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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 Sole traders, informal partnerships and outdated partnership deeds are common.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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In this issue: Sustainable finance and ESG round–up Spring Budget 2024 Banking and finance case round-up UK and international sanctions Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023 LIBOR and benchmarks Security Guarantees Sustainable finance Derivatives Regulation for derivatives lawyers Structured products and securitisation Restructuring Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Useful information Sustainable finance and ESG round–up Sustainable finance and ESG weekly round–up: for this week’s digest of developments, see Sustainable finance and ESG weekly round-up—7 March 2024. Spring Budget 2024—key Banking & Finance announcements On 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, outlined a series of steps of note for banking & finance lawyers. These include extending the Recovery Loan Scheme—now the Growth Guarantee Scheme—until the end of March 2026; consulting on the UK implementation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Cryptoasset Reporting Framework and changes to the Common Reporting Standard; and bringing...
In this issue: Spring Budget 2024 Probate Court of Protection UK taxes for Private Client HMRC Manuals updates Tax avoidance, evasion and non-compliance Digital assets and cryptoassets Charity and philanthropy Updated HMRC guidance: How the tax system operates for charities Contentious trusts and estates International Question of the week Additional Private Client updates this week 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 Spring Budget 2024 On Wednesday, 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, presented the government’s Spring Budget. For commentary on consultations and statements pertinent to Private Client practitioners, please see News Analyses: Spring Budget 2024— Private Client analysis and Video analysis— Spring Budget 2024: Key...
Chaim Saul Grosskopf v (1) Yechiel Grosskopf (2) Jacob Grosskopf (as trustees of the M. Grosskopf 1974 Settlement Trust) [2024] EWHC 291 ( Ch) What are the practical implications of this case? The judgment confirms that disagreements between beneficiaries and trustees over the running of the trust and the trustees’ behaviour—including whether they should be replaced—can, if the parties agree, be decided by arbitration. This will be appealing where there is a wish to keep the dispute and/or the trust arrangements confidential, given that court proceedings may not be private because of the presumption of public hearings in CPR 39.2(1) and (3). More broadly, the decision demonstrates that the English courts’ pro‑arbitration outlook extends to trust matters, which may foster increased use of arbitration where it is appropriate... What was the background? The claimant and the defendants are brothers and, together with others, are...
In this issue: Practice and procedure Tax International children Court of Protection Lex Talk®Family: a Lexis®Nexis community Daily and weekly news alerts New content New legislation Updated content Useful information Practice and procedure Family Procedure Rules 2010 Practice Direction update no. 1 of 2024 The first 2024 update to the Family Procedure Rules 2010 ( FPR 2010) Practice Directions has been formally published, revising a range of Practice Directions. The changes address mediation information and assessment meetings ( MIAMS), refreshed practical guidance on emailing the court, the replacement of Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Programmes ( DAPPs) with domestic abuse interventions as DAPPs are no longer delivered, and the extension of several pilot schemes under FPR 2010, PD 36G, FPR 2010, PD 36ZD, FPR 2010, PD 36Z and FPR 2010, PD 36ZA. See: LNB News 06/03/2024 108. HMCTS update on civil, family and tribunal reforms HM Courts and Tribunals Service ( HMCTS) has issued a blog setting out progress and next steps on...
State aid Court of Justice issues judgment regarding a national reference from Italy over financial burden on importers of green electricity The Court of Justice delivered its judgment in Case C-558/22 Fallimento Esperia and GSE, a reference from Italy seeking clarification on whether, amongst other matters, Articles 107 and 108 TFEU, in so far as they forbid putting into effect a State aid measure not notified to the Commission and incompatible with the internal market, bar national rules that place a financial charge on importers of green electricity which is not imposed on domestic producers of the same product, as part of that national reference from Italy. With respect to the State aid provisions, the Court determined that the Italian measure appears attributable to the Italian State, and that the benefits it provides appear to be granted indirectly through State...
In this issue: Spring Budget 2024 The Pensions Regulator Pensions taxation The Pension Protection Fund Investment Scheme governance Daily and weekly news alerts Dates for your diary Trackers Spring Budget 2024 Key pensions announcements and views from the market In the Spring Budget 2024, delivered on 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, outlined the government’s central objective: to stimulate growth by funnelling more capital into UK equity markets, improving the UK’s standing as a listing venue, and building on the Mansion House reforms announced in the Autumn Statement 2023. Key pensions measures include: expanding the regulatory remit of the Pensions Regulator ( TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority ( FCA) to enable the closure or winding-up of poorly performing defined contribution ( DC) schemes, aligned with the reformed Value for Money (...
Ali v (1) Reason (2) Nott CLCC ( Claim No J00CL858), 9 February 2024 Background This dispute sits within a wave of employment tribunal litigation by claimants described as holding 'gender critical' beliefs. In essence, proponents contend that biological sex is fixed and separate from gender identity, and that blurring these categories risks harm to women and undermines their rights. Since 2021, such beliefs have been recognised as a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010 ( Eq A 2010). Unlike many gender critical cases, this claim did not proceed under the Eq A’s employment provisions; instead, it relied on the distinct rules governing membership associations. Such actions are issued in the county court, rather than the employment tribunal. Accordingly, the county court is the proper venue for disputes of this kind. Crucially, though the Eq A 2010’s...
How well used have DPAs been by the prosecutors empowered to use them? Although the headline count of DPAs blessed by the courts may appear modest, it masks the significant time and resource required for investigators, prosecutors and corporates to probe, negotiate and finalise a DPA. Enquiries can span years and demand joint working to secure an outcome. Such matters often oblige all sides to collaborate closely throughout the process to reach a DPA. A corporate’s degree of co‑operation is a key factor in whether a court will ultimately approve the agreement. Taken together, concluded DPAs have involved the review of millions of documents, the analysis of thousands of terabytes of data, wide‑ranging remediation and collaboration by corporates, and interviews with dozens of individuals. Moreover, when the DPA regime was introduced, the impact statement tabled with the legislation introducing DPAs...
Spring Budget 2024—key private client announcements Tap the link to view the video: Spring Budget 2024—key private client announcements...
Alongside the items reported in depth in the Financial Services news feed on 6 March 2024, subscribers may wish to note these further developments of potential interest: Treasury Committee: Correspondence from Money and Pensions Service following oral evidence......
On Wednesday, 6 March 2024, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Jeremy Hunt, presented the government’s Spring Budget. In a year when a general election is anticipated, he repeatedly cast it as a programme for long-term growth, concluding with the line ‘growth up, jobs up and taxes down’. He also outlined tax measures aimed at making the system ‘simpler and fairer’. While scrapping some reliefs may streamline matters, the backdrop of the main and small profits corporation tax rates holding at 25% and 19%, personal allowances and income tax bands staying frozen (and expected to remain so for a few more years), and the annual exempt amount for capital gains tax being halved to £3,000 from 6 April 2024, makes it uncertain whether the electorate will experience the changes as fairer. Key announcements...
Digital markets Commission publishes its first annual report on the Digital Markets Act The Commission has issued its inaugural annual report to the Council and the European Parliament concerning the Digital Markets Act ( DMA). Under Article 35 of the DMA, the Commission must deliver a yearly account on how the DMA is being put into practice and the headway towards its aims and objectives. The document details its 2023 actions linked to the DMA, notably drafting and adopting the Implementing Regulation and the notification templates. Furthermore, on 5 September 2023, the Commission identified Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Byte Dance, Meta and Microsoft as gatekeepers across 22 core platform services, while adopting a decision not to designate Samsung as a gatekeeper for its web browser......
Informality in contracting Risks connected with informal contracting are mounting. Emerging indications show that emojis used in correspondence may present a fresh hazard for those negotiating contracts. Commercial parties will recognise the core components of a contract: offer acceptance consideration intention to create legal relations certainty of terms Each is needed to create a binding contract in England and Wales. Although clear, formal, fully negotiated and finalised legal documents remain the gold standard, contracts may still arise informally. They can come about through exchanges of correspondence, for instance, or by conduct developed over a course of business dealings. Recent international decisions (see below) highlight a further informality risk—namely, that emojis used in messages during contractual negotiations and routine business practice can evidence an intention to create legal relations and can amount to acceptance of an offer. Electronic signatures and the UK...
See Q& A: Who should apply for a grant in the estate of a deceased individual who has died intestate while living in the Philippines and leaving no spouse but two minor issue and leaving only limited UK assets (none in the Philippines) and where the deceased was a beneficiary of their late mother's estate? While the query states the deceased lived in the Philippines, the key point is whether they actually died domiciled there or instead in England & Wales......
On 6 March 2024, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt set out the government’s Spring Budget amid a weak economic outlook and Conservative polling behind Labour ahead of the forthcoming general election. He had to juggle the political urge to woo voters through personal tax cuts with the constraint of the OBR’s latest fiscal headroom. With income tax reductions viewed as too expensive, reliefs targeted at squeezed households focused on further cuts to employees’ and self‑employed National Insurance contributions, reform of the High Income Child Benefit Charge, and a lower higher rate of Capital Gains Tax on residential property disposals. For Private Client lawyers, the most unexpected move was the abolition of the non‑ UK domicile tax regime. In the months ahead, Private Client advisers will be busy guiding clients through the ramifications, and only time will show whether, under the proposed...
1 March 2024 Commission proposal to the Council of the EU A Commission proposal dated 1 March 2024 sets out a Council of the EU decision on the optimal route for member states to leave the Energy Charter Treaty while delivering their climate aims. It advises that, at an upcoming conference, parties endorse the treaty’s modernisation, and thereafter permit the EU and the aligned nuclear power market, Euratom, to withdraw. Endorsing this year the modernisation effort launched in November 2018 would, the decision states, align the Energy Charter Treaty with contemporary investment protection standards and with EU positions expressed in other fora. According to the text, the revised ECT includes fresh investment protection rules consistent with modern benchmarks and EU stances, and it reaffirms contracting parties’ right to adopt measures pursuing legitimate policy objectives, including in relation to the dispute against climate...
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC On 4 March 2024, Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC pledged to reinstate the legal position that applied before the Supreme Court’s July judgment in R (on the application of PACCAR Inc and others) v Competition Appeal Tribunal and others [2023] UKSC 28 ( PACCAR). That decision concluded that most litigation funding models were unenforceable as they amounted to prohibited damages-based agreements. In response, funders and claimants crafted new arrangements with alternative fee structures, while defendants have argued that any litigation funding contract is void where the funder’s return is confined to the damages recovered. Major corporates, including Sony and Apple, have mounted challenges asserting that even the revised structures are unlawful, with those cases due to be heard by the Court of Appeal. Richard Pike, a Partner at Fieldfisher LLP, noted that, if and when the...
Sheffield City Council v EE (by her Litigation Friend, the Official Solicitor) [2024] EWCOP 5 What are the practical implications of the case? This ruling has tangible consequences not only for practitioners in Court of Protection work and the Mental Capacity Act 2005 ( MCA 2005), but also for a wider cohort active in this area, including clinical psychologists and psychiatrists, care workers, attorneys under a Lasting Power of Attorney, and those who support or care for adults who may lack capacity; see the groups listed in the Introduction to the MCA 2005 Code of Practice. At a specific level, the court identified the factors relevant to judging capacity to decide about contraception, including whether EE needed to grasp potential risks to herself or to the baby. At a broader level, the case reiterates that capacity is...
The consumer groups claim that Meta, parent company of Facebook, violated the EU's General Data Protection Regulation ( GDPR) by creating a smokescreen to obscure its data harvesting. Groups within BEUC (the European Consumer Organisation) — which represents 45 independent consumer groups across 31 countries — have submitted complaints to their national data protection authorities. A ‘consent-or-pay’ paywall enables internet users to access a website free of charge if they consent to the use of cookies — blocks of data generated by a web server. Users who refuse consent can visit the site only if they pay......
Donkor- Baah v University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Trust and others [2024] EAT 23 What are the practical implications of this case? This ruling is noteworthy as it clarifies the reach of the right to equal treatment in regulation 5 of the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 ( AWR 2010). This judgment is of interest because it addresses how far that entitlement extends. It explains that, once the right arises, parity under reg 5 on terms and conditions concerning pay and working time, equivalent to a direct hire, exists only for the span of an assignment, when the agency worker is actually engaged by the hirer. The right does not extend to a wider guarantee against being treated less favourably than the hirer’s employees or workers in the periods between assignments. In light of this, practitioners should pay very close attention to what amounts to an agency...
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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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