Two new codes of practice for employers came into effect on 16 May 2014, relating to the prevention of illegal working and avoiding unlawful discrimination in the legal right to work checking process.
For a long time the issue of rent payable by a corporate tenant in administration appeared to be settled1. Landlords were apparently content to accept that, when a tenant company went into administration, the rent owing under the lease at the date of the administration was an ordinary unsecured claim. For the period of the …
Today’s global economy presents both commercial opportunity and legal risk to producers. The vast majority of companies now trade on an international scale with design, manufacturing and distribution spanning the entire globe. However, international trade is not without risk where product liability is concerned. In this article, John Reynolds of Shook, Hardy & Bacon considers …
Continue reading “Sailing on the seven seas: international product liability perils ”
In the words of Mark Twain, there are ‘lies, damn lies and statistics’. It does seem, however, that whichever way you look at the latest figures detailed in the Civil Law Statistics for Scotland for the year 2012/13, there is an ongoing trend for individuals and businesses to rely less upon the Scottish court system …
Continue reading “Is alternative dispute resolution taking centre stage?”
When a party with which you have contracted informs you that they no longer intend to perform their obligations, this will amount to a repudiatory breach entitling you to terminate the agreement and seek damages. In such a case, you should be entitled to recover the amount that would put you in the same position …
Continue reading “Damages for repudiatory breach of contract: don’t assume the worst”
On 26 February 2014 the Sentencing Council published a new guideline for judges and magistrates on sentencing environmental offences. This guideline will take effect from 1 July 2014 and will apply to all individual offenders aged 18 or older and organisations that are sentenced on or after 1 July 2014, regardless of the date of …
Continue reading “Environmental compliance moving up the corporate agenda: new sentencing guideline”
Companies involved in licensing agreements concerning patents, know-how and most types of copyrights that affect Europe have to comply with EU competition law rules on technology licensing agreements. The European Commission (the Commission) revised these rules on 27 March 2014 by publishing new versions of (i) the Technology Transfer Block Exemption Regulation (TTBER), which shields …
In April 2014, the government made a package of changes to points-based system (PBS) work routes to improve flexibility for applicants and help boost economic growth. The changes include amendments across all tiers of the PBS and some minor changes to the rules on family and private life with updates to the minimum salaries and …
Collective actions can significantly increase litigation exposure for businesses. Progressively, collective action rules are being proposed and introduced in more jurisdictions. The last few months have seen steps at both European and national level towards the adoption of new legislation designed to facilitate actions for collective redress. Sarah Croft, of Shook Hardy & Bacon International, …
In a difficult lettings market, the expiry of a lease presents the landlord with the possibility of an income void lasting many months. It is unsurprising, therefore, that unscrupulous landlords sometimes regard a terminal dilapidations claim as a means of offsetting the leaner times ahead. What can a tenant – faced with a costly and …
Continue reading “Landlord’s disrepair claims: essential guidance for tenants”