Fulltext Search

Introduction & Key Takeaways

The year 2024 ended with some major legal fireworks, as two important courts issued contrasting New Year’s Eve decisions on the validity of “uptier” liability management transactions that have played a large role in corporate debt restructurings for the past several years.

As 2024 gets underway, 2023 will be remembered as the year that King Charles III’s coronation captured our attention with its many (and occasionally bizarre) storied traditions and customs and, of course, for the passing of the Irish singer and poet Shane MacGowan.1 Turmoil in the European banking sector early in the year set the tone for a challenging year, while across the Atlantic, a number of regional US banks had their

Three years have passed since the COVID-19 pandemic reached the United States and its effects are still being felt today. Even though lockdown measures have largely disappeared and many workers have returned to the office, flexible work has become a fixture in the workplace. The shift to remote and more flexible work arrangements have impacted many segments of the economy, perhaps most directly, commercial real estate companies.

The Supreme Court in Sevilleja v Marex Financial Ltd [2020] UKSC 31 has brought much needed clarity to the legal basis and scope of the so-called ‘reflective loss’ principle. The effect of the decision is a ‘bright line’ rule that bars claims by shareholders for loss in value of their shares arising as a consequence of the company having suffered loss, in respect of which the company has a cause of action against the same wrong-doer.

A recent decision of the High Court of New Zealand provides helpful guidance for insolvency practitioners on how aspects of the voluntary administration regime should operate in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On 30 March 2020, the board of directors of EncoreFX (NZ) Limited resolved to appoint administrators to the company. By then, New Zealand was already at Level 4 on the four-level alert system for COVID-19.

The UK Court of Appeal has held that legal privilege outlasts the dissolution of a company in Addlesee v Dentons Europe LLP [2019] EWCA Civ 1600.

Legal advice privilege applies to communications between a client and its lawyers. The general rule is that those communications cannot be disclosed to third parties unless and until the client waives the privilege.