On 12 May 2021, Prime Minister Boris Johnson committed to holding a Public Inquiry into COVID-19 that will place "the state's actions under the microscope". Demonstrating that it is independent, objective and fair is fundamental to an Inquiry’s purpose. We take a look at the extent to which the State can effectively examine itself in a Public Inquiry when it has ultimate responsibility for determining the remit, and therefore inevitably the scope of any conclusions ...
The High Court has dismissed 28 divorce petitions after finding that the particulars of behaviour were ‘absolutely identical’ to each other. Every marriage is different, but in the recent case of Celine-Shelby v Yorston, the courts were confronted with 28 divorce applications from 28 different people, all seemingly based on the same reasons ...
On 24 November 2021 Shoosmiths hosted a webinar exploring recent developments and forthcoming changes in environmental regulation – the COP26 climate change conference, the Environment Act 2021 and trends in sentencing for environmental offences. COP26 David Symons, director of sustainability at WSP UK outlined the three main messages from the COP26 conference: The 1 ...
On November 24th, 2021, Law No. 21,391 introducing in the Labor Code a new article 206 bis, was published in the Official Gazette. This article establishes the employer’s obligation to offer remote work or teleworking to certain employees, in the event a state of catastrophe due to public calamity or a health alert due to an epidemic or pandemic because of a contagious disease is declared ...
Biogen International GMBH v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1933 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 30, 2021) For the second time in two weeks, our Case of the Week focuses on the written description requirement, in particular where the patent claims a range. In fact, all three precedential decisions issued this week concern issues relating to patents that claim numerical ranges. Below, we discuss two of those cases in our “Also This Week” section ...
On Nov. 30, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments from a coalition of hospital plaintiffs who are challenging Medicare’s nearly 30% reduction in outpatient drug reimbursement rates for 340B Program-participating hospitals ...
Our Shoospeak HR podcast welcomes special guest Jonathan Naylor (Partner in the Shoosmiths' employment team) to discuss trade union communication strategies ...
Given the growing need for new sources of water for human and industrial consumption, in order to unify criteria in the evaluation of desalination projects, the General Directorate of the Maritime Territory and Merchant Marine (“DIRECTEMAR”) has published the following 3 guides with basic technical guidelines: Guide for the Environmental Assessment of Industrial Desalination Projects in Jurisdiction of the Maritime Authority The purpose of this guide is to update the minimu
No fault divorce is due to come into effect in England and Wales on 6 April 2022. From this date couples will be able to get divorced without one person needing to lay blame on the other. This change will also apply to civil partnership dissolution ...
The UK Government’s consultation on mandatory climate-related disclosures As the old saying goes – ‘knowledge is power’, and businesses caught in the net of proposed mandatory climate-related disclosures will need to empower themselves quickly in order to get up to speed by the proposed April 2022 rollout ...
Indivior UK Ltd. v. Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories S.A., Appeal Nos. 2020-2073, -2142 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 24, 2021) Our Case of the Week this week focuses on the written description requirement when the patent claims a range. The Court addressed a circumstance where the application disclosed a number of values within a range, but did not disclose the range itself ...
Article by Anne Coulon, Regional Legal Adviser, DFDL Thailand Mediation is a confidential, fast, flexible and cost-effective dispute resolution (“DR”) method based on the mutual consent of the involved parties. Companies, contractors, individuals, banks, real estate owners, governmental bodies; or any combination thereof may be parties to commercial mediation. Breaches of contract, business torts etc. can all be successfully submitted to and/or resolved through mediation ...
The EU strives to become carbon neutral by 2050. This objective has been formally regulated through the EU Climate Law[i] and is enshrined in the European Green Deal[ii], being also in line with the EU’s commitment to global climate action according to the Paris Agreement[iii] and Glasgow Climate Pact[iv] ...
Milton Keynes, the New Town famous for its grid system, roundabouts and concrete cows is every bit the planner’s dream. Fifty-five years after its foundation and bidding for city status in the Queen’s platinum jubilee year, Milton Keynes has come of age ...