Articles by ‘John North’

Prime Minister Theresa May has confirmed the UK Government’s intention to trigger the formal EU withdrawal process before the end of March 2017. May has also announced that all EU laws will initially become part of UK law, under a ‘Great Repeal Bill’ to be introduced in the next Queen’s Speech in April/May 2017.

The future changes to the overall legal landscape and the commercial environment as a result of Brexit could affect the substantive contractual obligations and commercial bargain between parties. Here are our recommendations to help you prepare for and manage the impact of Brexit on existing and new contracts.

The UK is home to over 1 million SMEs and our economy is undoubtedly reliant on the collective revenue that our local businesses generate. With reports showing that SMEs across the UK wrote off nearly £5.8bn worth of debts in the financial year 2015/2016, the equivalent of £21,000 per day, is it safe to assume that these were all irrecoverable or could more be done to improve credit control and cash flow for our SMEs?

Charlotte Newlyn discusses the reasons motivating such a staggering write off and the options available to creditors looking to recover monies owed to them which they may otherwise feel they have no choice but to give up on.

A six-week national tour – which aims to inspire thousands of entrepreneurs around the country – got underway last month. The Startup Britain bus, which will stop off in around 30 towns and cities,…

Whilst the precise impact of a Brexit remains unclear and is debatable, many international businesses think that it would be a step in the wrong direction at the wrong time, when the EU should on the contrary be strengthening itself to face up to global competition. Certainly, in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the European financial markets could do with a strong union as opposed to a weakened one.

A recent survey has confirmed the growing activity around mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in the UK.

With the courts overloaded with claims, applications and appeals, could smaller disputes be about to make the jump to the worldwide web?

Charlotte Newlyn investigates how, a decade since Lord Woolf highlighted the potential of IT use within our justice system, we may be on the cusp of utilising this resource.

Unsurprisingly, the long legal battle between the American fast-food giant McDonald and Irish owned Supermac’s is not over.

A leading crane hire company has been heavily fined in connection with an incident which saw a crane collapse in central London, causing the death of two men.

Companies have been warned that they could be saddled with substantial fines for failing to abide by new data protection laws.

Numerous changes to court costs, rules and procedure already have or are due to come into effect in the next few weeks.

Background to the Act

On 25 January 2016, the draft Register of People with Significant Control Regulations 2016 (“the PSC Regulations”) were published and laid before Parliament for approval. The majority of the PSC Regulations will come into force on 6 April 2016. As a consequence there is now to be a requirement for most companies (including LLPs) to maintain a register of those persons who exercise significant influence or control over the company (“PSC Register”). PSC Registers may potentially record shadow and de facto directors publicly for the first time together with what will be, in effect, a register of beneficial owners and which the Government says is part of its initiative to increase trust and transparency in business.