A feature of a life assurance policy (and other plans eg personal pension) which is designed to protect payment of the premiums.

Dispute Resolution analysis: This is a concerning decision in which the Scottish Court of Session held that there was a waiver of privilege over legal advice given by the University’s lawyers who reviewed a draft report into an employee grievance complaint (undertaken by an independent investigator) in light of which the final report was amended. The University argued that disclosure of the original draft could be withheld on account of privilege because it would reveal the advice given—not surprisingly, this argument was dismissed, in effect, the draft could not become privileged in consequence of later legal advice which it might somehow give away. However, more surprisingly, the First Division, Inner House, Court of Session held that privilege was probably lost when the advice was shared with the investigator but was certainly lost ‘once it became known that the original report had been altered as a result of that advice’. While the decision is binding on employment tribunals across the UK, it will be of interest to see whether the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) in England & Wales will follow this controversial decision of the higher Scottish court. Written by Colin Passmore, partner, Simmons & Simmons, author of Passmore on Privilege (Sweet & Maxwell, 4th Edition).

IP analysis: In this judgment, the court held that the defendants, the well-known home developer, Weston Homes, had waived litigation privilege in a body of undeployed experimental evidence. The waiver arose from Weston’s deployment of a small part of this body of experiments (seven of approximately 30 test runs) in support of its case on non-infringement. The judgment is the latest instalment in a line of cases on litigation privilege and experimental evidence, including the judgments of Mr Justice Pumfrey in Mayne Pharma v Debiopharm and Daniel Alexander KC in Magnesium Elektron Ltd v Neo . Normally evidence or other materials prepared in contemplation of litigation, may be withheld from disclosure on grounds of litigation privilege. The judgment sheds new light on the question of when there is a waiver of that privilege and when a party to patent infringement proceedings can be ordered to disclose hitherto undeployed litigation experiments. Written by Henry Edwards, barrister at 8 New Square.

The parties acknowledge that the making and performance of this [insert, eg Agreement] constitutes a commercial transaction and that each party irrevocably submits [[to the jurisdiction of the English courts] OR [to any arbitral tribunal constituted under this Agreement]] and to any other courts for the purposes of either

Arbitration analysis: The Court of Appeal reiterated that any irregularity in the constitution of an arbitral tribunal, particularly concerning the independence or impartiality of an arbitrator, must be raised promptly; otherwise, the party is deemed to have waived the objection. The court also confirmed that in investment arbitration, annulment judges review the arbitral tribunal’s jurisdiction, including the existence of an ‘investment’, by assessing all relevant factual and legal circumstances. Finally, the court emphasised that criminal proceedings or prosecutions initiated by a state against a party do not amount to a violation of the right to a fair trial if they are unrelated to the arbitration and do not impair the party’s ability to present its case. On this basis, the court dismissed all of Mrs. [J]’s annulment grounds. Written by Clément Fouchard, partner at Reed Smith.

This Practice Note covers: • the differences between amendments, waivers and consents • when and why a waiver may be sought • the process for making and responding to a waiver request • considerations for lenders when considering how to respond to the request • dangers to the lenders in ignoring a default • conditions which may be attached to the grant of a waiver or consent, and • how the arrangements should be documented What is the difference between amendments, waivers and consents? At a basic level, any variation from the terms of a facility agreement will need an amendment, waiver or consent by the lender(s). Waivers and amendments will both need lender consent. This is likely to be a straightforward process on a bilateral facility agreement, but more complex on a syndicated transaction. Syndicated facility agreements based on Loan Market Association (LMA) documentation, envisage variations to any finance document to constitute either an amendment or waiver. Separately, certain facility agreements are drafted so as to permit certain actions provided the lender

A contract of agency.

This Practice Note on Islamic finance and tax outlines how a wakala works as a form of financing, the UK corporation tax and withholding tax issues that apply to a wakala that qualifies as a profit share agency arrangement under the UK alternative finance arrangement rules. It also considers stamp taxes and the VAT issues relevant to profit share agency arrangements. Shari’a compliant financing arrangements (also known as Islamic financing arrangements) can take a number of forms. The UK has introduced specific provisions known as the alternative finance arrangement rules to deal with the direct tax treatment of certain forms of Shari’a financing. The UK alternative finance arrangement rules are intended to allow Shari’a compliant financing arrangements to be treated for UK direct tax purposes in the same way as if they were a conventional loan. This treatment is dependent on the financing arrangements satisfying the relevant conditions in the legislation applicable to alternative finance arrangements. The rules currently cover five different types of financing arrangements. Some

An agent.

Law360, London: The High Court sanctioned North Sea oil company Waldorf Production's debt restructuring plan on 5 May 2026, rejecting  HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) argument that the proposals would unfairly wipe out some £69.8 million in unpaid windfall tax liabilities.

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: Re Waldorf concerned the court sanction of a restructuring plan (the Plan) put forward by Waldorf Production UK Plc (the Company), which was refused. Mr Justice Hildyard’s judgment, having considered the three Court of Appeal judgments on restructuring plans (Re AGPS BondCo Plc, Re Thames Water and Re Petrofac), reiterated and clarified guidance laid down by the Court of Appeal and which will have a wider impact on the structuring of restructuring plans. He found that the Plan was unfair because the proposed 5% return for out of the money creditors did not fairly and reasonably allocate the benefits of the restructuring having regard to amounts contributed by each creditor class. The lack of engagement by the Company with its out of the money creditors was not fatal but negatively impacted the Company’s ability to demonstrate that the Plan was fair. Written by Alex Harford, associate at Allen Overy Shearman Sterling LLP.

The Wales Office has announced significant developments in the clean energy sector aimed at stimulating economic growth in Wales. Key initiatives include the development of floating offshore wind in the Celtic Sea, with Pembrokeshire designated as a pilot area for workforce development. The UK Government has committed £26m to the Celtic Freeport in Milford Haven and Port Talbot and announced a partnership between the Crown Estate and Great British Energy to leverage up to £60bn of private investment into ports and clean energy supply chains. These measures are expected to create up to 5,300 new jobs and generate £1.4bn for the UK economy. Additionally, the Welsh Economic Growth Advisory Group has been established to inform the UK Government's new Industrial Strategy and shape Welsh priorities for the upcoming Spending Review in Spring 2025.