ARCHIVED: This archived Practice Note considered the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on private M&A (share purchase or asset purchase) transactions. It has not been updated since May 2022. Factors affecting deal activity The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic will have an effect for its duration on many aspects of corporate law for legal practitioners and their clients. The impact on private M&A transactions will probably go beyond the period of the pandemic itself as regards the impact on the economy and individual businesses. Specific consequences that directly result from the pandemic include: • financial viability of conducting an acquisition—given the economic upheaval and shock to the world economy, will buyers have the necessary available funds to carry out a private M&A transaction? A potential buyer may look to maintain or bolster its cash reserves rather than seek out acquisition opportunities as a means of prudent financial management to weather the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic • heightened transaction risk—there is increased risk for a buyer in concluding a transaction during a time of extreme volatility,

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note focuses on the implications for dispute resolution in the light of temporary rules introduced in the context of coronavirus (COVID-19). This Practice Note should be read in conjunction with Practice Note: Coronavirus (COVID-19) implications for dispute resolution [Archived]. This Practice Note aims to assist dispute resolution practitioners seeking to understand the fast-moving changes to civil court processes and procedures during this time and the implications those changes and this pandemic may have on their practice and individual matters. It contains civil court specific guidance that has been issued in response to the coronavirus pandemic, all of which can be easily accessed using the ‘jump-links’ in the expandable table of contents in the left-hand margin of this Practice Note. As most courts and tribunal buildings are now open in line with public health advice, practitioners are referred to the Gov.uk ‘Find a court or tribunal’ service for the current status and contact details of courts and tribunals.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note focuses on the implications for dispute resolution in the light of temporary rules introduced in the context of coronavirus (COVID-19). This Practice Note aims to assist dispute resolution practitioners seeking to understand changes to civil court processes and procedures during the coronavirus pandemic and the effect those changes and this pandemic may have on their practice and individual matters. It considers the practical implications of coronavirus on a number of key litigation procedures and concepts. This Practice Note should be read in conjunction with Practice Notes: • Coronavirus (COVID-19) civil court specific guidance—dispute resolution [Archived], which gives further guidance in relation to specific courts • SCCO guidance for detailed assessment from 1 August 2020 This Practice Note offers ‘matter-neutral’ guidance on the procedural implications of the coronavirus on dispute resolution in England and Wales. For guidance on some key substantive and ‘matter-specific’ implications of the coronavirus, see: • contract breach and termination—Coronavirus (COVID-19) and contractual obligations—checklist, Practice

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It considers issues relating to the right to holiday and holiday pay during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It: • summarises the position under WTR 1998 in relation to the right to annual leave (or holiday) and pay under the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR 1998), SI 1998/1833, as a reminder of the general context in which these issues need to be considered • describes the relevant guidance issued by the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), HMRC and Acas, and • considers, specifically in the context of holiday and holiday pay during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic: ◦ how holiday pay is calculated ◦ whether an employer can tell an employee when to take their holiday, including managing holiday requests and requests to cancel booked holiday, and whether an employer can cancel a worker’s booked holiday or require a worker to take holiday at specific times ◦ amendments to the WTR 1998, SI 1998/1833 relating to carrying forward holiday

The response of the courts to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been patchy and confused. The position changes from day-to-day as to whether hearings should go ahead, whether they should be in person, and whether non-urgent cases should simply be adjourned or conducted remotely. At the time of writing the guidance suggests that where cases can be heard remotely, they will be—see: Coronavirus (COVID-19)-Civil and Family Courts guidance from Lord Chief Justice—LNB News 19/03/2020 93, and Coronavirus (COVID-19)—Guidance on telephone and video hearings updated—LNB News 19/03/2020 18, but the ability of the various court buildings to provide for this is highly questionable. In ongoing litigation there will be circumstances where a hearing is required within a particular time—for example an application to adduce expert evidence will be required

This Q&A considers the practical considerations when serving a claim for in an EU Member State in light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. The service provisions were those applicable for service prior to IP completion day (31 December 2020) ie service under Regulation (EC) 1393/2007, the Service Regulation. For guidance on the position post that date, see Practice Note: Cross-border service—serving in an EU Member State. The first point to note is that service in accordance with the provisions of Regulation (EC) 1393/2007, the Service Regulation is mandatory, and it is not possible to circumvent this procedure through an order for alternative service from the courts of this country, or by other means, see Hornan v Baillie. However, compelling the case for alternative service might be in the present circumstances, it is therefore simply not an option. Methods of service under

In light of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the government’s guidance relating to social distancing and staying at home, HMRC has relaxed its rules relating to conditionally exempt property. Heritage property usually open to the public Where the owner of a heritage property was not able to open to the public for a sufficient number of days in 2020, HMRC will not consider that the terms of conditional exemption have been broken, even if it means that some of the period covered by the agreement is missed or the property was not open at all in 2020. HMRC initially indicated that it would expect the property to be open later in 2020 to make up for any lost days, if possible. However, if this was not possible, additional open days in 2021 would not be expected to make up for missed days in 2020. The guidance was updated in December 2020 to confirm that the terms of conditional

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. The Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Act 2022 (CR(C)A 2022) continues and extends the protections given to commercial tenants during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. It does this by ringfencing rent and service charge debts accrued during the period when premises were required to close, and establishing a statutory arbitration process under which the debts may be reduced or payment deferred. It also imposes a moratorium on landlord remedies in order to protect tenants while the arbitration process takes place. The key provisions of CR(C)A 2022 and the government’s accompanying Commercial rent code of practice following the COVID-19 pandemic (the Code), are set out below. The government has also issued statutory guidance on the terms of the Act. The deadline for starting an arbitration has now ended, and with it the moratorium on landlord remedies in cases where no reference has been made. The moratorium remains in place for arrears that were referred to arbitration in time (see Moratorium

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is no longer maintained. It tracked the progress of UK legislative proposals and consultations relevant to the life sciences sector between 2019–2022 which were independent of events specifically related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and Brexit during that period which have their own dedicated, archived trackers. To track the progress of current UK legislative proposals, consultations and developments, as well as significant cases, which are relevant to the life sciences sector, see Practice Notes: Life sciences tracker—UK and Life sciences cases tracker—UK. To track the progress of current EU legislative proposals, consultations and developments, as well as significant cases, which are relevant to the life sciences sector, see Practice Notes: Life sciences tracker—EU and Life sciences cases tracker—EU. For older archived items about developments in the life sciences or those related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic or Brexit, see Practice Notes: • Coronavirus (COVID-19)—UK life sciences tracker [Archived] • Coronavirus (COVID-19)—EU life sciences tracker [Archived] • Life sciences—Brexit tracker 2020–2022 [Archived] • Life sciences—Brexit tracker 2017–2020 [Archived] • Patents

While we are not aware of case law authority specifically dealing with this issue, the terms of collateral arrangements, even those which are personal to the parties, can be read by the court in conjunction with the terms of a lease (Allied Dunbar Assurance v Homebase). Accordingly, on the basis of this principle, a court could be made aware of the terms of a side letter under the current lease in deciding the terms of the renewal lease. This would obviously

Responding to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is impacting government priorities across Europe and beyond. In light of COVID-19 developments and associated guidance on social distancing, UK and EU negotiating teams involved in the talks on the future relationship and Withdrawal Agreement implementation are not meeting in person in accordance with the original terms of reference, but they remain in regular contact to find alternative ways of continuing the discussions. Both the EU chief negotiator, Michel Barnier, and UK chief negotiator, David Frost, have been in isolation due to COVID-19 and were reported to have not met since the first round of talks. The UK government has acknowledged the impact of COVID-19 on immediate priorities, but still aims to review progress in the future relationship talks in June 2020 and is sticking to the December 2020 deadline for ending the transitional arrangements. The government has repeatedly restated its commitment to the current transition timetable and insists that it will not agree to any extension to the transition/implementation period under

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. This Practice Note provides an overview of the ongoing impact in Scotland of the Coronavirus (COVID–19) pandemic on the following practice areas: • Corporate Crime • Dispute Resolution • Private client • Property • Restructuring & Insolvency Key legislation applicable in Scotland The Coronavirus (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Coronavirus (Scotland) (No 2) Act 2020 (the Scottish Coronavirus Acts) introduced certain temporary provisions to help manage the coronavirus pandemic. The Coronavirus (Extension and Expiry) (Scotland) Act 2021 expired certain provisions in the Scottish Coronavirus Acts that were no longer required and extended other provisions that were still required until the end of March 2022. The Coronavirus (Scotland) Acts (Amendment of Expiry Dates) Regulations 2022, SSI 2022/113 subsequently amended the Scottish Coronavirus Acts so that Part 1 of each Act expired at the end of 30 September 2022. In addition to the Scottish Coronavirus Acts, certain temporary measures were introduced by the Coronavirus Act 2020—see section 100 for the provisions that applied to Scotland. The relevant