In 2011 the government introduced a number of significant changes to the UK immigration regime that were aimed at reducing net migration by limiting the number of non-EU migrants permitted to come to the UK. Within the ‘high-value’ Tier 1 (Investor) and Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) categories, however, the opposite has been true. We have witnessed …
With the renewed focus on the criminal law brought about by the arrival of the Bribery Act 2010, in-house counsel may be forgiven for thinking that they are fully up to date with the potential consequences of corporate involvement in illegal activity. However, as we move through 2012, the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has already …
Continue reading “How far will the SFO go to recover the proceeds of crime?”
You are the general counsel of a company that is the corporate sponsor of a substantial defined benefit pension scheme. The trustees of the scheme consult the company in relation to a revised statement of investment principles. You notice that the statement proposes substantial investments in infrastructure assets. You want to know what risks this …
Continue reading “Pension fund investment in infrastructure: managing the potential risks”
The government’s widely anticipated water white paper ‘Water for Life’, released in December last year, sets out Defra’s vision for future water management: ‘… in which the water sector is resilient… water companies are more efficient and customer focused, and… water is valued as the precious and finite resource it is’.
Those with an interest in the Scottish political and legal system will have been aware since the middle of last year that there would at some point in the life of the current Scottish Parliament be a referendum on the question of Scottish independence. The current Scottish National Party (SNP) administration achieved, against all odds …
Continue reading “Scotland’s constitutional future: countdown to the referendum”
In this article, we discuss two recent decisions made in the course of the Leveson inquiry into the culture, practice and ethics of the press in order to highlight the particular issues facing those involved in public inquiries – and the difficult balancing exercises faced by the chairman in protecting the interests of individuals and …
2012 began with news coverage of the PIP breast implants matter, throwing up an interesting mix of issues, including regulation of medical devices, the assessment of risk, criminal proceedings abroad, what constitutes a defective product and contract issues. There is already litigation underway in some jurisdictions, with perhaps more to follow. How these questions are …
Continue reading “Product liability trends: what to watch in 2012”
A distribution agreement is an important legal instrument in the cross-border sale and distribution of all sorts of products (and related services). This article gives an overview of some of the legal issues relating to distribution agreements under Dutch law. The subjects discussed are especially useful to take into account when doing business with suppliers/manufacturers …
Continue reading “A few highlights: distribution agreements under Dutch law”
Imagine your company’s employees are the target of a campaign of activist intimidation, or members of your board are being subjected to aggressive door-stepping by the press. What could you do to protect them? What legal recourse would the victim or your company have?
The fallout from the collapse of Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme has generated both headlines and interesting legal issues. InMadoff Securities International Ltd v Raven & ors [2011], Flaux J considered a number of points of general interest. In particular, he provided important guidance on the extent to which claimants can use ‘anchor defendants’ to give …
In the first part of this article, the authors looked at the trade in counterfeit goods in the context of the massive changes taking place in the world economy and suggested that China’s current pre-eminence as the major source of the world’s counterfeits might come under threat from other emerging ‘competitors’. In part two, they …
Continue reading “The changing world of counterfeiting, part 2: strategies for the IP owner”
Saturday 28 January saw the annual Data Privacy Day1 once again upon us – an annual effort to alert the world to the importance of data protection, which, to date, has had varying degrees of success. Except this year it feels a little different – between the PlayStation Network being hacked2 , the Leveson enquiry3, …