Member Articles

In preparation for H-1B CAP Registration season, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has issued a final rule that limits each foreign worker to one entry into the H-1B lottery system. The H-1B Registration process had previously required companies, or other petitioners, to register with the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) and submit their requests for the individuals they sought to sponsor as part of the H-1B process ...

The Commission for the Unification of Federal and Local Judicial Principles (the “Commission”) recently issued a number of decisions aimed at harmonising certain “judicial principles”. Since the doctrine of stare decisis is not followed in the UAE, there have been instances of incongruities in the application of law by the UAE courts ...

The use of cryptocurrency or crypto assets in employee incentive arrangements is a relatively new and evolving area and it is therefore important to carefully consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of their use in incentive arrangements. Different types of crypto assets Crypto assets can take many forms including digital currency such as Bitcoin and Litecoin and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) such as art NFTs and collectible real estate NFTs ...

By: Stephen Best, Clayton Barnett, and Brian Adkins February 7, 2024 Whether you are a passionate supporter of college athletics or a casual sports fan, nearly everyone has heard the three letters, NIL. NIL (or name, image, and likeness) has quickly become part of the national sports lexicon ever since the United States Supreme Court opened the door for student-athletes to receive monetary compensation under National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston in 2021 ...

By: Leah Lively and Alexandra Shulman The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) mandates that employers compensate employees for each hour worked. Nonetheless, the Department of Labor guidance permits rounding of employee time punches so long as, among other things, the rounding is conducted in a neutral manner and, if any favor is shown, it benefits the employee. For example, using rounding, if an associate clocked in any time from 7:53 a.m. to 8:07 a.m ...

Strengthened collaboration between BVI and PRC: a precedent of enforcing a PRC arbitral award Background In Window of Trade, the Claimant applied to the BVI Court to enforce the Award in favour of the Claimant. The Award required the Second Defendant to return 100% of the equity in the First Defendant, a BVI company, to the Claimant and to assist the Claimant in restoring its name to the register of members of the First Defendant. The Second Defendant opposed the enforcement of the Award ...

Before delving into the topic, let?s begin with a definition. Official marks are statutory instruments specific to Canadian practice. They are not trademarks per se, but are treated similarly, because they are adopted and used by a limited group of organizations including universities, Canadian public authorities and Her Majesty?s Forces.1 In this article, we will be focusing on Canadian public authorities ...

The last installment of our three-part series explains U.S. tax considerations of a divided interest strategy for the bare owner who is a U.S. person. In most situations involving global families, it is the bare owner, rather than the holder of the usufruct, who is a U.S. person. The usufruct holder is often a nonresident alien who puts in place the property division for foreign estate planning purposes. In many instances, one or more members of the younger generation move to the United States ...

Last year, the UK Government announced increases in fees for immigration and nationality applications as well as priority processing services which took effect from 4 October 2023. As mentioned in our previous article, these increases are substantial and likely to have a significant financial impact for applicants and their sponsors. In addition, the UK Government are increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge shortly on 6 February 2024 ...

A report published on 25 January 2024 by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) reaches the conclusion that contrary to the situation in the USA, aggregate employer market power has not increased in the UK in recent decades. Economic theory identifies that where employer market power is high (typically because in an area there are only a few major employers and limited other choices for workers), the workers are paid less, employers employ fewer workers and production output is lower ...

In December, the Government published MSL Regulations, together with guidance, specifying the minimum number of workers needed to operate public services in times of strike action; for more detail, please see our recent article. With the dispute between the ASLEF train drivers’ union and UK train operators still ongoing, industrial action has now been announced to take place between 30 January and 5 February, with significant disruption expected ...

In the third instalment of our series, we consider the practical elements of the ‘workcation’ concept. As we have seen, working elsewhere may seem like an attractive proposition to employees. They will undoubtedly be keen to take advantage of the opportunity to save precious annual leave entitlement, but it is important an employer sets some ground rules ...

Since 2010, the Danish toy giant Lego has had a registered design right in the EU to the toy brick, commonly referred to as «the Lego brick»: Photo reference: View More