Legal News

Staley is challenging the Financial Conduct Authority’s prohibition, which bars him from senior roles at regulated financial firms, in a two‑week hearing before the Upper Tribunal. This was the first time a senior banker in Britain faced such a ban, and observers view the proceedings as a litmus test for the embattled watchdog. ‘ Failing to see off Mr Staley’s challenge could be extremely damaging for the FCA,’ said Tom Bushnell, an associate barrister at Hickman & Rose. ‘ It has had a torrid time of late, not least after an all‑party parliamentary group’s scathing review last November [2024], which branded it incompetent.’ The FCA prohibited Staley and levied a £1.8m fine in 2023 after concluding he had ‘recklessly’ approved a Barclays letter to the regulator containing two misleading claims about the nature of his relationship with Epstein, a convicted...

Balancing innovation, expansion and regulatory adherence is rarely straightforward. With supervisors intensifying their oversight and supervision of payment and e‑money firms, Arthur Cox stands ready to help you to ‘move fast and fix things’. Move Fast: A shifting paradigm Experience repeatedly shows that adopting a ‘move fast and break things’ mindset can carry hefty financial consequences. As Frei and Morriss (2023) note in Move Fast & Fix Things: The Trusted Leader’s Guide to Solving Hard Problems, the most effective leaders tackle problems at speed while taking responsibility for the outcomes and well-being of their customers, employees and shareholders; they move fast and fix things. As regulators strive to keep pace with relentless innovation across financial services and fintech, payment and e‑money firms should anticipate a more sophisticated and technologically advanced approach to regulatory supervision and scrutiny. To prepare, we have outlined some of the key shifts and...

Mergers The Commission approved the purchase of shared control of Yondr Group Limited by Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and Digitalized Group, Inc.......

Private equity drives 60% of insurance broking M& A Marsh Berry, an adviser on insurance mergers and acquisitions ( M& As), reported on 27 February 2025 that private equity or private equity-backed buyers accounted for 60% of 2024 transactions involving brokers and managing general agents. It added that this momentum is set to persist through 2025, as more US firms, in particular, pursue acquisition opportunities notably across the UK or European markets. With interest rates easing and capital markets steadying, the firm noted, conditions look increasingly favourable for heightened private equity activity and a material uplift in cross-border M& A activity overall......

Barclays Bank plc v VEB. RF [2024] EWHC 2981 ( Comm) What are the practical implications of this case? The ruling confirms, as earlier cases have said, that satisfaction of the statutory conditions in section 32(2) of the Arbitration Act is a fact‑specific enquiry to be answered by reference to the case’s own circumstances. This was an unusual example where those conditions were met; the court observed that only a small number of section 32 applications have ever succeeded. A decisive factor was the parties’ agreement that the dispute had to be resolved with exceptional urgency. In that context, speed was better served by the court, rather than the tribunal, determining the tribunal’s jurisdiction. Although on this occasion the court was prepared to exercise its supervisory role over the arbitration, the decision highlights its general reluctance to intervene and stresses that any section 32 bid must clear a...

On 27 February 2025, the SPP stated that the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes ( Conditions for Transfers) Regulations 2021, SI 2021/1237 are 'neither efficient nor in the consumers best interests, and therefore require action'. Since launch, the framework has drawn criticism because it obliges pension schemes to halt or pause transfers when they identify 'red flags' hinting that savers are being duped by scammers. According to the SPP, ' The current regulations deem too many incentives to be automatic red flags' as currently written......

R (on the applications of Sean Glaister and Mary Carr) v His Majesty’s Assistant Coroner for North Wales ( East and Central) [2025] EWHC 167 ( Admin) [ Case name and citation] What are the practical implications of this case? This decision will undoubtedly be cited as authoritative guidance on how a jury should express its conclusions in box 4 of the Record of Inquest when it finds that an unlawful killing has taken place. The judgment also delivers a detailed examination of the legal constituents of gross negligence manslaughter, proving useful to practitioners advising clients or appearing in court in matters involving this type of killing. Its reach is not confined to cases in which a coroner leaves unlawful killing to a jury; it also informs practitioners assessing, and judges directing, criminal trials on some of the more nuanced issues concerning the elements of the...

Ministry of Defence v Rubery [2024] EAT 165 What are the practical implications of this case? The EAT holds here that statutory limits on employment tribunals, which stop them from hearing certain discrimination claims by current members of the armed forces, do not infringe Convention rights. This ruling matters for practitioners advising serving personnel on avenues of redress for alleged discrimination by the services. Put plainly, those still in service cannot pursue a tribunal claim asserting that the statutory service complaints scheme itself is discriminatory. More broadly, the EAT skirts the question of the correct intensity of review for the human rights ground advanced, namely whether a rigorous proportionality analysis is required or a looser enquiry framed by whether the curb on tribunal access is manifestly without reasonable foundation. The EAT decides that, whichever standard is applied, the impugned restrictions are...

Fujifilm Corporation v Kodak Holding Gmb H and others, UPC_ CFI_355/2023 Case background Fujifilm Corporation has brought proceedings against a number of Kodak entities, alleging breaches of multiple European patents covering offset printing technology. Two suits were commenced in the UPC’s Mannheim Local Division, and a further action ( ACT_578607/2023; UPC_ CFI_355/2023) was lodged with the Düsseldorf Local Division concerning the purported infringement of EP3594009. In that latter matter, Kodak responded with a counterclaim seeking revocation. At the time, the European patent was effective in Germany and the UK, and all litigants were domiciled in Germany, a UPC contracting member state. Decision of the Düsseldorf Local Division Ruling on the dispute, the Düsseldorf Local Division held the European patent invalid under the European Patent Convention ( EPC), after refusing Fujifilm’s proposed amendments. It acknowledged it lacked competence to set aside the UK part of the...

FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi Speaking at an Association of British Insurers roundtable on 27 February 2025, FCA chief executive Nikhil Rathi confirmed from that date, firms could opt to have a Consumer Duty board champion rather than be obliged, reflecting proposals the regulator sent to government on 16 January 2024. ' From this morning, firms will be free to decide whether to appoint a Consumer Duty board champion,' he said. The role exists to ensure the Consumer Duty, which demands good outcomes for consumers, remains a standing item for discussion at board level. In its letter, the FCA indicated it would scrap the mandate now the Duty is live and in effect. Rathi added that, over the coming weeks, the FCA would turn to the other roughly 50 growth proposals set out in that correspondence. He......

Libya v Nurol Insaat Ve Ticaret Anonim, French Supreme Court, First Civil Chamber, 12 February 2025, No. 22-11.436 What are the practical implications of this case? The decision carries concrete consequences. It confirms the independence of the arbitration clause in the investment arbitration context. It further explains that the lawfulness of the investment is a matter for the merits, not a question of jurisdiction, and that lawfulness does not affect whether the BIT applies; instead, it governs access to the BIT’s substantive safeguards for the investment. In short, the core practical points are: The autonomy of the arbitration agreement in investment arbitration is upheld; Whether an investment is lawful concerns the merits rather than jurisdiction; Lawfulness does not determine the BIT’s applicability, but conditions the benefit of its substantive...

The firm stated that aggregate losses across the worldwide insurance sector could in all likelihood reach US$40bn. The statement leaves the firm among the most heavily exposed European insurers to the wildfires, which swept through the LA metropolitan area and parts of San Diego County during 7–31 January 2025......

The window for submissions to the Labour government’s consultation closed on 25 February 2025, and practitioners warn the reforms face an all-or-nothing outcome. Paul Joseph, a partner at Linklaters LLP, said he suspects the choice is either to retain the current position or to adopt the EU model; his take on the copyright consultation is that there appears to be sufficient momentum to follow the EU approach, though only time will reveal the result. Opening in December 2024, the consultation proposed an exception to data-mining rules for businesses training AI models for commercial use (see: LNB News 19/12/2024 6). It also moots giving creatives an opt-out from such training in an effort to balance their rights. In essence, the plan would broaden text and data-mining exceptions to align with the EU, which is working to implement a similar opt-out for copyright works after...

Lawyers warned firms to consider less discriminatory alternatives in light of a successful claim by Martin Scott that Walker Morris' refusal to allow him to stay on as a senior partner after he turned 63 was unlawful Raymond Silverstein, head of employment at Browne Jacobson LLP, said the judgment published on 20 February 2025 sends a clear message to law firms: if you intend to impose and enforce a retirement age of 60, you need more than a broad assertion of ‘succession planning’ — you must be ready with evidence and data. Commentators observed that compulsory retirement remains prevalent among City practices, notwithstanding legal reforms that have limited when it can lawfully be used. Unpublished survey findings from the Association of Professional Partnerships show the practice began to wane in 2011, the year the UK prohibited compulsory retirement, with around two-thirds of...

Trump stated on Truth Social that fentanyl and other drugs are still flowing into the country from Mexico and Canada at very high, unacceptable levels, noting that many of these narcotics are sourced from China. He argued that this scourge must not be allowed to keep harming the USA and, therefore, unless it stops, or is significantly reduced, the proposed tariffs scheduled for 4 March will, in fact, take effect as planned, he wrote on his social media platform. Trump also said reciprocal tariffs will take effect on 2 April......

Set out as a Q& A, the paper aims to guide medical device makers and healthcare professionals on how the EU AI Act’s obligations align with those in Regulation ( EU) 2017/745 (the Medical Devices Regulation) and Regulation ( EU) 2017/746 (the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation) (together, the Medical Device Regulations ( MDRs)). An initial draft, seen by MLex, will be discussed at a meeting of a specialist subgroup of the European AI Board—an EU forum of national authorities—on 3 March 2025, with a final text potentially put to the board for approval in June 2025. Under the EU AI Act, where an AI system forms a product or a safety component of a product that requires third-party conformity assessment under sectoral law, it is classified as ‘high-risk’ and must observe a notably strict due diligence framework. This guidance is a first move to...

The EBA has released its preliminary view in case G 1/24. The matter addresses how far the description and figures should be consulted when interpreting the claims for the purposes of assessing patentability. Although concise and not binding on the EBA itself, the preliminary view offers an early indication of the EBA’s thinking. Set out below are the three questions put to the EBA by the Board of Appeal in T 0439/22, together with remarks on the EBA’s preliminary view in respect of each question. Question 1— Is Article 69(1), second sentence EPC and Article 1 of the Protocol on the Interpretation of Article 69 EPC to be applied on the interpretation of patent claims when assessing the patentability of an invention under Articles 52 to 57 EPC? Question 1 asks whether the legal provisions used for interpreting claims when defining the scope of...

Ireland’s Women in Finance Charter Ireland’s Women in Finance Charter supports the Financial Services sector’s goal of boosting female representation across all tiers, spanning entry, mid and senior management, leadership and board positions within Financial Services organisations operating in Ireland. The Charter outlines firm principles that advance women’s progression, prompting organisations to establish and realise substantive gender diversity objectives. By committing to the Charter, we affirm our resolve to nurture workplaces that are more diverse, fair and inclusive for all alike......

What is emergency arbitration? Broadly speaking, urgent relief in arbitration is typically available only after the arbitral tribunal has been formed. This creates a window before constitution when a party may need urgent measures yet struggle to secure them in the arbitration itself—for instance, if the counterparty attempts to dissipate assets or transfer funds across borders prior to the tribunal being in place. In those scenarios, parties might conclude that their sole recourse is an application to a national court for such relief, where that route exists. For insight on the scope of interim and emergency remedies in courts at principal arbitration seats, see: AA 1996—interim and emergency measures—arbitration— England and Wales—overview. That said, parties to international construction contracts commonly adopt arbitration rules that include mechanisms for appointing emergency arbitrators before the tribunal is constituted to avoid this risk. The process is...

Marko Ventures Ltd v London Antiaging Clinic Ltd [2025] EWHC 340 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? It is settled law that, where an administration application is made concerning a planned pre-pack sale of a company’s business and assets, the applicant must conduct a robust marketing process that satisfies SIP 16 and place sufficient evidence of that compliance before the court. The rationale is that pre-pack transactions present a heightened risk of misuse and detriment to creditors, particularly where the intended buyer is a connected party (see Re Kayley Vending Ltd [2009] EWHC 904 ( Ch); Re Moss Groundworks Ltd [2019] EWHC 2825 ( Ch)). Historically, in reported decisions, the party seeking the administration order has been the company and/or its directors. Here, however, the application arose against the broader backdrop of a shareholders’ dispute: the company’s majority...