Sheelagh Cooley, real estate partner at Shoosmiths, comments on the successful Scottish green freeport bids - Inverness and Cromarty Firth Green Freeport and Forth Green Freeport. The Scottish and UK governments have announced Scotland’s first Green Freeports ...
A recent Employment Tribunal (tribunal) decision provides employers with peace of mind when deciding to implement workplace policies that emerge in response to previously unforeseen workplace risks. We examine Shields v Alliance Healthcare Management Services (Alliance), a case successfully defended by Shoosmiths, and outline the key steps that employers can take to confidently implement reactionary workplace policies ...
With the well-known challenges of the last ten months or so, market conditions deteriorated substantially over 2022 and the venture capital (VC) market became a far more challenging one in which to agree a valuation and raise money. While those challenges are not over, from speaking to VC clients and others, there's a cautious optimism that as 2023 progresses the market will slowly improve ...
Many government agencies set goals for their construction projects to be awarded to disadvantaged business enterprises (DBE). The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) DBE certification program sets antidiscrimination regulations that states can implement for federal funding. The Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity (COBID) is the certifying authority of DBEs (on behalf of the DOT) in Oregon ...
On January 11, 2023 the SEC Division of Investment Management issued an additional Marketing Rule FAQ. The newly issued FAQ addresses gross and net performance requirements applicable to private fund case studies, single investments and/or groups of investments, i.e. extracted performance. Specifically, the Question provides as follows: Q. When an adviser displays the gross performance of one investment (e.g ...
As the ‘permacrisis’ of the last few years follows us into 2023, the construction industry is likely to experience further instability and economic uncertainty – driven by labour shortages, material and price fluctuations and the geopolitical landscape. Economic conditions It’s not all bad news, however. In December, the Office of National Statistics published its Construction output in Great Britain: October 2022 ...
The recent decision of an Inspector to reject confirmation of a compulsory purchase order (CPO) sought by the Royal Borough of Windsor & Maidenhead Council is a key reminder of the need to use CPO powers only as a matter of last resort and to be mindful of the impact of a proposed scheme on the human rights of affected landowners ...
Determining the correct rate of rent in a 1954 Act renewal can be a sticky subject at the best of times, not least when a rent-free period is thrown into the mix. Section 34 of the Act allows the Court to determine the level of rent due under the new lease, taking into account comparable evidence and applying certain disregards. Whilst s ...
Ukraine is an EU candidate: Can we soon file patent applications for Ukraine at the European Patent Office? The European Council granted Ukraine EU candidate status on 23 June 2022. Will patents granted by the European Patent Office soon also apply in Ukraine? Not immediately, because on the one hand the candidate status legally creates neither rights nor obligations ...
It is a sad fact that the current economic crisis is causing many employers to consider cost saving measures like redundancies. But it can be difficult to know what amounts to a redundancy situation. We consider the legal definition and how it applies. What the law says Redundancy is a mechanism used by employers when a company needs to reduce the number of its employees. It is one of the five potentially fair reasons for which an employer can dismiss an employee ...
For those that have been able to enjoy a break over the festive period, welcome back. If your dinner table discussions were like mine and involved catching-up with friends and various branches of the family tree, it no doubt involved the inevitable question of “how’s work going?” ...
All registered charities with an annual income over £10,000 and all CIOs - charitable incorporated organisations - are required to complete and file online with the Charity Commission an Annual Return in a prescribed form within ten months of their financial year end. Just before Christmas, the Commission confirmed details of new and revised questions in the Annual Return ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
The government is currently consulting on amendments to Approved Document B, which gives guidance on how to meet the requirements of the Building Regulations, including options for providing sprinklers in care homes and to recommend a second staircase be provided in residential buildings over 30 metres in height ...
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 ...
“With the energy crisis likely to continue throughout 2023 and pressures on governments, businesses and individuals to take action to tackle climate change, I expect that, whilst government funding may be limited, there will be no shortage of capital for investment in clean energy projects ...
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 ...
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 ...
New Guidelines on the Employment of Foreign Workers in Malaysia Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends, The long-awaited Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 (“Amendment Act 2022”) has finally come into force on 1 January 2023 ...
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 ...
