Biased assimilation describes the cognitive tendency of decision‑makers to interpret, weigh or recall evidence in a way that favours their existing beliefs, assumptions or hypotheses. In legal practice, it is often discussed in relation to judicial reasoning, fact‑finding by judges and juries, police investigations, credibility assessments in asylum and immigration claims, and decision‑making by public authorities and regulators. The term is drawn from psychology and behavioural science and is not a defined legal term in UK or Irish legislation or case law, but it is increasingly referenced in legal scholarship, judicial training and arguments about fairness, impartiality and due process. Biased assimilation is relevant to issues of apparent bias, procedural fairness, legitimate expectation, rationality and the duty to give adequate reasons, particularly where a decision appears to discount or minimise contrary evidence. It may underpin challenges by way of judicial review, statutory appeal or rehearing, as well as submissions on the proper approach to expert evidence and witness testimony. Usage and understanding of the concept are broadly consistent across England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, although its impact is mediated through each jurisdiction’s distinct rules on evidence, appeals and standards of review.

Also known as a tender bond (or guarantee). These are used as part of the tender process to guarantee performance by tendering contractors (more commonly in international projects). Bid bonds typically operate so that the surety will pay out to the employer (subject to maximum sum specified in the bond) in the event that the successful tenderer fails to perform the contract—a tender bond gives the employer comfort that tenderers are able to perform the contract on the basis of the bids submitted by the tenderers. They are usually issued as on-demand instruments.

The price at which the trustees can sell a security (usually in a unit trust); the unit price that the life company uses to redeem units from a policyholder.

Collusive conduct between undertakings to avoid competition between bidders in response to an invitation to tender.

The difference between the bid and offer prices, typically of the order of 5% representing a charge levied by a life company or unit trust on each premium paid or unit bought or sold; the difference between the purchase (offer) and sale (bid) price.

The purpose-vehicle'>special purpose vehicle established to make the acquisition in a public to private transaction.

See Offeror/bidder.

Big Brother Watch has filed a legal complaint with the UK’s Information Commissioner against PimEyes, an online facial recognition ‘search engine’. PimEyes enables anyone to upload images of a person to the website, which are processed by a facial recognition technology to find matches. There are no limits on the types of images that can be uploaded and no safeguards are in place to prevent users from extracting a library of photos of other individuals. The results returned in the searches include URLs to where the images are hosted, which can include the individual’s personal information. Big Brother Watch alleges this constitutes unlawful processing, is ‘deeply intrusive’ and that the search engine can be used to ‘surveil, harass and stalk’.

Law360, London: Anti-fraud campaigners are calling on the government to fine Big Tech companies such as Meta on repeated failures to prevent fraudulent financial advertising on their platforms with a tougher and wider regime than envisaged, with the consensus that social media is the biggest obstacle to combating investment scams.

MLex: Big tech companies are starting to face private litigation to force compliance with the EU's digital services law, raising questions about how these case could shape standards across the bloc. While national courts can force quick platform changes in their own country, they risk creating a patchwork of inconsistent legal obligations across the EU.

MLex: Tech giants like Amazon, Google and Microsoft are fielding EU questions over whether their partnerships with artificial intelligence developers contain exclusivity and non-compete clauses, MLex understands. Investigators want to know what different categories of AI the Big Tech companies are investing in, ranging from technology that responds to text prompts with text to technology that translates text prompts into images, audio or code.

Law360: The Big Four accounting firms expressed broad support for Ireland's plans to introduce corporate tax exemptions for foreign-sourced dividends and foreign branch profits, saying the changes are long overdue and would reduce complexities for taxpayers, according to comments published 7 February 2024.