This Practice Note provides practical guidance and tips for in-house lawyers on boosting quality, productivity (by way of a better coordination of work effort and allocation) and transparency within their legal teams. An ideal world or fantasy? In an ideal world the legal department should enjoy the following in relation to incoming work: • early visibility of projects/transactions with a significant legal dimension • rapid allocation to the most appropriate legal resource (internal/external) • early assessment of its significance to both the business and the legal team • exploitation of expertise and know–how In relation to work underway the legal team should: • know the status of work in progress—timelines, milestones etc • be reporting to management—legal and business • have visibility of resources devoted, including external spend • have ready access to files, precedents and know-how (not just by creator) • have prompts/workflows—but avoid rigidity • ensure consistency of approach—but with flexibility for innovation and improvement • ensure consistency of content (work product) In relation to work done the legal department should: • ensure

CASE HUB ARCHIVED—this case hub reflects the position at the date of the decision of 19 March 2025; it is not maintained. See further, timeline and commentary Case facts Outline UK merger investigation into the anticipated acquisition by Boparan Private Office Limited (via 2 Agriculture Limited) of ForFarmers UK Limited’s Burston and Radstock feed mills. The transaction involves horizontal overlaps in relation to the supply of meat poultry feed. Latest developments On 19 March 2025, the CMA issued its final report, in which it confirmed the findings in its interim report that the merger may not be expected to result in an SLC in the supply of meat poultry feed locally, or any other market within the UK. Parties • Boparan. (Boparan): Boparan (through 2Agriculture Ltd (2Agriculture)) is active in animal feed milling business specialising in the production of conventional (ie no-organic) compound poultry feed. 2Agriculture is part of a group of companies, which are active in food production and supply and are under the common ownership of Mr Ranjit Singh Boparan

Border Force has seized cocaine and amphetamines worth £14m from a lorry in Coquelles, France. The lorry was on its way to the UK from the Netherlands. An estimated 250kg of cocaine and 169kg of amphetamine were found in 43 containers of flowers. False floors were used in each container to hide the drugs. The operation took more than 12 hours.

Border Forensics and the Centre for Sociodigital Futures at the University of Bristol have published a report examining the impact of UK government ‘Stop the Boats’ policies and associated funding of more than £625 million provided to France to prevent small boat departures. The report identifies a rise in deaths of individuals attempting to cross the English Channel from summer 2023, coinciding with the UK-France Joint Leaders Declaration, under which £476 million was allocated over three years for enhanced border enforcement. It states that fatalities increased despite a reduction in the number of crossings and attributes this trend to changes in border policing practices, including anti-smuggling operations, aerial surveillance and increased coastal enforcement activity.

Historically, a town returning a burgess or burgesses to Parliament.

The party to whom an asset-based lender or receivables financier make a loan facility available.

Banking & Finance analysis: The Court of Appeal held that contractual interest continues to accrue unless the borrower makes a valid tender of the full sum due and, if payment is refused, keeps immediately available funds set aside for the lender. Conditional refinancing proposals or settlement offers are insufficient, even where the lender has wrongly asserted a default. The court also upheld default interest of four per cent per month, compounded monthly, applying Cavendish v Makdessi: the question was whether the detriment was out of all proportion to the lender’s legitimate interests. Practitioners should ensure any purported tender is unconditional, fully funded and continuously available, and should assess default rates against evidenced legitimate interests at the date of contracting. Produced in partnership with Robert Aulsebrook, senior counsel at Akin Gump LLP.

A certificate delivered by a client/borrower to an asset-based lender during the life of a facility and which identifies the present value of an asset class being funded. Typically used in inventory and receivables lending facilities.

What is a borrowing base facility? Borrowing base facilities ('BB Facilities') are a type of trade finance. They are working capital credit facilities designed to provide short term liquidity by way of advances or the issue of trade instruments ('Instruments') such as letters of credit (see: Letters of credit—overview) or demand guarantees (see: On demand guarantees/bonds—overview). They are secured in full by current assets (usually trading receivables, inventory (ie goods in storage or in transit), cash and contractual rights) of the borrower and/or other security providers. To that end, the amount of capital available to the borrower at any moment is directly linked to the value of the assets providing security to the lender(s). BB Facilities are generally provided to trading companies on a revolving basis for the purposes of purchasing, storing, transporting and selling prescribed commodities. They are usually used to finance a pool of traded assets with high price volatility. A typical borrowing base facility agreement will include provisions which focus on those assets and their value. A typical BB Facility will have a tenor of 1–2 years, although

The power to borrow Generally, the power to borrow will be found: • in the governing document • in the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TLATA 1996) • in the Trustee Act 2000 (TrA 2000) • by implication It would be strange if a modern governing document did not include a power to borrow. Those model documents supplied by the Charity Commission all include the necessary power. Where the governing document fails to assist, the charity will have to, firstly, rely on the statutory provisions. Prior to 1 January 1997, trustees could rely on the provisions of sections 29 (charitable and public trusts) and 71 (tenant for life’s power to raise money by mortgage) of the Settled Land Act 1925 (SLA 1925). This is now only of historical interest to prove that a charity had the absolute power to charge property, as SLA 1925 was replaced by the Trusts of Land and Appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (TLATA 1996). TLATA 1996 was a radical change as charities now held land subject to

1. What is the applicable legislation? Bosnia and Herzegovina does not currently have a FDI regime comparable to those emerging across Europe in response to the EU FDI Screening Regulation. Instead, Bosnia and Herzegovina maintains more traditional authorisation systems, primarily focused on the defence and media sectors. Foreign investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including those in sectors subject to specific restrictions, are regulated at multiple levels due to the country’s administrative structure: • Bosnia and Herzegovina (state level)—the Foreign Direct Investments Policy Act (Official Gazette of BiH Nos. 4/1998, 17/1998, 13/2003, 48/2010 and 22/2015) establishes the general framework for foreign investment policy and procedures and applies across the entire territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina (the FDI Policy Act) • Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) (entity level)—the FBiH Foreign Investments Act (Official Gazette of FBiH, Nos. 61/2001, 50/2003 and 77/2015) sets out the rules governing foreign investment approvals within the FBiH, and • Republika Srpska (RS)

This table summarises all completed investigations by Bosnia & Herzegovina’s competition authority (the Council of Competition—the CC) into alleged cartels, anti-competitive agreements and abuses of dominant positions since 2018. Note—only investigations that have been made public are included in this table. 2024 Investigations under Article 4 of the Competition Law Case name, companies under investigation and industry Issues Developments Public procurement of road rehabilitation works• Undertakings unknown Restrictive agreements • Infringement decision announced—08/11/2024; fines totalling KM 209,801 imposed Public procurement of computer systems• 11 undertakings (listed here) Restrictive agreements • Infringement decision issued—07/11/2024; fines totalling KM 284,927 imposed Investigations under Article 9 of the Competition Law Case name, companies under investigation and industry Issues Developments District heating distribution and supply services• Undertakings unknown Unknown • Infringement decision announced—08/11/2024; fines totalling KM 27,500 imposed 2023 Investigations under Article 4 of the Competition Law Case name, companies under investigation and industry Issues Developments The CC did not issue any decisions under Article 4 in 2023 Investigations under Article 9 of the Competition Law Case