This week's edition of Dispute Resolution weekly highlights includes analysis of a number of key DR developments and key judicial decisions including: the Civil Procedure (Amendment) Rules 2025 (SI 2025/106) and the Court of Appeal decision in Wirral Council (as administering authority of Merseyside Pension Fund) v Indivior Plc; Wirral Council (as administering authority of Merseyside Pension Fund) v Reckitt Benckiser Group Plc (strike out and shareholder representative claims); dates for your diary; details of our most recently published content; and other information of general interest to dispute resolution practitioners.

This week's edition of Commercial weekly highlights includes: announcement of the Court of Appeal decision in Tyson International Company Ltd v Gic Re, India, Corporate Member Ltd which confirmed the court’s approach where parties acknowledge a potential inconsistency in an agreement, announcement of the Court of Appeal decision in Sahara Energy Resource Ltd v Societe Nationale de Raffinage SA which considered whether a Joint Report signed by the parties constituted a legally binding agreement extending to all categories of undisputed claims, and news that the Advertising Association has published a Best Practice Guide for the Responsible Use of Generative AI in advertising.

This week's edition of Property weekly highlights includes: more on the Supreme Court decision which tweaked the Etridge principle, guidance on Awaab’s Law and on developer remediation contracts, reforms to the building safety regulator and cases on boundary determination and the validity of restrictive covenants and easements.

This Practice Note explains how the damages-based agreement (DBA) regime operates for employment matters. It explains the legal context and what a DBA is. It outlines the issues with the legislation and proposals for reform. It considers what constitutes an ‘employment matter’, key terms, the requirements for an enforceable DBA, amending the DBA, specifying the ‘payment’ and fixing the payment percentage, and how costs are treated. An example calculation is given. Termination of the DBA is considered, and the SRA price transparency rules and other regulatory requirements, such as cancellation rights, risk assessments and insurance distribution activities are noted. Different rules apply to DBAs in general civil claims and in personal injury claims, and these are not considered in this Practice Note. For further guidance on these, see Practice Notes: Damages-based agreements (DBAs) and Damages-based agreements—personal injury and clinical negligence. For guidance on litigation funding in general, see Funding arrangements—overview. The legal context Traditionally, the idea that a solicitor would be financially interested in the outcome of a client's (contentious) case was seen as undesirable: the solicitor

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

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. 11 pm (GMT) on 31 December 2020 marked the end of the implementation period put in place to enable the UK to transition away from the EU’s laws and institutions. At this point in time (referred to in this document as ‘IP completion day’) there was an immediate and significant change in the UK’s legal regime. This Practice Note explains the implications of this change in relation to the following areas of Information Law and practice: • Overview—what happened on 31 December 2020 • Access to EEA workers • Commercial arrangements • Data protection (except as relevant to law enforcement processing and intelligence services processing) • ePrivacy • Cybersecurity • Databases • Public sector information • Confidential information • Reputation management For a tracker of key Information Law Brexit legislation and guidance, see Practice Note: Information Law—Brexit tracker. This Practice Note focuses on the topics above, except that it does not cover the impact on law enforcement processing or state security

Since 6 April 2017, the income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs) advantages where benefits in kind are provided through salary sacrifice arrangements (described in the Finance Act 2017 (FA 2017) as ‘optional remuneration arrangements’) have been largely withdrawn. Guidance on optional remuneration arrangements from 6 April 2017 starts at EIM44000. The optional remuneration provisions made no changes to the underlying salary sacrifice principle, but did change how the benefit is taxed. Subject to some transitional arrangements, all benefits provided under an optional remuneration agreement are taxed at the higher of the standard benefit in kind valuation (usually the cost to the employer except for certain benefits) or the salary sacrificed. However, note that the optional remuneration rules do not apply to pension contributions (although only the first £2,000 per year of pension contributions through salary sacrifice will be NIC exempt with effect from 6 April 2029), employer-provided pensions advice, workplace nurseries, directly employer-contracted childcare, cycle to work or ultra-low emission cars with CO2 emissions of 75 g/km or less as well as certain employer-supported

This Practice Note explains what embedded derivatives are, and their relevance and treatment within the derivative contracts taxing regime. As with many things derivatives-related, it is difficult to understand the tax rules concerning embedded derivatives without having at least a basic understanding of relevant accounting rules and principles. For that reason, this Practice Note deals with how certain instruments are accounted for before looking at the relevant tax rules. For a more general background to the accounting framework and key accounting principles relevant to the taxation of financial instruments, including derivative contracts, see Practice Note: Loan relationships—accounting framework and principles. This Practice Note does not constitute accounting advice and is not intended to be exhaustive in relation to relevant accounting principles. It seeks only to provide a broad and basic overview of relevant accounting principles in order to assist an understanding of the derivative contracts corporation tax rules and to enable further investigation where necessary. In no circumstances should it be used as a substitute for obtaining accounting advice. This Practice Note does not discuss the recognition

Why are lenders concerned about environmental risk? The ever growing number of environmental laws has affected the way that lenders perceive environmental risk and has generally given rise to a more stringent approach. Lenders are concerned about environmental risk for a number of reasons: • it can reduce the credit-worthiness of a borrower or guarantor • it can divert the cashflows on a finance project • it can negatively affect the value of the lender’s security • it can create direct liability for the lender (civil, criminal, requirements to remediate or comply with enforcement notices), and • there can also be reputational risks in lending to businesses that are seen as being 'dirty', particularly given environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors where a range of mechanisms and principles are fomenting responsible business practices These risks could come about in situations where a borrower or other obligor breaches environmental laws and is faced with sanctions and other consequences that could include: • fines and/or imprisonment • damages under civil actions • injunctions

This week's edition of Dispute Resolution weekly highlights includes analysis of a number of key DR developments and key judicial decisions including the Ministry of Justice announcing that CPR 68 will no longer have effect from 1 October 2024 and the Court of Appeal decision in Unitel SA v Unitel International Holdings B.V and Isabel dos Santos (freezing injunctions); dates for your diary; details of our most recently published content; and other information of general interest to dispute resolution practitioners.

This week's edition of Dispute Resolution weekly highlights includes analysis of a number of key DR developments and key judicial decisions including the 171st Practice Direction update and the Court of Appeal decision in Signature Litigation LLP v Ivanishvili (solicitor and client’s costs); dates for your diary; details of our most recently published content; and other information of general interest to dispute resolution practitioners.

This week's edition of Dispute Resolution weekly highlights includes: analysis of a number of key DR developments and key judicial decisions including the publication of the new model forms under CPR, the Supreme Court decision in Nasir v Zavarco Plc (doctrine of merger), the Court of Appeal decision in EE Ltd v Virgin Mobile Telecoms Ltd (exclusions of liability) and a costs decision in Reeves v Frain (invalid damages based agreements); details of our most recently published content; dates for your diary and other information of general interest to dispute resolution practitioners.