Throughout my career as a banker and as an attorney, as well as through experiences with friends and their families, I have noticed that there is no topic more taboo than talking to someone about their death and how they intend to distribute their accumulated assets during their lifetime. It is incredible that, for many, this topic is so difficult to face with an objective mind to leave their estate affairs in order, no matter how small it may be ...
The onslaught of ransomware attacks by cybercriminals increases unabated every year, affecting everyone from mom and pop shops on Main Street to corporate lions of Wall Street. Hackers infiltrate an organization's computer network through social engineering tactics like phishing emails or by exploiting network security weaknesses, allowing vital digital information to be hijacked and held for ransom ...
One of the most basic questions under the False Claims Act—what facts a relator must plead to state a claim—is also one of the most difficult to answer. The Supreme Court is considering multiple certiorari petitions seeking to resolve a circuit split in the application of Rule 9(b)’s heightened pleading standard to the FCA ...
Welcome to the first part in our series of articles on the Building Safety Act 2022. The Building Safety Act received Royal Assent on 28 April 2022. While many of the provisions will be implemented over the next 12-18 months, the industry is being urged to get ready now. Dame Judith Hackitt stated in a recent HSE Bulletin: “The clock is now ticking and the pace is accelerating. Change is going to happen this time – there’s no denying it anymore!” ...
The Guernsey Housing Association has recently advised that there are currently more than 500 people on the waiting list for affordable housing. Affordable housing is housing that is reserved for certain groups of people whose needs are not met by, or cannot afford to rent or buy property in, the private market ...
Regulation brings uniformity and security, which may feel anathema to the fundamental premise of distributed ledger technology (specifically blockchain and the nascent crypto industry blockchain technology allows) – a world that needs neither trust nor centralized authority. Nevertheless, two U.S. senators are pushing to reconcile these seemingly contrary positions and priorities ...
The Court of Appeal has given some much-needed clarity on this issue in the recent decision of Abbey Healthcare (Mill Hill) Limited v Simply Construct (UK) LLP [2022]. In a majority judgment, the Court of Appeal reversed the first instance decision and held that the collateral warranty in question was a construction contract within the meaning of s.104(1) of the Housing Grants, Construction & Regeneration Act 1996 (the Construction Act) ...
Since the current Electronic Communications Code was introduced in 2017, swathes of it have come under the judicial microscope and even resulted in impending legislative updates. Until now, there has been no scrutiny of the process under which telecommunications apparatus is to be removed following termination of the underlying agreement ...
Invitation Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, ALRUD Law Firm is honored to invite you to our webinar dedicated to the upcoming reform of personal data legislation in Russia ...
Legal directory Chambers and Partners has today launched Global LawTech 2022, ranking Shoosmiths8 Connected Services Cia® and Matters+ as band one products. This global guide is part of Chambers’ professional advisor series and is its second report on the rapidly moving legal technology sector ...
On June 20th, 2022, Law No. 21,459 (hereinafter, the "New Law") was enacted, repealing the Law No. 19,223 (which regulated the former cybercrime offenses), and including several new rules to adapt our legislation to the Cybercrime Convention of the European Council, known as the "Budapest Convention", and to the necessities of a modern society ...
On 28 May 2022, the Belgian law transposing EU Directive 2019/2161 into the Code of Economic Law (CEL) entered into force (the “Omnibus Act”). The Omnibus Act aims to modernise consumer protection given the increasing development of e-commerce. In addition to new transparency obligations for online marketplaces, the Omnibus Act has new general information obligations, and new unfair commercial practices and obligations for price reduction announcements that apply to all retailers ...
A summary of the key takeaways from a recent webinar on reducing scope 3 leased assets emissions. Shoosmiths is delighted to be sponsoring United Nation Global Compact Network (UNGC) UK’s series of webinars on ‘Reducing Scope 3 Emissions’ ...
In 2019, the Oregon Legislature passed House Bill 2001, which was aimed at providing more affordable housing to Oregonians. To achieve that goal, HB 2001 made it easier to build denser housing in residential zones by requiring medium-size cities to allow duplexes on each lot or parcel zoned for residential use that allows single-family homes ...
Kudun and Partners recently contributed to the Thailand Chapter of the Digital Business 2022 guide by the International Comparative Legal Guide (ICLG), a leading global platform for legal reference and comprehensive comparative legal guides that cover law in more than 192 jurisdictions across 58 practice areas ...
INTRODUCTION In a previous issue of Decoded, we discussed the alarming fact that many medical devices, including those implanted in patients' bodies, are leaving the manufacturers with known cybersecurity flaws. Due to these known flaws, these devices are vulnerable to being hacked, and patients’ personal/protected health information ("PHI") stolen; or worse, the device being held hostage in a ransomware attack ...
In September 2019 government announced a review of the system for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in England. The current SEND regime introduced in 2014, is considered by many to be unfit for purpose, both in terms of accountability and consistent quality of support and adequate funding to local authorities to make the system work ...
Contents Please click on the links below to jump to the relevant section: What are the key features of a PCC? Who can be a PCC? Incorporation of a PCC Separation of assets Attributing liability and recourse against assets Information obligation Transferring cellular assets to third parties Arrangements between cells affecting cellular assets Conversions Liquidation of a PCC Administration of a PCC Receivership of cells in a PCC Tax Foreign recognition Essentially, a PCC consi
Protected Cell Companies A Guernsey protected cell company (“PCC”) is a single legal entity. It is one company with one board of directors, one memorandum and articles of incorporation and one company registration number. A PCC comprises a core and any number of cells. Assets which are not comprised in a cell are deemed to be comprised in the core. No regulatory or filing processes are required to create a cell of a PCC ...
Arbitration provisions are becoming more common in construction contracts, but a recent court decision reveals that enforcing these provisions requires more than just placing them in a contract. Contractors, especially those seeking to arbitrate claims involving multiple property owners or an entire homeowner or condominium association, must sufficiently establish that enough of the property owners agreed to arbitrate their claims. Mattamy Florida LLC .v ...
Much recent attention has been on Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis’ signing of extensive property insurance law changes in Florida. But on May 26, the governor also signed Senate Bill 4. While SB 4 primarily deals with condominium inspections and safety, the bill also changes part of the state law that enacts and governs Florida’s Building Code and changes the amount of a roof that must be brought up to current codes in the event of damage and repair ...
New Florida Statute Changes Building Code Requirements for Roof Repairs In May, Florida’s legislature met for a special session to address issues with property insurance claims and rates within the state ...
1. Introduction After a long consultation period, the European Commission recently published the new Block Exemption Regulation for Vertical Agreements (Regulation (EU) 2022/720 "VBER"). The regulation will enter into force on 1 June 2022. New Guidelines on vertical restraints ("Guidelines") will accompany the new VBER. Both replace the previous set of rules from 2010 ...
The coming advent of quantum computing technologies will bring important changes to our society. In the medium term, computing calculation power will be multiplied to a level that exceeds our current understanding. This will allow for various new industrial developments and applications. This will also raise a vast number of sensitive legal issues. In this article, ALTIUS summarises what are the key takeaways that you should know about quantum computing ...
