Legal services: It’s time to be transparent about pricing October 23, 2017 For too long, pricing has been the thorn in the side for many businesses employing legal services firms. Last year, the Competition and Markets Authority published a damning report on legal services in the UK, highlighting the impenetrable nature of pricing for clients. Around £11-12bn a year is spent by consumers on legal services in [...]
What the experts think the Pimlico Plumbers ruling means for the gig economy February 10, 2017 The Court of Appeals ruled against Pimlico Plumbers in a case concerning employment status today. The court ruled that Gary Smith, previously a plumber with the company, was a "worker", and as such should have been afforded basic workers' rights, such as sick pay. This is how legal experts reacted to the court's decision: Continuing the trend [...]
Uber has lost its appeal on the employments rights of its drivers November 10, 2017 Uber has lost its appeal on the employments rights of its drivers, the GMB union has said. The company was appealing an employment tribunal ruling that Uber drivers are entitled to basic workers’ rights. The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) rejected Uber’s argument that it is merely an agent that connects drivers and passengers, and confirmed [...]
City Moves for 27 February 2017 – who’s switching jobs? February 27, 2017 Today's City Moves cover legal eagles, market strategy and insurance. Take a look at these movers and shakers: Dorsey & Whitney LLP Employment law specialist Bob Cordran has joined international law firm Dorsey & Whitney’s London office as a partner. Bob, formerly a partner at Marriott Harrison LLP, is an experienced employment lawyer who has [...]
Matthew Taylor Modern Employment Practices review into the gig economy: Why is a Tory government indulging misguided calls for self-employment “rights”? March 22, 2017 Matthew Taylor was doing the rounds at the weekend, talking about the Review of Modern Employment Practices which he is conducting on behalf of the government – more evidence that Mrs May wants to rebrand the Conservatives as a sort of Blue Labour. Taylor, a former parliamentary wannabe who later worked for Tony Blair and [...]
Robot bookworms? Artificial intelligence (AI) can now read as well as humans after Microsoft and Alibaba made research breakthroughs January 16, 2018 The march of artificial intelligence continues… Researchers at Microsoft have hailed a “major milestone” for the technology after they managed to create a system using the technology that can read just about as well as a human. They used what’s known as the Stanford Questions Answering Dataset (SQuAD), a tool commonly employed in scientific research [...]
Our CANZUK friends should be welcome in post-Brexit Britain | City A.M. April 16, 2018 The flags around Parliament Square are up, the hotels, bars, restaurants, and meeting rooms of the City are fully booked, as the heads of 53 Commonwealth governments fly into town. But while we’re rolling out the red carpet for visiting dignitaries, there’s a chillier welcome to their citizens. Britain has never quite found its role [...]
Our CANZUK friends should be welcome in post-Brexit Britain | City A.M. April 16, 2018 The flags around Parliament Square are up, the hotels, bars, restaurants, and meeting rooms of the City are fully booked, as the heads of 53 Commonwealth governments fly into town. But while we’re rolling out the red carpet for visiting dignitaries, there’s a chillier welcome to their citizens. Britain has never quite found its role [...]
Uber drivers are NOT self-employed but entitled to workers’ rights, says employment tribunal October 28, 2016 Uber drivers are entitled to basic workers' rights, an employment tribunal announced today, in a landmark legal case. The hearing at a London employment tribunal is the first case of its kind in the UK. The action was brought by the GMB union which represents drivers, and law firm Leigh Day. Nigel Mackay, employment lawyer [...]
Employee rulings in New York and London to have “staggering” impact on the likes of Amazon and Uber October 28, 2016 Amazon has agreed to stump up $100,000 (£82,000) in back-pay to a New York delivery driver whose wage packet was deducted for lunch breaks he didn’t manage to take. In a ruling many American delivery contractors will welcome coming up to Christmas, the state attorney general said the settlement will mean short-term workers are entitled to receive [...]