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R (Greyhound Board of Great Britain Ltd) v Welsh Ministers [2026] EWHC 670 (Admin) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reinforces the constitutional divide between the courts and the legislature. It explains that the scheme and framework of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (GWA 2006) embody that separation of powers, and that any judicial attempt to recognise and enforce a common law obligation on Welsh Ministers to consult prior to introducing legislation in the Senedd would trespass upon that boundary. This is not a departure from established principle; case law has already upheld comparable rules for lawmakers in Scotland and at Westminster. However, this is the first express confirmation of the position for Welsh lawmakers, and the first time this dimension of the GWA 2006 has been analysed in such depth. The court examined earlier
The solution arrived through the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC), a quasi‑judicial body handling mass claims, created under UN Security Council Resolution 687. By addressing environmental harm—most notably via its ‘F4’ claim class—the UNCC set a seminal benchmark shaping how international law and contemporary arbitral panels allocate financial responsibility for wartime ecological devastation. With present-day wars in areas such as Eastern Europe and the Middle East bringing dam breaches, strikes on chemical facilities, and the burning of farmland, the UNCC’s legacy endures as an essential reference point for states, global investors, and companies engaged in post‑conflict arbitration. The F4 claims: Quantifying the unquantifiable Prior to the 1990s, mechanisms in international law for war reparations overwhelmingly favoured property loss, foregone earnings, and bodily injury. The natural world was commonly treated as a mute, non-compensable victim of armed hostilities...
Understanding the farming business as a business Many farms still use long-standing structures that arose by habit, not strategy. Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common. While once effective, such setups can cause major issues around succession, tax planning and involving the next generation. A corporate team can take a fresh, business-led view of the farm, asking: Who owns the land and other critical assets? Who manages daily operations? Who carries the risk and who enjoys the return? What is the enduring plan for succession? From this review, the team can confirm whether the current setup is fit for purpose or if an alternative — for example an updated partnership agreement, a company, a limited liability partnership, or a blended model — would better meet the family’s aims. Tax efficiency through joined-up advice Tax sits at the centre of most
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The document largely repackages the SFO’s own 2020 internal guidance and leaves the existing rules untouched. Rather than changing the framework, it provides a readable, albeit fairly high‑level, point of reference for organisations by setting out the legal circumstances in which the SFO may scrutinise corporate compliance programmes, together with the sources it will weigh when judging effectiveness. In that sense, it is a helpful tool, mirroring the SFO’s sustained push under Nick Ephgrave towards a more hands‑on model of corporate engagement. A central message is also underlined: a compliance programme must work in practice and not amount to a box‑ticking exercise on paper. The document falls short of the granularity seen in comparable materials from other jurisdictions—most notably the US. The SFO’s implicit stance appears to be that organisations already possess sufficient publicly available guidance and resources. Even so, the...
In this issue: Practice Compliance forecast Sanctions AML, CTF & counter‑proliferation financing Other financial crime Other Practice Compliance updates this week Practice Compliance Highlights 2025/2026 Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Practice Compliance forecast New Practice Compliance forecast as at 16 December 2025 Our refreshed Practice Compliance forecast, dated 16 December 2025, is now available. This edition covers: (1) the SRA’s latest consultation on safeguarding client funds; (2) the ICO’s revised timetable for guidance on lawful basis, smart data and automated decision‑making; (3) the LSB’s consultation aimed at promoting diversity across the legal sector; and (4) legislative movement on the Employment Rights Bill, which could secure Royal Assent before Parliament’s Christmas recess. See News Analysis: New Practice Compliance forecast as at 16 December 2025. Sanctions How Russia sanctions trajectory is affecting UK legal sector UK and EU lawmakers have continued to tighten sanctions against Russia throughout this year, with momentum expected to persist while the...
Our Practice Compliance forecast as at 16 December 2025 As at 16 December 2025, our Practice Compliance forecast monitors anticipated regulatory developments affecting law firm compliance, enabling you to prepare for any changes that could impact your organisation. Please examine it thoroughly; key points to note are highlighted below. New items we’re tracking this month ICO guidance on lawful basis — the ICO plans to release, in winter 2025/26, updated guidance on lawful basis to address DUAA 2025 revisions. See: Data protection, AI and cybersecurity. LSB consultation on policy statement on encouraging a diverse legal profession — the LSB has opened a consultation on a draft policy statement promoting diversity across the legal profession. The draft statement sets out......
This has had a significant impact on European businesses and the lawyers representing them. In this article, we examine the implications arising from recent developments across the UK and EU sanctions frameworks and assess what further changes may credibly be expected in the near future. Measures aimed at Russia under UK and EU regimes have multiplied markedly since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, creating a far denser compliance landscape. Consequently, the body of legislation practitioners must master to advise clients effectively in this area has grown markedly, requiring deeper familiarity to advise clients properly in this field. Before hostilities began, the UK’s Russia-focused regulations, introduced in 2019 as part of the UK’s exit from the EU, comprised only 64 pages in total at that time. Amendments over the past three and a half years have expanded that to 529 pages in...
The proposals With no further guidance from the government on how corporate defendants would be tried under these proposals, we are, for the time being, left to compare and contrast its announcements with the recommendations set out in the report ( Independent Review of the Criminal Courts: Part 1). Sir Brian suggested replacing the defendant’s option to elect a jury trial with the following measures: Establishing a new Crown Court Bench Division ( CCBD), comprising a judge and two magistrates, to which any either-way case could be allocated for hearing and disposal, with hearings convened in ‘any available courtroom’. Using judge-only trials for ‘serious and complex fraud’ cases, and permitting judges to direct their use in any matter of ‘anticipated length or complexity’, as circumstances warrant. Sir Brian further indicated that the threshold for identifying a ‘serious and complex’ fraud could encompass instances where...
One of the SRA’s priorities in its ten-week consultation is tightening the framework for accountants’ reports to strengthen the watchdog’s oversight, enabling it to better detect when law firms put client money at risk. In this strand, the SRA suggests a compulsory yearly declaration, requiring every law firm to keep a compliance record, together with a new obligation for accountants to submit reports directly to the watchdog in future. These measures are designed to enhance oversight and help the watchdog pinpoint when client funds are at risk. The watchdog has proposed bringing in fixed financial penalties for law firms that submit declarations late or provide them in an incomplete form......
The Association of Costs Lawyers, representing roughly 500 practitioners, reported that a poll of its membership indicates over seven in ten (71%) anticipate a rise in costs-related disputes in number by members surveyed. Prior to the Mazur decision, much of this work was undertaken largely by costs drafts people, who lack authorisation to conduct litigation. According to the trade body, the ruling has also driven many within the field to pursue the costs lawyer professional qualification so that they can continue their work......
In this issue: Sanctions AML, CTF & counter-proliferation financing Other financial crime Data protection Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New and updated content Sanctions OTSI publishes first annual review outlining enforcement priorities The Office of Trade Sanctions Implementation ( OTSI) has released its first annual review, covering 10 October 2024 to 9 October 2025. It explained how it applied its civil enforcement powers under the Trade, Aircraft and Shipping Sanctions ( Civil Enforcement) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/948, and collaborated with HMRC, other government departments and international partners to strengthen the UK’s trade sanctions framework. OTSI underlined both enforcement and prevention, highlighting its work in issuing guidance, supporting compliance, and overseeing the licensing regime. See: LNB News 08/12/2025 46. Home Office imposes sanctions on GRU following Sturgess inquiry report The Home Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth &...
The plans allocate £15m in extra funding to bolster the City of London Police’s domestic corruption unit, ramp up the use of sanctions, and stage a global summit on tackling illicit finance in 2026. David Lammy, the justice secretary and deputy prime minister, unveiled the approach in a London speech on 8 December 2025. He said that the measures would, in particular, help to close loopholes exploited by kleptocrats and organised criminals. The Home Office also stated that financial rewards for whistleblowers who identify economic crime will be on the table to encourage more insiders to report financial misconduct. The government introduced a comparable strategy for large-scale tax fraud in November 2025......
In this issue: Sanctions AML, CTF & counter‑proliferation financing Other financial crime Other Practice Compliance updates this week Lex Talk®Practice Compliance: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New and updated content Sanctions OFSI issues General Licence INT/2025/8031092 The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ( OFSI) has released General Licence INT/2025/8031092 under regulation 64 of the Russia ( Sanctions) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/855. This licence enables the continuation of business with Lukoil International Entities, extending beyond the prior authorisation limited to Lukoil Bulgaria to encompass wider international activities. See: LNB News 28/11/2025 26. OFSI General Licence INT/2022/2349952 updated HM Treasury and OFSI have revised General Licence INT/2022/2349952 to align with changes to Schedule 3E, Part 2A of the Russia ( Sanctions) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/855. The revision enlarges the...
CILEX announced on 25 November 2025 that the Court of Appeal has granted it leave to seek to reverse the judgment, which held that its 18,000 members and other legal practitioners were unable to conduct litigation at all while supervised by others. The September High Court ruling ran contrary to what many across the profession had believed. According to CILEX, the Court of Appeal stated that the case ‘raises an important point of practice, and its significance to the legal profession as a whole is a compelling reason for an appeal to be heard’. Jennifer Coupland, CILEX’s Chief Executive, described the appellate court’s decision to allow the appeal to proceed as ‘great news’. The......
If adopted, these reforms could significantly raise penalties, trim concessions for voluntary self-disclosure, and bring in fresh responses to breaches, including settlement pathways. The proposals would align OFSI more closely with the enforcement model of its US peer, the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ( OFAC), a sophisticated, high-powered body with which it has developed an ever broader partnership since 2022, centred on information sharing, joint enforcement and harmonised implementation approaches. OFSI is likewise taking cues from other seasoned UK regulators, such as the Financial Conduct Authority, with which it is working closely. OFSI is progressing, and with that shift come heightened UK sanctions exposures for banks and companies within UK enforcement reach. OFSI's expanding enforcement activity Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, OFSI has more than doubled its headcount, with a marked emphasis on licensing and...
In this issue: Practice Compliance forecast AML, CTF & Counter- Proliferation Financing Other Financial Crime Data Protection Other Practice Compliance updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Practice Compliance forecast New Practice Compliance forecast as at 25 November 2025 The latest Practice Compliance forecast, dated 25 November 2025, is now available. This month we cover: (1) HM Treasury’s consultation response on reforming the AML/ CTF supervision regime; (2) the SRA’s review of sanctions risks and controls; (3) changes to HMRC’s AML supervision fees; and (4) the ICO’s new consultation on procedural guidance for data protection enforcement. See News Analysis: New Practice Compliance forecast as at 25 November 2025. AML, CTF & Counter- Proliferation Financing NCA reports further arrests and seizures under Operation Destabilise The National Crime Agency ( NCA) has issued an update on Operation...
As at 25 November 2025, our Practice Compliance forecast maps proposed regulatory developments relevant to law firm compliance, enabling you to prepare for changes that could affect your organisation. Please review it thoroughly; key points that should be on your radar are below. New items we’re tracking this month HMT Anti- Money Laundering and Counter- Terrorist Financing Supervision Reform: Duties, Powers, and Accountability Consultation—on 21 October 2025, HM Treasury ( HMT) issued its consultation response on reform of the AML/ CTF supervision regime, confirming the FCA as the new Single Professional Services Supervisor ( SPSS). See: AML, CTF and counter-proliferation financing. JMLSG Consultation: Part I ( November 2025)—the Joint Money Laundering Steering Group has opened a consultation on updates to Part I of its guidance. The proposals refresh sections including Chapter 3 and paragraphs 6.90–6.99 to bolster AML and CTF...
On 21 November 2025, CILEx Regulation—the watchdog for members of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives—stated that the applications were made after the Legal Services Board approved its ability to authorise litigation rights, in response to the Mazur judgment issued by the High Court in September. The organisation, which oversees about 18,000 legal professionals, said it has increased its capacity to process the applications amid worries that some executives could face losing their jobs. ‘ We have......
In this issue: Sanctions AML, CTF & counter‑proliferation financing Other financial crime Other Practice Compliance updates this week Daily and weekly news alerts Trackers New and updated content Sanctions OFSI issues General Licence INT/2025/7895596 The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation ( OFSI) has issued General Licence INT/2025/7895596 under regulation 64 of the Russia ( Sanctions) ( EU Exit) Regulations 2019, SI 2019/855. The licence enables continuation of business with Lukoil Bulgaria EOOD and Lukoil Neftochim Burgas AD, plus any entities they own or control. It permits payments to or from the Lukoil Bulgaria entities under existing or new contracts, payments to or from other persons under those contracts, and the provision or receipt of economic resources from the Lukoil Bulgaria entities. The licence is effective from 14 November 2025 and expires on 14 February 2026. See: LNB News...
The representative body for around 18,000 legal practitioners said it is turning to the Court of Appeal's discretion to allow an appeal to be pursued by an individual affected by the decision, despite the fact the organisation was not involved in the original case. ‘ We consider that the questions, ambiguities and practical consequences arising from the ruling must be thoroughly explored via this appeal,’ said the CILEX chief executive, Jennifer Coupland. In September, Judge Clive Sheldon determined in the High Court that non-qualified staff working within law firms are prohibited from conducting litigation, even where they act under the oversight of a qualified solicitor......
Salinas retained the strategy consultancy B. C. Strategy UK Ltd—known as Black Cube—to conduct an ‘unethical’ undercover operation to secure an edge in the litigation against his adversary, Vladimir Sklarov, as recorded in a High Court judgment formally delivered on 13 November 2025. Judge Stephen Houseman described such conduct as ‘anathema to the fundamental basis or premise of civil proceedings’. The judge added that Salinas misused the court’s process by relying on the unlawfully obtained material to seek summary judgment in his favour. Despite those conclusions, the court declined to strike out the fraud claim, instead granting permission to appeal. The judgment explains that Salinas’ ‘abnormal and abusive’ behaviour must be assessed against the ‘distinct policy in favour of exposing and remedying serious wrongdoing such as fraud’. According to the judgment, Sklarov’s former litigation solicitor, identified only as ‘ X’, was tricked into...
FCA to centralise UK AML oversight Ministers plan to remove anti‑money laundering supervision from the Solicitors Regulation Authority ( SRA) and other professional bodies, consolidating it within the Financial Conduct Authority to simplify the regime and plug gaps exploited by dirty money. Colette Best, Kingsley Napley LLP’s director of AML, said aligning legal, accountancy and financial services under a single FCA supervisor — replacing 22 professional body supervisors — could make the UK a far harsher environment for laundering. A consultation on the proposals opened on 13 November 2025. The package, which would require legislation, envisages a wholesale reset of how law firms interact with their AML supervisor, with stiffer penalties and more onerous compliance duties. The FCA would gain sweeping enforcement powers over the legal sector for AML and counter‑terrorism requirements, including the ability to levy fines and impose bans in line with...
According to the Bridge Group, eight firms, among them Allen Overy Shearman Sterling, Clifford Chance LLP and Norton Rose Fulbright, submitted figures covering in excess of 11,500 lawyers, the report said. The data indicates that those within the sector from low socio-economic backgrounds appear at trainee and partner tiers, yet are less visible across the middle levels, the not-for-profit said, the organisation added. Senior interviews and focus groups point to firm-level commitment at senior level to socio-economic inclusion, while priorities still lean towards outreach and hiring rather than keeping and advancing talent, the Bridge Group noted. Discussions across the eight firms also notably showed patchy delivery of policies, with individual partners exerting considerable sway over the culture of teams within firms. Participants further included lawyers from Ashurst LLP, Freshfields LLP, KPMG Law,......
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This Practice Note This Practice Note reviews mechanisms used in settling litigation. A Tomlin order consists of a consent order paired with a schedule. It operates to stay proceedings on terms that have been agreed. The provisions contained in the schedule may remain confidential. This Practice Note describes the scope of confidentiality attaching to the schedule and sets out how it differs from a standard consent order. Sample wording for a Tomlin order is included, alongside links to precedents, as well as guidance on court approval. It also addresses varying, setting aside and enforcing a Tomlin order, including the considerations the court will take into account when handling applications for each. Further guidance is provided on interpreting and applying the relevant provisions of the CPR; however, some courts and divisions impose very specific requirements for both drafting and approval, and for approaching the schedule and confidentiality issues. Accordingly, you must consider the particular rules and court guide provisions in the forum where your claim is proceeding when drawing up the Tomlin order...
Date [ date ] Parties [ name of Landlord ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Landlord) [ name of Tenant ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Tenant) [ [ name of Guarantor ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Guarantor) ] [ [ name of Mortgagee ] [ of OR incorporated in England and Wales (company registration number [ number ]) with its registered office at ] [ address ] (Mortgagee) ] Definitions Within this Deed, the terms below shall be interpreted as follows: [ Annual Rent • the annual sum reserved under the Lease; ] [ Insurance Rent • the Tenant’s share of the Landlord’s costs of insuring the Property (as set out in the Lease); ] Lease • the lease of the Property dated [ date ], entered into between (1) [ the Landlord OR [ name ...
I, [ name ], of [ address ], solemnly and sincerely state that: [ Matters to be verified, set out in numbered paragraphs ] I make this solemn statement in good conscience, believing it to be true, and pursuant to the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1835. DECLARED at [ details ] this [ day ] day of [ month and year ] Before me ................................................................................ [ signature of the person before whom the declaration is made ] A [ commissioner for oaths OR [ solicitor OR [ insert other qualification ] ] authorised to administer oaths ]...
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