Member Articles

Lost for many in the avalanche of news about the midterms, voters in five states went to the polls last month to vote on proposals allowing adult-use cannabis, often referred to as recreational cannabis. We won't bury the lede: two states, Maryland and Missouri, voted to allow adult-use cannabis, while three others — Arkansas and the Dakotas — voted down the proposals ...

As we enter the new year, we also welcome the implementation of the British Virgin Islands ("BVI") Business Companies Act (the "Act") amendments which came into force on 1 January 2023. The amendments update several parts of the Act and continues to conform with best practice and international standards ...

January 10, 2023 By: Michael Flynn The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Office of Management and Budget has released the Fall 2022 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda) reports on the actions administrative agencies plan to issue in the near and long term. Included is the CFPB’s regulatory agenda for 2023. The CFPB agenda may be found HERE ...

In recent months we have seen a significant rise in industrial action across multiple sectors, including public transport; postal workers; nursing and ambulance staff; university employees; Border Force staff and civil servants.  Strikes look set to continue into 2023; the British Medical Association is currently balloting junior doctors on potential strike action for March 2023 and disruption is also likely to hit schools in Scotland as teacher strikes are planned for January 2023 ...

Having experienced unprecedented levels of M&A activity in 2021 and the first half of 2022, followed by the market uncertainty of Q3 and Q4 of 2022, what can we expect from the M&A landscape in 2023?  Here are some of our key predictions ...

In Ultima Services Corporation v. U.S. Department of Agriculture et al., Case No. 2:20-CV-‎‎00041, Ultima Services Corporation filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of ‎Tennessee (Greenville Division) challenging the constitutionality of the Small Business ‎Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program ...

In 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026 to increase the minimum wage for federal government contractors to $15 per hour. On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule implementing Executive Order 14026. The rule requires any federal contractor to pay employees a minimum hourly wage of $15 and overtime wages for work beyond 40 hours per week. This wage is subject to yearly increases determined by DOL ...

Dionex Softron GmbH v. Agilent Techs., Inc., Appeal No. 21-2372 (Fed. Cir. Jan. 6, 2023)  This week’s Case of the Week, the only precedential patent opinion issued by the Federal Circuit this week, focused primarily on the corroboration requirement for relevant dates of invention.  The Court held there was sufficient evidence of a reduction to practice as of a given date, based primarily on corroboration of multiple witnesses, notwithstanding limited documentary evidence ...

The UAE has introduced a new law on civil procedure (Federal Decree-Law 42/2022) which repeals Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 on civil procedure and its executive regulations issued under Cabinet Resolution No. 57 of 2018. The new law came into force on 2 January 2022 ...

On July 9, 2021, President Biden signed an Executive Order requesting that agencies, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), issue rules banning employers from entering non-compete agreements with employees. Following that request, on January 5, 2023, the FTC announced it is proposing sweeping new regulations that would bar employers from entering into or enforcing non-compete agreements with employees that prevent an employee from working with a competitor ...

On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) published a notice of a proposed rulemaking that would prohibit employers from enforcing non-compete agreements against all employees and would preempt state laws that otherwise allow these agreements. The proposed rule would prohibit any contractual term that functions to prevent a worker from seeking or accepting employment or operating a business, after leaving the employer ...

Part 1: Four reasons to slow down and four reasons to speed up the process Part 2: Slowing down the process (CA, US, EP, PCT) Part 3: Fast track (CA, US, EP, PCT) Part 1: Why slow down or speed up the process? Slowing down the process Why would anyone want to slow down the process when it already usually takes several years for a patent to be issued? Cash flow Uncertainty for competitors Possibility of changing the scope Possibility of filing a divisional application In some cases,

The Finnish Government has published a proposal for the temporary Windfall Tax Act in Finland, the draft of which was briefly discussed in our previous article on the subject. The proposed temporary windfall tax would be applicable to so-called windfall profits gained during tax year 2023 by companies operating in the electricity or the fossil fuel sector. The aim of the proposal is to tax said sectors' increased profits resulting from the current energy crisis ...

Overview On 4 November 2022, Sub-Decree 232 on the Management of Commercial Advertisements of Goods and Services (“Sub-Decree 232”) was enacted by the Royal Government of Cambodia. Sub-Decree 232 is one of 31 measures to promote fair trade and practices in business in line with the Five-Year Action Plan (2022-2026) prepared by the National Commission for Consumer Protection (“NCCP”) ...

In the words of its own Attorney-General, Australia's privacy laws were “out of date and not fit-for-purpose”. After recent amendments, they now stand to contain one of the world’s toughest data breach penalty regimes. So, what has changed? Fines The Privacy Legislation Amendment (Enforcement and Other Measures) Bill 2022 (the “Bill”) received Royal Assent on 12 December 2022 ...

Levelling up the regional economies has many labels: the Northern Powerhouse, the Midlands Engine, the Golden Triangle and the Ox-Cam Arc. But have they delivered improved economic growth? Since Channel 4 announced its move to Leeds, media companies have flocked to the area. The government has also promised to deliver high-speed rail to northern cities, which would position the region as a global leader in transport innovation ...

  The Insolvency Practitioners Act, the Pre-Insolvency Act and the Commercial Code (Amendment) Act were passed by the House of Representatives on the 14th of December 2022 and were assented to by the President on the 23rd of December 2022. For more information, please see our articles on the Proposed Pre-Insolvency Bill, on the Proposed Insolvency Practitioners Bill and on the three proposed Insolvency Bills, collectively ...

We can only assume that the pensions industry at large put “a busy and unpredictable 12 months” at the top of its wish list at the start of the year, and 2022 certainly delivered. From the sombre to the unprecedented, 2022 had it all.  The year was bookended by investment issues. In February, View More