Commercial

The 2019 Hague Convention came into force in the UK this week, marking a seminal moment for disputes lawyers

The number of law firm mergers has fallen 25% in the past year—possibly due to partners delaying retirement in the hope of a private equity buyout

Masood Ahmed & Osman Mohammed consider whether states must give express consent to waive their immunity

Do states need to give express consent to waive their immunity where an arbitral award is made against it? Yes, according to a recent case discussed in this week’s NLJ by Masood Ahmed, associate professor, University of Leicester, and Osman Mohammed, BA political science and international relations, University of Birmingham

A record-breaking 93 nationalities were represented in judgments issued by London’s commercial courts in the past year—including double the Russians

The Home Office will regain access to Europol DNA and criminal records, while export checks will be simplified for food, fish and farm products, under the UK-EU deal

Corporates who self-report wrongdoing ‘promptly’ will be able to negotiate a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) rather than face prosecution, unless ‘exceptional circumstances’ apply.

The dizzying array of regulatory requirements facing UK businesses is about to increase, with new ‘failure to prevent fraud’ duties in force in September and the proposed duty to prevent sexual harassment. In this week’s NLJ, Kerry Garcia, partner and head of employment, immigration & pensions, and James Evison, partner, at Stevens & Bolton, offer some practical steps for employers.

Thomas R Snider, Dalal Alhouti & Robin Hayden consider the key developments in international arbitration in 2024 & what practitioners should watch for in 2025

What does the rest of 2025 have in store for international arbitration, and what are the key takeaways from 2024? Thomas R Snider, partner and head of international arbitration, Dalal Alhouti, knowledge development lawyer, and Robin Hayden, trainee solicitor, at Charles Russell Speechlys, set out the salient events in this week’s NLJ.