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Home  /  News & Features

News & Features

February 2023 News

Covid fraud: the problem with no cure

Niall Hearty, partner at Rahman Ravelli, examines the UK government’s efforts in the losing battle to recover fraudulent Covid payments

January 2023 News

The World in 2023: Themes for IFCs (Part two)

Geoff Cook, Chair of Mourant Consulting, looks at key themes that could shape 2023 for International Finance Centres

January 2023 News

The world in 2023: Themes for IFCs

Geoff Cook, Chair of Mourant Consulting, examines the issues that could shape 2023

December 2022 News

Swiss disputes set to fly

Clients are less interested in maintaining commercial relationships; they’re interested in cash.” Fuelled by litigation funding, Swiss disputes may sky-rocket.

December 2022 News

NKF’s Geneva gambit

Niederer Kraft Frey’s Geneva move took everyone by surprise, so what drove the traditionally conservative firm to combine with Tavernier Tschanz and a Python team?

December 2022 News

ESG matters

Clients and young lawyers all want to work with Swiss law firms that put ESG high on their priority list. So, how are they responding?

December 2022 News

Crisis? What Crisis?

The Ukraine conflict, energy and supply chain problems, a eurozone recession – but are Swiss law firms really facing a crisis, or will they overcome these short-term challenges?

November 2022 News

MIND-BLOWING: OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE IPO OF PSYCHEDELICS COMPANIES (OR, HOW TO CHANGE INVESTORS’ MINDS)

Nigel Gordon, capital markets and M&A partner at Fladgate LLP, explores the IPO potential of psychedelics companies

November 2022 News

Private Capital: Regulatory horizons

Geoff Cook, Chair of Mourant Consulting in Jersey, looks at regulatory horizons affecting private capital in the United States, Europe and Asia.

September 2022 News

Private Capital: Navigating the Future

Ben Robins, Partner, and Geoff Cook, Consultant, Mourant examine the change of tone by US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the prospect of higher rates amid continued uncertainty

September 2022 News

Branding in the Metaverse: the new big thing

Kate Ellis, Head of the Branding Group at Konexo, considers the implications for brand owners who want to protect, use, exploit and enforce their brands in augmented virtual reality.

August 2022 News

Distrust, bias and incompetence at the SFO

Partner Shula de Jersey and associate Matt Davies of the economic crime team at BCL Solicitors examine how the Serious Fraud Office got two of its investigations badly wrong

August 2022 News

Private capital – a tale of two halves

Ben Robins, Partner, and Geoff Cook, Consultant, Mourant, examine fundraising and deployment against a background of higher interest rates, rising inflation and lower growth

July 2022 News

Ireland: all-island strategy

The potential to develop a complete all-island strategy may seem limited by circumstance, but some law firms think otherwise

July 2022 News

Support hubs grow, mergers continue

International law firms continue to expand their legal services hubs in Belfast

July 2022 News

Northern Ireland Protocol: ‘Shameful, cynical’ UK government slammed by Irish lawyers

Dominic Carman discovers that some of Ireland’s top law firms are enraged, with ‘not one client thinking the Protocol should be scrapped’

July 2022 News

Money Laundering Cases: The Investigator’s Options

John Binns, partner at BCL Solicitors, explores the options available for enforcement investigators tackling cases of money laundering.

July 2022 News

Dublin’s new arrivals

Six years on from the Brexit vote, international law firms continue to land in Dublin, making Ireland the hottest EU jurisdiction for new offices. Dominic Carman finds out why

July 2022 News

Putting on the Green Jersey

Placing the national interest first served Ireland well in the financial crisis and during the pandemic, but what happens when Irish law firms face intense competition for talent?

July 2022 News

Addleshaw Goddard

Merger with Eugene F Collins sets a pattern

July 2022 News

Bird & Bird

A natural fit for Ireland, a big draw for local lawyers

July 2022 News

Ogier Leman

Driving offshore further into the Irish market

July 2022 News

Waiting for Godot

The much-anticipated surge in Irish restructuring and insolvency may finally become visible later this year, but for now the wait continues

July 2022 News

From ESG to D&I

Ireland works hard to keep up: turning necessity into advantage

July 2022 News

Juul can sell vaping products in the US, but for how long?

Examining the FDA’s pending ban of JUUL, Signature Litigation partner Sylvie Gallage-Alwis and associate Elias Boukachabine outline the risks of selling e-cigarettes in the absence of unequivocal scientific data

June 2022 News

Gibraltar, the Financial Action Tax Force and “increased monitoring”

Hassans partner Grahame Jackson outlines Gibraltar’s progress in improving its compliance with FATF standards

June 2022 News

Law Commission proposals on corporate criminal liability

On 10 June 2022, the Law Commission published an options paper for the Government on how it can improve the law to ensure that corporations are effectively held to account for committing serious crimes. Tom McNeill and John Binns of the Financial Crime team at BCL Solicitors analyse the key points.

June 2022 News

Ogier Leman merger

An offshore force in Dublin’s legal market

June 2022 News

Turmoil offshore

Law firms rise above the BVI’s ‘bad governance’ and ‘serious dishonesty’

June 2022 News

Good Russians, bad Russians

How offshore firms are dealing with sanctions compliance, the rule of law and Russian clients

June 2022 News

‘Even pariahs have rights’

BVI judgment identifies competing duties in representing sanctioned clients. Are law firms now ‘moral policemen’?

June 2022 News

Gibraltar: Crypto disputes on the Rock

In the first jurisdiction to regulate crypto, litigation seems inevitable

June 2022 News

Economic headwinds blow hard

As the World Bank forecasts stagflation, offshore firms see a silver lining

June 2022 News

Setting up during lockdown

How Edward Scott and Co became Jersey’s latest boutique

June 2022 News

AML compliance for family businesses

Stephen Baker, senior partner at Baker & Partners, examines how family businesses and firms can achieve and maintain compliance with the most recent AML/CFT standards

June 2022 News

Health & safety prosecutions: Individual failings

Tom McNeill, Senior Associate at BCL Solicitors examines the responsibility and culpability of employers for the failings of their employees

May 2022 News

CMS CEE – Data Centres

Dominic Carman, Editor of Reports Legal, recently chaired a CMS webinar on the development of data centres in CEE. Participants:  CMS CEE TMT, Real Estate and Energy experts – Eva Talmacsi Lukáš Hejduk Piotr Ciolkowski Director of Turner & Townsend, Poland – Tomasz Łosek Issues: What are the key factors driving global demand for more ...

May 2022 News

Prioritising business services roles is key to law firms’ recovery

Deborah Gray, founding director at Totum Partners, explains why this matters

April 2022 News

The Serious Fraud Office: What’s on the horizon?

As the SFO operates under the shadow cast by independent reviews, BCL Financial Crime partner Richard Sallybanks and senior associate Anoushka Warlow examine where next for the beleaguered agency.

April 2022 News

NFTs: An Increasingly Complex Picture

Nick Eziefula, Partner, Simkins LLP   Once more, the times they are a changing. Bob Dylan caused consternation when he adopted a new-fangled electric guitar at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival. Now Sir Paul McCartney has endorsed the medium of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) with the sale of an NFT linked to his handwritten notes from ...

March 2022 News

The War on Fraud

The public and private sectors need to work together in the fight against fraud says Charlie Sorensen, Senior Associate at Baker & Partners

February 2022 News

Cladding crisis: hope in site?

Developers forced to face the music as the Government seeks to end the cladding crisis for thousands of innocent leaseholders by Gurpreet Sanghera Partner, Disputes Team Simkins LLP

January 2022 News

England’s Lockdown Regulations: a Compressed History

As Sue Gray is set to publish her report into alleged law-breaking in 10 Downing Street during the Covid-19 lockdowns, John Binns, Partner at BCL Solicitors LLP examines how the law has evolved and which rules have applied since March 2020

January 2022 News

Rising divorce rates in China – Infidelity no longer a cause for divorce

Deborah Jeff, Partner and Head of Family at Simkins LLP, examines how Chinese government changes to divorce law fly in the face of what is reasonable and tolerable.

January 2022 News

David Boies: What Prince Andrew can expect in court from Virginia Giuffre’s lawyer

In a face-to-face interview in New York, before he was instructed by Virginia Giuffre Roberts, David Boies told Dominic Carman about his approach to litigation – from taking depositions and handling juries to dealing with hidden evidence and cross-examining witnesses

January 2022 News

£1bn Recovered from Tax Fraud – Good News?

A recent HMRC press release trumpeted the £218m recovered by its Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) in 2020-21, taking its total for the five years since it was set up to just over £1bn. Harry Travers and John Binns, partners in the Financial Crime team at BCL Solicitors, ask if we really should be celebrating?

January 2022 News

The rise of litigation funds in Jersey

Litigation funding is certainly a hot topic, as can be seen from the controversy surrounding the involvement of litigation funders in the now infamous divorce proceedings between Tatiana Akhmedova and her now ex-husband, oligarch Temur Akhmedov. Jersey is no different, with litigation funders becoming increasingly involved in all manner of disputes.

December 2021 News

Petrofac and ‘SOCPA Agreements’: has the SFO found a way to crack white-collar cases?

Shaul Brazil and Tom McNeill of the Financial Crime team at BCL Solicitors examine the SFO’s approach to cooperating suspects

December 2021 News

Offshore: firing on all cylinders

As the battle for legal talent intensifies, Dominic Carman examines how leading offshore law firms are managing record volumes of M&A, PE and fundraising

December 2021 News

Deals dominate

Offshore firms are benefiting from frenetic levels of onshore activity. So which deals stand out?

December 2021 News

Governance underpinning purpose

By Robert Moore, Director – UK, Jersey Finance

December 2021 News

‘People keep arguing’

Disputes continue to thrive across the offshore world. What are they arguing about?

December 2021 News

ESG: ‘The need to respond is immediate’

As ESG impacts every aspect of commercial activity, Dominic Carman examines how the offshore elite is responding to increasing client demand and sustained investment pressure

December 2021 News

China: global law firms being silenced through fear

This year, China set its sights on Essex Court Chambers and Mayer Brown; next year it “might be Clifford Chance, Freshfields or some other major city law firm which offends the Chinese state.”

November 2021 News

Does Brexit create uncertainty for online software sales agents?

The UK’s departure from the EU means that online software sales agents could face continued uncertainty, according to Hunters’ partner, Richard Baxter. 

November 2021 News

The heart of Dublin 

Thanks to a strong economic recovery, an ever-expanding local footprint of US tech giants and a Brexit dividend, Ireland looks set to thrive. But what about its law firms? 

November 2021 News

Solving the Irish Puzzle 

A flood of international firms in Dublin has put pressure on the local legal recruitment market. Dominic Carman asks whether more competition might force leading Irish firms to consider an alliance or a merger 

November 2021 News

Taxing Times: Is Ireland still trending? 

For companies with annual revenues of €750m+, Ireland’s cherished 12.5% corporation tax rate will increase to 15% in 2023. What does this mean for current US multinational hubs and future FDI? 

October 2021 News

Will the end of Covid support ‘fuel insolvencies’?

Following the withdrawal of government support measures to mitigate the economic effects of the pandemic, Dana Rădulescu, Partner, MPR Partners, examines the outlook for insolvency. At the beginning of October, the main UK government support measures given to British businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic were withdrawn. Many now expect a wave of insolvencies to follow ...

October 2021 News

Modern Slavery and Money Laundering: The Duty Most Companies Don’t Know They Have

Do UK companies have a duty to prevent, or report, forced labour or human trafficking? The answer, for now, is ‘not quite’ – but duties in this area are strengthening in practice, thanks to laws on modern slavery and money laundering.

October 2021 News

Professor Tribe talks to Reports Legal – exclusive

One of America’s foremost constitutional scholars, a trusted adviser to Democratic presidents and Professor Emeritus at Harvard who has argued dozens of cases in the US Supreme Court, Laurence Tribe tells Dominic Carman what makes a great lawyer and why maths is more beautiful than law.   Laurence H Tribe, known to his friends as ...

October 2021 News

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back? The Problem of the UK and Europol

Joining forces to fight crime might seem like a no-brainer. John Binns, financial crime partner at BCL Solicitors, considers that new working arrangements between the UK and Europol show the effort needed to maintain them post-Brexit

October 2021 News

Failure and Fault:
What NatWest’s £400m fine tells us about corporate liability for money laundering

John Binns, partner in the Financial Crime team at BCL Solicitors LLP. considers whether NatWest’s guilty plea last week to failures under the UK’s money-laundering regulations – but is it right to call this a ‘failure to prevent’ by the bank? 

October 2021 News

US Supreme Court: Discovery and the ZF Petition

Ryan Cable and Alex Cheah of Signature Litigation LLP consider whether the US Supreme Court may determine the availability of discovery in support of foreign private arbitrations

October 2021 News

SPACs: Next Stop Europe

The Maples Group examines the future potential of SPACs in Europe

October 2021 News

‘Racism is often subtle’

If you happen to be Black, you’re twice as likely to leave the profession earlier than your white counterparts – this must change, says Law Society president, I. Stephanie Boyce

October 2021 News

‘Some parts of the Bar have a diversity problem’

Chair of the Bar, Derek Sweeting QC, tells Dominic Carman that the Bar needs to reflect society

October 2021 News

‘Law firms are not looking in the right places’

Netanya Clixby tells Reports Legal that firms need to look harder in their search for diverse legal talent

October 2021 News

Facing up to reality

Time and data gathering are cited as big problems, but very few firms admit that the relative absence of Black lawyers is their biggest diversity challenge

October 2021 News

Fear and hope

Dominic Carman examines how law firms are under pressure to ‘talk less and do more’ in response to multiple diversity challenges.

October 2021 News

Shaping recruitment to diversify your talent

Bav Patel, Director at Dandi Legal, explains how law firms can address the diversity challenge

September 2021 News

Greenwashing claims face CMA enforcement action in the new year

As the Competition and Markets Authority issued its final guidance on misleading environmental claims and fired a warning shot to businesses- either secure compliance now or face enforcement action, Richard Reichman, partner in the regulatory team at BCL Solicitors LLP, analyses the compliance risks for businesses.  Against the background of the UK’s aim to achieve ...

August 2021 News

Tracking the crypto underworld: law and order… and tech

By Robert Jones, Managing Partner of Baker & Partners (Cayman) Limited, and Peter Eguae, barrister, 7 Bedford Row   At the time of writing, each bitcoin is worth just over US$50,000. With the right tools anyone, anywhere in the world, is unilaterally able to store or transfer crypto assets – whether peer-to-peer or via the ...

August 2021 News

Support without judgment

The psychological load for lawyers of a hybrid workplace by Brendan Street, Professional Head of Emotional Wellbeing, Nuffield Health

August 2021 News

“Time’s up” for Prince Andrew?

Sigrid McCawley, the lawyer at the heart of the scandal involving Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew: Virginia Giuffre Roberts and other Epstein victims are now believed

August 2021 News

Reports Legal featured in the Times

Last week, I wrote a Reports Legal article examining whether the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, might be contemplating a windfall tax on City law firms and the practical difficulties that he would face in implementing it.

July 2021 News

£1bn Windfall Tax on City Lawyers, Chancellor?

Dominic Carman examines how the “excessive profits” of City law firms in the past year might serve to boost the argument for a windfall tax on London’s multi-millionaire lawyers

July 2021 News

Why CFOs really matter to law firms

Martyn Draper, Head of Finance Practice at Totum Partners, explains how the finance function in law firms includes an increasing set of responsibilities

July 2021 News

An increase in SFO investigations?

Kathleen Harris, managing partner of Arnold & Porter’s London office and co-chair of the firm's Anti-Corruption team, examines the potential rise in SFO whistleblower-led investigations

July 2021 News

SFO agrees tenth Deferred Prosecution Agreement – good money, but do they work?

Following the announcement by the Serious Fraud Office that Amec Foster Wheeler Energy will pay a £103m penalty in a Deferred Prosecution Agreement to settle 18 years of corruption allegations, Alex Swan at BCL Solicitors examines the implications of these much-criticised agreements between regulators and companies.

July 2021 News

TikTok faces landmark legal claim following the illegal collection of millions of children’s personal data

Scott+Scott Partner Tom Southwell and Counsel James Hain-Cole explain the landmark High Court claim against TikTok, and parent firm ByteDance, over the illegal collection of, and profiteering from, children’s personal data.

July 2021 News

‘Let’s get visible’

Bratschi’s appointment of Sandra De Vito Bieri as managing partner marks a watershed for law firms in Switzerland

July 2021 News

Where are all the women?

As more female partners are being appointed, ‘Swiss law firms that are too conservative will have no chance’

July 2021 News

Advestra: reaching for the stars

A combination of stellar lawyers and strong connections bodes well for Advestra – the most important spin-off in the Swiss legal market for a generation

July 2021 News

Switzerland: The magic still works

Despite the Covid challenges, Swiss law firms continue to thrive. So how do they manage it?

June 2021 News

Barrister, QC, judge, alcoholic…and a brave man

Any publication daring to print the above headline would normally anticipate only one response: a writ for defamation, swiftly issued by solicitors acting on behalf of the man whom it describes. Unless, of course, those words told the truth.

June 2021 News

Coronavirus Quarantine and Self-Isolation: What If I Don’t?

Is it true that cheating quarantine rules could end in a prison sentence? John Binns, partner in the Criminal Regulatory practice at BCL Solicitors explores the real risks of breaching the regulations.

June 2021 News

How to lose friends and alienate nations

With its clear disregard for legal norms, Belarus takes its rogue state status up a gear

May 2021 News

Green light on data class actions? Supreme Court to decide Google’s fate

Herbert Smith Freehills disputes partner Julian Copeman and Consultant Kate Macmillan explain the landmark Supreme Court case that will decide whether Google can face a claim over alleged illegal tracking of millions of iPhone users. 

April 2021 News

Offshore elite firms thrive despite challenges

For the offshore elite, it has been business almost as usual during the past year

April 2021 News

The SPACs phenomenon

As the market takes a pause and the SEC steps in, offshore firms reflect on a 12-month SPAC boom

April 2021 News

Queen’s Gambit: ‘Investing is a game of chess’

Queen’s Gambit – a different kind of SPAC

April 2021 News

Gibraltar: a hub for crypto entrepreneurs

First it was gaming, now Gibraltar’s DLT regulations have led to an ecosystem of crypto investors and advisers

April 2021 News

Hong Kong at the crossroads

Never has the conflict between politics and business been more acute, but offshore law firms in Hong Kong remain confident about its future

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