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In a progressive stride towards workplace equality and employee rights, legislative reforms have been introduced to extend the current redundancy protection to pregnant employees and employees on maternity, adoption or shared parental leave (‘priority employees’). Effective from 6 April 2024, the Protection from Redundancy (Pregnancy and Family Leave) Act 2023 (the “Act”) modifies existing safeguards...

The Law Commission’s recent consultation paper (the Consultation), released on 22 February 2024, marks a pivotal moment in the statutory acknowledgment of digital assets as personal property. The Consultation stems from a report that the Law Commission published in June 2023 which suggested that non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and cryptocurrency tokens are capable of attracting personal...

The Ministry of Justice (‘the MoJ’) released their consultation paper on 15 December 2023 (‘the Paper’), challenging the current system surrounding Wills and igniting a pivotal discussion on the future storage and retention of Wills and other testamentary documents. The MoJ released 12 key questions in the Paper, requesting suggestions for reformation. W Legal’s Digital...

One of the most significant technological (and much-discussed) developments over the past 18 months has been the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, such as ChatGPT. As with many technological advances, there is an initial flurry of activity and excitement as people and industry discover what it can do and be used for, followed by...

In the midst of workplace conflicts, employees may find themselves making offhand statements to their colleagues with no intention or meaning behind them. In Mr Omar’s case, a seemingly offhanded comment ended up in the Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT). The EAT has recently revisited a case concerning an employee, Mr Omar, who verbally expressed his...

The 24th February 2022 radically changed the political, economic and legal world. Since Russia invaded Ukraine, sweeping new economic sanctions were imposed on Russia, and importantly on Russians, by the international community.1 These are some of the most severe and broadly applied sanctions ever imposed. A brief review of the statutory guidance² issued by HM...

In an effort to contribute to the ongoing discourse surrounding Artificial Intelligence (AI), W Legal’s Digital Assets Team responded to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) White Paper proposals on AI regulation. W Legal answered a series of comprehensive questions posed by the Government, highlighting important considerations, and suggesting further measures to ensure...

Covid has had a wide-ranging effect on contracts. The government introduced various schemes to mitigate the effects, for example in relation to the recoverability of rent and the ability to forfeit property for a certain time due to the pandemic. There has also been litigation relating to business interruption insurance policies, which went to the...

The English Commercial Court recently gave judgment in a case in which a number of the defendants claimed state immunity – Basel Hashwah and others v. Qatar National Bank (Q.P.S.C.) and others [2022] EWHC 2242 (Comm). The claims arose out of the defendants’ alleged participation in an alleged terrorist funding arrangement, by which funds were...

Introduction Modern slavery is an update of the term “contemporary forms of slavery” which has been used for decades by the UN to address the same issues [1]. There is no globally agreed definition of “modern slavery”(Scarpa, 2018); however, it is being increasingly used by advocacy groups, international organisations and governments to refer to a...