The Supreme Court has provided helpful clarification on the scope of section 171 of the Companies Act 2006 (CA 2006) in Eclairs Group Ltd and Glengary Overseas Ltd v JKX Oil & Gas plc [2015] UKSC 71. Continue reading
REUTERS | David Mdzinarishvili
January 18, 2016
Supreme Court reinvigorates the proper purposes rule
REUTERS | Corbis
January 11, 2016
Dealing with whistleblowing claims: tips for in-house lawyers
In recent years, there has been considerable government intervention in whistleblowing. Responding to the perception that whistleblowing legislation was being exploited as a means of avoiding the compensatory cap for unfair dismissal claims, the government introduced a requirement that a disclosure is not protected unless it is reasonably believed to be made in the public interest.
REUTERS | Henry Romero
December 30, 2015
Hurry, must end soon! A sales season checklist for retailers
In 2015, more retailers than ever in the UK followed the lead of their US counterparts by running promotions on “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday”, days that have become associated with frenzied bargain hunters seizing televisions and other goods, at unbelievable prices. As a result, retail sales slowed in December, so retailers attempted to extend that Black Friday “fever” by lining up new “not to be missed” offers in the important days leading up to Christmas. Many traditional Boxing Day sales started online even before Downton Abbey was on, with Amazon’s sale starting at 4pm on Christmas Day.
The most pressing issue for in-house lawyers in retail is embedding the right process before, during and after critical sales promotions to ensure that they can drive sales without eroding customer goodwill or attracting the bad feeling that leads to complaints to the Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) and the bad publicity that accompanies such complaints.
REUTERS | Nikola Solic
December 10, 2015
Four lessons for companies from the UK SFO’s first DPA and first enforcement of the corporate offence of failure to prevent bribery
For the first time last week, a criminal court considered a failure by a company to prevent corruption under the Bribery Act 2010 (section 7) and approved the UK SFO’s first Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA). The case generated such interest that the public hearing on Monday had to be moved to a bigger courtroom to accommodate scores of lawyers and journalists (even then Practical Law’s own Morag Rea had to sit on the floor).
REUTERS | Carlos Barria
December 2, 2015
Chair’s Takeaways: The Future of Data Protection Forum
I was delighted to Chair the 2015 Future of Data Protection Forum last month. It was an exciting day full of interesting debates and practical takeaways for privacy practitioners.
REUTERS | Molly Riley
November 25, 2015
Tap into your emotional intelligence for in-house success
While passing through immigration control on my last visit to the United States, I was asked the usual question: “Are you travelling for business or pleasure?” “Business”, I answered, “I’m speaking at a conference.” “What are you speaking about?” queried the immigration officer. “Well”, I answered, frantically trying to condense into a nutshell the content of my next three days’ workshops, “I’m trying to teach lawyers to be less like lawyers and more like real people.”
REUTERS | Corbis
November 18, 2015
Legal advice privilege: not just for legal advice
A recent High Court decision has provided reassurance to both lawyers and clients as to the scope of legal advice privilege (LAP), after an earlier decision (by a different judge) in the same case had arguably suggested a narrower scope for LAP than had been generally accepted.
REUTERS | Amit Dave
November 13, 2015
Country focus : India – finally embracing foreign lawyers?
The Indian government, in consultation with the Bar Council of India (BCI) and the Society of Indian Lawyers (SILF) has given its go-ahead to a proposal allowing foreign law firms to enter India on a reciprocal basis. This marks a significant shift in the government’s policy towards the issue of liberalisation of the legal services sector in India, which has so far been virtually closed to outsiders. At present, foreign lawyers face stringent restrictions on operating within India.
REUTERS | Russell Boyce
November 9, 2015
Supreme Court attempts to clear up century-long mess
In Cavendish Square Holding BV v Talal El Makdessi and ParkingEye Limited v Beavis [2015] UKSC 67 (see Legal update, Supreme Court restates penalty rule), the Supreme Court gave its first judgment on contractual penalty clauses in 100 years.
REUTERS |
November 2, 2015
Disciplinary investigations: when is HR advice appropriate?
In the widely reported case of Ramphal v Department for Transport UKEAT/0352/14 (see Legal update, Disciplinary investigation heavily influenced by HR led to unfair dismissal), the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) upheld a finding of unfair dismissal due to the inappropriate level of interference in the dismissal process by an HR manager. The EAT’s judgment included a table showing the extent of changes made to various drafts of an investigation report, many at the suggestion of HR.
In many ways, the outcome of the case was unsurprising. It does not set out new principles of law or break any new ground. However, the issues covered are particularly relevant to those working in-house, given the close relationships that often develop between HR and Legal.