Top Stories

• 

  Elton John Says Mail Intrusion Was 'Outside Human Decency'

  By Ronan Barnard

  Elton John told a London court Friday that alleged invasions of his family's privacy by the publisher of the Dai...(read more)

• 

  Insurance Market Braces For Landmark COVID Furlough Case

  By Martin Croucher

  Britain's top court is to hear a COVID-19 dispute that will affect the immediate survival of thousands of busine...(read more)

• UK TM Rights Don't Apply To Pre-Brexit EU Disputes

  By Hanna Vioque

  Europe's top court ruled Thursday that intellectual property owners cannot rely on earlier U.K. trademarks in European opposition proceedings that began before Brexit, unless they can show those rights continued in other member states after the U.K.'s withdrawal from the European Union. 

• OFSI Overhauls Its Powers, But Lawyers Doubt Impact

  By Christopher Crosby

  Moves to double the fining powers of Britain's sanctions watchdog would have little impact on enforcement, lawyers fear, although they say that a proposed program for agreeing settlements with companies could be just enough to speed up the regulator's cases.

• Clyde & Co.'s Hamburg Team Leaving To Launch New Firm

  By Ashish Sareen

  Clyde & Co. LLP is set to lose its team in Hamburg, with almost all of its members departing to form a new boutique law firm.

• Amazon Attacks £4B Class Actions Over 'Outrageous' Funding

  By Sophia Dourou

  Amazon sought permission on Thursday to challenge two class actions totaling more than £4 billion ($5.4 billion) over its unfair treatment of third-party sellers, arguing that the Competition Appeal Tribunal was wrong to certify the claims without grappling with their "outrageous" funding agreements.

• UK Moots Further Exceptions To Delayed Fire And Rehire Law

  By Adele Redmond

  Employers would be able to fire and rehire staff who reject changes to shifts and cuts to housing, share schemes and compensation for expenses under proposals by the government on Wednesday to further dilute its crackdown on the cost-cutting tactic.

• Quinn Emanuel Client Appeals To Block Ex-Staffer's Abuse

  By Eddie Beaver

  A client of Quinn Emanuel argued at a London appeals court on Wednesday that judges can restrain a former employee from sending abusive messages to the firm's lawyers if the conduct interferes with the court's processes.

• Financier Settles Libel Case Over €454M Vatican Fraud Claims

  By William Janes

  An Anglo-Italian financier has settled his libel action against a newspaper publisher in which he alleged that the paper wrongly accused him of orchestrating a €454 million ($536 million) property fraud against the Vatican.

• Law Firms, Claims Managers Warned On Motor Finance Cases

  By Alex Davidson

  Financial and legal regulators warned claims management companies and law firms handling claims for motor finance compensation on Wednesday to avoid multiple representation of consumers and ensure that any fees they charge are fair.

• Slaughter And May-Led Zurich Gets Beazley Nod On £8B Offer

  By Najiyya Budaly

  Beazley has backed a sweetened £8 billion ($11 billion) takeover approach from Swiss insurance heavyweight Zurich Insurance Group Ltd., the companies said Wednesday, after the London-listed company rejected two lower bids in January.

• Disclosure Overhaul And AI Reform To Tackle Courts Crisis

  By Christopher Crosby

  A landmark review of the U.K.'s ailing criminal court system called for an overhaul of disclosure rules on Wednesday, recommending prosecutors stop automatically disclosing certain types of evidence and start leaning heavily on artificial intelligence.

• Banque Havilland Gets Fine Over Qatar Currency Cut To £4M

  By Alex Davidson

  A tribunal upheld on Tuesday the Financial Conduct Authority's finding that Banque Havilland, now Rangecourt SA, acted without integrity to harm Qatar's currency, but trimmed the regulator's fine of the bank from £10 million ($13.7 million) to £4 million.

• Data Regulator Probes X's Grok Over Sexualized 'Deepfakes'

  By Eddie Beaver

  The U.K.'s data watchdog revealed Tuesday that it has launched formal investigations into personal data processing within X's Grok generative artificial intelligence chatbot and its potential to produce harmful sexualized "deepfake" images and videos.