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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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Restructuring & Insolvency weekly highlights—25 April 2024 In this issue: Key R& I developments Corporate insolvency procedures Restructuring Directors and insolvency Insolvency disputes Property insolvency Insurance and insolvency International restructuring and insolvency Daily and weekly news alerts Key dates for R& I professionals New content Key R& I developments The UK Jurisdiction Taskforce ( UKJT), created by the Lawtech UK panel, has issued a legal statement on digital assets and English insolvency law. Although not binding, it offers helpful guidance on the overarching principles relevant to cryptoassets, distributed ledger technology, smart contacts and related technologies within English insolvency. It concludes, amongst other points, that digital assets constitute property for the purposes of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( IA 1986) and that insolvent estates may retain proprietary rights in such assets. However, a statutory demand cannot presently be validly served in respect of a debt of a digital asset. See: LNB News 24/04/2024 27......
The Civil Justice Council ( CJC) has announced it plans to issue an interim report by summer 2024, followed by a comprehensive report the next summer, examining how funding agreements might be regulated. Framed by the Post Office Horizon Scandal and debate over the implications of the UK Supreme Court ruling that could undermine existing funding arrangements, the publication will outline the landscape of third-party funding and analyse its effect on access to justice. The CJC added that it will put ‘clear recommendations for reform’ to the Lord Chancellor (the Minister responsible for the administration of the court in England and Wales). As third-party funding is presently governed by self-regulation, the review will also explore wider financing models by comparing practices adopted in other jurisdictions, as part of its assessment of effective regulation of such agreements......
The press release follows: MEPs approve update of EU rules regulating the insurance sector On 23 April 2024, MEPs backed reforms to the insurance rulebook, known as Solvency II, together with a fresh framework for the recovery and resolution of insurance firms. These compromises, informally reached in December 2023 between Member States under the EU Presidency and Parliament negotiators led by Markus Ferber ( EPP, DE), were adopted in plenary. Solvency II update: 549 in favour, 56 against, 9 abstentions Recovery and resolution framework: 475 in favour, 37 against, 99 abstentions More money into the real economy Revisions to Solvency II will unlock substantial capital previously held in reserve, enabling the sector to steer more finance towards the economic recovery and, notably, the European Green Deal. The assumed cost-of-capital rate used to set reserve levels will fall from 6% to...
What is the background to the government’s response? In November 2023, the government launched a call for evidence to assess how the NSIA 2021 regime functions in practice. Its objective is to refine the framework so it is more accommodating to business while preserving—and sharpening—national security safeguards, especially given the worsening international climate in recent years. The exercise closed on 15 January 2024. It drew 110 complete submissions: 41% from law firms, 15% from trade bodies and business representative organisations, 15% from banks or investors, 11% from companies active within the 17 National Security and Investment ( NSI) mandatory sectors, and 7% from academic and research institutions. The government’s reply identifies the strands it expects to progress in view of the feedback. Of specific relevance to the lending market are automatic enforcement provisions and Scots law share...
Corporate Rescue and Insolvency The April 2024 edition of Corporate Rescue and Insolvency can now be accessed in Lexis +® UK (subscription required). This issue features the following articles: headwinds for the shipping industry and the global economy? The impact of the Red Sea conflict (2024) 2 CRI 43 by Nick Austin, partner, Linton Bloomberg, partner, Colin Cochraine, senior associate and Alicia Cranston, trainee solicitor at Reed Smith Adler restructuring plan overturned: fair's fair?......
Practice Note: Preferences under section 239 of the Insolvency Act 1986 Refer to the Practice Note covering preferences under section 239 of the Insolvency Act 1986 for guidance. For a summary on such claims, see the following: Claims by an insolvent estate or its insolvency office-holder—overview......
Consult Practice Note: Litigation funding agreements—drawdown processes. For summaries...
Restructuring & Insolvency weekly highlights—18 April 2024 In this issue: Insolvency litigation Personal insolvency The office-holder Restructuring Corporate insolvency processes Directors and insolvency Property insolvency Daily and weekly news alerts Key dates for R& I professionals New content New Q& A Insolvency litigation New Practice Note— Transactions at an undervalue under section 238 of the Insolvency Act 1986 The Lexis Nexis Restructuring & Insolvency practical guidance team has issued a new Practice Note, ‘ Transactions at an undervalue under section 238 of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( IA 1986)’. It reviews section 238, the conditions to satisfy, the statutory defence, initiating a claim, possible relief, protections for third parties, limitation and assignment of claims. See News Analysis: New Practice Note— Transactions at an undervalue under section 238 of the Insolvency Act...
Thiel- Czerwinke and another (joint liquidators of Courtside Recycling Ltd) v Crabb [2024] EWHC 337 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling underlines the uncompromising obligation on directors to maintain trading records, and accepts that discarding or failing to retain them was, on these facts, a constituent part of the director’s fraudulent design. It also clarifies that once office-holders demonstrate that company assets or cash were transferred to a director, the absence of documents showing that the funds or property were applied for the company’s advantage renders the director liable to repay the whole amount to the company. That outcome applies even though the judge did not doubt that Mr Crabb did in fact use some of the cash when making payments for Courtside... What was the background? Mr Crabb served as the Company’s sole director; the business dealt in scrap metal. For the...
Gary Paul Shankland and Jamie Taylor (as joint liquidators of Lion House Portfolio Ltd); Lion House Portfolio Ltd v Iain Urquhart Mc Keand [2024] EWHC 610 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment distils the principles on directors’ misfeasance and clarifies when the duty in section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 ( CA 2006) to act for the benefit of the company and its members shifts to include regard to, or action for, the interests of the company’s creditors. Beyond that—and a short excursion into the obligation to account as a fiduciary recipient, plus the point that a director cannot invoke their own inadequate record-keeping to evade liability for company funds received—there is relatively little fresh law in it. Its real value lies in illustrating the court’s method for tackling the frequently challenging exercise of piecing together evidence about...
Frost and another v The Good Box Co Labs Ltd and others [2024] EWHC 422 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This judgment addresses two discrete issues relating to claims by office-holders for further remuneration under the Insolvency ( England and Wales) Rules 2016 ( IR 2016), SI 2016/1024, Pt 18. It confirms, first, that office-holders who have demitted office — including where an administration has ended with approval of a remuneration plan — continue to have standing to apply for additional remuneration, notwithstanding the literal reading of IR 2016, SI 2016/1024, r 18.28. Second, the judgment offers practical analysis of the range of orders that may properly be sought by means of such an application. The court concluded that an application to be paid remuneration over and above an agreed payment on account does not fall within IR 2016, SI...
Hyde (as joint trustee in bankruptcy of James Stunt) v Stunt [2024] EWHC 630 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling reiterates the established principles applied when deciding contested ownership of property and, in this matter, a work of art (the ‘ Painting’). It confirms the approach taken where questions of contract and trusts arise to determine title in a civil dispute. As ICC Judge Jones observed, this was a case about the law of contract and trusts to decide ownership, set against a backdrop of relatively limited documentation and witnesses striving to recall events from more than a decade ago. The judgment therefore underscores how the court evaluates sparse records and long-faded memories when resolving such issues. The court also considered the implications where property has been made subject to a restraint order under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 ( POCA...
In this issue: Corporate insolvency processes Personal insolvency Insolvency litigation Property insolvency Daily and weekly news alerts Key dates for R& I professionals New content Corporate insolvency processes No triable issue raised over settlement reached by former director ( Re Windrush Alliance UK CIC) The court found that Windrush Alliance UK CIC (the company), a social housing provider, failed to show a real and substantial dispute capable of justifying the setting aside or striking out of the winding-up petition brought against it. The core concern was that the current directors appeared to be bound by a settlement agreement concluded by a former director. Complaints about that director’s conduct, and any contraventions of the regulatory regime attaching to the business, were irrelevant to the question to be determined at the hearing of the petition. There was no reason to reopen the...
TCPC Management Ltd v Windrush Alliance UK Community Interest Company [2024] EWHC 683 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling confirms that, once parties have concluded a settlement agreement, the liability identified in that document is the figure that grounds a winding-up petition (and any earlier statutory demand). There remains the scope for such an agreement to be avoided for fraud, or voidable on other recognised bases. Yet this judgment demonstrates—consistent with many before it—that merely flagging a potential dispute is inadequate. Two points were pursued: Fraud: the evidential footing came perilously close to Micawberism—little more than the hopeful expectation that something might turn up. Regulatory limits: the suggestion that the company’s role as a social housing provider imposed constraints also fell away on a straightforward interpretation of the Companies Act 2006. In consequence, the court treated the sum in the...
Staveley v Restis [2024] EWHC 670 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? This decision offers a timely illustration of the court’s approach to applications to set aside a statutory demand. Although it is enough to establish a dispute on substantial grounds, that does not mean any merely arguable point will do. Rather, as this ruling shows, the evidential material put forward to support the alleged dispute will be tested with care. In the face of contemporaneous records, the court may find that account inherently unlikely. The judgment also underlines that, while arbitration clauses are generally upheld in insolvency proceedings, a respondent may contend that the clause no longer subsists. A later agreement revising lending terms can, where it includes an entire agreement provision, achieve that result. What was the background? The application related to a statutory demand seeking...
Drelle v Servis- Terminal LLC [2024] EWHC 521 ( Ch), [2024] All ER ( D) 54 ( Mar) What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling clarifies that, for the purposes of section 267 of the Insolvency Act 1986 ( IA 1986), a foreign judgment amounts to a “debt”. In consequence, a creditor can deploy such a judgment to lodge a bankruptcy petition in the court, offering a distinct enforcement pathway as an alternative to seeking registration/recognition and then enforcing. However, a bona fide dispute on substantial grounds will be found—so the petition fails—if the foreign judgment is vulnerable to impeachment for fraud, conflicts with public policy, or is inconsistent with natural justice; those circumstances may arise, for example, where there has been judicial bias and/or improper interference. Accordingly, practitioners should assess with care, when instructed by a judgment creditor holding a foreign...
In this issue: Key R& I law developments Directors and insolvency Insolvency litigation R& I in Scotland Industry/sector guides for R& I lawyers Daily and weekly news alerts Key dates for R& I professionals New content Key R& I law developments Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 ( Financial Penalty) Regulations 2024 SI 2024/445: These Regulations empower the Registrar to levy a financial penalty where they are satisfied, beyond reasonable doubt, that misconduct has been committed amounting to a relevant offence under the Companies Act 2006. Civil penalties provide a swifter, lower-cost route than criminal proceedings to discourage and sanction wrongdoing. They take effect from 2 May 2024. See: LNB News 02/04/2024 27. Issue 163 of Insolvency Service’s Dear IP published: The Insolvency Service has issued Dear IP, issue 163. It highlights fresh Companies House powers under the...
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When evaluating a general damages claim, the practitioner ought initially to refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG)...
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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