Property in which ownership is indivisibly vested in two or more persons (cf common property).

West Yorkshire Trading Standards and Kirklees Council have jointly prosecuted Irfan Hanif Patel and Mohammed Patel for supplying counterfeit cranberry sauce. Irfan Patel, operating as a sole trader and Mohammed Patel, as director of Stock Up Direct Limited, have both pleaded guilty to offences under the Trade Marks Act 1994 and breaches of food hygiene regulations by trading without registering their food businesses. At Leeds Crown Court, Irfan Patel has been sentenced to a 12‐month community order including 120 hours of unpaid work and issued a confiscation order of £18,903, reflecting a declared benefit of £681,510.47 from criminal conduct. Mohammed Patel has been sentenced to a 12‐month community order with 100 hours of unpaid work and issued a confiscation order of £1,607, matching his declared benefit. The proceedings were conducted under the framework of the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002.

The Pensions Regulator (TPR) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) have published a joint regulatory consultation and consultation response in CP26/1 setting out how a new value for money (VFM) framework could operate consistently across defined contribution (DC) workplace pensions. The proposals are designed to move the industry away from narrow cost-based assessments and towards a more holistic and comparable evaluation of the value delivered to pension savers in both trust-based and contract-based schemes. The proposed framework is intended to enable trustees, providers and governance bodies to assess the long-term performance of DC pension schemes for savers, improving transparency and competition by making it clearer which schemes deliver good value, and which do not, and supporting better retirement outcomes. The FCA has also published its response to feedback on its earlier consultation CP24/16 and the new consultation on revised detailed rules and guidance for contract-based schemes are to be implemented through the FCA Handbook. For trust-based schemes, where the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) will legislate for the framework through the Pension Schemes Bill currently before Parliament, CP26/1 serves as discussion paper intended to gather timely input from the industry to help shape the detailed regulations and guidance that DWP and TPR are set to develop. The deadline for responding to consultation CP26/1 is 8 March 2026.

Dispute Resolution analysis: There was no principled basis on which to depart from the settled position that where there is joint retainer privilege, which is a fundamental right of each party, one party’s right to claim joint retainer privilege might override the rights of the other party. The Court of Appeal so held in concluding that an assignment of professional negligence claims against solicitors to an opponent in litigation entitled the assignee to documents which were the subject of joint privilege of the assignor and its insurers. Written by Sandip Patel QC FCIArb, managing partner at Aliant Law, London.

Joint share ownership plans (JSOPs) also sometimes referred to as a ‘joint ownership agreement' (JOA). This is a type of employee share incentive plan under which the employee participant owns shares jointly with a third party, which is typically the trustee of an employee benefit trust (EBT).

This Deed is made on the [insert] day of [insert month] 20 [insert year] Parties 1 [Insert name] of [address] (the Participant); 2 [Insert name of company] a company registered in England and Wales (with registered number [insert]), whose registered office is at [insert address] (the Company); and 3 [Insert name of trustee], incorporated in [insert jurisdiction] with registered number [insert] and with a registered office situated at [insert address], as trustee (the Trustee) of the [insert name of trust]. Background (A) The Company wishes to incentivise certain executive directors and employees of the Group by allowing them to acquire interests in its shares and has made recommendations to the Trustee in relation to this. The Participant is an executive director or employee of the Group. (B) The Participant wishes to acquire a beneficial interest in [insert number] [ordinary] shares in the Company, to be held by the Participant and the Trustee as tenants in common in undivided shares upon and subject to the terms of this Deed. Joint share ownership agreement 1 Definitions 1.1 For the purposes of this Deed the following expressions have the meanings

Jointly owned awards are no more and no less than their description implies, namely shares owned jointly by an employee or director and a third party, either an investor in the company or, more commonly, the trustees of an employee benefit trust (EBT). The concept of jointly owned share ownership was developed as an alternative to other forms of share incentives such as share options, restricted shares or performance share plans (often using nil-cost options). For more general information on joint share ownership plans (JSOPs), see Practice Note: Introduction to joint share ownership plans. This Practice Note seeks to compare JSOPs with other forms of unapproved share scheme structures. The difficulty with conducting an exhaustive review is that there is a multitude of different structures and approaches and variations on a theme of all of them. In this Practice Note, a comparison has been drawn, as far as possible, between JSOPs and each of the following three types of arrangements: • unapproved share options • long-term incentive plans (LTIPs),

Shares in a company may be allotted or transferred to any number of holders (whether they are natural persons or corporate entities) to be held jointly, except shares allotted to the subscribers to a company’s memorandum of association (being subscriber shares). It is not possible for subscriber shares to be allotted on the basis that they are held jointly, as Companies House interprets sections 7 and 8 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) as requiring a subscriber to be a single natural person or a single corporate entity. In practice, it is common for a company to limit the maximum number of shareholders that may jointly own shares in its articles of association (usually to four, eg the model articles for a public company in art 63(5)(e) allow the directors to refuse to register a transfer to more than four transferees, as does 1985 Table A, reg 24). If there is no limit on the number of shareholders that may jointly own shares set out in a company’s articles, many articles give directors a general right to refuse

The European Commission, the Competition and Markets Authority, the US Department of Justice and the US Federal Trade Commission have released a joint statement on competition in generative artificial intelligence (AI) foundation models and AI products. The joint statement also highlights the impact and benefits from the new services that AI has brought to the market but notes that there are risks to consumer and competition that need attention, and recommends focussing on how the emerging AI business models drive behaviour and incentives, among other things.

Introduction A joint study and bid agreement (JSBA) is a contractual arrangement commonly utilised in the oil and gas industry where a number of parties are considering submitting a joint bid for a petroleum agreement. Typically, international oil companies are offered oil and gas acreage by way of a host government bid round, whereby a host Government seeks to promote competition amongst industry participants for the award of certain oil and gas exploration and production rights. ‘Out of round’ or ad hoc applications and bidding can also occur. In most cases, the host government will provide details on the deadlines, technical requirements and procedures to be followed by interested oil companies as part of the bidding process. The JSBA is a short-form unincorporated joint venture that will set out the parameters within which the parties agree to share responsibility and cost for the study of a specific area as well as define the procedures for determining if a joint bid should be submitted, and if so on what terms. The JSBA should also set out the process

Ownership of property by two or more persons where the survivor is wholly entitled to the property.

Joint tenants share equal ownership of property and have the equal, undivided right to keep or dispose of the property.