Supreme Court Google ruling sends shockwaves through legal community November 10, 2021 London’s legal community has been left reeling by the Supreme Court’s decision to vote down a £3bn lawsuit against Google. The action led by former Which? director Richard Lloyd, supported by the campaign group Google You Owe Us, fought to bring a “representative action” against Google for “illegally” collecting Safari browsing data through “clandestine tracking” [...]
Supreme Court rules Uber drivers entitled to workers rights February 19, 2021 The Supreme Court has this morning rejected Uber’s appeal against a ruling that a group of its drivers should be recognised as “workers”. Judges unanimously dismissed the appeal. After nearly five years in the courts, the decision could have profound implications for the so-called gig economy workers. Uber drivers are currently treated as self-employed, meaning [...]
Supreme Court set for long-awaited Uber employment rights judgement February 17, 2021 On Friday the Supreme Court will hand down its judgement as to whether Uber has been successful in its appeal against a ruling recognising its drivers as workers, not independent contractors. The long-running dispute, which has been bouncing through the courts since back in 2016, could have sizeable implications for the future of the gig [...]
Shortlist announced for London’s top environmental awards January 29, 2021 The City of London Corporation has revealed the 10 Square Mile businesses shortlisted in the capital’s top environmental gongs – the Clean City Awards. The scheme, now in its 26th year, rewards businesses leading the way in improving their environmental performance – be it by reducing plastic use, taking action to cut carbon emissions or by boosting recycling. [...]
Introducing MiCA: Europe’s proposed cryptoasset laws, explained October 16, 2020 As the European Commission launched its long-awaited Digital Finance Strategy in late September, a senior official announced: “The future of finance is digital”. The Commission sees digital finance as a weapon in its arsenal as it seeks to relaunch and modernise the European economy to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Strategy sets out [...]
The Digital Currency Crossroads: CBDCs across borders, and the UK approach September 10, 2020 Growing interest in Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) has widely been viewed as a response by central banks to the emergence of private stablecoins, most notably Facebook’s Libra, announced in June 2019. Regulators and intergovernmental organisations, such as the Financial Action Task Force, have been working to understand the risks and potential of stablecoins, and [...]
The Financial Action Task Force’s latest mission… Global Stablecoins August 11, 2020 In October of 2019, four months after Facebook announced its ambitious Libra project to the world, the G20 assigned a new mission to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF): to investigate and report on the risks of an emerging breed of cryptoasset – the “global stablecoin”. This article will discuss the headline findings of the [...]
Law firms face ‘bloodbath’ in upcoming coronavirus recession April 23, 2020 Advisers who worked on some of the largest UK law firm collapses predict a “bloodbath” for the legal industry as a result of the coronavirus economic crisis. Andy Hosking of Quantuma, who acted as administrator to King & Wood Mallesons Europe (KWM) and Ince & Co, said: “You are going to see a bloodbath in [...]
Barings sells listed St James’s office building for £71m February 17, 2020 Real estate investment manager Barings has sold a Grade II listed office building in St James’s to a German property investor for £71m. Cara Real Estate, the property investment arm of Cara Investments, has acquired 7-10 Waterloo Place, in its second London deal following the purchase of 20 Soho Square for £117m in 2018. Barings [...]
London’s legal tech status burnished by $5m US investment in startup Juro January 7, 2020 London’s status as a hub for legal tech was boosted today by the investment of $5m (£3.8m) in contracts startup Juro in a funding round led by a US firm that backed Twitter and Kickstarter. Juro is an end-to-end contract management platform with customers such as Deliveroo and Skyscanner. The company today announced it has [...]