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Lucasfilm did not benefit in any way at Tyburn Film Productions Ltd's expense, counsel said to the appeals court there on 3 December 2025, in part because it already possessed rights over Cushing's likeness and an agreement and consent from the Cushing estate to 'resurrect' him as Grand Moff Tarkin. Tyburn contends it earlier made an agreement with the late actor then, at the time, granting the company a veto over any use of his image prior to his 1994 death. That contract concerns a TV series titled 'Heritage of Horror', which never aired. Tyburn further asserts the deal permits it to effectively 'resurrect' Cushing using stand-ins and CGI to ultimately finish the programme then if the actor were to die whilst filming remained in progress...
Irish telecom operator Eircom’s damages lawsuit against BT Group over a public-sector contract must be carefully managed to trial to deal with confidentiality issues and other matters, a UK judge told the parties today. At the High Court in London today, a judge said Eircom’s damages action against BT over a public-sector contract needs tight case management through to trial to address confidentiality and related concerns. Eircom brought the claim after Ofcom in 2020 penalised BT for its behaviour during a tender. Speaking to both sides, Judge Adam Johnson urged them to resolve any confidentiality flashpoints themselves and signalled he had no wish to step in unless it became unavoidable. He also expressed confidence that parties would do everything possible to keep confidential designations to a minimum, noting this was necessary to maintain control over the conduct of the trial. He framed this as the
The following document is attached: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/274 dated 5 February 2026, revising Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/1981, establishing a final anti-dumping levy on imports of ceramic tableware and kitchenware produced in...
Justice Richard Arnold granted AstraZeneca leave to appeal and permitted lorries carrying about 175,000 packs of Glenmark’s generics to move on to wholesalers, provided they did not reach pharmacy shelves while the case continued at any point during those interim proceedings. In this way, Glenmark could keep its first-to-market advantage, while causing only minimal detriment to AstraZeneca should the Court of Appeal later be persuaded to issue an injunction against supply. The judge said this approach maintained the status quo with the least possible prejudice to Glenmark’s position overall. The hearing was arranged at short notice, just days after the High Court refused AstraZeneca an injunction to block the diabetes generic from sale while the court considered whether the patents supporting the branded medicine were valid in law. Glenmark, Generics (UK) Ltd and Teva Pharmaceuticals have each begun proceedings in the UK to set...
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In this issue: Personal insolvency Restructuring Insolvency litigation Directors and insolvency Corporate insolvency processes R& I in Scotland Daily and weekly news alerts New content Personal insolvency Application to stay bankruptcy (possession and sale of home)—key principles ( Tyshchenko v Hyde) The court partly upheld an appeal but, on grounds different from those below, refused an application to stay bankruptcy proceedings concerning possession and sale of the family home. The appeal court considered the jurisdiction to grant a stay, setting out the governing principles, drawing contrasts with other statutory powers, and applying them to this uncommon situation (where no appeal against the bankruptcy order was pending). Although its draft judgment indicated a limited stay might be appropriate, following receipt of fresh evidence the court ultimately dismissed the application. The decision offers a clear...
In this issue: Probate Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Pensions, insurance and tax‑efficient investments Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates Daily and weekly news alerts Lex Talk®Private Client: a Lexis®PSL community New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Latest Q& As Useful information Probate HMCTS Probate helpline hours update An HMCTS notice on 3 May 2024 confirmed the temporary change made in February to the probate helpline—now 9am to 1pm, Monday to Friday—will remain in place until further notice, subject to review every six weeks. Professional users may still contact the service by webchat from 9am to 5pm on weekdays and track ongoing applications through My HMCTS. For guidance on probate applications, see: Application for probate and letters of administration—overview. HM Land Registry updates Practice Guide 6 HM Land Registry has revised Practice Guide 6— Devolution on the death of a registered proprietor. Section 8 has been updated to...
In this issue: Practice and Procedure Public children Private children Financial provision Lex Talk®Family: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts Updated content New Q& As Useful information Practice and Procedure Mo J announces rule change on how Court Funds Office holds dormant money The Ministry of Justice ( Mo J) has introduced a change to the rules on how the Court Funds Office ( CFO) retains Unclaimed Court Money held for 30 years or longer. The Mo J is urging those entitled to claim before 1 June 2024, when all dormant CFO accounts will be surrendered and any future right to recover funds will be lost. See: LNB News 07/05/2024 60. Law Society publishes interim report on 21st Century Justice Project The Law Society has issued an interim report updating its 21st Century Justice Project. It...
Legal and regulatory developments At present, non-financial misconduct is still not explicitly referenced in the fitness and propriety assessment for those holding a Senior Management Function ( SMF) or a Certification Function ( CF), nor within the broader conduct rules applied more widely to staff and employees across firms. Nonetheless, the FCA has pursued non-financial misconduct cases, despite criticism arising from its action against John Frensham. Heard by the Upper Tribunal in 2024, that case created a benchmark for fitness and propriety assessments, confirming there must be a meaningful link or nexus between the misconduct and the individual’s role in financial services. The FCA’s September 2023 consultation proposed expressly bringing non-financial misconduct into the regulatory framework. In particular: bullying in the workplace is pertinent and relevant to fitness and propriety, and comparable conduct in a person’s private life is also...
On 3 May 2024, the Big Four accountancy powerhouse reported that, on average, more than 5,000 DB pension schemes across Britain now hold enough assets to buy out their liabilities with insurance companies. According to John Dunn, Pw C UK’s head of pensions funding and transformation, ongoing and rising surplus levels leave scheme sponsors with the option to pause contributions. He said that if a scheme already has sufficient funds to meet its long-term objectives, adding more cash could create issues later on—for example, deciding how any excess surplus should be used, or overcoming obstacles to returning it to the sponsor after a tax charge......
The EBA publishes final draft technical standards under the Markets in Crypto- Assets Regulation The EBA has released three packages of final draft regulatory technical standards ( RTS) and one set of final draft ITS concerning authorisation to act as issuer of ARTs, the information required for the assessment of acquisitions of qualifying holdings in ART issuers, and the procedure for the approval of white papers for ARTs issued by credit institutions under Mi CAR. These standards are pivotal in governing access to the EU market for prospective ART issuers and for persons intending to exercise significant influence over such undertakings through the acquisition of qualifying holdings. The RTS on authorisation set out the information that must be included with an application to offer an ART to the public or to seek admission of an ART to trading, thereby enabling the competent...
As the acquisition progresses, Deloitte UK partner and head of Reg Tech, Kent Mackenzie, will join Corlytics as its chief operating officer. ‘ The Corlytics business and this Deloitte UK Reg Tech platform fit remarkably well, and together can provide a truly distinctive, end-to-end platform for the market,’ he said in a statement. ‘ This is a gamechanger for our clients and the industry. Working as one, we can thoroughly tackle the most critical challenges clients are desperate to resolve, and enhance the value and intelligence applied to regulatory content and management.’ The name of the Deloitte UK Reg Tech platform has not been revealed. ‘ Having built......
The European Banking Authority ( EBA) relies on a database to circulate intelligence to domestic supervisors about grave AML and counter-terrorist financing failings at institutions such as banks and life insurers, together with the regulatory measures taken by authorities and steps pursued. The watchdog obliges regulators to file significant findings straight away in the European reporting system for material CFT/ AML weaknesses ( Eur Re CA). On 2 May 2024, the EBA said that, from May 2024, supervisors could enter in the database named individuals associated with serious AML-related deficiencies, whether they are customers, beneficial owners, or senior managers of financial firms and institutions. As the EBA explained, if a serious deficiency or a measure is tied to a national person, for example a customer or a beneficial owner, supervisors will be able to submit this information to Eu Re CA. A natural person is an...
One of the clinic’s visitors was a tenant on the brink of being evicted from his supported housing. Within minutes, the AI systems digested and distilled the hundreds of pages he’d brought along — a workload no person could have tackled so swiftly. By the close of the appointment, he left with a set of referrals and a clear plan for what to do next. ‘ It’s quite extraordinary. Fifteen or 20 minutes to research, draft referrals and next steps, and cover every client question isn’t much time. It’s rapid-fire,’ said Nikki Endsley, a solicitor with the non-profit Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, who co-runs the clinic, speaking to Law360. ‘ The speed with which AI can accelerate our work, boost efficiency and, as a result, make us stronger advocates is genuinely...
Mergers The CMA put in place an IEO over the completed acquisition by GXO Logistics, Inc. ...
What are the practical implications of this case? The Supreme Court’s ruling deserves approval, as it clarifies that the whiplash reforms leave PSLA awards for non‑whiplash harm untouched in mixed injury claims. That element of the judgment aligns with the plain text and underlying purpose of the reforms, namely to curtail compensation for whiplash alone. Yet the two‑stage methodology ultimately endorsed by the Court is liable to generate significant practical difficulties. It obliges judges to trim the overall PSLA to reflect any overlap between common law damages for the non‑whiplash injury and the statutory tariff for the whiplash injury. The tribunal must attempt this balancing act in the dark, because, as the Court appeared to accept, there is no means of identifying what slice of the tariff corresponds to the overlapping component of PSLA. The sole steer supplied by the Court is that this slice is...
See Q& A: A Will contains an appointment of the partners of a specified firm of solicitors, or members if it is a limited liability partnership, as executors, but that firm ceased trading prior to the death of the testator. How are replacement personal representatives appointed? Where a Will names the partners of a particular firm of solicitors, or the members of a limited liability partnership, to act as executors, it often also contains wording to deal with changes to that practice. Commonly, the clause provides that the appointment shall apply equally to the partners or members of any practice that succeeds to, and continues, the specified firm's business at the time of the testator's death, and may extend to the directors where a company has taken over the practice. Accordingly, if the Will includes this form of provision and, at the date of death, there is in...
Proposed rules The draft regulations span multiple disclosure measures for dealings with foreign trusts, encompassing IRC reporting duties and related IRC penalties for non-compliance. They also tackle IRC section 6039F—mandating that individuals declare substantial foreign gifts—partly through a proposed anti-avoidance provision. Broadly, the section 6039F proposals fold in guidance the Treasury first issued in a 1997 notice. According to the preamble, the package further supplies fresh direction to reflect later statutory changes and to confront specific abuses identified by the IRS. Among these additions is an anti-avoidance rule empowering the IRS to recharacterise supposed loans and other transfers from foreign trusts as gifts where it finds a transfer ‘is in substance’ a gift, the Treasury noted in the preamble. The department also stated the IRS has become aware of US......
A review was set in motion by a 2019 ruling of the UK Supreme Court, which urged a rethink of access to court papers so the public can better grasp how the justice system operates. The Civil Procedure Rule Committee has proposed revising the rules to permit a non-party to obtain skeleton arguments, witness statements and expert reports without seeking the court’s leave. According to Elaina Bailes, a member of the London Solicitors Litigation Association and a partner at Stewarts Law LLP, the overarching aim of streamlining the framework and enhancing public understanding of the workings of the justice system enjoys wide backing across the legal profession. Yet, Bailes noted, the chief point of contention is the perception that the measures go too far. A consultation, which closed in April 2024, stemmed from the same 2019 Supreme Court judgment, calling for...
State aid General Court annuls Commission’s decision to approve restructuring aid for the charter airline Condor The General Court has delivered its judgment in Case T-28/22, Ryanair v Commission ( Condor; aide à la restructuration), challenging the Commission’s decision of 26 July 2021 that approved restructuring aid of €321m provided by Germany to the charter airline Condor ( SA.63203) (the Commission’s 2021 decision). The General Court annulled the Commission’s 2021 decision. By way of context, the measure — effected through the write-off of loans granted during the COVID pandemic — sought to underpin Condor’s restructuring and the continuation of its operations, tackling the difficulties arising after the insolvency of its former parent, Thomas Cook. The Commission had authorised that aid under Article 107(3)(a) TFEU and the Guidelines on State aid for rescuing and restructuring non-financial undertakings in difficulty. The General Court...
Foulkes v Revenue and Customs Commissioners [2024] UKFTT 322 ( TC) What are the practical implications of this case? Grasping the significance of this ruling will support practitioners in guiding clients on the tightly defined regime in FA 2004 concerning which payments registered pension schemes are permitted to make and the ramifications of any unauthorised payments. The purpose of the framework is to ensure that tax reliefs and exemptions on contributions to a registered pension scheme apply only where the scheme genuinely provides for members’ retirement benefits. The sole payments a registered pension scheme may make to an individual who is, or has been, a member are those set out in FA 2004, s 164. If an unauthorised member payment is made, FA 2004, s 208 imposes an income tax charge at 40% on the recipient, referred to as the...
Afan Valley Ltd (in administration) v Lupton Fawcett (a firm) [2024] EWHC 909 ( KB) What are the practical implications of this case? Where a professional negligence action is contemplated, advisers evaluating loss must examine the claimant’s actual factual position with rigour. That assessment must reflect the circumstances as they truly are, rather than how they might ideally be presented. In relation to a strike out on factual causation, when that question is disputed, it will ordinarily call for a trial so the evidence can be tested before the court determines that factual causation is not made out. Summary disposal will rarely be suitable where competing factual narratives persist. As for ex turpi causa, advisers should continue to consider whether applying the doctrine would run counter to the underlying objective of the prohibition that has been breached. What was the...
Lufthansa has tabled an updated proposal altering its ITA takeover, aiming to secure EU clearance for the transaction, MLex has learnt. The Commission is now expected to push back its decision deadline to 4 July 2024. MLex understands that the proposal was lodged on 6 May 2024. No additional information has been disclosed publicly so far......
Rebecca Hilsenrath, interim ombudsman at the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman ( PHSO), urged MPs to hold the government to account. In its report published in March 2024, the PHSO found the Department for Work and Pensions ( DWP) failed to adequately inform the public about legislative changes to the women’s state pension age, leaving many female retirees worse off financially. The ombudsman recommended the department pay compensation of between £1,000 and £2,950 to each person affected. Campaign groups say around 3.9 million women have been affected by these legislative changes to the state pension age......
Treasury Committee report Following an inquiry into the obstacles SMEs face in obtaining finance, the influential Treasury Committee urged the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) to require banks to disclose, publicly, every quarter, how many business accounts they have shut and the reasons for doing so. This would oblige financial institutions to be clearer about why SMEs are being “de-banked” — the closing of accounts held by organisations or individuals deemed to present a financial, legal, regulatory, or reputational risk to the lender. Harriett Baldwin, the committee’s chair, said there is no escaping the reality that smaller firms have endured a torrid spell over recent years. Senior MPs also rejected proposals from the Prudential Regulation Authority to strip out SME-supportive elements from the new Basel 3.1 regime, warning it could leave British small businesses at a disadvantage compared with European and American rivals. Basel 3.1...
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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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