What does this Practice Note cover? This Practice Note introduces the 1992 and 2002 ISDA Master Agreements (the Master Agreements) and provides guidance on negotiating Section 1 (Interpretation) and Section 2 (Obligations—including payment netting, gross-up and default interest) of the Master Agreements. In this Practice Note, references to Sections of a Master Agreement and Parts of a Schedule are references to the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement and related schedule unless otherwise stated. Introduction to negotiating ISDA documents The Master Agreements are standard form documents produced by the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (ISDA). Amendments and elections to the Master Agreements are made in a schedule to that Master Agreement. The Master Agreement governs the contractual relationship between two parties who are trading derivatives with each other. The commercial terms of each transaction are set out in trade confirmations which will be subject to the terms of the Master Agreement (as amended). It is important to note that the Master Agreement and schedule do not necessarily relate

What does this Practice Note cover? This Practice Note provides guidance on the scope of Sections 7 to 14 of the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc (ISDA). ISDA documents The 1992 and 2002 ISDA Master Agreements (the Master Agreements) are standard form documents produced by ISDA. In this Practice Note, references to Sections of a Master Agreement and Parts of a Schedule are references to the 2002 ISDA Master Agreement and Schedule unless otherwise stated. For general information about negotiating ISDA Master Agreements, see Introduction to negotiating ISDA documents. Sections 7 to 14 of an ISDA Master Agreement This part of the Master Agreement relates to what is commonly called the 'boilerplate' in financing documentation. See Boilerplate for more information. This part of the Master Agreement contains provisions relating to items such as currencies, governing law, notices etc. It is usually not the primary area of focus for negotiations, but it is important for anyone negotiating a Master Agreement to be fully aware of the provisions. Section

The Pay As You Earn (PAYE) system is the means by which an employer or pension provider makes certain statutory deductions from an employee’s or pensioner’s income. These include deductions for the employee’s liability to income tax and National Insurance contributions (NICs), as well as other earnings-based deductions such as student loan repayments. PAYE is effectively HMRC’s method for collecting income tax and NICs from an individual on a regular basis rather than relying on every individual having to complete a tax return in order to notify HMRC of their liability. PAYE is not an exact measurement of an employee’s tax liability; rather it is an estimate of the tax that the employee should pay based on HMRC’s understanding of the income and benefits that they will receive. The tax is calculated based on notices of coding which HMRC supplies to employers and pension providers. The PAYE system is also the method through which employers are required to make any apprenticeship levy payments. For more detail, see Practice Note: Apprenticeship levy. This Practice Note describes

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: The Court of Appeal considered the scope of the words ‘any persons who were knowingly parties to the carrying on of the business in the manner mentioned above’ contained in section 213 of the Insolvency Act 1986 (IA 1986). IA 1986, s 213 deals with the scenario where any business of the company has been carried on with the intent to defraud creditors of the company or creditors of any other person, or for any fraudulent purpose. If a person is found liable for fraudulent trading the court may, upon an application by a liquidator, declare that the person should contribute to the assets of the company. Tradition Financial Services Ltd (TFS), the appellant, argued that the phrase was restricted to persons exercising management or control over the company in question. The liquidators of the respondent companies contested that argument and submitted that the word ‘party’ had a wider definition. The Court of Appeal held that a person liable under IA 1986, s 213 may well extend further than just those exercising management or control over a company but whether that could be proved would depend on the facts of each case which would require careful analysis. Written by Ben Rutledge, associate at Keidan Harrison LLP.

The Office of the Public Guardian in Scotland (OPG) has released the newly innovated Power of Attorney (PoA) case management system, expected to launch on the 28 January 2025. This initiative provides substantial capital towards digital transformation, targeted at improving customer service and minimising PoA processing times, through revised formats for PoA reference numbers and a temporary two-step workaround for declined PoAs lodged electronically.

The Scottish government has launched a consultation on the draft debt recovery (Mental Health Moratorium) (Scotland) regulations, following the completion of the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Bill on 6 June 2024. The draft regulations, developed in response to section 1 of the Bill, seeks to establish a moratorium on debt recovery actions against individuals with mental illness. The proposed legislation incorporates recommendations from an expert working group, feedback from a previous public consultation, and parliamentary debates.

Lexis+® UK contains a number of useful articles on Scotland and Scots law. The tables below comprise an archive of journal articles on Scotland and Scots law, available subject to subscription: Journal articles 2026 Date Article Brief description of article 1 November 2026 ICO investigates Police Scotland's handling of access requests: PDP 27 1 (29) (2) The Information Commission’s Office (ICO) announced on 11th of September that it is investigating whether Police Scotland has complied with its obligations when responding to subject access requests, including statutory response times. The inquiry covers Articles 12 and 15 of the Assimilated Regulation (EU) 2016/679, UK GDPR and section 45 of the Data Protection Act 2018, which concerns access to data processed for law-enforcement purposes. The ICO has announced an investigation, not a conclusion that Police Scotland breached the law.The distinction between general and law-enforcement processing is particularly relevant to police bodies, but the operational question applies more widely: can an organisation recognise an access request, route it to the correct team, find the relevant information and answer within the applicable

This Checklist is designed to highlight issues commonly arising during the negotiation and drafting of a settlement agreement in the context of a civil dispute in Scotland. For an example draft settlement agreement, see Precedent: Style—Settlement agreement—Scottish civil dispute. Issue Key considerations Timing of settlement? —Consider settlement at all stages of a dispute, including pre-action—Explore all settlement options: direct negotiation, solicitor-to-solicitor discussions, assisted ADR (eg mediation, expert determination, arbitration, adjudication, early neutral evaluation)—Check whether there are any mandatory ADR pre-action requirements for the particular court/procedure—Consider the implications of judicial expenses and whether a tender or pursuer’s offer would be appropriate—When court proceedings have not commenced, be mindful of any relevant limitation or prescriptive periods Authority and representation —Identify who within the client organisation has authority to negotiate and conclude settlement—Ensure those with authority are kept informed and involved throughout—Consider whether counsel or solicitor advocates should be involved in settlement discussions Negotiation strategy —Assess the strength and weaknesses of your client’s case and the opponent’s—Clarify

The Scottish Government has launched two consultations on coal extraction and onshore conventional oil and gas, motivated by its target date for net zero emissions of all greenhouse gases by 2045 and the aims of the Paris Agreement. The consultations will undertake an evidence-gathering process to establish the Scottish Government’s finalised policy position on coal extraction and onshore conventional oil and gas. Responses can be submitted until 2 August 2022.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service has announced that it is introducing bulk submission on its Civil Online service which is used for simple procedure cases. The new Application Programming Interface will enable legal firms to transfer simple procedure applications from their internal case management systems directly onto Civil Online, and in addition, ‘where legal firms are dealing with high volumes of simple procedure cases, they will now have the option to register them digitally, rather than manually registering each individual application’. In order not to flood the court system, submission limits will be set at 10 cases per firm each day per court. This limit will be ‘regularly reviewed and incrementally extended’.

The tables below comprise an archive of news analysis on Scotland and Scots law developments published within various practice areas. For specific content relating to coronavirus (COVID-19), see the Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Scotland tracker [Archived]. News analysis 2026 col style="width: 33%;"> Date News analysis Brief description of news analysis 14 October 2026 MoD granted permission to appeal reservist pension ruling in Court of Session Law360: Scotland’s highest civil court will hear the Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) appeal against a ruling concerning the pension treatment of part-time army reservists compared with full-time personnel, in a case that could affect more than 1,000 stayed claims. 23 September 2026 DNO raises the price for Capricorn to make Egypt its third core area Market Standards analysis: On 1 September 2026, DNO ASA (DNO) announced a recommended cash and special dividend offer for the acquisition of Capricorn Energy plc (Capricorn). The offer valued Capricorn at approximately £292 million, representing a 45% premium. The acquisition will be implemented by way of a Scottish Court-sanctioned scheme of arrangement. A Scottish scheme is the usual court-led route for a Scottish

The Accountant in Bankruptcy (AiB) has presented the Bankruptcy and Diligence (Scotland) Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments and Forms) Regulations 2025 to Parliament and if passed, will come into effect on 25 June 2025, following April's Commencement No.2 regulations (which will implement sections 4, 5, 11 and 12 of the 2024 Act). The new regulations amend the Bankruptcy Applications and Decisions Regulations 2016 to align notification processes when the AiB acts as trustee in recall cases, and introduce new forms to facilitate trustee resignation in instances involving non-cooperating debtors.