Two years after Nick Ephgrave’s appointment as director of the Serious Fraud Office, the introduction of new corporate criminal offenses and strengthened investigative methods sends a clear message to corporations that the agency is delivering on its promise to be bolder and more proactive about tackling fraud, say lawyers at BCL Solicitors.

The landmark Illumina/Grail judgment a year ago limiting referral of below-threshold mergers to the European Commission has not left transactions unscrutinized, and for companies the days of straightforward merger filings analyses are over, say lawyers at Crowell & Moring.

Recent U.K. court decisions have shaped a framework for interim licenses in global standard-essential patent disputes, under which parties can benefit from operating on temporary terms while a court determines the final fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms — but the future of this developing remedy is in doubt, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

As market evolution and digitalization motivate both the European Union and the U.K. to revamp consumer protections around lending, the potential for divergence between these rules will pose new challenges for cross-border consumer credit lenders, say lawyers at Skadden.

Although the European Banking Authority’s recent questioning of the common use of conditional sale agreements to season assets when setting up securitizations has come as an unwelcome surprise, competent regulators are expected to follow the EBA guidance, even though as a Q&A response it is not legally binding, say lawyers at Debevoise.

Neil Coulson, chair of intellectual property at Baker Botts, discusses the challenges of tackling a patent litigation with a short timetable, the post-Brexit delineation between the European Union's and the U.K.'s approaches to trademark examination, and why it is important to be able to discourse with clients easily on technical topics.

The recent decision in Hotelbeds Ltd. v. Revenue and Customs Commissioners on the recovery of input tax, confirming that HMRC is bound to comply with its own guidance, will make the agency rethink its usual response to allegations that the policy was not law, say lawyers at Kennedys.

The recently effective European Union Data Act provisions establish harmonized rules to unlock the use of data generated by technology-embedded software, but leave practical challenges that organizations will need to navigate to comply with cross-border requirements, say lawyers at King & Spalding.

The Supreme Court of Spain recently upheld the criminal conviction of arbitrator Gonzalo Stampa for grave disobedience to judicial authority, rejecting the proposition that an arbitrator's independence can prevail over a court order retroactively disabling the very judicial act conferring arbitral jurisdiction, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

Implementation of the Mario Draghi report’s proposals to revamp European Union competition policy is currently case-specific, making it less visible, and more needs to be done in the way of merger review and antitrust enforcement, say lawyers at Linklaters.

Kathleen Healy, partner in London and co-leader of Freshfields' people and reward practice in Asia, discusses the challenges of advising on employment and industrial relations during the financial crisis, why the employment tribunal system would benefit from additional funding, and how reforming noncompete clauses will create plenty of legal and practical issues.

The rapid increase in investment in general partner stakes by private capital managers indicates its advantages over both strategic sales and initial public offerings, including the ability to retain greater operational control over the business and to avoid the scrutiny that accompanies a listing, says Nicholas Page at Macfarlanes.

The U.K. government’s ongoing late payments consultation would claw back much-needed leverage for small and midsize enterprises negotiating with large organizations, should the reforms be implemented as proposed, say lawyers at Shoosmiths.

The recent High Court landmark judgment refusing to sanction Waldorf Production PLC's restructuring plan underscores a change in the way courts assess whether such plans are fair, indicating not their demise but a pivotal moment in their evolution, say lawyers at Simpson Thacher.

Employees’ use of unauthorized artificial intelligence tools has become a regulatory issue, and in-house legal counsel are best placed to close the gap between governance controls and innovation, mitigating the risk of organizations' exposure to noncompliance with European Union and U.K. data protection requirements, say lawyers at MoFo.

The memorandum of cooperation recently signed between the U.K. and Japan to promote collaboration in competition law enforcement is a meaningful step that offers cross-border businesses an improved foundation for earlier alignment and better risk management, say lawyers at Steptoe.

Sarah McNally, head of the global insurance disputes practice at HSF Kramer, discusses the challenges of orchestrating an expedited proceeding during the pandemic, how document disclosure in litigation is becoming a huge burden, and why insurance is all-pervasive, and accordingly interesting and varied.

HM Treasury’s recently published draft regulations amending the U.K. Money Laundering Regulations, although not as material as expected, are a step toward a targeted risk-based approach, which the industry will welcome, say lawyers at Ropes & Gray.

The European Union Court of Justice’s recent judgment in European Data Protection Supervisor v. Single Resolution Board takes a recipient-specific approach concerning pseudonymized information, but financial services firms making international transfers should follow the draft EU Data Protection Board guidelines’ current stricter approach, says Nathalie Moreno at Kennedys Law.