General

It is not uncommon for a company to switch financial advisers when it is seeking to do a deal, but doing so without a full appreciation of the implications of the contract with the financial advisers who have been shown the door can be an expensive mistake. ...

When someone breaches a confidence and uses confidential information to make a profit, one of the legal remedies which may be sought is to require the person committing the breach to account for the profit made as a result. In a recent case , two...

In many countries, bribery and corruption are commonplace. IKEA recently ceased its expansion in Russia, for example, because of the difficulties in obtaining permission to build new stores without being willing to engage in corrupt practices....

The Court of Appeal has ruled in a case which establishes an important precedent for the setting of fines for breaches of environmental law. Thames Water had appealed against a fine of £125,000 for a mistake which had led to pollution of the river...

The first prosecution under the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 has been pending for some time and is eagerly awaited as it will provide guidance in practical terms on the likely level of fines in such cases, following the issue of...

A Procurement Policy Note issued in March by the Office of Government Commerce requires government departments and non-governmental bodies over which the Government has direct control to pay its contractors within 30 days. However, before hard-pressed...

Following a comprehensive review and full public consultation, the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) and the Broadcast Committee of Advertising Practice (BCAP) have published new UK Advertising Codes. The new Codes will come into force on 1 September...

As the economic outlook begins to improve, businesses will be considering how to raise finance to support increased trading. Although the cost of any borrowing is often the most crucial issue, there are other important factors to take into...

Companies House has announced that from now on its ‘WebCHeck’ company search service will be available all day every day…so, if a company owing you money is causing you to lose sleep, you can at least download their accounts in the...

A company which had goods stolen from a secured cage in a warehouse found itself uninsured against the loss, following a court case in which the company was found to have misled its insurers about the security arrangements. The insured held...

As anyone who has ever tried to collect a debt knows, there is a big difference between obtaining judgment and obtaining payment. In difficult cases, one of the ways a debtor can be encouraged to pay is by the creditor obtaining a freezing order against his...

Construction and plant hire companies should be aware that as of 6 April, when the Notification of Conventional Tower Cranes Regulations 2010 came into force, the Health and Safety Executive requires registration of all tower cranes. The HSE website...

A business which operates as a partnership usually obtains its funding, at least in part, from the partners. Each partner's earnings are credited to their individual account, and money they withdraw from the partnership is deducted from it. ...

A recent case heard by the High Court demonstrates the risks associated with making inaccurate claims when tendering for contracts. The case involved British Sky Broadcasting Ltd. (Sky) and IT firm Electronic Data Systems Ltd. (EDS)....

A spirited attempt by a company, controlled by a single director, to blame its auditors for not detecting fraud was recently rejected by the House of Lords. The liquidator of the company brought a claim for damages on behalf of the company against the...

A recent ruling of the Court of Appeal means that employers will be able to access information on old minor convictions when carrying out criminal record checks on potential employees. Following complaints from five people, the Information Commissioner...

The Companies Act 2006 came into effect fully on 1 October 2009. One of the advantages of the Act is that it has made the incorporation of a company easier by creating a new and simplified set of model articles of incorporation. However, before you rush...

The Government has announced its proposed timetable for introducing legislation that will allow new parents greater flexibility as to how they make use of the statutory period of maternity leave. Currently, fathers who are employees are entitled to two...

One of the things which many company directors find confusing is the difference between distributable reserves (those from which dividends can be paid) and those which are non-distributable. The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and...

The Government has announced that it intends to levy fines of up to £500,000 (yes, £1/2 million) for serious breaches of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA). Worrying as that may be for businesses, a recently-launched consultation could have a...

Following an evaluation of the impact of the Licensing Act 2003 , the Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced earlier this year that it would be introducing a card alert scheme designed to give licensing authorities which choose to adopt it a new...

If you enter into a business contract in good faith and it subsequently transpires that the contract was incorrectly authorised or otherwise invalid from the perspective of the other party’s internal regulations, where do you stand? Two recent cases...

The Companies Act 2006 is, at 761 pages, the longest Act of Parliament in British history and was only fully implemented in October. However, changes are already afoot! Apparently, the sections of the Act which require disclosure of share capital (the...

There has been confusion about some of the changes in company law brought in by the Companies Act 2006 , which was fully implemented on 1 October 2009. One of the more beneficial changes for companies wishing to reorganise their share capital (perhaps...

Insurers often try to give themselves ‘wiggle room’ to contest claims, which is one reason why they put so many questions in proposal forms. Over the years, the courts have established that where such a question is ambiguous, the legal...