Over the last 18 months, nearly everyone has experienced increased stress as once simple decisions about day-to-day routines became more complicated, going to work and school became a potential health risk, and many families experienced financial hardship. Stress associated with the pandemic has exacerbated mental health impairments and other conditions triggered by stress and led people to seek professional help for their struggles ...
Do you have a unionised workforce? If so, the Kostal (Kostal UK Ltd v Dunkley and others [2021] UKSC 47 (27 October 2021)) decision is a must read. If you are an employer which recognises a union - or unions - then the Kostal decision is unlikely to have escaped your notice. The case was brought because an employer ‘went around’ the recognised union and made a pay offer direct to employees despite there being an agreement with the union in place ...
There is no doubt that the pandemic catapulted society and businesses into a new and different world, which saw old working practices replaced by new and which advanced the adoption of new technology at a rapid pace. However, one thing didn’t change at law firm Shoosmiths, and that was how Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) considerations still firmly lay at the heart of the business strategy ...
In a decision issued in July 2021, the Dubai Court of Appeal held that an arbitration clause should be construed narrowly, and emphasized that everything that may be waived or prevents its [i.e., the arbitration clause’s] application must be sought. This judgment, which rejected a challenge to the jurisdiction of the Dubai Courts based on the existence of a purported arbitration agreement, was discussed in our inBrief dated 12 September 2021 ...
The recent decision to quash planning permission for a major urban extension in Canterbury has raised a number of concerns highlighted by the Government in its recent planning White Paper, namely the lack of certainty over delivery, with some 36% of planning decisions relating to major applications overturned, as well as inefficiency and that such decisions simply lead to not enough homes being built ...
In IT service contracts, it is common to find non-liability clauses protecting companies that provide software and professional IT system implementation or integration services. Issue In Dispute Is such a contractual non-liability clause valid under Quebec civil law where a fundamental obligation is breached? In 6362222 Canada inc. v. Prelco inc ...
This initiative is a significant departure from the current position where an application for the appointment of a 'light touch' provisional liquidator, for the purpose of restructuring, must be made as part of the winding up process. Under the changes, a restructuring officer can be appointed by a company acting by its directors without a resolution of its members or an express power in its articles of association ...
In her speech to the Principles for Responsible Investment and the London Stock Exchange Group, SEC Commissioner Allison Herren Lee made it clear that a climate change disclosure proposal is no longer a question of if, but when and provided some hints about what the proposal will look like. After remarking that “[c]limate change is . . ...
Last week, in the culmination of a process that began in 2016, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Final Rule to update the Safeguards Rule promulgated under the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act ...
[!<CDATA[ Moratoriums on foreclosures due to COVID-19 ended this summer, prompting concerns of a shock similar to the 2008 housing crisis. While there are numerous differences between today and the previous recession, financial service providers can stay a step ahead by arming themselves with a few lessons learned ...
In Rolfe v Veale, the High Court awarded summary judgment against claimants who alleged distress following an inadvertent data breach. Here, Philip Tansley and Matthew MacLachlan consider the court's reasoning and the broader implications for such claims ...
On 27 August 2021, the Alternative Reference Rates Committee (“ARRC”), a group of private-market participants convened by the Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in 2014 to lead the LIBOR transition in the United States, issued FAQs and Best Practice Recommendations on, among other things, the use of the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (“SOFR”) and its term rates (“Term SOFR”), following the ARRC’s formal recommendatio
At the recent Scotland Development Conference hosted by Built Environment Networking, major residential developers and housebuilders, social housing providers and leadership from the housing sector joined a panel discussion to share details of the biggest housing projects currently planned for Scotland and how the sector can ensure a focus on creating community is retained, as well as the push for an increase in the rate, volume and affordability of housebuilding ...
It was uncertain, however, whether this ancient time period extended to third party claims but a recent case before the Master of the Royal Court has now clarified this area of law. Facts The plaintiff brought a claim in tort and contract against three defendant doctors, for their alleged failings in the plaintiff’s care, which resulted in the plaintiff being diagnosed with a stroke in 2016 ...
Over the past couple decades, building codes have responded to disasters, rather than averting them. Resilience is now an essential design element needed to withstand our changing climate. In the immortal words of Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin’.” Intensified and more frequent hurricanes on the East and Gulf Coasts, more devastating wildfires on the West Coast and more frequent, powerful tornados in the heartland ...
28 January 2021 saw the release of a Notification Concerning Guidelines for the Identification and Verification of Customers and Ultimate Beneficial Owners (“AMLO Notification”) by the Anti-Money Laundering Office (“AMLO”) ...
Dinsmore construction partner Jim Boyers and commercial litigation clerk Mary-Kate Hetzel were published in The Indiana Lawyer this week discussing how building material price increases have created logistical and legal challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. An excerpt is below ...
‘A whole new planning system for England’ is what Boris Johnson was promising in his introduction to the Planning White Paper. He also took a sideswipe at the current system for providing “nowhere near enough homes in the right places” ...
Two recent articles in The Times and The Sunday Times highlighted the attractiveness of the affordable housing sector to investors keen to promote their ESG credentials. During the pandemic, ESG has gone from being a niche term used mainly by private equity funds and their investors to being a mainstream term used across a range of sectors and industries ...
