Posts from January 2020
Brexit and changing times
On this momentous day, the 31st day of January 2020, as the UK prepares to depart the European Union at 11pm (UK time), it may be...
31/01/20Will workers’ rights change after Brexit?
The UK leaves the EU at 11pm tonight - January 31 2020. Despite the ‘get Brexit done’ message, there will be no immediate changes to our...
31/01/20Disclosure Pilot Scheme: where are we now?
In January 2019 we saw the introduction of the two-year Disclosure Pilot Scheme in the Business and Property Courts. What is the...
30/01/20Extending the Fixed Recoverable Costs Regime
The Ministry of Justice is consulting on measures to extend the Fixed Recoverable Costs (FRC) regime to incorporate an expanded fast...
30/01/20Is there an obligation of good faith in commercial contracts?
On 8 January 2020, the High Court confirmed in Wales v CBRE Managed Services Limited and Aviva Administration Limited that a duty of good...
30/01/20Brexit: what's next?
Following the Conservative Party winning December’s general election by a significant majority, the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement)...
30/01/20Brexit, the Digital Copyright Directive and Creeping Divergence
One of the more controversial pieces of EU legislation recently is the so-called Digital Copyright Directive of 17 April 2019 (EU...
30/01/20Brexit, rights of access to EU trade deals and the importance of an asterisk
Article 129 (1) of the EU-UK Withdrawal Agreement essentially confirms that during the transition period extending from 11pm (UK time) on...
30/01/20Brexit and UK trade policy for the food and drink industry
On 27 January 2020 , three prestigious UK food and drink sector Defra-sponsored representative groupings - the Food and Drink...
28/01/20New report suggests tougher penalties needed to deter employers from underpaying staff
Research published by the Resolution Foundation indicates that there has been an increase in the number of businesses underpaying the...
28/01/20Brexit and Green Finance
"Green Finance" is very much in the news at the moment following the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid in December 2019 and...
27/01/20What’s new Birmingham?
This weekend I woke up to a Passle reminder that I haven’t posted anything recently. I haven't met my target!! Welcome to 2020 - an...
27/01/20New right for parents to take paid time off to grieve death of a child
From 6 April 2020, parents will be able to take up to two weeks bereavement leave to help them cope with the death of a child. To avoid...
27/01/20Brexit and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Act 2020
The news that the European Union ( Withdrawal Agreement ) Act 2020 had received Royal Assent and passed into UK law on 23rd January 2020...
24/01/20Brexit and issues of regulatory alignment and / or equivalence
The battle-lines are being drawn up for the up coming negotiations between the UK and the EU on a free trade agreement, which would take...
24/01/20Do you really need to suspend an employee?
The Court of Appeal in H v Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust has set out some useful tips for employers...
23/01/20Brexit and the Sewel Convention
The Sewel Convention holds that the UK Parliament will not normally legislate on matters within the competencies of the devolved...
22/01/20The value of your charging schedule can go down as well as up: CIL Rates may fall in 2020 due to new index
One of the geekier amendments to the Community Infrastructure Levy Regulations introduced in 2019 was an amendment to the indexation...
20/01/20Brexit, Flybe and unlawful state aid
It is perhaps one of life's little ironies that just when one had thought that Brexit was almost "done", at least one aspect of EU law...
17/01/20Costs Analysis: The validity of a Part 36 offer which purports to exclude interest
Lauren Dunnill, a trainee solicitor in the Real Estate Disputes team, examines a recent case. The recent Court of Appeal judgment in Mr...
17/01/20New statutory rates that will apply from April 2020
The government has recently announced that rates for statutory maternity, paternity, adoption and shared parental leave pay and maternity...
17/01/20Brexit, the digital economy and data protection
In an interesting Article for The Times on 15 January 2020, its Banking Editor, Katherine Griffiths, analysed some of the implications...
16/01/20Brexit and the negotiating position of the EU Commission "Brexit" Taskforce on a Free Trade Agreement with the UK
Unless and until Brexit is actually "done" by 31st January 2020, it is perhaps yet not entirely safe to assume that all will go smoothly...
15/01/20Let's not chicken out!
Theresa Villiers’ recent pledge not to lower UK food standards regarding beef and chicken is a welcome reassurance to the UK Food & Drink...
14/01/20Veganuary – Who’s cashing in and who’s lucking out?
By Katherine East, a Solicitor specialising in Commercial Dispute Resolution at Irwin Mitchell Veganuary – what is it? Veganuary is a...
14/01/20Brexit and the role of the UK Courts in interpreting retained EU case law
As the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement ) Bill begins its passage through the House of Lords, Lord Pannick QC, a crossbench peer who...
14/01/20Brexit and setting the timetable for trade negotiations
Talks about talks and speculation about timetables seem to be the order of the day at the moment as different parties seek to analyse the...
13/01/20What we have here, is a failure to cooperate: What can we learn from Wealden and Sevenoaks?
The issue of cross-boundary collaboration on strategic issues has been stumbling block for local plans ever since Eric Pickles abolished...
13/01/20Brexit and implementing the Political Declaration
As and when the Withdrawal Agreement is done and dusted and on the assumption that the UK will exit the EU by 11pm (UK time) on 31st...
09/01/20Brexit and the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill - Here we go again!
The new version of the European Union (Withdrawal Agreement) Bill (EUWAB) presented to the House of Commons by Boris Johnson's Government...
08/01/20