Energy & Utilities

Many smaller businesses find it beneficial to operate under a simple unincorporated structure, such as a partnership, or as a sole trader. However, whether due to growth or for tax…

The brave new world of litigation funding ushered in by the Jackson Reforms on 1 April 2013, has created great uncertainty over the funding of commercial disputes. As a result,…

The government’s controversial employee-shareholder status looks to be a step closer after the House of Lords voted through proposals on April 24 2013. The legislation was twice rejected by the…

The recent sentencing of a civil engineering firm and one of its directors following the death of an employee is a stark reminder of the need for businesses to guarantee…

Businesses that breach environmental regulations are putting their future at risk as lawmakers contemplate more serious punishments. The warning comes as new tougher sentencing guidelines have been proposed by The…

April is set to be a busy month for changes to employment law.  From 1st April, a number of changes will come into force and employers are being advised to…

They say prevention is better than the cure and it seems that rarely is this clichéd statement truer than in the area of employment law. It’s hard for me to…

Following prime minster David Cameron’s recent trade visit to India, and with the EU in the process of negotiating a trade deal with USA, it would seem that there has…

On 13 February 2013, the government finally issued the detailed regulations to bring into force the reforms to the Civil Justice System brought about by the Jackson Report. While the…

It is increasingly common for directors who are also shareholders of companies to lend money to those companies. Usually this is to facilitate cash flow for the company where, perhaps,…

The much publicised Jackson Review into civil litigation costs is due to be implemented in April 2013, bringing with it significant changes to the current costs regime. While focused primarily…

On October 1 2012 the auto-enrolment process for pensions started and now all UK employers will have to automatically enrol any eligible workers into a pension scheme. The enrolment scheme…

This is one of the first questions to consider when looking at how to structure a business acquisition. Essentially, a share sale is where the purchaser acquires the company itself…

George Osbourne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced on October 8 that the government intends on introducing a completely new type of employment contract called owner-employee contracts. This new contract…

Research suggests many acquisitions fail to add the value expected by the purchaser – sometimes because inadequate steps have been taken to identify a suitable acquisition target. Your first move…

Employers should beware of government plans to introduce ‘protected conversations’ to encourage settlement agreements (also known as compromise agreements). The initiative is part of the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill,…

An exclusivity agreement is a contract between two businesses to deal exclusively with each other in a specific area. Typically the agreement restricts only one of the parties, such as…

The Employment Act 2002 gave employees the right to request flexible working. Employers can turn down specific flexible working requests for legitimate business reasons set out in the legislation. However,…