The change of name to the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court makes sense. This court deals with intellectual property cases of all kinds, not simply patent cases, provided the value of the claim is not worth more than £500,000. By limiting the length of trial — often to just one day – and the amount of work done […]
The Intellectual Property Bill was introduced in May 2013 and should become law in 2014. The bill implements a number of the government’s responses to the Hargreaves Review of intellectual property and is intended to modernise aspects of the law relating to intellectual property, particularly relating to patents and designs. The bill includes provisions for: the […]
Walker Morris has reported extensively on the Growth and Infrastructure Act 2013, which amended the Commons Act 2006 to prevent registration of land as a town or village green (TVG) — so as to preclude development — once a ‘trigger event’ occurs. Under the 2013 act, the right to apply for registration of land as a TVG […]
Outgoing Clifford Chance managing partner David Childs is to chair the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC’s) Conduct Committee when he retires from the firm next year. Childs will take up the position on 1 May 2014 as the current chair Richard Fleck’s ten year term comes to an end. The managing partner has been at the […]
Rocket Lawyer, the US West Coast online legal services start-up that launched in the UK a year ago, is planning to expand its offering into Northern Ireland and Scotland next year. The legal services supplier, one of the fastest-growing companies in the USA, currently has 20 firms in its England and Wales ‘On Call’ network, […]
Debevoise & Plimpton and Linklaters have played lead roles advising the $4bn (£2.4bn) landmark bancassurance partnership between AIA and Citibank in the Asia-Pacific region. Under the exclusive deal, Hong Kong-based life insurer AIA will sell its insurance products through Citibank’s retail branch network in 11 markets across Asia Pacific, encompassing Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, […]
New phone? Clothes vouchers? CDs? Not for Barclays. Instead the bank is looking for a shiny new legal panel this Christmas. Just a year after it announced it would be delaying its panel review until the middle of 2013 the bank has overhauled the structure and kicked off the process. Barclays really got the ball […]
Jones Day has promoted nine lawyers outside of the US to the partnership in its 34-strong global promotion rounds, including two in London, three in Europe and four in Asia. The 34 promotions will take effect on 1 January 2014. In London, Jones Day has elected disputes lawyer Adam Brown and restructuring lawyer David Harding […]
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) has identified 117 firms still at risk of closure as a result of being unable to secure professional indemnity insurance. There are 17 firms facing disciplinary action for failing to comply with the obligation to notify the SRA of their need to enter the extended policy period (EPP). The penalty […]
Cayman Islands boutiques Travers Thorp Alberga and Paget-Brown are merging in early 2014, just a year after the former enticed ex-Maples and Calder managing partner Anthony Travers back to practice. Paget-Brown founder Ian Paget-Brown QC will join become a counsel at the enlarged firm, which will be known as Travers Thorp Alberga. Travers Thorp Alberga […]
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has confirmed the appointment of global head of disputes Sonya Leydecker and former legacy Freehills managing partner Mark Rigotti as joint chief executive officers. The appointments will take effect from 1 May 2014 for a term of three years. Both Leydecker and Rigotti are executive board members and senior figures with […]
Hopes raised last year of simplifying the required content of compromise agreements have come to nothing; instead we merely got a name change. So instead of ‘compromise agreements’, we now have ‘settlement agreements’. Semantics: 1; substance: 0… If you are registered and logged in to the site, click on the link below to read the […]