A high-performance culture is one where employees are highly engaged, motivated and aligned with the firm's goals. A high-performance culture directly impacts client satisfaction and overall firm performance. In a highly competitive job market, it enables you to attract, and retain, top talent. What is a high-performance culture? A high-performance culture is an organisational environment that prioritises excellence, engagement and continuous improvement. It enables you to foster a culture where individual and team values and goals are clearly aligned with those of the firm, enabling the firm to exceed client and business objectives. Characteristics of a high-performance culture include: • a clear vision and values that are shared and understood across the firm • engaged and empowered employees who take ownership for their roles • an environment that fosters continuous learning for individuals and teams • accountability and recognition that rewards the behaviours and performance required, addresses gaps and holds everyone equitably to account Organisational culture is shaped from the top. Regardless of mission and values statements, those within the firm

This Practice Note is intended for in-house lawyers. It explains how to create a legal risk register, a tool that allows you to collate all your legal risk information in one place, by categorising each legal risk the organisation faces, scoring each risk and then deciding how to control or mitigate the risk. To formulate an effective legal risk register, you must first identify the legal risks your business faces. It is also helpful to understand your organisation's appetite for risk. What is risk? Some organisations have their own written definition against which their risk landscape, and within that their legal risk, can be understood and identified. If your organisation has already defined risk, you should assess the definition and, if you find it workable, you’re in a good place to think about what legal risk is. If not, you need to help your organisation to get a working definition. A tangible and easily understood approach is to define risk as: Risk = probability x impact So, for any given legal risk

Managing risk is not a one-off event; it is an ongoing process, as illustrated: This Practice Note explains how to evaluate and record risks by way of a risk register, a tool that allows you to collate all your risk information in one place, by categorising each risk the organisation faces, scoring each risk and then deciding on your response to each risk, eg reject or accept and, if the latter, how to control or mitigate the risk—see Precedent: Risk register. What is risk? There is a widely accepted definition of risk, ie: Risk = probability x impact So, for any given risk faced by your business, there are two questions: • how likely is it that the risk will materialise, ie what’s the probability? • if the risk does materialise, how bad will it be, ie what’s the impact? A risk register is a tool for scoring and recording individual risks using this formula—see section Scoring each risk. It is also used to record your response to each risk,

All regulated law firms and individuals must act in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion. It is about more than complying with your legal and regulatory obligations, however. Put simply, it is the right thing to do. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) expects you to be proactive and take proportionate action to encourage a diverse workforce at all levels in your firm. Having an inclusive and diverse workforce isn’t just the right thing to do, however. As a bonus, it can inspire public confidence in the legal profession and provide benefits for your firm’s business. It increases team motivation, improves retention rates, enables you to attract the best candidates in the market to your firm and creates an environment where everyone feels confident enough to perform at their highest level. This Practice Note helps you to navigate the key areas in creating an inclusive and diverse workforce in your law firm. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has published guidance on diversity in Recruitment, retention and progression.

Establishing a values-driven culture is essential for fostering a positive work environment in your law firm. It supports ethical practices, improves talent attraction and retention and builds client trust. This guide to building a values-driven culture covers: • why building a values-driven culture makes good business sense • how to define what your core values are • the best ways to communicate those values • practical tips for embedding the values into day-to-day activities • how to evaluate performance against the core values • how to keep the values fresh, and refine them, in the longer term Values are a moral and behavioural compass setting out the standards of behaviour that drive the culture in your firm. The goals of your business are the ‘what’ and the values are the ‘how’. You know what goals you’re aiming for—the values define how you expect everyone to behave on the journey to achieve those goals. Values need to be clear, unambiguous, and easy to understand and apply. If they

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES IN RELATION TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This Practice Note applies to business sales which are subject to the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/246 (TUPE). For further information on TUPE, see Practice Note: TUPE—an overview for pensions lawyers. Dealing with Beckmann liabilities on a business sale can be a complex area. Corporate lawyers looking at this should involve a pensions specialist at the earliest opportunity. What are Beckmann liabilities? Until the Beckmann and Martin cases, it was generally understood that on a business sale none of the transferring employees’ contractual rights to pension benefits under an occupational pension scheme transferred from a seller to a buyer. This was due to the operation of the pensions exception under TUPE, SI 2006/246, reg 10, which excludes from a TUPE transfer provisions of an occupational pension scheme which relate to: • old age • invalidity (ie ill-health benefits), or • survivors (ie death benefits) Following the Beckmann and Martin cases,

This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide on handling consumer complaints. It is a commercially focused document that deals with the processes and procedures that organisations should have in place, from first contact with a consumer through to escalation and subsequent PR handling of adverse publicity. Consumers are a sub-set of all customers. This Practice Note looks specifically at individuals who are acting for purposes which are wholly or mainly outside of their trade, business, craft or profession. Where reference in this note is made to customers, it is to customers in their consumer capacity. Where appropriate, this Practice Note signposts to other detailed content on consumer law and practice. Why is good customer service necessary? It is vital that customers have a good experience with the trader so that they will come back again and again. Customer service processes and procedures must be up to the job of looking after customers, no matter what the issue is, and complaints must be dealt with promptly when they arise, both from a statutory point

A dawn raid can be carried out on any business, no matter how big or small, and therefore every business must be mindful to the possibility of a raid. Given the increasing criminalisation of business practices, growing numbers of regulatory criminal offences and the proliferation of money laundering laws and regulations the potential for a dawn raid to be executed against an organisation is an everyday reality for many businesses. The prospect of an intervention by the UK authorities increased upon the introduction of the Bribery Act 2010. It has further increased since the introduction of the corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery, the corporate offence of failure to prevent tax evasion introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017, the corporate offence of failure to prevent fraud introduced by the Economic Crime and Corporate Transparency Act 2023, and the expansion of corporate criminal liability. The use of technology within businesses is continuing to evolve, they therefore must ensure information and policies are up to date

This ‘How to’ guide sets out the steps an employer should consider when it receives a request for flexible working. It considers, in particular, how statutory flexible working requests under section 80F of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (ERA 1996) and the Flexible Working Regulations 2014, SI 2014/1398 should be dealt with and related considerations, including hybrid working and other relevant policies, and informal requests for flexible working. A number of changes were introduced to the statutory scheme on 6 April 2024 to further widen opportunities for flexible working. These changes are summarised in Practice Note: Flexible working. This Practice Note deals with the position from 6 April 2024. The statutory scheme is supported by the Acas Code of Practice on requests for flexible working (Acas flexible working Code), which came into force on 6 April 2024, and Acas non-statutory advice on flexible working. For more information, see Practice Note: Flexible working—Acas Code of Practice and guidance. An employer receiving a request from an employee to vary their working hours, or time or

This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide giving practical guidance on how to identify personal data in freedom of information (FOI) requests and assess whether it is exempt from disclosure under section 40 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FIA 2000). Is the information ‘personal data’ Personal data is information which is about a living individual, from which they can be identified, and which is about them, or relates to them. This is essentially a three-stage test: • Can an individual be identified or distinguished from other individuals? • Is the individual living? • Does the information relate to the individual, or is it about them? Identification The first stage of the test is to understand whether the information in question enables the public to identify an individual. When assessing whether an individual is identifiable, take into account not only the information that you hold, but any other information that is available to the public that may enable them to uncover

Introduction This Practice Note provides a practical roadmap for a tenant dealing with a landlord’s breach of lease or interference with the tenant’s rights. It explains the key initial investigations, evidence gathering and strategic considerations, including identifying the relevant covenant, preserving the tenant’s rent position, deciding whether urgent injunctive relief is needed, and selecting the most appropriate remedy. It covers common remedies including injunctions, specific performance, set-off, self-help, declarations, damages, termination for repudiatory breach, and residential leaseholder remedies such as appointment of a manager, acquisition of the landlord’s interest, right to manage and management audit. Gather information Check the lease terms: • identify precisely which landlord covenant has been breached • check whether the landlord has reserved rights which may justify the conduct complained of, for example rights of entry, or rights to interrupt services temporarily • check whether the tenant has any express remedy, such as a right to carry out works and recover the cost, a right to inspect insurance documents, a right to audit service charge material or a right

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES IN RELATION TO DEFINED BENEFIT OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES This Practice Note explains how a section 75 debt can be dealt with on a transaction, particularly in a multi-employer scheme where different options are available. This Practice Note also covers considerations relating to the Pensions Regulator's clearance procedure and the notifiable events regime. For considerations specific to scheme trustees when deciding how a section 75 debt should be dealt with on an employment cessation event, see Practice Note: employment cessation events—trustee decision-making process. For considerations specific to section 75 debts triggered in the context of a group reorganisation, see Practice Note: Intra-group reorganisations and pensions. Determining whether a section 75 debt will be triggered Section 75 debt triggers A section 75 debt (also known as an 'employer debt') may become due from the employer of a defined benefit occupational pension scheme where: • the scheme is a multi-employer scheme and an employment cessation event occurs in relation to that employer (referred to in this Practice Note as