Google’s homepage still encourages internet users to search for information by clicking the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button. That phrase surely sums up the mood in the camp at Google after the Supreme Court refused to grant Mr Lloyd permission to serve a £3 billion representative claim on Google in Delaware. Google, along with other large data controllers, will be breathing a huge sigh of relief.
The post-COVID bounce back in M&A deals has led a lot of entrepreneurs to consider selling their businesses. Business owners are aware that today’s extremely healthy M&A market will not continue indefinitely and that the window of opportunity will soon begin to close.
I recently read an article written by a solicitor-turned-barrister which set me thinking about transactions which turn bad. As a transactional lawyer, I am well aware that on occasions, relations between parties sour and disputes arise, so how can parties reduce the risk of time-consuming and costly litigation at the outset?
The UK government announced in its Autumn Budget that it is considering putting in place a new regime to allow overseas-incorporated companies to re-domicile to the UK and has published a consultation to this effect (the “Consultation”). If the plans go ahead, foreign companies will be able to change their place of incorporation to the UK while retaining their legal identity.
Individuals and families intending to relocate to the UK should ensure they undertake pre-arrival tax planning in advance of a move, so that their affairs are arranged as efficiently as possible for UK tax purposes.
In November 2021 HMRC will begin sending ‘nudge letters’ to UK domiciled individuals they have identified as holding crypto-assets to encourage them to ensure they have paid the correct amount of income tax and capital gains tax (CGT) on any income they have received from their crypto-asset holdings. At present, HMRC will not send nudges to resident non-domiciles however their gains will still be subject to CGT.
Nudge letters should not be ignored and early open communication and co-operation with HMRC is advised to avoid any potential civil or criminal penalties.
The government is keen to encourage funds to be set up in the UK, rather than, for example, Luxembourg. With this aim in mind, HM Treasury has been consulting with the British Property Federation (the BPF) and other relevant organisations to devise a regime that will be attractive to private equity funds, real estate funds and debt funds, so encouraging them to either set up in the UK or move existing funds to the UK.
Much like London buses, the Supreme Court must be thinking that restraint of trade cases are coming along all at once. In what was their third restraint of trade case in three years, the Supreme Court has recently handed down its decision in Harcus Sinclair LLP v Your Lawyers Ltd finding that a restraint of trade clause contained in a non-disclosure agreement between two law firms was not unreasonable in the circumstances and was, therefore, valid.
October’s Autumn Budget announced some key changes to the terms of the Recovery Loan Scheme.
As strange as it sounds, it isn’t unusual for country houses and estates to come with a few skeletons in the cupboard – or the garden at least. Many have graveyards or graves in the grounds, usually for previous inhabitants.
