There is a long-established principle that liability for immigration breaches can transfer on the acquisition of a business, along with employees. The widening of the sponsorship net to bring most employment-related immigration into the Points Based System makes the Sponsor Management System the default mechanism for making timely notifications. Both buyers and sellers of businesses need to know their obligations and the risks of getting it wrong.

Title defects are not unusual and legal indemnity insurance (if available) can be a quick way of dealing with them. Increasingly, legal indemnity insurance is being offered by sellers and demanded by buyers in order to protect the buyer (and their lender) from actual or perceived title defects.

The case of Force India Formula One Team Ltd v 1 Malaysia Racing Team concerned the misuse of confidential information and copyright. Seemingly team rivalry is no less competitive in the courts than it is on the track!

Our news roundup covers various topics including Defra’s cap on the amount of land that can be taken out of production under SFI; taxation of ecosystems; the latest rises to wage and statutory rates; hedgerow protection legislation; support for those whose land has been flooded via the Farming Recovery Fund; free advice via the Future Farming Resilience Fund; and the introduction of poultry licensing for those with fewer than 50 birds.

As at the end of February 2025, internet sales comprised 26% of all retail sales in the UK. As the online market grows, businesses are tempted by what they see as the reduced cost of selling online. It is true that having to bind yourself to a lease and other set up costs and being tied into operating hours can be expensive and painful, but business is business, and organisations remain obligated to comply with a variety of laws.

The Ministry of Justice has published the Pre-Action Protocol for Debt Claims (the “Protocol”), which came into force on 1 October 2017.

Where a vulnerable person lacks the capacity to make a will, the Court of Protection may authorise a statutory will to be executed on their behalf.

Our usual round up of news includes a brief note on the rolling timetable for the SFI, changes to autumn muckspreading rules, the extension to the season workers’ scheme, woodland creation grants, the new law to try and stop hare coursing and the new Tenancy Working Group.

As lenders rely more and more on their powers to appoint an LPA Receiver, a recent case has clarified the Receiver’s obligations, both to the lender and its borrower.

The duties of company directors are set out in the Companies Act 2006 and include the duties to promote the company’s success and to act with reasonable care, skill, and diligence. In carrying out these duties, directors must have regard - amongst other things - to the impact of the company's operations on the community and the environment, and the likely consequences of any decision in the long term. These, and other recent developments in the expectations of how directors should perform their duties, mean that promoting a company’s success includes paying due regard to the impact on the environment. However, do directors have a duty to be “green”?