Over the last 10 years or so, we have seen a lot of buzz and excitement around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. According to research conducted by Which? into a selection of deals from last year it seems that the lure of a Black Friday deal isn't all it cracks up to be and that it isn't necessarily the cheapest time of the year to shop ...
With regulations imposing mandatory vaccination for certain workers in the care sector being implemented to those same regulations being revoked some four months later, employers in this sector may well be confused as to what options are available to them ...
Changes to the off-payroll working rules for private sector organisations originally planned for April 2020 will now come into force from 6 April 2021. As a result, large and medium sized organisations engaging contractors through an intermediary will have various responsibilities and potential liabilities ...
The new off-payroll working rules (‘OPWR’) for the private and third sector came into effect on 6 April 2021, but what impact have the changes had so far? Here we focus on HMRC’s approach to the new rules and some recent tax tribunal decisions ...
6 April 2021 saw the IR35 regime change for large or medium sized private and third sector organisations. As the first year anniversary of these changes approaches, in this and subsequent articles, we consider the impact the changes have had so far. For our first article in the series, we consider whether organisations are applying the rules correctly and what common mistakes are being made ...
During the mini-Budget on 23 September 2022, the Chancellor of the Exchequer made a significant (and unexpected!) announcement that reforms previously made to the IR35 off payroll working regulations will be repealed from 6 April 2023. Quick recap Reforms were made to the IR35 regulations in both 2017 (for the public sector) and in 2021 (for the private sector) ...
Maintaining cash flow is a significant challenge in the current economic climate. What started as a 'credit crunch' is now a real squeeze for business - with customers trying to defer payment terms while suppliers apply pressure for earlier payment. Pre-contract Truly effective credit management begins at the pre-contractual stage, as this is usually the point of greatest leverage with the customer ...
Invoice financing includes factoring, invoice discounting and asset-based lending. It can be accessed by the SME and corporate market to unlock the value of unpaid debts and assets of a business, such as stock, plant and machinery.This type of financing has distinct advantages. In invoice discounting, funders may be able to offer up to 85% of the value of unpaid debts well before that debt is due to be paid. This dramatically reduces the credit cycle, getting cash back into the business sooner ...
Investment Zones are a lot like Freeport tax sites, arguably with more benefits, so are they friend or foe to Freeports? Background Liz Truss pledged to boost growth with “full-fat” Freeports as part of her leadership campaign in July 2022 and it sounded like all systems were finally go for Freeports ...
The Professional Investor Fund (PIF) supports the Government’s goal as it targets professional investors. The UK Government and the Financial Conduct Authority have engaged with proposals regarding PIFs. In 2020 the UK government announced a review of the UK funds regime and published a call for input ...
Our homes have evolved in the last 18 months. They have become a bit more “mixed use” - school, office, gym, doctors’ surgery and even kitchen disco. The enforced focus on the use of our homes during the pandemic - particularly their inadequacies, together with the flexibility that working from anywhere has brought - has created unprecedented demand to move house and / or relocate ...
This article forms part of our ‘New How: Perspectives’ campaign: ‘The logistics industry is booming, but can our infrastructure keep up?’. Here Choisanne Man, a real estate partner in Shoosmiths’ London office, speaks with David Proctor, Managing Director, Group Investment at Segro, to discuss the state of the logistics sector including the challenges it poses for our towns and cities. 1 ...
On 2nd December we hosted a webinar focused on social mobility and the role that in house legal functions can take to improve social mobility in the legal market. The panel of speakers comprised of Amanda Callear, senior legal counsel at Volkswagen Group and Tarn Kaur, associate at Shoosmiths as part of the ‘Conversations with Clients’ web-series and was hosted by Sebastian Price, partner at Shoosmiths ...
Consumers currently spend €24bn every year in cross-border transactions, but this is only a fraction of the potential market.Many individuals are dissuaded from spending more by doubts over issues such as delivery timescales and after-sales service.EU forecasters expect online revenues within Member States to grow by 230% in the next five years, but only if the way is smoothed by the adoption of a new Consumer Rights Directive ...
Today personal data travels instantly, and it is easy to forget the journey and the risks, but access to certain countries can be restricted without the proper paperwork, including the new SCCs. Is your personal data fit to travel? The new SCCs passport The main safeguard used to send personal data internationally, the Standard Contract Clauses (SCCs) have just been updated on 4 June 2021. Work will be needed to renew your personal data contract passport for it to travel ...
In October 2021 the UK government introduced a new International Sportsperson route to cater for elite athletes and qualified sports coaches wishing to work in the UK. The new International Sportsperson route was introduced on 11 October 2021. It merges and replaces the previous Tier 2 Sportsperson route and the sporting provisions of the Tier 5 Creative and Sporting Worker route ...
The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) has published its policy recommendations for decentralised finance (DeFi) as a consultation paper. Responses are due by 19 October 2023 ...
When the family team at Shoosmiths is instructed to advise on international child abduction we are very much aware that the parent left behind is often living a real-life nightmare. The situation usually involves our client’s child(ren) having been abducted by the other parent and being retained in a foreign country, or there being a serious risk that the other parent is about to abduct the child(ren) from this country to somewhere overseas ...
In Kabab-Ji SAL v Kout Food Group, the UK Supreme Court recently considered the question of which system of law the English courts must apply to decide whether there is an enforceable arbitration agreement. This case illustrates the different approaches taken in determining questions of applicable law and the consequences this can have for both annulment and enforcement proceedings in different countries ...
On 7 July 2021 we hosted the second event in our webinar series on International Arbitration, Regional Perspectives and focused on arbitration in Asia ...
On 10 March 2021, we held the first webinar in our series on regional perspectives in international arbitration ...
In a major change for arbitration in Dubai, the DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre has been abolished. On 14 September 2021, Decree No. 34 of 2021 (Decree No. 34) was issued by Mohammed bin Rashed Al-Maktoom, Ruler of Dubai. It not only dissolves the Dubai International Financial Centre Arbitration Institution (DIFC-LCIA Arbitration Centre), but also the Emirates Maritime Arbitration Centre (EMAC) ...
David Hume, the 18th century Scottish philosopher, argued that we cannot be certain the sun will rise tomorrow. Over the past nine-months David Hume has never seemed more right. It has been a tough period, professionally and personally for people from all walks of life, and for businesses from nearly every sector. But, while there has been adversity, there have been many rays of sunlight and causes for optimism ...
Although NFTs have existed for a number of years, and have changed the world of merchandise and art, it is worth considering how intellectual property (IP) rights interplay with this asset class. This article considers NFTs in their component parts with a view to understanding how IP law, and specifically the areas of copyright and trade marks, apply. What is an NFT? An NFT stands for non-fungible token and is a digital asset with a unique digital identifier, recorded on a blockchain ...
Insurers have lodged a Judicial Review against The Damages (Asbestos-related conditions) Scotland Act. The Act, which was passed on 17 April 2009, made compensation available for the victims of pleural plaques in Scotland. The insurers are bringing the action in an attempt to avoid having to pay compensation for this condition ...
