This Practice Note utilises a hypothetical case study to illustrate the substantive law and procedural issues that may arise in bringing and managing an artificial intelligence (AI) related claim in the courts of England and Wales. For guidance on the types of civil litigation claim that may arise in AI scenarios, see Practice Note: AI related civil liability—risks and mitigation. For guidance on the types of procedural issue that may arise in conducting an AI-related dispute, see Practice Note: Issues in managing artificial intelligence related civil claims. For considerations that dispute resolution lawyers must bear in mind if using AI in the conduct of claims, see Practice Note: Artificial intelligence—using AI when conducting court proceedings. For general guidance on AI for dispute resolution lawyers, see: Artificial intelligence for dispute resolution lawyers—overview. For further general guidance on AI, across all legal practice areas, see Practice Note: Artificial intelligence (AI) resource kit. Note: on 7 July 2026, the UK Jurisdiction Taskforce (UKJT) published a ‘Legal Statement on Liability

This Checklist helps you to manage change in your organisation. It provides a list of suggested steps to work through for each planned change along with a series of questions to consider for each one. Managing change—suggested steps Key considerations Comments (if any) ☐ Create impetus Is there a clear and urgent reason to act now?Is this reason well known?Can you put this reason into facts and figures?Have you tested your planned message with other people? (Insert any comments or thoughts about each step) ☐ Build your champions Who is your executive sponsor? How active will they be? Who enjoys change in your team? Where are they based? Will they be a champion?Who do you know in other relevant parts of the organisation who shares

Failure to communicate effectively with a client is a common cause of complaints and claims. Whether or not the claim is justified, it is vital to ensure you understand what the client is saying or asking, that they understand the relevant issues and their expectations are managed. This Practice Note identifies common issues associated with client communications and suggests some practical tips to help get the best out of your client relationships and avoid miscommunication problems. First impressions The first contact a client has with a firm usually sets the scene for all future communications. You should consider: • how do your staff address enquiries in person, online or by telephone • what does your website say about your firm and the service you provide • do enquiries emanate from your website and, if so, how are those directed to ensure that they get attended to by the right person in a timely manner • what sort of training do your first line of enquiry staff receive • what impression will ‘walk-ins’ have from your reception

When a crisis hits, you will be under pressure—pressure to act, pressure to respond, pressure from those to whom you answer internally and potentially from external stakeholders as well. You may be out of your comfort zone and unsure of your reporting obligations, what to divulge, to whom and when and the order in which to do things. Your first instinct may be to try and react immediately in response to the agendas of others or, conversely, to clam up and adopt a legal position. This Practice Note discusses what you should look out for and how can you prepare for your likely involvement in any crisis management effort in terms of effective communication. What is a crisis? Unforeseen and unwelcome events can impact on an organisation at any time. In some cases, you may have some warning (eg an industrial dispute or a failure in your supply chain), but not always. Natural disasters, pandemics, accidents, stakeholder activism, crime, the loss of a key partner or contract and economic pressures are just some of the things that could

This Practice Note considers the aims of conduct management in the workplace, codes of conduct and disciplinary procedures, investigating a problem and deciding whether to begin a disciplinary process, potential reasons for misconduct and how to handle misconduct. All employers want to get the best out of their employees. Managing how they behave in the workplace is a crucial element of this. Where standards slip employers need to be able to manage employees' conduct in order to allow them the opportunity to improve. If insufficient improvement is made, employers need to know how to take steps to deal with the situation fairly which may include dismissal. The aims of conduct management The principal aim of conduct management is to ensure that employees behave in a reasonable manner in the workplace. If employers manage their employees well, the employees will be aware of: • the standard of behaviour that is expected of them • what behaviour will constitute misconduct and/or gross misconduct • what disciplinary code of conduct or rules apply to them • the procedure that will be followed if

THIS PRACTICE NOTE APPLIES TO TRUST-BASED OCCUPATIONAL PENSION SCHEMES Legal requirements in relation to conflicts of interest Pension scheme trustees have a duty to act in the best interests of the scheme's beneficiaries. However, trustees may owe duties to other parties or have personal interests which conflict with that duty. It is a general principle of trust law that trustees should not put themselves in a position where their duty to act in the best interests of beneficiaries conflicts with duties that they owe to other parties or with their personal interests. If trustees make decisions while subject to a conflict of interest that has not been appropriately managed, there is a risk that those decisions may be challenged by scheme members or overturned by the courts. It is important that the members of a scheme should perceive a conflict or potential conflict as having been properly managed. The directors of a company that acts as a trustee of a scheme may also be subject to conflicts of interest. Company directors have a statutory

This Practice Note highlights issues that may arise with difficult clients in family law cases and the techniques that may be adopted to manage such clients together with related professional rules and potential capacity issues. It also considers the court’s approach to pseudo-legal arguments and misconceived legal submissions, which may originate with either a client or another party. Family work is demanding in many ways that have nothing to do with the complexity of the relevant law and procedure. A client experiencing relationship breakdown may be distressed, distracted and unable to separate their emotional response to the situation from commercial or practical considerations. However, in the case load of every family lawyer, there may be clients who present particular and substantial challenges. Recognising such clients and tailoring an approach to them may save the lawyer from unnecessary complaints and the client from unnecessary costs. Basics Setting the scene with all clients at the outset of a case can help to manage expectations. A compassionate but emotionally neutral approach, with a focus on the legal

This Practice Note provides practical guidance on how commercial lawyers can minimise and avoid disputes and litigation in commercial contracts, suggested options when advising clients anticipating or experiencing problems in the performance of their contracts (including renegotiation, novation, informal workarounds, re-interpretation, the effect of walking away, and termination) and the precautions that need to be observed if a dispute or litigation becomes inevitable. This Practice Note focuses on the practical considerations around actual and potential contract breach in a business-to-business, commercial context. For a checklist of resources which brings together key content for commercial practitioners advising a business trading in difficult times including considerations when drafting contracts, building resilience into supply chains, price and payment issues, performance problems, and dealing with disputes, see also: Commercial contracts in difficult times—resources—checklist. Minimise the risk of disputes Contractual difficulties can arise in commercial contracts due to a wide variety of reasons. Increased or reduced demand for goods or services, difficulties in supply chain and workforce availability, higher prices, inflation, the impact of new or increased tariffs, shortages due to

This checklist provides guidance on the questions and discussions at Annual General Meetings (AGMs) of listed public companies and AIM companies. It covers legal aspects, corporate governance best practice and practical guidance, as well as tips for the chair and company secretary in preparing for debate and unexpected events at a company's AGM. The chair of the meeting is responsible for managing discussion at the meeting and must do so in an impartial manner. It is the chair’s role to keep discussion under control and to decide when to close discussion on a particular matter once they consider that it has been debated sufficiently and has enabled a range of views to be heard. The Companies (Shareholders' Rights) Regulations 2009 amended Part 13 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) and strengthened shareholder rights, enhanced transparency and improved voting processes for listed companies. The 2024 edition of the UK Corporate Governance Code and 2024 Code Guidance state that general meetings, especially AGMs, should offer shareholders a formal setting for

This Practice Note considers the legal and practical issues faced by an employer when managing the use of alcohol and drugs in the workplace. Legal framework Under the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 (HSWA 1974), all employers have a general duty to ensure the health, safety and welfare of their employees. If an employer knowingly allows an employee under the influence of alcohol or drugs to continue working and this places the employee or others at risk, the employer could be liable to enforcement action, including prosecution, under HSWA 1974. Employees are also required to take reasonable care of themselves and others who could be affected by what they do. They, too, could be liable to prosecution if their alcohol consumption or drug-taking puts safety at risk. Employees must also co-operate with their employer so far as is necessary to enable the employer to perform or comply with statutory duties and/or requirements under relevant statutory health and safety provisions. For further information on health and safety in the workplace generally,

Agents and intermediaries are third parties engaged to provide services for or on behalf of [insert organisation's name] or to represent our interests. Working with agents/intermediaries is a concern in the context of bribery, corruption, fraud, facilitation of tax evasion and financial crime generally, as we can be held liable for criminal acts committed by those agents/intermediaries. There is also a danger that we could face financial crime risks arising out of something done by another party in a supply chain arrangement. This means that when we engage someone to act on our behalf, we need to be ensure we understand the financial crime risks. In each case, we need to conduct thorough due diligence to ensure that the potential crime risks have been identified, considered and addressed. Online due diligence can be used both to gather information, and to verify and validate information received from elsewhere, such as from the agent/intermediary direct. Different third parties present different potential risks, so the scope of investigations should be well aligned with

This Practice Note covers the regulated activity of managing investments. Definition Managing investments is a regulated activity under article 37 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, SI 2001/544 (RAO). Managing investments consists of managing assets involving the exercise of discretion, in relation to assets beneficially belonging to another, in circumstances where the assets consist of or include any investment which is a ’security’, a ‘structured deposit’ or a ’contractually-based investment’. For further information as to what constitutes a ’security’ a ‘structured deposit’ or a ’contractually-based investment’, see Securities, structured deposits or contractually-based investments below). The exercise of discretion The regulated activity of managing investments only applies where discretion is exercised by the investment manager. Where there is portfolio management without discretion (eg where the manager buys shares on the instructions of the client, or receives and transmits orders on the instructions of the client), the activity is likely to be another regulated such as ‘dealing in investments, either as principal or agent' (RAO SI 2001/544, arts 14 and 21) or ‘arranging