Our knowledge resources reflect the breadth and depth of our expertise, our insight into the issues which matter to your business, and our understanding of the markets in which you operate.
After many months of speculation and preparation, COP28 got underway last week in Dubai. As set out in our article prior to COP28 commencing, the conference comes at a crucial time in collective international efforts to tackle the climate crisis, with King Charles emphasising in his address to the conference that "COP28 will be another critical turning point towards genuine transformational action".
SDR is widely seen as the UK's answer to the EU Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR), which is currently under review by the European Commission (in fact, we understand that the Commission has an eye on SDR as part of that review). While narrower in scope than SFDR in some respects, it goes further in others insofar as it provides for a set of formal product labels and imposes minimum standards for labelled products and non-labelled products that have ESG-related terms in their names (although some will already be familiar with the FCA's ‘Guiding Principles’ for authorised ESG and sustainable investment funds, which sets out expectations in terms of design, delivery and disclosure in relation to such funds).
Partner Andy Lewis outlines four key steps for pension schemes on the net zero journey.
How do you date a contract if work started before you were in a position to agree and sign the final version?
In Project Angel BidCo Ltd (in administration) v Axis Managing Agency Limited the Commercial Court made clear that to the extent any warranties included in an SPA are identified in an appendix to a W&I policy as being covered (in principle) by the W&I insurer, this remains subject to the wider terms and conditions of the W&I policy including any relevant exclusion clauses.
Travers Smith has written the UK chapter of the Chambers global outsourcing guide.
In a recent decision of the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the panel unanimously decided that three Defendant groups should not be given permission to instruct their own experts in the field of competition economics at trial and were instead given permission to instruct a single joint expert. Initially, the Claimants had not opposed the appointment of separate experts by each of the Defendant groups – the issue had been raised for consideration by the Tribunal itself.
Last month the Court of Appeal handed down its judgment in Hotel Portfolio II UK Limited v Ruhan and others [2023] EWCA Civ 1120. This case deals with several, complex legal issues concerning the availability of equitable compensation against an individual who has provided dishonest assistance in a breach of fiduciary duty in circumstances where the breaches of fiduciary duty in question are properly to be categorised as a "single and uninterrupted course of conduct".
Do the policy changes announced by the UK Government in September mean that it is rowing back on its commitment Net Zero? Anyone wanting to understand the UK's Net Zero ambitions may ask how many plans it takes to switch on a light bulb.
When the business an employee works for is sold and TUPE applies, working out which of the employees' rights transfer can be tricky. In the recent case of Ponticelli Ltd v Gallagher, the Inner House of the Court of Session held that an individual's right to participate in their employer's Share Incentive Plan transferred with them.
On 26 October 2023, the UK's Energy Act 2023 (the "Act") received Royal Assent, becoming one of the largest pieces of energy legislation in a generation. The Act was originally introduced in July 2022 by then Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng as the 'Energy Security Bill'. The Energy Security Bill was reviewed following the resignation of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss before being re-tabled to the House of Lords on 12 December 2022 under its new name, the Energy Act.
Indirect transfer taxes (or non-resident capital gains taxes) are a key issue on secondary transactions. Generally, this issue can be navigated with a combination of early tax advice and contractual risk allocation between Buyer and Seller.
Since the publication of the Government's 2017 white paper "Fixing our broken housing market", there has been much discussion about the Government's plans to reform the housing market especially by means of modernising the leasehold sector. The King's Speech on 7 November 2023 included further announcements about leasehold reform.
Find the latest news, views and our analysis of all the key announcements.
A regular briefing for the alternative asset management industry.
Welcome to the inaugural edition of our investigations newsletter, bringing you up-to-speed on the latest trends and developments in this ever-evolving area.
Last week the Quoted Companies Alliance (the "QCA") published its revised Corporate Governance Code (the "Revised Code"). The Revised Code will apply in respect of financial years beginning on or after 1 April 2024 and there will be a 12-month transition period (from 1 April 2024) during which companies will have additional flexibility to adjust to the provisions of the Revised Code.
Benchmarking mechanisms in commercial agreements are intended to help customers to assess whether they are getting a good deal. But both suppliers and customers can sometimes end up feeling that the whole process is more trouble than it's worth.
Emily Clark (Head of Asset Management) and Ian Zeider (Knowledge Counsel) have recently co-authored a Tax Journal article on the Upper Tribunal's decision in HMRC v BlueCrest Capital Management (UK) LLP relating to the application of the salaried members rules. In its decision, the Tribunal rejected HMRC’s restrictive interpretation of the exclusions from salaried member status.