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Our lawyers contribute regularly to industry and legal journals in addition to writing legal briefings, newsletters and case reports for clients and contacts. All of our articles are free to read and download here.
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Compliance with financial sanctions regimes: A special risk for insurers?
October 2023Introduction The intricate world of international sanctions has become a formidable challenge for insurers. The problem has become very real since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in 2022 and the ensuing, vast sanctions regime which was swiftly imposed, causing restrictions across a number of sectors. Even before the hostilities in Ukraine, the sanctions picture… Read More >
Insurance brokers and the Financial Conduct Authority: is the new Consumer Duty the ‘thin end of the wedge’?
October 2023After years of consultation, consideration, and speculation, the Financial Conduct Authority’s (“FCA”) new Consumer Duty has finally arrived, coming into force in July earlier this year.[1] The reform has been in the works for some time and has been both hotly anticipated and dreaded in equal measure. In essence, the new duty is an attempt… Read More >
A “Fast-Track” Regime for Environmental Sanctions
October 2023DEFRA’s consultation on the strengthening of environmental sanctions in April and May 2023 found in favour of two significant changes: to remove the £250,000 cap on Variable Monetary Penalties (VMPs), meaning penalties can be unlimited, and to introduce unlimited VMPs as a civil sanction in the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. These changes… Read More >
Strength in Numbers? Mass litigation against universities, lessons learned and the implications arising from Hamon & others v University College London [2023] EWHC 1812 (KB)
October 2023Introduction There can rarely have been a period of such turbulence in the higher education sector. Strikes by academic staff due to proposed pension changes have been ongoing intermittently since 2018, combined with strike action since 2019 relating to the Universities and Colleges Union’s ‘Four Fights’: pay inequality, job insecurity, rising workloads, and pay deflation.… Read More >
Great Power, Great Responsibility: Reusing and Replacing – Wind Turbines at End-of-Life
October 2023Hinkley Point C, which on completion will be Britain’s first newly-built nuclear power station for thirty years, will be designed to generate power for 60 years. Most gas-fired power stations are designed to do so for 30 or more years. By contrast, modern wind turbines typically have design lives of 20 or 25 years, and… Read More >
HSE Annual Report & Accounts 2022-2023
October 2023Earlier this year, we reviewed the Health and Safety Executive (“HSE”) 10-year strategy: “Protecting People and Places” (the “Strategy”). The Strategy was the regulator’s broadest strategy to date setting out 5 objectives to achieve between 2022 and 2032. The 10-year plan required significant investment to reduce work-related stress and improve mental health in the workplace.… Read More >
Note on Building Safety Act Secondary Legislation
October 2023Introduction This note will mainly focus on what certificates and declarations will need to be provided and when, for the carrying out of works to an existing higher-risk building, as per the Building Safety Act and the related secondary legislation recently published. Much of this information can be found in The Building (Higher-Risk Buildings Procedures)… Read More >
COLLABORATIVE CONTRACTING IN CANADA: COMING IN FOR A LANDING?
October 2023Procurement approaches for large complex infrastructure projects need to be refreshed and updated from time to time, and this has particularly been the case for design-build projects in large-scale public infrastructure. Canada is, arguably, going through such a renovation process right now. Will Buckby, Partner at Beale & Co and *Andrés Durán, a lawyer in… Read More >
Principal Designer and Principal Contractor – Secondary Legislation Published
October 2023Secondary legislation[1] is now in force which provides important clarification as to how the new roles of the Principal Designer and Principal Contractor will operate under the Building Safety Act. Regulation 6 inserts a new Part 2A into the Building Regulations which sets out the arrangements a client must make, including the appointment of a… Read More >
Solicitors’ PI Insurance – success breeds success in coverage dispute
September 2023In a dispute regarding the scope of compulsory professional indemnity insurance for solicitors in Northern Ireland, the Court of Appeal in Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance Ltd and ors v Tughans has recently upheld the earlier decisions that the insuring clause is sufficiently wide to cover liabilities which include a firm’s fees, in this case… Read More >