Expert Analysis

• How Employers Should Respond To Flexible Work Requests

  

  U.K. employees will soon have the right to request flexible working arrangements from the first day of employment, including for religious observances, and refusing them without objective justification could expose employers to indirect discrimination claims and hurt companies’ diversity and inclusion efforts, says Jim Moore at Hamilton Nash.

• What COVID Payout Ruling Means For Lockdown Loss Claims

  

  While the High Court's recent COVID-19 payout decision in Gatwick v. Liberty Mutual, holding that pandemic-related regulations trigger prevention of access clauses, will likely lead to insurers accepting more business interruption claims, there are still evidentiary challenges and issues regarding policy limits and furlough, say Josianne El Antoury and Greg Lascelles at Covington.

• Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

  

  Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

• Opinion

  PACCAR Should Be 1st Step To Regulating Litigation Funders

  

  Rather than reversing the U.K. Supreme Court's well-reasoned judgment in PACCAR v. Competition Appeal Tribunal, imposing a regulatory regime on litigation funders in parity with that of lawyers, legislators should build upon it to create a more transparent, competitive and fairer funding industry, says Rosa Curling at Foxglove.

• Patent Plausibility Uncertainty Persists, EPO Petition Shows

  

  While a recent petition for review at the European Patent Office — maintaining that the Board of Appeal misapplied the Enlarged Board of Appeal's order on whether a patent is "plausible" — highlights the continued uncertainty surrounding the plausibility concept, the outcome could provide useful guidance on the interpretation of orders, say lawyers at Finnegan.

• In Int'l Arbitration Agreements, Be Clear About Governing Law

  

  A trilogy of recent cases in the English High Court and Court of Appeal highlight the importance of parties agreeing to explicit choice of law language at the outset of an arbitration agreement in order to avoid costly legal skirmishes down the road, say lawyers at Faegre Drinker.

• Risks The Judiciary Needs To Be Aware Of When Using AI

  

  Recently published judiciary service guidance aims to temper reliance on AI by court staff in their work, and with ever-increasing and evolving technology, such tools should be used for supplementary assistance rather than as a replacement for already existing judicial research tools, says Philip Sewell at Shepherd & Wedderburn.

• Post Office Scandal Stresses Key Directors Duties Lessons

  

  The Post Office scandal, involving hundreds of wrongful convictions of subpostmasters based on an IT failure, offers lessons for company directors on the magnitude of the impact that a failure to fulfill their duties can have on employees and the company, says Simon Goldberg at Simons Muirhead.

• Employer Tips For Handling Data Subject Access Requests

  

  As employers face numerous employee data-subject access requests — and the attendant risks of complaints to the Information Commissioner's Office — issues such as managing deadlines and sifting through data make compliance more difficult, highlighting the importance of efficient internal processes and clear communication when responding to a request, say Gwynneth Tan and Amy Leech at Shoosmiths.

• Top Court Hire Car Ruling Affects 3rd-Party Negligence Cases

  

  The U.K. Supreme Court's recent decision in Armstead v. Royal & Sun Alliance, finding that an insurer was responsible for lost car rental income after an accident, has significant implications for arguing economic loss and determining burden of proof in third-party negligence cases that trigger contractual liabilities, say lawyers at Macfarlanes.

• Bribery Class Action Ruling May Revive Bifurcated Processes

  

  The Court of Appeal's recent decision allowing the representative bribery action in Commission Recovery v. Marks & Clerk offers renewed hope for claimants to advance class claims using a bifurcated process amid its general absence as of late, say Jon Gale and Justin Browne at Ashurst.

• Ocado Appeal Outcome Will Gauge UPC Transparency

  

  As the sole Unified Patent Court case concerning third-party requests for court records, the forthcoming appeal decision in Ocado v. Autostore will hopefully set out a clear and consistent way to handle reasoned requests, as access to nonconfidential documents will surely lead to more efficient conduct of proceedings, says Tom Brazier at EIP.

• The Good, The Bad And The New Of The UK Sanctions Regime

  

  Almost six years after the Sanctions and Money Laundering Act was introduced, the U.K. government has published a strategy paper that outlines its focus points and unveils potential changes to the regime, such as a new humanitarian exception for financial sanctions, highlighting the rapid transformation of the U.K. sanctions landscape, says Josef Rybacki at WilmerHale.

• Unpacking The Building Safety Act's Industry Overhaul

  

  Recent updates to the Building Safety Act introduce a new principal designer role and longer limitation periods for defects claims, ushering in new compliance challenges for construction industry stakeholders to navigate, as well as a need to affirm that their insurance arrangements provide adequate protection, say Zoe Eastell and Zack Gould-Wilson at RPC.

• Prompt Engineering Skills Are Changing The Legal Profession

  

  With a focus on higher-value work as repetitive tasks are delegated to artificial intelligence, legal roles are set to become more inspiring, and lawyers need not fear the rising demand for prompt engineers that is altering the technology-enabled legal environment, say Eric Crawley, Shah Karim and Paul O’Hagan at Epiq Legal.