IP analysis: On 23 February 2026, the High Court allowed Parabolica Ltd's appeal and clarified the correct date for assessing bad faith under section 3(6) of the Trade Marks Act 1994 (TMA 1994) where a UK trade mark application derives from a pending EU application under Article 59(1) of the Withdrawal Agreement between the UK and the EU. The central issue in this case was whether the bad faith ground should be assessed by reference to the EU filing date, the EU priority date or the subsequent UK filing date. The court held that the EU filing date is the relevant date for assessing bad faith, thereby resolving the uncertainty surrounding this issue and establishing that the Hearing Officer had erred in relying on the UK filing date. Written by Alice Martins, registered trade mark attorney, and Helene Whelbourn, legal director, at Lee & Thompson LLP.

The date set out in the building contract (usually in the contract particulars/contract data) for the completion of the works by the contractor—ie when the works are required to achieve practical completion by. The date for completion might be adjusted during the project, for example if the contractor is awarded an extension of time. If the works are not completed by the date for completion, the contractor will be liable to the employer for liquidated damages (if these are specified in the contract) or otherwise general damages for late completion (for breach of contract).

The date, in the building contract, when the contractor is granted possession of the site by the employer so that it can commence construction of the works.

The date of filing is the date upon which the necessary documents are filed at the Intellectual Property Office.

Actual or constructive Date of knowledge, defined by section 14 of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980), is in fact a slightly misleading expression because it can arise when a claimant has actual knowledge of the necessary elements of the tort or when they have constructive knowledge (ie they do not actually know the necessary elements but the court treats them as if they did). This provision is therefore to be considered as part subjective and part objective, as will be seen below. This means that the date of knowledge could occur even though a given claimant had no idea that they had been injured or that their injury might relate to something the defendant had done. When the date of knowledge comes later than the date of injury, time will not start to run for limitation purposes until the date of knowledge. However, the burden is on the claimant to show that the date of knowledge fell on the later date. When is the concept likely to be

A start and end period usually used to limit the extent to which a search for documents or a category of documents is applied

The Minister of State for Legal Migration and the Border, Tom Pursglove MP, has made a Statement to the House of Commons giving more details of the timeline for various aspects of the five-point legal migration plan relating to the Skilled Worker and family migration routes. In terms of new announcements, he confirmed that there will be two sets of Statements of Changes in Immigration Rules, issued on 19 February 2024 and 14 March 2024, and the dates that the changes will come into force for these purposes.

Dispute Resolution analysis: Following a trial, a daughter has been held to be entitled to the receipt of substantial sums from the estate of her late mother pursuant to the terms of a contract made with the late mother for the provision of care in her home. Had the contract not existed, the daughter would, in any event, have been entitled to receive such payment on a restitutionary basis. Written by Phillip Patterson, barrister, Gatehouse Chambers.

Law360, London: The daughter of one of the founders of Eurasian Natural Resources Corp (ENRC) succeeded on 16 September 2024 in overturning her conviction for failing to hand over documents during the Serious Fraud Office's (SFO) corruption investigation into the mining company.

Courts and Tribunals Judiciary has announced that The Right Honourable David Lammy MP has been officially sworn in as Lord Chancellor, following his appointment as Lord Chancellor, Secretary of State for Justice and Deputy Prime Minister on 5 September 2025. The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr of Walton-on-the-Hill conducted the swearing-in ceremony, held on 1 October 2025 at the Royal Courts of Justice. The Lady Chief Justice also swore in the new Solicitor General, The Right Honourable Ellie Reeves MP.

An independent review led by Lord Davies of Abersoch, which made a number of recommendations for how to improve gender diversity at board level.

The Dawn Sturgess Inquiry has reported that public hearings are taking place from 14 October 2024 until 18 October 2024. The Inquiry will be chaired by the former Supreme Court Justice Lord Hughes.