Law360, London: Glasgow Sheriff Court sentenced a print worker on Monday 27 April 2020 to 22 months in prison after she pleaded guilty to the ‘unsophisticated’ embezzlement of nearly £240,000 from her employer over five years.

Planning analysis: In Andrew Rickards v East Hertfordshire DC, the court held that a GPDO Part 6 prior approval was unlawful because the officer’s report failed to address impacts on designated assets, specifically ancient woodland and a Grade II listed building, and the approval was therefore quashed.

The prior art are those things made available to the public before the priority date.

An invention is new if it does not form part of the state of the art as of its earliest effective filing date. The state of the art includes anything made available to the public in any form, typically known as 'prior art'.

Negotiations which do or may result in a contract

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This practical guidance relates to the pre-Procurement Act 2023 regime This Practice Note contains guidance relevant to public procurement exercises commenced before the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023) came into force on 24 February 2025. In-scope procurements begun on or after this date are governed by PA 2023. Under the transitional and savings provisions for PA 2023, the previous public procurement regimes continue to apply to the extent necessary to allow contracting authorities to complete and manage procurements commenced before PA 2023 came into force (ie ongoing procurements). This Practice Note should be read in that context. For background reading, see Practice Note: Introduction to the Procurement Act 2023—PA 2023. Further practical guidance on PA 2023 is set out in a separate subtopic, see: Procurement Act 2023—overview. Public procurement reform Before PA 2023, the UK public procurement regime originated in EU law. Following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, the regime initially changed only to a limited extent.

Produced with input from Rebecca Cousin of Slaughter and May on market practice. Background Public company takeovers in the UK are highly regulated transactions and careful planning is key to the success of any takeover transaction. This Practice Note looks at the issues to be considered by an offeror when planning a takeover, including the importance of secrecy prior to an announcement of an offer, the situations in which an announcement is required and the implications of making an announcement. It describes the role of the key advisers, different structures used on takeovers, financing issues, anti-trust and other regulatory considerations such as the limitations on being able to enter into offer-related arrangements and special deals with shareholders. Bid team An appropriate team of advisers will need to be appointed at the outset. The City Code on Takeovers and Mergers (Code), requires that discussions be limited to a very restricted number of people before the announcement of a possible offer, which, without the consent of the Panel, is six. Therefore initially the external advisers are likely

This Practice Note, produced with input from Rebecca Cousin of Slaughter and May on market practice, considers the preparatory actions a quoted company may take so as to be able to respond promptly and effectively to a potential bid. It examines the ways in which an offeree can defend itself from unwelcome approaches (whether they are anticipated or not) by ensuring adequate systems and procedures are in place before an offer is made. It also considers the relevant issues where a quoted company decides to actively search for suitable offerors by putting itself up for sale publicly, by embarking on a formal sale process (FSP). For a discussion of the issues for an offeree to consider following an approach, see Practice Note: Preliminary issues for an offeree to consider following an approach. Internal organisation The offeree should have in place adequate systems and procedures so as to be able to respond promptly and effectively to any bid as and when it materialises. These include: • the creation, maintenance and updating of a defence manual

Section 123 of the Land Registration Act 1925 (LRA 1925), as originally enacted, applied only to conveyances on sale and the grant of leases—consequently, a gratuitous disposition of unregistered land did not trigger compulsory first registration.

Local housing authorities (LHAs) have a duty to effectively implement mandatory licensing in their district. Prior to 1 October 2018, not all houses in multiple occupations (HMOs) needed to be licensed. This is imposed by Part 2 of the Housing Act 2004 (HA 2004). Mandatory licensing applied to certain HMOs: LHAs had to implement licensing on such properties. For the current mandatory licensing provisions, see Practice Note: Houses in multiple occupation (HMOs)—licensing regime. Mandatory licensing An HMO had to be licensed if it had three or more storeys and was occupied by five or more occupants in two or more households. Occupants are not defined, so children of any age contributed to the number of occupants. From 1 October 2018, when the Licensing of Houses in Multiple Occupation (Prescribed Description) (England) Order 2018, SI 2018/221 came into force, the number of storeys are no longer

In order for a contract for the sale of property to be valid, it is necessary to comply with the formalities of section 2 of the Law of Property Act 1925 (LPA 1925). This requires the contract to be made in writing and must incorporate all the terms which the parties have expressly agreed in one document, or, where contracts are exchanged, in each document. By LPA 1925, s 2(2), the terms may be incorporated in a document either by being set out in it or by reference

Prior to the implementation of Solvency II, the Prudential Regulation Authority's (PRA) rules and guidance were contained in: • PRA SYSC 14 (Risk management and associated systems and controls for insurers) (this set out high level requirements for credit risk) • PRA SYSC 15 (Credit risk management systems and controls for insurers), and • PRA SYSC 16 (Market risk management systems and controls for insurers) These chapters of the PRA Rulebook were deleted on 1 January 2016 (see: PRA Handbook (Solvency II Rulebook Consequentials) Instrument 2015), but you can view previous versions of the Rulebook on the PRA Rulebook website. The PRA is responsible for regulating this element of an insurer's business activities, as a failure to manage credit and market risks can threaten the PRA's statutory objectives of promoting safety and soundness in financial markets. Specifically in relation to insurers, the PRA seeks to prevent the erosion of a firm's capital due to excessive credit