Legal Briefing

Mutual Legal Assistance: When your assistance is required | Kingsley Napley LLP

This article is an assessment of practical and legal considerations arising from the operation of mutual legal assistance provided by the UK in connection with international criminal investigations. Mutual legal assistance (MLA) arrangements enable one country to seek assistance in obtaining evidence located in another country for the purposes of criminal investigations or proceedings. In …

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Puppet on a string | Macfarlanes

Since the House of Lords decision in Salomon v Salomon & Co [1897], it has been a fundamental principal of company law that a company has a separate legal personality. This means that shareholders are not normally liable for the acts or omissions of a company. However, the court will ‘pierce the corporate veil’ where …

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Planning, localism and the new economy | Berwin Leighton Paisner

The Localism Bill, which is now going through Parliament, has been highlighted by the government as a driver of housing supply improvement and sorely needed growth in the regions independent of financial wizardry. There has been much comment recently about whether localism will take us to the right place and really generate growth.

SLAPP Suits in the Indian Context | Amarchand Mangaldas

The term ‘SLAPP’, which stands for strategic lawsuit against public participation, was coined by two University of Denver professors, Penelope Canan and George W Pring. A SLAPP suit is usually meritless in that it ‘is intended to intimidate and silence’ a party from engaging in free speech, by burdening them with the cost of a …

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Beware: unprinted e-mail could prompt stamp duty in Austria | Wolf Theiss

A peculiarity in austrian law is the Austrian Stamp Duty Act (GebG). The Act contains a list of agreements, such as suretyships, settlement agreements, assignments of rights and rental agreements, which are subject to stamp duty if a ‘written deed’ is executed in Austria, or if any link to Austria exists. However, the Act itself …

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ISDA Master Agreement – “probably the most important standard market agreement used in the financial world” | Macfarlanes

In the recent Lomas & Ors v JFB Firth Rixson Inc & ors [2010], the joint administrators (the administrators) of Lehman Brothers International (Europe) (LBIE) applied for directions as to the true meaning and effect of certain terms under interest rate swap agreements (the swaps), governed by the International Swaps & Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master …

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Make no mistake: High Court refuses to rectify erroneous contract | Edwards Wildman Palmer UK LLP

Where a contract is formed on the basis of a mistake as to the law or certain facts, the contract can potentially be deemed void from its inception. In certain circumstances, however, the court has the authority to remedy the mistakes, by construing the contract in a way that will correct the mistakes, or by …

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BSkyB / News Corp and Ryanair / Aer Lingus: The Long-Reach of UK Merger Control | Charles Russell Speechlys

Two recent high-profile cases involving BSkyB/News Corporation and Ryanair/Aer Lingus have highlighted the importance of the merger control rules. These cases have also demonstrated the extensive scope and potential flexibility of the UK merger control regime and why anyone considering the acquisition of even a minority stake in a business may need to consider competition …

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UAE investment funds: proposed regulations | Baker & McKenzie Habib Al Mulla

On 6 January 2011 The Emirates Securities and Commodities Authority (ESCA) released a new draft regulation on investment funds in the UAE (the Regulation) for public consultation. The deadline for submitting comments or responses to ESCA is now closed, and it is expected that the Regulation will soon be discussed and approved by ESCA. It …

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Enforcing Trade Marks Online – Stemming the Flood | Rouse

It’s Friday, 8:30 AM, and you’re eating breakfast at your desk. Overnight you have received an urgent e-mail from Bob Shine, vice-president of Business Affairs. Bob is based in your head office several time zones away. For the past nine months you have been assisting him with due diligence in the divestment of one of …

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