THIS ISSUE
The Guralp case has given the Serious Fraud Office a welcome boost, writes Jonathan Fisher KC, but lessons can still be learned
Volunteer workers, capability dismissals, & costs decisions with a sting in the tail: Ian Smith combs through the latest employment headlines
Emma Radmore & Michael Lewis of Womble Bond Dickinson consider the drivers & concerns for UK financial institutions
Mark Pawlowski takes a look at some of the legal pitfalls associated with lottery syndicates
Refusing ADR is risky—but not always fatal. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed and Sanjay Dave Singh of the University of Leicester analyse Assensus Ltd v Wirsol Energy Ltd: despite repeated invitations to mediate, the defendant stood firm, made a £100,000 Part 36 offer and was ultimately ‘wholly vindicated’ at trial
What are the costs penalties when a defendant won’t mediate? Masood Ahmed & Sanjay Dave Singh consider the case law
It is possible to obtain a UK patent for an artificial intelligence (AI) machine which uses artificial neural networks (ANNs), the Supreme Court has held
The current state of geopolitics is so volatile it is ‘fundamentally reshaping’ the role of general counsel, according to a report by a global network of law firms
The High Court has clarified how winding-up petitions must be served, in a decision with implications for 30,000 UK businesses using the Companies House default address for official mail
MOVERS & SHAKERS
Seddons GSC—Ben Marks
Partner joins residential real estate team
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Winckworth Sherwood—Shazia Bashir
Social housing team announces partner appointment
University of Manchester: The LLM driving tech-focused career growth
Manchester’s online LLM has accelerated career progression for its graduates
NEWS
The Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 transformed criminal justice. Writing in NLJ this week, Ed Cape of UWE and Matthew Hardcastle and Sandra Paul of Kingsley Napley trace its ‘seismic impact’
Operational resilience is no longer optional. Writing in NLJ this week, Emma Radmore and Michael Lewis of Womble Bond Dickinson explain how UK regulators expect firms to identify ‘important business services’ that could cause ‘intolerable levels of harm’ if disrupted
Criminal juries may be convicting—or acquitting—on a misunderstanding. Writing in NLJ this week Paul McKeown, Adrian Keane and Sally Stares of The City Law School and LSE report troubling survey findings on the meaning of ‘sure’
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has narrowly preserved a key weapon in its anti-corruption arsenal. In this week's NLJ, Jonathan Fisher KC of Red Lion Chambers examines Guralp Systems Ltd v SFO, in which the High Court ruled that a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) remained in force despite the company’s failure to disgorge £2m by the stated deadline
As the drip-feed of Epstein disclosures fuels ‘collateral damage’, the rush to cry misconduct in public office may be premature. Writing in NLJ this week, David Locke of Hill Dickinson warns that the offence is no catch-all for political embarrassment. It demands a ‘grave departure’ from proper standards, an ‘abuse of the public’s trust’ and conduct ‘sufficiently serious to warrant criminal punishment’
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