Overview This Practice Note provides high-level guidance on responding to a letter of claim in clinical negligence proceedings in England and Wales. A letter of response is the formal pre-action document served pursuant to the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes (the Protocol). In clinical negligence litigation, the letter of response: • sets out the defendant’s reasoned position on breach of duty and causation • identifies which issues are admitted and which are disputed • clarifies the expert disciplines relied upon • assists in narrowing the issues prior to proceedings The defendant should acknowledge the letter of claim within 14 days and identify who will be dealing with the matter. The letter of response must be served within four months of receipt of the letter of claim. See Practice Note: The Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes—6 April 2015 onwards. Initial considerations On receipt of a letter of claim, practitioners should consider: • whether the allegations disclose a viable claim • whether

This Practice Note provides high-level guidance for junior defendant lawyers on how to deal with a personal injury claim in England and Wales from first notification through to investigation, strategy, settlement or early proceedings. It focuses on the practical steps required to protect the defendant’s position on liability, causation, quantum, evidence, costs and settlement. Initial considerations On first notification of a personal injury claim, identify exactly what has been received. This may be a letter of notification, letter of claim, Claim Notification Form, Small Claim Notification Form, portal notification, informal correspondence or issued proceedings. The document received will affect the applicable timetable, procedural route and immediate action required. At the outset, establish: • the claimant’s identity and litigation status, including whether they are a child or protected party • the proposed defendant and insurer • whether proceedings have already been issued • the accident, exposure or injury date • whether limitation is imminent Note who your instructions have come from (insurer client or corporate insured) and check if you

This Practice Note provides a brief summary of the issues to consider when you have received a personal injury letter of claim and need to respond. For high-level guidance on how to prepare a personal injury letter of claim, see Practice Note: How to prepare a personal injury letter of claim. For guidance on responding to a clinical negligence letter of claim, see Practice Note: How to respond to a letter of claim in clinical negligence claims. Initial considerations The letter of claim you have received should be considered with a view to determining: • whether the claimant appears to have a valid claim—can you make an initial assessment of their legal arguments and/or whether there may be a potential defence (for example, whether the claim may fall outside a relevant limitation period) • the potential value of the alleged claim, which will usually influence the steps it is proportionate to take at the pre-action stage • whether the letter of claim complies with any relevant pre-action protocol—note

This is a how-to guide, or task-based toolkit, for a commercial tenant in England and Wales responding to a landlord's claim for terminal dilapidations. It covers preparing before lease expiry, assessing the landlord's schedule of dilapidations and quantified demand, responding under the Dilapidations Protocol, investigating diminution and supersession, negotiating settlement and dealing with proceedings. For general guidance on landlords’ claims for terminal dilapidations, see Practice Note: Dilapidations claims at the end of the term. Prepare before the term ends A tenant should consider its repairing, redecorating and reinstatement obligations well before lease expiry or a break date. This gives the tenant an opportunity to carry out works, remove its fixtures and resolve reinstatement issues while it still has access to the property. The tenant should consider the following actions: • review the scope of the demised premises and the repairing, decorating and yielding up obligations, with reference to the lease, any agreement for lease, licences for alterations, side letters, and/or schedules of condition • identify any alterations and check

This Practice Note provides guidance for law firms on how to handle a client account fraud, and explains the regulatory and legal requirements that apply. Client money is sacrosanct and proper stewardship of it is vital. What is client account fraud? A firm is the victim of a client account fraud when money has unlawfully been taken from its client account. Immediate steps to take You must do everything you can to limit the damage in the immediate aftermath of client account fraud. Assemble a fraud response team and appoint a person to take charge of the incident; this could be the compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA), finance director, compliance officer for legal practice (COLP), nominated officer, senior partner or anyone else with appropriate seniority. SRA warning notice, Money missing from client account, says that if you identify that money is missing, you have a duty to take steps to ensure it is replaced, in full, immediately. If you are a manager of the firm, you have a duty to replace

This short guide sets out the steps to be followed to restore a company to the register using the administrative restoration procedure after it has been struck off at the instigation of the Registrar of Companies under the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) or the Registered Office Address (Rectification of Register) Regulations 2024, SI 2024/233. For a comprehensive review of the legislation, case law and procedure regarding the administrative restoration of a company to the register, see Practice Note: Company restoration—administrative restoration. For an illustrative step-by-step guide to the procedure for restoring a company to the register, see Flowchart: Company restoration—administrative restoration—flowchart. When to use the administrative restoration procedure The administrative restoration procedure is available when a company was struck off at the instigation of the Registrar of Companies (the Registrar) pursuant to the provisions of CA 2006 (details of which can be found in Practice Note: The Registrar's powers to strike off a company). This procedure is a much simpler, quicker and cheaper restoration procedure in comparison to the court procedure,

This short guide sets out the steps to be followed to restore a company to the register by court procedure in accordance with section 1029 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). The court procedure for restoration of a company must be used if the company was struck off by voluntary application of the company pursuant to CA 2006, s 1003, as well as in the other circumstances set out in CA 2006, s 1029. The court procedure may also be used where a company has been struck off at the instigation of the Registrar of Companies (the Registrar) pursuant to CA 2006, ss 1000 or 1001 but is less commonly used in such circumstances because the company may also be able to use the quicker and easier administrative restoration route; see Practice Note: How to restore a company to the register—administrative restoration. For a comprehensive review of the legislation, case law and procedure regarding the restoration of a company to the register by court procedure, see Practice Note: Company restoration—restoration

This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide to reviewing a cloud computing agreement which signposts relevant content. It includes a summary of what cloud computing is, an overview of practical and legal issues and the key points to consider before and during a review. What is cloud computing? Cloud computing is a model for delivering access to computing resources, such as software, storage, processing capacity and IT infrastructure, over the internet or a private network. Those resources are hosted and managed by a third-party provider, rather than being installed or maintained primarily on the customer’s own systems. Cloud services are commonly supplied on a subscription, consumption-based or other recurring charging model, which may reduce or replace the customer’s need to incur upfront capital expenditure on equivalent on-premises infrastructure or software licences. The three main cloud service models are software as a service (SaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a service (IaaS), although cloud offerings are increasingly delivered through a range of managed, serverless, container-based and AI-enabled services that may not fit

This Practice Note sets out a sensible approach to reviewing a commercial contract between businesses (B2B) (such as an intellectual property licence agreement) for UK VAT purposes. It does not seek to deal with reviewing a contract for VAT purposes in relation to contracts for the following, each of which require specific considerations to be taken into account: • real estate transactions, or • the sale of a business and whether it is a transfer of a going concern • sales of goods involving Northern Ireland, and • sales of goods to end consumers, directly or via an online marketplace or in consignments with an intrinsic value under £135 (whether directly or via an online marketplace) (see Practice Note: VAT—online marketplaces and direct online sales of goods) Conducting a proper review of any bilateral B2B commercial contract for VAT purposes has two essential stages: • determining the VAT treatment of any supplies of goods or services to be made pursuant to the contract, and • determining

This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide on reviewing a payment clause in commercial business-to-business (B2B) agreements. It signposts relevant content and highlights pro-party positions. It covers payments in advance and arrears, invoicing and when payment is due, time of the essence, invoice disputes, payment mechanics, interest, insolvency-related controls and interaction with other provisions. Payment provisions are fundamental to risk allocation and cash flow. They are often heavily negotiated and can have significant commercial and insolvency implications. A payment clause should not be reviewed in isolation; it must be considered as part of the wider contractual and statutory framework. This is a high-level introduction suitable for trainee solicitors or junior lawyers, and as an aide memoire for more experienced lawyers. For further detailed guidance, see: • Practice Note: Price, payment terms and interest • Precedent: Payment clause—commercial contracts • Drafting and negotiating a payment clause—checklist For information on pricing provisions, see also: • Precedent: Price variation clauses • Drafting and negotiating a price clause—checklist See also Practice

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES When reviewing or updating a scheme booklet, the following points should be considered: Compliance with disclosure requirements Trustees of occupational pension schemes are statutorily required to disclose certain basic information about the scheme to prospective members and new joiners. This disclosure requirement is usually satisfied through the scheme booklet. When reviewing a scheme booklet, you should therefore check that it contains all the basic scheme information required. Since 6 April 2014, the basic scheme information required to be disclosed is set out in the Occupational and Personal Pension Schemes (Disclosure of Information) Regulations 2013, SI 2013/2734. For further information, see Practice Note: Disclosure requirements applicable to occupational and personal pension schemes from 6 April 2014 — Basic scheme information and Checklist: Basic scheme information from 6 April 2014—checklist. If certain information is missing from the scheme booklet, it may be possible for the trustees to: • amend the booklet before it goes out by enclosing an addendum slip, or • provide the information separately from the booklet

This Practice Note is a ‘how to’ guide on reviewing an NDA (also known as a non-disclosure agreement or a confidentiality agreement) which signposts relevant content. It includes a summary of what an NDA is, when and why it is required in a commercial transaction, and a high level look at the legal and practical factors to consider when reviewing an NDA. For links to more detailed guidance on the law in relation to confidentiality, see Precedent: Confidentiality—training materials and Confidential information—overview. For further information on how confidentiality obligations are typically dealt with in commercial contracts, see Practice Note: Trade secrets and confidential information—protection and enforcement. When confidential information is shared, it is assumed that a disclosing party will be most likely to draft and issue an NDA, and the receiving party will be the one reviewing it. However, in many situations there will be a mutual exchange of confidential information and so it may not be obvious which party is responsible for drafting or reviewing. In any event, it will be helpful