Featured documents
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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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
Most recent News
The Court of Appeal concluded that Babek International Ltd’s trade mark—a gold oval featuring embossed ‘ BABEK’ lettering—has a written description that accords with its visual depiction. Accordingly, Justice Richard Arnold stated that it is a single sign, namely the sign shown in the image, and is capable of registration. The judgment further notes that, contrary to Iceland’s contention, the verbal description does not conflict with the pictorial element, nor does it generate any uncertainty or ambiguity about the subject matter of the registration. The dispute originates from Babek’s March 2024 allegation that Iceland, without authorisation, used a gold ‘ BABEK’ logo protected as a trade mark on its own meat products, even after Babek ceased supplying meat goods to the supermarket in 2020......
See Q& A: How binding are general wishes in a Will? For instance, suppose the testator states in the Will that a sum is left to a person to fund the upkeep of a particular building, or that a parcel of land left to a beneficiary is accompanied by an expressed wish that it continue to be used for agricultural purposes. Do statements of this kind create legal obligations? Or are they treated merely as expressions of hope, and nothing further? Broadly, where a Will leaves assets—whether property, money, or other devises or bequests (the first being a gift of real property, the second of personal property, commonly grouped together as legacies)—so long as there is clarity about what is given and who is to receive it, those legacies are regarded as absolute......
The Competition Appeal Tribunal’s 23 October 2025 ruling that Apple abused its market dominance by imposing excessive App Store commissions clears the path to a potential £1.5bn ( US$2bn) payment for i Phone and i Pad users in Britain. It represents the first major consumer success under the decade-old collective action regime. The lawsuit, led against Apple by class representative Rachael Kent, was the first claim targeting a Big Tech company to proceed to trial before the CAT, and the first to prevail after a full trial on liability. Mishcon de Reya LLP partner Wessen Jazrawi called it a landmark for the collective action regime, highlighting that it delivers the first judgment in favour of class members. Jazrawi described the outcome as a strong win for consumers, achievable only through this collective route, and said it sends a clear signal to tech giants that...
A legal challenge brought by Norwegian web browser Opera against the European Commission centres on the regulator’s decision not to subject Microsoft’s Edge browser to the highest tier of obligations provided for by the EU’s law to curb the power of digital gatekeepers. The arguments were heard at the EU General Court this week, where Opera, the commission and Microsoft traded blows over whether Edge ought to have been labelled a 'core platform service' under the Digital Markets Act ( DMA) (see here). Yet the eventual judgment, when it arrives, is also expected to illuminate another crucial point for the future of platform regulation: under what circumstances can third parties contest the commission’s DMA designation decisions? That question, which consumed a sizeable portion of the hearing, could prove pivotal for the future of DMA enforcement, given the law grants no formal standing to third...
The Commission is considering changes to how products regulated under EU sectoral product safety laws are covered by the EU’s AI law As part of a broader effort to streamline digital rules, MLex has learned that the Commission is weighing revisions to the AI law’s treatment of goods already subject to EU sectoral product safety regimes. The potential adjustment, being worked into the Commission’s planned digital ‘omnibus’ package due on 19 November 2025, may reduce compliance obligations for areas such as medical devices and industrial machinery. The EU’s AI Act sets a rigorous due diligence framework for AI systems that present significant risks to people’s health and fundamental rights......
Eurocent ( Buckingham) Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1253 ( TC) The appellant purchased a row of tenanted retail units in Buckingham and aimed to reclaim input tax arising from that acquisition. Its VAT registration took effect on 3 October 2022 and, on the first VAT return for the period ending 31 January 2023, it sought a repayment of input tax that included VAT charged on two invoices issued by third parties. HMRC commenced a repayment verification and disallowed £50,960 of input tax, arguing that the two invoices were invalid because they did not satisfy the content requirements prescribed by the VAT Regulations 1995, SI 1995/2518, reg 14. HMRC further declined to exercise its discretion to accept alternative evidence under VAT Regulations 1995, SI 1995/2518, reg 29......
Original news Mr R ( CAS-84083- M5S5)—3 July 2025 Summary The Pensions Ombudsman upheld a complaint about erroneous information. A member opted to retire early, and in doing so lost the chance of promotion with a higher wage, having relied on incorrect retirement illustrations. The scheme owed a duty of care to avoid negligent misstatements. It was reasonable for the complainant to retire early in light of the figures provided. The case serves as a reminder that pension schemes should ensure retirement quotations are precise. What were the facts? Mr R belonged to the Firemen’s Pension Scheme 1992 (the Scheme). At first, any uplift in pay from a temporary promotion counted as pensionable pay. Later, regulatory changes altered the position so that such temporary increases ceased to be pensionable; instead, an extra pension benefit would be awarded in their place to members......
MSA Global LLC ( Oman) And Engineering Projects ( India) Ltd [2025] SGHC 199 What are the practical implications of this case? For those practising in commercial arbitration, this decision confirms that the court at the juridical seat is paramount, in that it alone undertakes particular supervisory roles. Yet this does not stop a party from pursuing relief in another, non-seat court. Simultaneous litigation in different courts, with an arbitration running in parallel, adds further complexity to the conflict, as the two forums might deliver inconsistent outcomes on the identical point. If a court outside the seat is convinced to grant anti-arbitration injunctions or other measures, the client may face exposure to contempt risks. For advisers drafting arbitration clauses, the ruling underlines the significance of the selection of seat and the law governing the arbitration agreement. Naming an exclusive court in an...
Environment ( Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 There are approximately 900 industrial and waste licences currently issued by the EPA in Ireland. These licences oversee large-scale installations and facilities across multiple sectors: Energy Pharmaceuticals Waste management Cement production Arising from feedback provided by industry stakeholders and others affected by EPA licensing regimes, the Environment ( Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2025 (the Bill) has been brought forward. The Bill seeks to simplify the frameworks for industrial emissions, integrated pollution control, and waste licensing. It grants the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment (the Minister) the authority to set fixed timeframes within which EPA licence decisions must be made. It also proposes additional mechanisms for the EPA to efficiently oversee lower-risk activities and minor licence modifications. Another objective of the Bill is to ensure that environmental protections remain appropriate,...
Illuminate Skin Clinics Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKUT 341 ( TCC) The appellant’s services were carried out by Dr Shotter, a registered medical practitioner acting for the appellant. It was common ground that a number of those supplies, including make-up and retail skincare products, also attracted the standard rate of VAT. The question was whether other services, for example procedures that reduce fat cells, fell within the exemption in item 1, Group 7, Schedule 9 to the Value Added Tax Act 1994 ( VATA 1994)......
Pagden (as Security Trustee under a Security and Intercreditor Deed dated 24 December 2015) and others v Ridgley [2025] EWHC 2674 ( Ch) What was the background? Orthios Eco Parks ( Anglesey) Ltd and Orthios Power ( Anglesey) Ltd (together, the Companies) sat within the Orthios Group. The group obtained capital from Cresta Energy Ltd ( Cresta), which put £66m into bonds issued via MPB Eco Parks Ltd ( MPB), and from between 300 and 400 retail investors who subscribed £36.4m of bonds. Those bonds were backed by fixed and floating charges over land granted by the Companies, with all such security vested in Mr Colin, as security trustee, under a Security Trust Deed. On 25 March 2022, after an event of default, Mr Colin used his qualifying floating charge to appoint Mr Ridgley as administrator of the Companies. He did so without...
Conway and others (in their capacity as Joint Special Administrators of Argentex LLP ( In Special Administration)) v Plass and others [2025] EWHC 2625 ( Ch) What was the background? The matter related to directions requested by the Joint Special Administrators ( JAs) of Argentex LLP ( Argentex), after the firm entered special administration on 21 July 2025. By an application notice dated 12 August 2025, the JAs invited the court to give directions pursuant to paragraph 63 of Schedule B1 to the Insolvency Act 1986, as applied by the Payment and Electronic Money Institution Insolvency Regulations 2021 (the 2021 Regulations), SI 2021/716, regulation 37. Argentex’s core business comprised payment services alongside currency conversion, and it was authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) both as an Electronic Money Institution under the Electronic Money Regulations 2011 and as a Mi FID...
Deutsche Telekom, A. G., Appellee v Republic of India, Appellant No 24-7081 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling tackles complex questions in international arbitration, namely jurisdiction, arbitrability, and how far sovereign immunity extends under the FSIA. As the D. C. Circuit observed, these matters are also before the US Supreme Court via a petition for certiorari in Kingdom of Spain v Blasket Renewables Investments LLC, No. 24-1130 ( US, 1 May 2025), with an amicus curiae submission backing it from the European Commission and multiple European states. On sovereign immunity, the FSIA carves out an exception for recognition and enforcement of international arbitral awards under section 1605(a)(6). While states often plead immunity in US actions to confirm arbitral awards, courts increasingly reject those arguments by relying on this FSIA exception. Even so, US courts have treated...
Mergers The Commission approved: the purchase of shared control over Skyline JV by Sunstone Investment Pte Ltd, Platinum Globe A 2013 RSC Limited and Digital Bridge Group, Inc......
The government has published four consultations in relation to the Employment Rights Bill ( ERB), which cover the following areas: the obligation on employers to tell workers of their right to join a trade union the right of trade unions to access workplaces physically, and to communicate with workers in person or digitally enhanced workplace protections against dismissal for pregnant women and new mothers a new entitlement to bereavement leave, including for pregnancy loss before 24 weeks This overview outlines the proposals in each consultation, the questions posed and the deadline for responding. For information on the progress of the ERB generally, see Practice Note: Employment Rights Bill—tracker. Duty to inform workers of right to join a trade union The ERB will introduce a new duty requiring employers to issue workers with a written statement, advising them of their right to join a trade union at the...
AI regulatory ‘sandboxes’ On 21 October 2025, the technology ministry set out plans to establish AI regulatory ‘sandboxes’ aimed at spotting and removing regulatory obstacles across healthcare, professional services, transport, and robotics within advanced manufacturing. These sandboxes permit specific rules to be temporarily relaxed or adjusted for a set period inside secure, controlled trial environments designed for testing. Nonetheless, the announcement makes it clear that certain areas sit outside the sandbox, including: consumer protection and safety requirements fundamental rights protections for workers intellectual property rights......
Soremi Investments Ltd v China National Gold Group Hong Kong Ltd and Another [2025] HKCFI 4514 What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling underscores that, however expansive, a clause will not reach controversies that bear only a marginal link to the contract housing it. The court’s analysis prioritises context above the width of the language employed. For deal lawyers, the takeaway is that a contract’s design is as significant as its drafting. Parties frequently default to boilerplate such as ‘arising out of or in connection with this agreement’. The decision illustrates that such wording may fail to encompass behaviour relating to a company’s internal governance, or claims in tort and equity, where the company is not genuinely a party to the transaction......
Evergreen Marine Corp. ( Taiwan) Ltd, together with three claimants, contended in High Court proceedings that Lloyd’s, alongside other guarantors and underwriters, have failed to contribute their share towards the vessel’s salvage. The claimant cohort, which includes Evergreen Marine Asia Pte Ltd and Evergreen Marine ( Hong Kong) Ltd, asserted that Lloyd’s issued the general average guarantees associated with the ship. General average is a doctrine in maritime law intended to allocate, on an equitable basis, losses and expenses arising out of incidents at sea......
Tyler Security Ltd v HMRC [2025] UKFTT 1250 ( TC) The appellant operated by delivering specialised search and detection services to end-clients at sports venues and at other locations and events. Its checks primarily targeted the discovery of explosives, firearms, pyrotechnics and controlled substances. Under agreements with end clients, the company undertook to supply organised teams of search-dog handlers together with their dogs. The agreed fee was set by reference to the number of handlers and dogs deployed, and the total hours actually worked. For 2017–18, the period to which the disputed PAYE determination related, the business engaged 33 dog handlers on a self-employed footing. They issued invoices to the company for their services, calculated on hours worked at a fixed rate. Each handler operated as a team with their own dog throughout the assignments......
Mergers CMA updates merger guidance ( CMA2 and CMA56) and merger notice template to embed ‘4Ps’ framework The CMA has released its: (i) refreshed guidance on jurisdiction and procedure ( CMA2), and (ii) revised merger notice template. It has also made associated changes to its guidance on its merger intelligence function ( CMA56). These updates are intended to embed the CMA’s ‘4Ps’ framework (pace, predictability, process and proportionality) throughout the UK mergers process. CMA2 offers guidance for businesses and advisers on the CMA’s procedures for running the merger control regime under the Enterprise Act 2002. The October 2025 revisions reflect the CMA’s ongoing efforts to make merger reviews quicker, more transparent and more consistent, following the consultation earlier this year. The key changes to CMA2 include: Accelerating pace: by setting a 40 working-day KPI for...
Popular documents
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 ]...
Discover more from LexisNexis
