Legal Practice Notes

Organisational change is demanding, yet law firms that stand still risk falling behind a rapidly shifting world. Leading change well in the workplace can re-energise teams and lift creativity and productivity. This Practice Note sets out Kotter’s eight-step change management approach and how firms can use it. It addresses securing buy-in, why people respond differently to change, what to do when change falters, and how to mark successes... Kotter’s eight-step change process and how to use it There are many theories for implementing change in an organisation, but the most widely recognised and frequently cited is John Kotter’s eight-stage model. These stages provide a logical route for embedding change and engaging employees. Practice Notes: Continuous improvement—law firms—step 5—embed the process—making changes firm-wide and Continuous improvement—law firms—step 5—embed the process—anticipating the response to major change explore this further; below are practical pointers for each...

This Practice Note outlines why influence matters, a core leadership capability, and why effective communication is essential. Leaders must shape others without crossing into manipulation, which is usually recognised swiftly and resented. Leadership is not solitary; clear, accessible messages that everyone can grasp are vital. Communication is reciprocal, and strong channels across the firm are necessary. Attentive listening and acting on suitable feedback are also fundamental to strong leadership... How to influence others without being manipulative When considering how to sway colleagues, leaders often fixate on the wording, for example: what exactly should I say? how best to phrase this email? what should the intranet post convey? In truth, a leader’s behaviour carries far greater weight than any words could......

Financial terms defined • Bond : This is a form of debt security, meaning a document that establishes a borrowing obligation under debt. For the entity issuing it, a bond serves as an alternative to borrowing money by means of a loan facility. In pension schemes, bonds have typically represented the second-largest slice of assets by asset class, sitting behind shares over time. Types include corporate bonds, which are issued by companies, and gilts, which are issued by the government respectively. Please note the following: In essence, bonds carry both a capital value and an income value component. The capital value reflects the bond’s price at market value or on redemption (that is to say, repayment). The income element is the coupon, that is, the interest rate. Put another way, bond prices move inversely to interest rates: when rates rise, values fall; when rates drop,...

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note is archived and not maintained On 15 January 2016 it was announced that, from 1 June 2016, the London Court of International Arbitration ( LCIA) would meet the needs of users of the LCIA India Rules from its London office. Consequently, arbitration and mediation under the LCIA India Rules will no longer be available. The LCIA will continue to support all ongoing matters, and from 1 June 2016 those cases will be administered in London. Likewise, fresh referrals under the LCIA India Rules arising from existing contracts and arbitration or mediation clauses will be handled in London. Owing to these changes, referrals based on agreements concluded after 1 June 2016 that include clauses naming LCIA India will not be taken on for administration, and the LCIA India Rules will be revised accordingly. The LCIA would be prepared to...

Arbitration clauses Arbitration clauses stipulate that disputes are resolved by a designated arbitral tribunal appointed for the purpose, and may feature in both domestic and cross‑border matters. Arbitration may proceed on an ad hoc footing—following a chosen set of rules, for example the London Maritime Arbitrators Association ( LMAA) Terms, and/or the applicable national arbitration statute—or be administered by an arbitral institution, ordinarily in accordance with that institution’s own procedural rules. A broad range of institutional rulebooks is available for incorporation into arbitration agreements; prominent options include, in particular, the International Chamber of Commerce’s ICC Rules and the London Court of International Arbitration’s LCIA Rules. By way of illustration, this Practice Note, applying the law of England and Wales, considers the LCIA’s recommended arbitration clause for future disputes arising, while noting that the points raised may equally bear on other...

Procedure for appointment of the Arbitral Tribunal The process for constituting the Arbitral Tribunal starts once the LCAM Board has the Respondent’s Answer and, where necessary, any additional information it has requested under Article 5. Under Article 13.2 of the LCAM Rules, the parties are free to agree any method for appointing the Arbitral Tribunal. If, however, the parties fail to agree the number of arbitrator(s) or who they should be within the deadline they have set, the LCAM Rules provide for the appointment of an arbitrator, as described below. Every appointment in LCAM arbitrations, whether made by the parties or by the LCAM Board, requires the LCAM Board’s confirmation ( Article 13.1) once the arbitrator’s statement of impartiality has been received. That confirmation is at the LCAM Board’s absolute discretion, and the parties cannot contract out of this...

Under Articles 9.1 and 10, the LCAM Board may decide that LCAM plainly has no jurisdiction over the dispute and, accordingly, may dismiss the case, in full or in part, as appropriate. Article 19.3 of the LCAM Rules likewise affirms that an arbitral tribunal can determine its own jurisdiction. Accordingly, a party may invite the LCAM Board to dispose of the matter on jurisdictional grounds, thereby avoiding the time and expense of constituting an Arbitral Tribunal at that stage. However, the Board will exercise this authority to decide any alleged ‘manifest lack of jurisdiction’ only before the case is referred to the Arbitral Tribunal under Article 18, and not after that procedural step. Once referral occurs, it is anticipated that all questions of jurisdiction should be addressed by the Arbitral Tribunal rather than by the Board. While it might seem more...

Background Several arbitral bodies, including UNCITRAL, have in recent years introduced expedited or fast‑track regimes aimed at lower‑value claims and at parties seeking to avoid a protracted arbitration process. Ordinarily, such frameworks compress the timetable, with a final award expected to be issued within three or six months of commencement. For a general discussion of Expedited Rules, refer to Practice Note: Expedited (aka fast‑track) arbitration. This note reviews LCAM’s Expedited Arbitration Rules (the Expedited Rules), which have been in force since 1 September 2022; see also Practice Note: LCIA (2020)—guidance on creation of a fast‑track procedure. Under Article 1.2 of the Expedited Rules, the scheme comprises a complete, self‑contained, documents‑only route for the resolution of disputes through arbitration before a sole arbitrator appointed by LCAM. The LCAM‑administered process under the Rules is designed to be...

Consolidation and Joinder The LCAM Rules adopt a more restrained (and plain) position on joinder and consolidation, by comparison with the wider powers afforded under some of the other arbitral institutions’ rules elsewhere. Under Consolidation Article 11.1, where two or more arbitrations are initiated that relate to a legal relationship binding the same parties, the LCAM Board may, upon a party’s application, resolve to merge those arbitrations. Any such determination is contingent on prior consultation with the parties and the Arbitral Tribunal(s), if already constituted therein......

Context The London Chamber of Arbitration and Mediation ( LCAM) has partnered with Immunefi, a blockchain security platform, to develop the LCAM Blockchain Expedited Arbitration Rules (the ' Rules'), a bespoke arbitration framework designed for actors in the security vulnerability market. Immunefi is an online hub linking blockchain projects with security researchers, offering tooling to run security testing and to report the weaknesses they uncover, helping to prevent hacks. When these researchers — often called 'whitehat hackers' — find qualifying on-chain vulnerabilities, they can seek a reward known as a 'bug bounty', with advertised sums reaching multimillion-dollar levels. In this setting, bug bounty disputes emerge where a blockchain project and a security researcher fall out over the security work performed on the project. Such disagreements may manifest in several ways, including arguments about whether the reported vulnerability exists at all, debates over its alleged...

Costs of the Arbitration Under the LCAM Rules, the “ Costs of the Arbitration” comprise three elements: the fees of the Arbitral Tribunal the Administrative Fee (which includes the Registration Fee) the expenses of the Arbitral Tribunal and LCAM ( Article 44.1) The amounts for each are detailed in the Schedule of Costs at Appendix II. Registration Fee LCAM’s Registration Fee is £1,500, as set out in Appendix II, Article 1 of the Rules. This fee is applied as a credit towards the Advance on Costs payable by the Claimant under Article 46. If the Registration Fee is not paid when the Request for Arbitration is filed, the Secretariat will specify a deadline for payment. If it remains unpaid after that period, the Secretariat will dismiss the Request for Arbitration. Where the Registration Fee has not cleared, the arbitration will not be treated as...

Awards Article 36 outlines the rules governing the power to issue awards and determinations, setting the general framework for decisions generally. Decision making Where the Arbitral Tribunal consists of a panel of three or more arbitrators, its awards or other determinations are to be decided by a majority of the Tribunal ( Article 36.1). Under Article 36.2, the Arbitral Tribunal may resolve to authorise the Chairperson to make procedural rulings alone. Any such arrangement ought to be notified to the parties, commonly by way of a procedural order......

FORTHCOMING CHANGE : The Scottish government has begun a review of LBTT, starting in spring 2025. Land and buildings transaction tax ( LBTT) superseded stamp duty land tax ( SDLT) in Scotland from 1 April 2015. This Practice Note offers a primer on LBTT. Three other Practice Notes explore specific elements in more detail, namely: Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax ( LBTT)—chargeable consideration and LBTT rates Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax ( LBTT)—particular transactions and taxpayers Scotland: Land and buildings transaction tax ( LBTT)—administration and compliance Collectively, these Practice Notes cover chargeable consideration and LBTT rates, examine particular transactions and taxpayers, and set out administration and compliance matters in detail than this introductory overview provides. Background to LBTT The Scotland Act 1998 ( SA 1988) established the Scottish Executive (now the Scottish government) and the Scottish Parliament. SA 1998 conferred limited income tax...

This handbook helps organisations to more effectively grasp, quantify, and cut contract-related emissions, particularly from agreements with significant emissions. These sustainability provisions were developed by......

This Practice Note outlines the principal distinctions between standard bonds and sukuk, or trust certificates as they are otherwise known, (the Sukuk). It also provides an overview of the principal Sukuk structures and offers commentary on recent trends observed across the Sukuk market. This Practice Note should be read alongside Practice Note: Sukuk documentation and transaction mechanics. What are Sukuk? Sukuk are Shari’ah-compliant certificates, defined by the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions ( AAOIFI) as evidencing undivided interests in ownership of tangible assets, usufruct and services, or in the assets of specified projects or particular investment activities. The word ‘ Sukuk’ is Arabic and broadly translates as ‘instruments’ or ‘certificates’. Sukuk are frequently described as Islamic bonds and, in general terms, operate as the fixed-income counterpart of a conventional bond or note instrument. Sukuk follow...

Business plans vs business cases Most people know about business plans, even if they have never drafted one. Organisations usually produce them for a clear objective: to show external audiences—such as banks, venture capitalists and private equity firms—why they should commit funds or other backing. These documents often follow a familiar structure, typically covering: the organisation’s aims an overview of competitors a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats ( SWOT) review projected finances Although the phrases ‘business plan’ and ‘business case’ are frequently muddled, they are not the same. Both are created to seek some form of investment and to explain how that investment will be deployed and delivered. Yet they differ in these respects: Business plans – Usually outward-facing documents prepared for independent third parties, for example outside investors or lenders. Business cases – Typically materials presented inside the organisation, for instance a product development team might produce a business case to...

This Practice Note is a practical ‘how to’ guide on managing consumer complaints. It is a clear and commercially focused document that sets out the processes, systems, policies and procedures organisations should have in place, from first contact with a consumer, right through escalation, to the subsequent PR handling and management of adverse publicity. Consumers are a sub-set of all customers. This Practice Note concentrates on specific individuals acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession. Where this note expressly refers to customers, it means customers in their consumer capacity. Where appropriate, this Practice Note signposts readers to additional detailed content on relevant consumer law and related practice, where necessary. Why is good customer service necessary? It is vital that customers have a positive experience with the trader so they return again and again. Customer service...

What is a trading subsidiary? A trading subsidiary is a company owned and controlled by a charity, or occasionally by several charities, set up to carry on trade or business that: the charity cannot itself pursue because of its constitution or concerns about commercial risk and potential liabilities; and/or the charity cannot undertake in a tax‑efficient fashion. Such companies are typically established to generate income for the charity or charities, as they are not subject to the same constraints on trading that apply to charities. A trading subsidiary can be used to: undertake non‑primary purpose trading beyond the small‑scale exemption limits (see the Tax treatment of the charity guidance note) safeguard a charity’s assets from trading risks If the subsidiary company transfers all or part of its profits to the charity (rather than paying a dividend) it will not be charged tax on those...

Timing This phase follows the Signing and completion phase in loan transactions. It is intended to be brief, with post-completion tasks finalised promptly, though it can frequently run on longer than anticipated. What happens during this phase? A range of actions may be needed after completion of a loan transaction, some are legal in character and others administrative. Secured transactions After executing the security documents, additional measures are often required to ‘perfect’ the security. Perfection is the process that makes the security enforceable against specified third parties (though not invariably every third party) (see Practice Note: Perfecting security— Why is it necessary to perfect security?). Perfection may be obtained by several methods, and the appropriate approach for a given security interest will depend on: the type of entity......

What is a credit derivative? A credit derivative is a two-party contract whose value is tied to the credit risk of a third party, called the 'reference entity'. That reference entity issues 'reference obligations', being its particular underlying liabilities, both direct and indirect (for example, those without guarantees). The key objective of a credit derivative is to ring-fence the reference entity’s credit risk from its other exposures. The reference entity may be a company, a sovereign, a municipality or a comparable organisation, and it need neither participate in, nor even know about, the deal. This preserves confidentiality for the counterparties to the credit derivative, as the reference entity could be a client of one of them, and that party may prefer the client not to be aware of the credit derivative. In its most basic guise, a credit derivative is traded over the...