Commercial Client

Disputes in the EU - Rules on Applicable Law
Where a dispute has a foreign element, one of the common problems is deciding under what jurisdiction legal action should be taken. This is avoided in many commercial contracts by specifying the applicable law in the contract, but in consumer contracts there...
Read More
Administration of Troncs
The long-running series of disputes between employers in the hospitality industry and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) concerning the taxation of employees’ tips and their National Insurance (NI) status seems to have been concluded by the issue of ...
Read More
Age Discrimination - Life After the Abolition of the Default Retirement Age
The Default Retirement Age (DRA) has now been abolished and it is no longer permissible for an employer to dismiss an older worker on the ground of retirement unless this can be objectively justified under the Equality Act 2010 . This does not mean that...
Read More
Are You Data Friendly
Many businesses regard the Data Protection Act 1998 as something that merely requires a lot of form filling and the payment of fees, but there is a lot more to it than that. The purpose of the Act is to protect a person's right to privacy with regard to...
Read More
Bank Deposit Protection Rules for Businesses
In December 2010, new limits were announced for the levels of protection available for different investments underwritten by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The FSCS protects the deposits of small companies, which are those which meet...
Read More
Bribery Act Guidance
The Government provides guidance for businesses on complying with the Bribery Act 2010 , which came into force on 1 July 2011. The Act was originally scheduled to take effect in April 2011, but its implementation was delayed to allow the final version of...
Read More
Business Relief - Traps for the Unwary
Most business people know that for family businesses there are generous Inheritance Tax (IHT) reliefs, which generally operate to make assets used in the business exempt or partially exempt from IHT. The reliefs take various forms but have been collectively...
Read More
Buying from an Administrator - Take Care
With businesses becoming insolvent in large numbers, opportunities abound to acquire assets from their administrators. However, the low prices sought for the assets are due, at least in part, to the additional risk to the purchaser. Here are some of the...
Read More
Collective Redundancy Consultation
Employers should be aware of the potentially serious financial consequences of failing to consult when making collective redundancies. If an employer is proposing to make redundant 20 or more employees at one establishment within a period of 90 days or...
Read More
Companies Act 2006 Overview
The Companies Act 2006   became legally effective on 1st October 2009.  There are many useful resources on the new Companies Act which is highly significant as it in many respects simplifies the procedural requirements on setting up a limited...
Read More
Companies Act Model Articles - Think First
Since the Companies Act 2006 came into effect, the incorporation of a company has been straightforward as the Act provides an easy to use set of model articles of incorporation. However, before you rush off and buy an ‘off the shelf’...
Read More
Company Name Rules
You cannot incorporate a company using any name you like. Some names are prohibited (for example, those which suggest a connection with the Government or the Crown) and names will not be allowed if they are too similar to the names of existing companies. It...
Read More
Company Disclosure Rules
The Companies (Trading Disclosures) Regulations 2008 set out the the requirements as to where and when company trading names, names of directors etc. need to be shown. The Statutory Instrument implementing the changes is both short and straightforward. In...
Read More
Company Formation Checklist
In terms of cost, form filling and speed, setting up a new limited company has never been easier. However in the exciting rush to get going, it can be very easy to overlook crucial considerations, especially where you are likley to have other shareholders or...
Read More
Compensation for Loss of Light
Following a recent case in which a dispute regarding a property owner’s right to light was unexpectedly dealt with by the granting of an injunction against a developer, a more recent case has offered guidance on how much compensation might be payable...
Read More
Compromise Agreements
As a general rule, ‘out of court settlements’ of employment disputes are not legally binding in that they cannot exclude an employee's right to take the matter concerned to an Employment Tribunal (ET). A formal compromise agreement is one of the...
Read More
Compromise Agreements - Tax Position Clarified
A compromise agreement is an agreement made between an employer and an employee who is having their contract of employment terminated. It sets out the terms under which the termination will take place and contains a provision that the employee will receive a...
Read More
Considering Outsourcing
These days more and more processes are being outsourced (run by external contractors under a service agreement) by more and more businesses. It is particularly common to outsource IT functions and telephone call management. Outsourcing can offer many...
Read More
Construction Act Changes
On 1 October 2011, changes to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 (normally called the Construction Act) came into force. These apply to all relevant contracts entered into from that date. The changes include: The removal of...
Read More
Contractors Are Your Responsibility
A handbook  produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) outlines the responsibilities of both the contractor and the client in situations in which work is carried out by contractors rather then employees. It does not apply to circumstances in...
Read More
Costs Awards in Employment Tribunal Proceedings
Costs orders are the exception, rather than the rule, in Employment Tribunal (ET) proceedings. However, where a claimant acts unreasonably in pursuing a claim, the ET can make a costs award in favour of the other party. In Dunedin Canmore Housing...
Read More
Damages for Wrongful Dismissal
The Supreme Court has ruled ( Edwards v Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust ) that a consultant surgeon who suffered a loss as a result of findings of personal and professional misconduct made against him in disciplinary proceedings that were...
Read More
Data Loss - What to Do
The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has issued guidance for organisations that lose personal data, having reported that it has been notified of nearly 100 such incidents to date. One of the less intuitively obvious suggestions is to think...
Read More
Data Protection Guidance for Landlords
The Information Commissioner's best practice guide for landlords - written to to assist them in complying with the Data Protection Act can be downloaded from the Information Commissioner’s website . The guide includes a checklist which is intended to...
Read More
Dealing With Subject Access Requests
The Data Protection Act 1998 is an important piece of legislation which every business should be aware of, not least because it provides that individuals have  the legal right to access information held on them by an organisation. The Act  also...
Read More
Print pagePrintable Version
View my profile
David Swede
Consultant
T: 0208 951 6660 (DDI)
E: