All by Matthew Hibbert
At the end of January, the Prime Minister pledged a ‘Brexit Freedoms’ Bill to end the special status of EU law in the UK and make it easier to amend or remove EU law which was retained as part of the Withdrawal Agreement. This article will discuss the legal sector’s response to this news and what the effects of such a Bill might be.
Monday 24th January was supposed to see the start of the defamation trial, Sarah Palin v The New York Times Company. However, with Palin testing positive for COVID-19, the beginning of the trial has been postponed until 3rd February, on the proviso that Palin is asymptomatic or only has mild symptoms. The case was initially dismissed in 2017, however an appeals court has since overturned that decision and allowed the case to proceed.
A survey published yesterday of UK law firm partners at firms with 50 or more lawyers revealed that almost a third of these firms are ‘actively considering’ an initial public offering within the next 18 months. This article examines why this may be, drawing attention to the opportunities for growth which the pandemic has presented. It then looks at DWF as an example of a previous law firm IPO and considers why some may view the practice as a dubious prospect.
Discussion on the ‘metaverse’ is buzzing again after Facebook’s rebranding pivot last Thursday, with both businesses and law firms offering their takes on the concept. This article first offers a summary of the metaverse, what form it may take, and how the discussion is affecting non-fungible tokens and cryptocurrencies. It then considers the legal implications the metaverse may have, particularly in the areas of privacy and intellectual property.
In the recent case of Pakistan International Airline Corporation v Times Travel (UK) Ltd, the UK Supreme Court has ruled on the area of economic duress, bringing some needed clarification to the law.
