DAC Beachcroft

This Practice Note provides a summary of UK law as it applies to the use of deepfakes. A deepfake is a form of synthetic media in which existing media such as a video clip and a series of photographs are combined together using artificial intelligence to create a realistic but fake video. The Practice Note covers: what a deepfake is, how deepfakes work, harmful uses and applications of deepfakes, such as for entertainment, parody and political satire and healthcare. It also looks at the application of UK law to deepfakes, what social media platforms and search engines are doing to counter the issues created by deepfakes and future technological controls including problem areas concerning technological and legislative or common law controls.

This Practice Note considers the termination provisions in the JCT contracts. It looks at termination by the Employer, termination by the Contractor and situations in which either party may terminate, along with the consequences of termination under the JCT contracts.

This Practice Note considers the termination provisions in the NEC contracts. It looks at termination by the Client, termination by the Contractor and situations in which either party may terminate, along with the consequences of termination. It covers both the NEC3 and NEC4 contracts.

This Practice Note examines termination of a construction contract (or termination of a contractor’s employment under it). It provides guidance on termination at common law for repudiatory breach (repudiation), including affirmation, anticipatory breach and the consequences of common law termination, termination for breach pursuant to a contractual provision and termination at will (also known as termination for convenience). It also looks at the effect of termination on liquidated damages.

This Practice Note examines what the consequences of a party becoming insolvent are, under the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986), the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Act 2020 (CIGA 2020), and under the most widely used standard form construction contracts. The JCT and NEC contracts both contain detailed provisions setting out what constitutes insolvency for the purposes of the contract and what the rights of the parties are in these circumstances.