What are they? A bridge to bond facility is a type of acquisition financing where the buyer requires the certainty of a fully committed financing package, but which is intended to be replaced in the future with a mid- to long-term financing in the form of high yield bonds. In markets where acquisitions typically do not have a financing condition, a bridge financing package (which is available to be drawn if necessary) is often a key component to a successful bid. This Practice Note focuses on bridge to high yield bond financing. However, investment-grade borrowers also commonly use bridge facilities for acquisitions. Bridge commitments for investment-grade borrowers differ in many ways, including: lower pricing, much less restrictive covenants (the terms often follow the borrower’s existing credit facilities) and the securities demand mechanic may not be included (or if included, it may only be triggered by ratings downgrade). Bridge commitments for investment grade borrowers may also have longer maturities (or extension rights exercisable by the borrower) and be anticipated to be refinanced by longer term bank debt

This Practice Note identifies the main highways law issues concerning bridges and tunnels as the rights of the public to pass and re-pass across bridges or through tunnels, and maintenance liability for them. It describes the four types of highway bridge and discusses who is responsible for the maintenance of the bridge in each case, referring in particular to the Highways Act 1980 (HiA 1980) and the Transport Act 1968 (TrA 1968). It summarises relevant legislation specific to toll bridges and tolled tunnels, new bridges across navigable water, bridges across boundaries, and footbridges. The main highways law issues concerning bridges and tunnels are as to the: • rights of the public to pass and re-pass across bridges or through tunnels, and • maintenance liability for them The definitions of a bridge and a tunnel in HiA 1980 are not very helpful. Section 328(2) says: ‘Where a highway passes over a bridge or through a tunnel, that bridge or tunnel is to be taken for the purposes of this Act

Temporary pension sometimes paid to members who retire before State pension age to fill the gap between retirement and the start of the State pension.

This Practice Note contains references to case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union. For guidance on whether EU judgments are binding on UK courts, see Practice Note: Assimilated law — Assimilated case law. What are bridging pensions? Bridging pensions are a form of pension provided by some (but not all) defined benefit occupational pension schemes in circumstances where a member’s scheme pension commences before state pension age (SPA). As the name suggests, bridging pensions are a form of temporary 'top-up' pension intended to 'bridge the gap' between the date on which the relevant member's 'normal' scheme pension comes into payment, and a later date, typically the member’s SPA when their state pension commences. Unequal SPAs for men and women and bridging pensions—how they interact Until plans were considered by the government to equalise the SPAs for men and women in 1993, men had continued to enjoy an SPA of 65 and women 60. Bridging pensions are commonly found where they are used in an attempt to ensure male and female members

In Birds Eye Walls v Roberts concerned schemes which pay bridging pensions. The ECJ held that the scheme’s decision to reduce Mrs Robert’s pension by the amount of the state pension when she reached the age of 60 was justifiable because of the objective of the employer to achieve equality between the sexes.

Brief details of claim 1 This claim is made under section 423 of the Insolvency Act 1986. 2 The Claimant is the [insert office held] of [insert name of the company] (the Company). 3 The Claimant

This Practice Note deals with matters to consider when instructing counsel to undertake the advocacy at trial, including the factors you should take into account and what you need to include in the brief to counsel. When to brief counsel If you have any doubts about whether you will have the time to prepare the case adequately for trial, or whether you are competent to present it at trial or have the appropriate rights of audience, you should brief counsel to undertake the advocacy at trial. In more complex matters, counsel will have been involved in the preparation of the case or defence and may have advised on the merits of the claim or defence, approved or drafted the relevant statements of case and undertaken the advocacy at any interim hearings. Ideally, the same counsel will be undertaking the advocacy at trial. When instructing new counsel, it will be important to assess counsel’s suitability

Every director of a company owes a number of duties to the company they are appointed to. Many of those duties have been developed by the courts over hundreds of years. The main directors' duties are set out in statute in sections 171 to 177 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006). This briefing is intended to give you, the directors [and the company secretary] of [insert company name] [Limited OR PLC] (the Company) an overview of the general duties set out in the CA 2006 and to provide some practical guidance to help you comply with those duties. The failure by a director to comply with any of the general duties has potentially serious consequences for that director. This briefing is not intended to give legal advice, which should be sought on any specific issues that arise in relation to directors' duties. Who owes the general duties? Every director of a company owes each of the general duties to that company. Compliance with each of the general duties is the personal responsibility of each

The Migration Observatory has updated its briefing which examines the migration of Afghan asylum seekers and refugees to the UK. The briefing outlines the contemporary landscape of Afghan migration to the UK, emphasising the interplay between resettlement schemes, asylum flows and global displacement. By June 2025, around 35,700 people had been resettled under the UK’s three dedicated Afghan humanitarian visa routes (ARAP, ACRS and the recently disclosed ARR). Of those, ARAP accounted for 53 percent, ACRS for 37 percent and ARR for 10 percent. Approximately 97 percent of beneficiaries were Afghan nationals. The ARR scheme itself had resettled around 3,400 people as of 30 June 2025, with expectations of a total 6,900 by scheme close.

The House of Commons Library has published a briefing paper on the Pension Schemes Bill 2024-25, a government bill introduced on 5 June 2025, which is listed for its second reading on Monday 7 July 2025. The briefing paper sets out the background, effect and commentary on the Bill in advance of its second reading before MPs in the House of Commons

Privileged and Confidential—not for circulation DRAFT Date [Insert date] Prepared by [Insert details of who produced

Dispute Resolution analysis: Lord Justice Briggs published his Final Report on the Civil Courts Structure Review on 27 July 2016. It was commissioned by the Lord Chief Justice and the Master of the Rolls in July 2015 and Briggs LJ’s Interim Report was published in January 2016. The final report recommends the creation of an Online Court, intended to be used by litigants mainly without the need for legal representation, but with minimal costs shifting where representation is used, the use of ‘case officers’ to assist judges in dealing with routine boxwork and with certain stages of the process in the Online Court, the use of a single court—the County Court—as the default court for the enforcement of all civil judgments and orders, the removal of financial limits on trust, estates and probate work carried out by the County Court, and the value threshold below which a claim cannot be issued in the High Court to be increased to £250,000 initially, then £500,000, with no distinction for personal injuries claims as at present.