

The UK's pro-innovation AI White paper has been published. It landed almost simultaneously with an open letter from the Future of Life Institute which called for a six-month halt in work on AI systems more powerful than the generative AI system: GPT-4.

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Thinking - Blog

Responsible Actors Scheme forecast for Summer 2023

Published on 11 May 2023. By Katharine Cusack, Partner and Olivia Bradfield, Associate

The Government has recently published secondary legislation setting out its intention to implement its Responsible Actors Scheme (RAS) with further guidance to come by this Summer.

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Thinking - Blog

Consumer duty and claims handling – beware of sludge practices

Published on 10 May 2023. By Jonathan Charwat, Partner

The Consumer Duty is a new regulatory framework developed by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) aimed at creating a higher standard of consumer protection in the retail markets. The FCA expects the Consumer Duty to be a significant shift for the market in terms of its expectations on firms and in this blog we consider this shift in the context of insurance claims handling.

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Thinking - Blog

Tribunal finds HMRC's discovery assessment to be invalid

Published on 10 May 2023.

The First-tier Tribunal allowed the taxpayer's appeal as HMRC's discovery assessment was invalid due to there being no valid return because the taxpayer's agent had acted fraudulently in filing his return.

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Thinking - Blog

Luxury today - go green or go home?

Published on 09 May 2023. By Chloe Shum, Associate

"Sustainability" is the new buzzword in marketing.

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Thinking - Blog

Wasted costs – some comfort for legal professionals

Published on 09 May 2023. By Nick Bird, Partner and Alice Tittensor, Associate

In its recent judgment in Anthony King and others v Barry Stiefel and others the Commercial Court has considered the circumstances in which wasted costs orders can be made against the legal representatives of a defeated party to a claim. The court dismissed the applications saying that wasted costs applications should only be made in respect of straightforward applications which can be dealt with summarily.

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Thinking - Blog

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill – What's New on the Competition Side?

Published on 05 May 2023. By Melanie Musgrave, Of Counsel

In addition to the headline landscape reforms to digital markets and consumer protection, the much-anticipated Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (the Bill), introduced into Parliament on 25 April 2023, makes wide-ranging enhancements to the competition powers of the Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA) and changes to the UK merger regime.

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Thinking - Blog

Legislation Empowering the CMA's Digital Markets Unit Introduced into Parliament

Published on 05 May 2023. By David Cran, Partner, Head of IP & Tech and Chris Ross, Partner and Melanie Musgrave, Of Counsel

The long-anticipated Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill (the Bill) has now begun its parliamentary journey following its introduction on 25 April 2023. Described as a "flagship bill" by the CEO of the Competition and Markets Authority (the CMA), the Bill not only introduces major landscape reforms to the UK's consumer protection regime and significant enhancements to the CMA's competition law powers, it also ushers in a new regime for digital markets. The Bill has the potential to be a "watershed moment" in how UK digital markets are regulated.

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Thinking - Blog

Generative AI and intellectual property rights—the UK government's position

Published on 03 May 2023. By Helen Armstrong, Partner and Jani Ihalainen, Associate and Joshy Thomas, Knowledge Lawyer

The IPO is to produce a code of practice by the summer that will provide guidance to support AI firms in accessing copyright protected works as an input to their models.

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Thinking - Blog

A bolstering of the consumer protection regime and some sharper teeth for the CMA – a first look at the new UK Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill

Published on 03 May 2023. By Ciara Cullen, Partner, Retail & Consumer Sector Lead and Hettie Homewood , Senior Associate

It's been a little over a year in the making, and it's been one of the most hotly anticipated legislative updates since it was first announced in April 2022, but the first draft of the UK's catchily titled Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, is finally here.

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Thinking - Blog

Documents subject to legal advice privilege were not disclosable to HMRC

Published on 03 May 2023.

The First-tier Tribunal granted the taxpayers' application for the tribunal to determine whether certain documents were subject to legal professional privilege and were therefore not required to be disclosed to HMRC.

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Thinking - Blog

Beware unexploded bombs, proximate causes and …. the unintended consequences of adding clarity

Published on 02 May 2023. By Laura Sponti, Associate

It is not that often that the standard UK market War Exclusion, language which for decades has sat materially unchanged, is the basis of a declinature by insurers. The recent case of Allianz Insurance plc v University of Exeter is therefore particularly interesting as the Court was asked to interpret this language and decide whether BI losses arising from the controlled detonation of a WWII bomb, discovered on nearby property were excluded from cover

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Thinking - Blog

New developments in AI may put law firms at greater risk of phishing fraud

Published on 28 Apr 2023. By Will Sefton, Partner, Head of the Lawyers Liability and Regulatory Group

As the computing power of Artificial Intelligence continues to grow exponentially, we consider how generative technology may expand the reach of traditional phishing frauds aimed at law firms.

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Thinking - Blog

Discovery assessment issued during enquiry period was invalid

Published on 26 Apr 2023. By Liam McKay, Of Counsel

Allowing the taxpayer's appeal in part, the Upper Tribunal held that a discovery assessment made during the enquiry period was invalid because the conditions in section 29(5) Taxes Management Act 1970 could not be satisfied at that time.

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Thinking - Blog

Game Changing Corporate Offence of Failure to Prevent Fraud: RPC Analysis and Practical Guidance

Published on 25 Apr 2023. By Thomas Jenkins, Of Counsel

On 11 April, the highly anticipated failure to prevent fraud offence was introduced in an amendment to the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Bill (the Economic Crime Bill or the Bill). Although there has been much discussion of this potential offence since the start of this year, this amendment is significant as it is the first time that structure and detail of the offence has been formally included in the Bill.

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Thinking - Blog

Sustainability-Linked Bonds

Published on 24 Apr 2023.

The ESG finance market continues to develop and grow as interest and demand for environmentally and socially conscious investments becomes more and more important to investors around the world.

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Thinking - Blog

Singapore Court of Appeal Sends Acceleration of Interest Payment Clause To The Penalty Box

Published on 24 Apr 2023. By Yuankai Lin, Partner

Commercial contracts commonly include clauses providing for liquidated damages, accelerated repayment or late payment interest in the event one party breaches the contract.

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Thinking - Blog

High Stakes for Fakes: Authentication in the second-hand market for luxury goods

Published on 21 Apr 2023. By Eleanor Harley , Partner

Pre-owned luxury items remain a hot topic in 2023. The online second-hand market for luxury goods has been growing over the course of the last decade and is currently estimated to be worth more than $30 billion with further surges predicted in years to come.

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Thinking - Blog

Lineker 1 v 0 HMRC 

Published on 19 Apr 2023.

Gary Lineker wins IR35 tax appeal due to unanticipated effect of partnership law on his contracts with the BBC and BT Sport.

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Thinking - Blog

Repeal of provisions relating to COVID-19 vaccination under the Employment Ordinance

Published on 17 Apr 2023. By Andrea Randall, Partner and Lillian Wong, Associate

The Labour Department announced on 12 April 2023 that the provisions under the Employment Ordinance ("EO") relating to a legitimate COVID-19 vaccination request (the "Vaccination Provisions") will be repealed with effect on 16 June 2023, one year after they first came into effect on 17 June 2022.

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Thinking - Blog

BSA: Higher-Risk Buildings Regulations now in force - Property Managers Take Note

Published on 14 Apr 2023. By Katharine Cusack, Partner

The Government has been working on safety measures for high rise buildings following the Grenfell Tragedy to provide comfort to residents in order for them to feel safe in their homes.

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Thinking - Blog

Tribunal orders HMRC to close its enquiries

Published on 12 Apr 2023. By Alexis Armitage, Senior Associate

Tribunal grants taxpayers' applications and orders HMRC to issue closure notices within six weeks in relation to open HMRC self-assessment enquiries.

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Thinking - Blog

Understanding and managing the risks in artificial intelligence (AI) technology projects

Published on 12 Apr 2023. By Helen Armstrong, Partner and Ricky Cella, Senior Associate and Joshy Thomas, Knowledge Lawyer

How do you go about managing the risks and challenges that might arise during the deployment of AI technology?

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Thinking - Blog

Against a Backdrop of Rising Corporate Insolvencies HMRC Joint and Several Liability Notices: Should Directors be Concerned?

Published on 11 Apr 2023. By Paul Bagon, Partner and Laura Capece Galeota, Associate

It is widely anticipated that the next twelve months could be a challenging period for many businesses in the UK and that there could be a significant rise in the number of companies in financial distress.

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Thinking - Blog

What's in store for the FCA and FOS in 2023/2024?

Published on 11 Apr 2023. By Rachael Healey, Partner and Thomas Spratley, Associate

April has seen the publication of the Financial Ombudsman Service and Financial Conduct Authority's Plans and Budgets for 2023/2024 – what can we learn from their strategic priorities? For both the FOS and FCA we see an emphasis on the consumer duty – with the FCA having in place a specific budget to embed the consumer duty and an interventions team in place from day 1 of the duty to ensure compliance. Both also focus on the cost of living with FOS expecting complaints in this area and the FCA noting a focus on debt services. For FOS we also see an emphasis on dealing with the complaint backlog with new "vertical" specialist teams and a portal for making complaints and uploading documents/information. For the FCA a focus on data led intervention and supervision.

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Thinking - Blog

Next-gen AI: Disrupting your business?

Published on 11 Apr 2023. By Nicholas McKenzie, Associate

It’s no secret the tech sector is going through a tough time at the moment with the large swathes of layoffs seen in 2022 continuing into 2023. So much so that bespoke trackers now actively monitor the 167,004 (and counting) tech jobs already lost this year.

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Thinking - Blog

'Voice of Rugby' wins IR35 tax appeal

Published on 05 Apr 2023.

The First-tier Tribunal found for the taxpayer in a recent IR35 case, finding that he was "in business on his own account" and should not therefore be treated as an employee for tax purposes.

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Thinking - Blog

Going Green - Draft Sustainability Guidance from the CMA

Published on 03 Apr 2023. By Ciara Cullen, Partner, Retail & Consumer Sector Lead and Melanie Musgrave, Of Counsel and Sophie Tuson, Senior Associate, Environment and Climate Change Practice Lead

Following its public consultation, the CMA has published its advice to government on how competition and consumer laws can help meet the UK's environmental goals.

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Thinking - Blog

Proposed removal of requirement for shareholder vote on significant transactions and related party transactions: FCA provides update on Listing Rule reforms

Published on 03 Apr 2023. By Karen Hendy, Partner, Head of Corporate and Connor Cahalane, Partner, Head of Public Companies

The FCA has provided an update on reforms to the Listing Rules proposed last year in its discussion paper DP22/2.

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Thinking - Blog

The Online Safety Bill and the risk of unintended consequences

Published on 31 Mar 2023. By Nadia Tymkiw, Senior Associate

The Online Safety Bill was reintroduced to Parliament late last year, with new amendments receiving scrutiny in the House of Commons in December, before the bill entered the House of Lords in January. The bill continues to evolve, most notably with the government removing the requirement for user-to-user platforms and search engines to prevent adult users from encountering "legal but harmful" content, instead requiring online platforms to provide users with enhanced content controls (i.e., choice as to what content is seen), and imposing further obligations around transparency and enforcement of online platforms' terms and conditions. "Legal but harmful" obligations remain in place for under 18s. The government has recently agreed to introduce criminal sanctions for senior managers who fail to take proportionate measures to protect children from potentially harmful content.

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Thinking - Blog

The Financial Services and Markets Bill 2022-23 (FSM Bill) completes the committee stage

Published on 30 Mar 2023. By Kerone Thomas, Associate and Mars Yeung, Associate

On 23 March 2023, the FSM Bill completed its committee stage in the House of Lords. If passed, it will make extensive reforms to the regulation of financial services in the UK.

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