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‘Our future will always be written in part by immigrants’ Hillary Clinton

Immigration was a prominent and highly charged topic of the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the US immigration system was broken and had promised to pass comprehensive reforms to strengthen the economy and to offer a path to full and equal citizenship to families that have been separated under the current legislation.  She promised to uphold President Obama’s executive actions, including DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and DAPA (Deferred Action for Parents of Americans) that would grant relief from the threat of deportation to thousands of long-term residents in the US, mainly from Latin America. [Continue Reading]

Following the record levels of activity seen in 2015, global M&A in 2016 was always going to have a hard act to follow. So far in 2016, while global markets have remained reasonably active, they have been more subdued across all the major geographic regions and market sectors than was the case in the previous year.
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The revised Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) came into force on 3 July 2016. Like several similarly important European initiatives, it suffered delays in its finalisation. Unlike certain other important initiatives (such as MiFID II), it did not benefit from a delay. Therefore, large parts of the industry spent the early stages of 2016 hurrying to try to get ready for MAR. This articles reviews the post-implementation environment in three different aspects of MAR.

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The aim of this guide is to provide its readers with a pragmatic overview of the law and practice of international arbitration across a variety of jurisdictions. The level of uniformity in this area is a topic in itself as international arbitration continues to straddle the well-ingrained legal cultures of the globe.

Each chapter of this guide provides information about the current issues affecting international arbitration in a particular country and addresses topics such as the legal requirements of a valid arbitration agreement, the authority and obligations of arbitrators, the governing law and procedure, preliminary and interim relief, the rules of evidence and the enforcement of arbitral awards. [Continue Reading]

A number of cases have come to court in Scotland in the last 12 months regarding whether or not notices have been validly served.

There is an established legal framework for determining that question, which every lawyer should bear in mind before drafting and serving a notice. [Continue Reading]

After a significant downturn in the M&A activity in Russia in 2015 (by some calculations, up to 30% by volume), market analysts note substantial growth in Russian M&A deals in January and February of 2016, with real estate development and finance industries making up around 50% of the increase.  Such developments can be attributed to some degree to the low base of previous years and the desire of Russian investors to secure their Ruble assets against devaluation, but any growth is welcome news nonetheless. [Continue Reading]

At the risk of woeful understatement, the City responded to the referendum result with some surprise and disappointment. The Leave vote may not be legally binding, but the government has committed itself to implement Brexit and it is a question of understanding the consequences.

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When drafting legal documentation pertaining to a sophisticated financial transaction, there is a lot to consider. The relevant agreements can be voluminous and the concepts reflected most certainly complex. Probably one of the more underestimated matters in this process is the jurisdiction clause. [Continue Reading]