Author Archives: Alice Heathfield

Court of Appeal orders re-trial of forex “demo accounts” case

Posted on November 27, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

Background In 2018, Collyer Bristow reported on a Commercial Court decision in which Mr Justice Knowles dismissed allegations of fraud against forex trading firm Ikon Finance (“Ikon”). Simetra Global Assets Limited and Richcroft Investments Limited (the “Claimants”) accused Ikon of …

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General Election: party manifestos confirm coming CGT Entrepreneurs Relief changes

Posted on November 25, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

All parties have now published their election manifestos.  Each contains proposals which would affect business owners and entrepreneurs. I previously predicted that altering or abolishing CGT Entrepreneurs Relief would be fairly low-risk for an incoming Chancellor of the Exchequer.  It …

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Legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts – the breakdown

Posted on November 22, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

The UK jurisdiction taskforce of the LawTech Delivery Panel (LTDP) issued a statement this week, in which they asserted that Cryptoassets can be treated in principle as property; and that smart contracts are capable of satisfying the requirements of contracts …

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Litigation risks associated with Libor transition

Posted on November 21, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has made clear that after 2021 it will no longer compel banks to submit LIBOR quotations or sustain the LIBOR benchmark, and that regulated parties proposing LIBOR for contracts beyond 2021 must explain the risks …

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English Court grants anti-suit injunction to restrain New York proceedings

Posted on November 19, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

Background English courts have a longstanding and well recognised jurisdiction to restrain foreign proceedings which are brought in violation of an agreement to settle disputes by arbitration in London. In the recent case of XL Insurance Co SE v Little, …

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Recourse options available for corporate victims of payment frauds

Posted on November 18, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

The case of Japanese publisher Nikkei recently reported to have lost $29m in an alleged fraud involving a third party who purported to be a management executive, is an all too familiar example of the kind of payment fraud that …

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A Joint Effort? The Court of Appeal assesses the requirements for joint authorship in copyright works

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

Recently the Court of Appeal handed down its Judgment in Kogan v Martin and others[1], an appeal relating to a dispute over the authorship of the screenplay of the eponymous film about the life of Florence Foster Jenkins (FFJ Screenplay), …

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What happens if a will is found after an estate has already been divided?

Posted on November 12, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

What happens if, years after a relation has died and their estate has been distributed, a new Will with different beneficiaries is found? In a recently publicised case involving 9,000 wills stored by Lloyds Bank, Lloyds has promised to compensate those …

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Calls to Abolish CGT Entrepreneurs Relief – Should Business Owners Be Worried?

Posted on November 11, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

In what is becoming a near-annual sport, there are again renewed calls for the restriction or outright abolition of CGT Entrepreneurs’ Relief. The latest high-profile support for the move comes from Sir Edward Troup, previously the head of HMRC, in …

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How can CPR Part 36 incentivise early settlement of disputes?

Posted on November 4, 2019 by Alice Heathfield

Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) Part 36 is designed to incentivise early settlement of disputes by imposing costs consequences for a failure to accept a good offer. Where a Part 36 offer has been made by the claimant, defendant, or both, …

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