In Spring v Guardian Assurance [1995], the House of Lords held that an employer who provided a reference owed an employee a duty to take reasonable care in the preparation of that reference. Therefore, failure to do so could lead to a claim for negligence if the employee suffers damage as a result.

HR departments and in-house legal teams often have safeguards and checks in place to ensure that care is taken when providing a reference. Of course, it is only right that a personal reference should be composed thoughtfully and fairly. Those safeguards are also a sensible measure against the potential threat posed by disgruntled ex-employees. Continue reading “Cost of careless talk”

A recurring theme in conversations with our clients is how their approach to IP protection, management and enforcement compares with that of other rights holders. If this is a question you have ever considered, you will know that obtaining the information necessary to make the comparison is far from easy.

There are a number of obvious options available: seeking to obtain information internally from staff members who have had relevant experience in other companies; speaking to peers in other companies; or learning what you can from service providers. But, in addition to issues of confidentiality, each of these options has its difficulties. Continue reading “An approach to IP benchmarking”

In this article, we discuss three topical issues affecting the insurance industry.

REGULATORY REFORM TAKES SHAPE

The future shape of insurance regulation in the UK has become clearer following the publication of the latest paper from HM Treasury and a joint paper released by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Bank of England. Continue reading “Insurance regulatory roundup”

Originally, the purpose of a ‘pay when paid’ clause as used in the construction industry was to absolve the contractor from liability to pay the subcontractor until it had been paid by the employer. The effect of such a clause was to allow the contractor to pass the risk of default by the employer to its subcontractors further down the construction chain. The use of these clauses created havoc in the construction sector in the late 1980s and early 1990s and as a result the law was changed to drastically reduce their lawful scope. Continue reading “‘Pay when paid’ or not? Lessons in commercial contract drafting”

Mid-July saw the chill winds of EU infringement procedures blow across much of Europe. The European Commission took first steps in proceedings against twenty EU member states for their failure to fully implement into their national laws new telecoms rules that amend Directive 2002/58/EC (the 2002 Directive) in relation to the use of technologies that store information on internet users, such as cookies1.

Alongside the UK, only Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Malta and Sweden were able to bask in the warm glow of having implemented the new rules in full by 25 May 2011. Given the fundamental changes relating to the use of cookies required by the amended directive, meeting the deadline was no mean feat. Continue reading “Cookies cut? Complying with the UK’s implementation of new EU rules on cookie use”

Public outcry against corruption is a worldwide phenomenon today. Voices of citizens in India demanding a corruption-free state have also soared to extremely high decibel levels. Recent high-value scams have further contributed to the increased public awareness.

Newspapers and television channels have been full of reports pertaining to scams of alleged misappropriation and misapplication worth billions by officials during the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi; an estimated $40bn in revenues lost from the sale of 2G telecom licenses; and billions misappropriated from food and fuel subsidy schemes for the poor in Uttar Pradesh. Statistically speaking, India was ranked 87th out of 178 countries in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index in 2010. Continue reading “Anti-corruption: the Indian scenario”

On the day that the Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) came into force, Richard Alderman, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), gave an exclusive interview to the Daily Telegraph. In the interview, Mr Alderman set out his hard-line approach and highlighted the SFO’s intention to take a much stronger stance with enforcing the Act than had been expected. Continue reading “Bribery Act raises the bar for global compliance programmes”

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has recently published its review of mortgage fraud against lenders, having carried out investigations into the ability of lenders to detect and prevent mortgage fraud.

The purpose of the report was to consider how lenders are managing the risk to their businesses of mortgage fraud. The report also estimates that the cost of mortgage fraud in the UK is £1bn. Continue reading “The billion pound toxic pool… deal with it, don’t add to it!”

It has become the standard suite of construction and engineering contracts in the nuclear decommissioning sector, EDF is currently using it for the early packages at its Hinckley C development in Somerset and Horizon Nuclear Power has been taking soundings from the nuclear supply chain as to its suitability for its proposed new nuclear power plants at Oldbury and Wylfa1. This family of contracts, the third edition of the New Engineering Contract (NEC3), has become so popular in the nuclear sector that it may soon be known as the Nuclear Engineering Contract (NEC). But why has it become so popular? And is its popularity justified? Continue reading “NEC3 – the nuclear engineering contract?”

This article provides an overview of the legal and tax aspects of debt-to-equity conversions in Bulgaria that are relevant for the successful implementation of a restructuring. Continue reading “Debt-to-equity conversions in Bulgaria”

On 30 June 2011, the government published the long-awaited consultation document on reform of the controlled foreign companies (CFC) legislation. The consultation follows the announcement at Budget 2011 that the government would consult on full reform this year with new legislation to be included in the Finance Bill 2012.

The regime has been repeatedly criticised as being an impediment to the competitiveness of the UK’s tax system. Indeed, the government’s stated aim for reform is creating a more competitive regime, while providing adequate protection of the UK’s corporation tax base. Continue reading “Full reform of the controlled foreign companies legislation”