The requirement under Rule 2.6(a) for a potential offeror to either make a firm offer announcement in accordance with Rule 2.7, or announce that it does not intend to make an offer, by not later than 5 pm on the 28th day following the date of the announcement in which the potential offeror is first identified (or by not later than any extended deadline).

Information Law analysis: This judgment considers Associated Newspapers Ltd's (ANL) strike out and/or summary judgment application (the Limitation Application), as well as two applications seeking restriction orders. Mr Justice Nicklin had to consider, on the evidence, whether each of the claimants have a real prospect of overcoming the defence of limitation at trial. In reliance upon section 32(1)(b) of the Limitation Act 1980 (LA 1980) to postpone the six-year limitation period, each claimant alleges that ANL deliberately concealed the unlawful acts (unlawful information gathering activities for the purposes of publication of articles). Nicklin J found that ANL ‘has not been able to deliver a 'knockout blow' to the claims of any of these claimants’. Instead, he held that each claimant did indeed have a real prospect of demonstrating the unlawful acts were concealed by ANL which were not, or could not with reasonable diligence, have been discovered before October 2016. Each claimant's reliance upon LA 1980, s 32 will therefore be a matter for trial. Written by Amy-Rose Hayden, associate at Trowers & Hamlins LLP.

Law360, London: The brother-in-law of a former Russian politician faces new criminal charges for allegedly breaching sanctions after UK authorities accused him of paying for the children of an alleged ally of Vladimir Putin to attend a private school, a court heard 22 November 2024.

Law360, London: The Russian government did not order the country's private airlines to retain aircraft after Western sanctions were imposed, a group of insurers argued at trial on 7 October 2024, but instead facilitated the necessary conditions for its aviation industry to survive.

Law360: A group of aviation insurers are fighting to limit potential payouts for aircraft stranded in Russia, telling a London court on 3 October 2024 that orders from Russian President Vladimir Putin kept hundreds of Western-owned planes from being returned to their lessors in a political act after sanctions were imposed.

This Practice Note provides guidance to in-house lawyers on issues to consider when putting in place secondments, including the purpose of a secondment, specification, induction and the secondee’s portfolio. Looking at secondments from the law firm’s perspective Major clients have been accustomed to insisting on free secondees as part of the deal to get on a panel. Extracting a benefit in this way from a law firm can be tempting, but may be a poor option if there are other ways in which the client can benefit which do not cause as much of a headache to the firm. No firm wants to send the best associates on secondment, but at the same time if someone is not a good ambassador for the firm the client will be dissatisfied. So many associates have been hired by clients, or associates have decided to move in-house, on the strength of secondments, that firms are being less accommodating. Firms are likely to be more receptive if some payment is made and the secondment is not

Public Law analysis: One of Britain’s most senior judges, Lord John Dyson, gave his views on ‘Is Judicial Review a Threat to Democracy?’ at the 29th Sultan Azlan Shah Law lecture in November 2015. Barrister, Miranda Grell, comments on the speech and the wider developments in this area.

Financial Services analysis: The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has imposed the first fine on an auditor, PricewaterHouseCoopers LLP (PwC). Zulfi Meerza, senior associate, and Dr Ellen Sanchenko, associate, at Rahman Ravelli consider the FCA’s fine, setting out the key takeaways for auditors from the FCA’s Final Notice against PwC for failing to communicate to the FCA its reasonable belief that London Capital & Finance (LCF) might have been involved in fraudulent activity.

PwC has published data relating to mandatory pay gap reporting for the year 2023–2024. The data shows a decrease in mean gender pay gap of 0.4% over the past year, down from 12.2% to 11.8%. Almost 60% of organisations reported decreases, though the majority of these reductions were below 2%. According to PwC, these incremental reductions in gender pay gap are indicative that 'pay parity remains out of reach', but that there are things that businesses can do in order to drive change.

These ‘Q&A collections’ pull together Q&As on popular topics to help practitioners browse all the Q&As on a topic in one place and to find answers to their questions faster. Please

The European Commission has published a Q&A on the obligation to inform about supply interruptions or discontinuations for specific devices, as required under Article 10a of Regulation (EU) 2017/745 (the Medical Devices Regulation (MDR)) and Regulation (EU) 2017/746 (the In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR)). This obligation was introduced by Regulation (EU) 2024/1860 and, from 10 January 2025, will require manufacturer notification in cases of potential supply issues. MedTech Europe has criticised the guidance for leaving 'several anticipated challenges unaddressed' and anticipates further amendments to the guidance.

What is the target business? How does IP and IT fit in? • Undertake detailed due diligence to find out what IP and IT the target business has and how it uses this. • Consider the buyer's plans for the business. See checklists: Intellectual property due diligence in share purchase transactions—checklist, Information technology due diligence in share purchase transactions—checklist, Share purchase transactions—IP issues—checklist and Asset purchase transactions—IP issues—checklist. What IP and IT does the business need? • Ensure the buyer can continue to use the IP and IT post-completion as it requires. For IP, look at the business IP by type, ie trade marks, patents, know-how, designs, copyright and databases. For IT, look at hardware, software, networks and connectivity, services and domain names • What is the condition of any physical IT assets? Ensure these are supported by adequate support and maintenance contracts • Are there any restrictions on use of these IP/IT rights and assets? Seek assurances that what is being acquired is everything