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.
Professionals may owe a duty of care even if they are not being paid for their advice or have a formal contract in place. A recent decision from the Technology and Construction Court in Burgess v Lejonvarn means that favours between friends could potentially invoke a duty of care if professional skills are being called upon.
Charlotte Newlyn in our Dispute Resolution team discusses this decision and considers the practical consequences for professionals who do informal favours for friends.
A firm was last month fined £1.3million after it was found to have made corrupt payments to officials of foreign governments.
The new data protection self assessment toolkit launched by the Information Commissioner’s Office (‘ICO’) is designed to help small and medium sized enterprises (‘SMEs’), which make up 99% of UK businesses, assess and improve their compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Cadbury welcomed last week’s ruling that the four-finger shape of the popular chocolate bar can’t be legally protected. The shape itself was not considered by the High Court distinctive enough to give the snack trademark status and for consumers to identify all such bars as KitKats.
You have no doubt been bombarded by a flurry of articles stating that employers have been given the right to snoop through the entirety of employees’ private messages, but how much of this is true?
Following the European Court of Justice decision in the case of Bogdan Bărbulescu on 12 January, Charlotte Newlyn in our Dispute Resolution team explores the truth behind the panic and whether there will be any changes at all.