Insights: Thought Leadership

Sheth becomes the first BAME Senior Partner at a top 100 UK law firm 31 March 2021 – Fladgate is pleased to announce the appointment of Sunil Sheth as the firm’s new Senior Partner, effective from 1 April 2021. Sunil replaces Richard Reuben, who will remain with Fladgate as a Partner in the firm’s real […]

Most people working in the Construction and Engineering sector will be familiar with the suite of NEC contracts. Then known as the ‘New Engineering Contract,’ the first NEC contract was published by the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1993 – a radical departure from existing building and engineering contracts, written in plain language and designed […]

Non–fungible tokens (NFTs) are big news. NFTs are special types of cryptographic tokens. Unlike cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, that are fungible (i.e. one bitcoin can be exchanged for another), NTCs are not interchangeable. Each NFT is a unique token on a blockchain, but unlike crypto, they store extra information which provide collectors the opportunity to build a digital […]

The Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) recently opened a consultation on cross-industry guidance on outsourcing.[1] At the same time the CBI published new draft cross-industry outsourcing guidance[2] which will come into effect later this year. The guidance will apply to all regulated firms in Ireland. The CBI sees the management of outsourcing risk as key […]

In 2020 we saw a startling number of familiar high street names disappear from shop fronts, or at least diminish their high street presence. Recent research commissioned by PWC quantified this as an average of 48 UK shops in chains closing every day during 2020. High street retail was hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic. […]

While, in general, a buyer of a business and assets from an administrator will not take over any liabilities of the seller, there are exceptions. One exception relates to employees (on which see the separate article in this series on the impact of TUPE), but there will also be certain commercial contracts of the business […]

Being a global behemoth brings with it the likelihood of extra regulatory oversight. There has been much debate over whether the ubiquity of companies such as Facebook, Google and Apple in our daily lives is a good thing overall. In any network based industry, with market power comes not only the ability to influence consumers’ […]

Lord Hill has published his committee’s recommendations to enhance the UK’s position as an international destination for equity listings. The aim is to make the UK’s listing regime more attractive and flexible, particularly for high growth companies such as future technology giants. The innovations as regards founder shares and SPACS in particular seek to catch […]

One of the key assets for a buyer of a retail business may well be the database of customers and/or interested consumers. This will apply particularly if there is an existing e-tail operation for the business, but even bricks and mortar operations frequently have mailing lists. Buyers should check if they are getting the database […]

Buying the brand of an insolvent business can be a commercially attractive proposition for any potential buyers. In recent times, this has been highlighted in a spate of acquisitions of fashion brands. However, the purchase of the brand of a company in administration can have its pitfalls, and given the time-sensitive nature of the process, […]

In a recent case against Amazon, the High Court found that certain companies within the Amazon Group had not infringed the trade mark rights of two Netherland based companies, which own the brand Beverly Hills Polo Club (BHPC). The case of Lifestyle Equities C.V v Amazon UK Services Ltd (and others) considered the tensions between […]

When we published our article Coronavirus, Force Majeure and your Construction Contract (JCT, NEC) on the impact Coronavirus, and specifically the lockdown in China, may have on construction operations we did not envisage that a year later we would be on our third lockdown in the UK. The disruption caused by Coronavirus is far more […]