Blog
From garage to unicorn – Employment law lessons for scaling tech teams
Catherine Bourne
16 December 2021
Adverse Inferences in RICS Investigations: How Should You Respond?
If you’re the subject of an investigation by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), you will receive a letter from RICS setting out the allegations against you. The letter will likely include a section on the “adverse inference” that can be drawn if you do not respond: that a Disciplinary Panel may later conclude that you have no reasonable explanation for the alleged misconduct. So what is an “adverse inference”, and what does this mean for you?
16 December 2021
Mythbusting: Recovery of Costs in Private Prosecutions
Private prosecutions provide an effective way to seek justice; and particularly in circumstances when the traditional prosecuting agencies are unable or unwilling to act. Conducted appropriately they can be a useful, efficient and cost-effective tool to secure punishment of the guilty. Conducted badly they can be an expensive mistake with far reaching consequences.
In this blog series we draw on our experience of both bringing and defending private prosecutions to help clarify some of the common myths and misunderstandings about private prosecutions. In this blog we look at whether the private prosecutor is entitled to recover their full investigation and legal fees at the end of the case.
8 December 2021
RICS launches new standards of conduct
The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (‘RICS’) has announced revised Rules of Conduct (“the Rules”) which set out the core principles of professional practice for RICS’ regulated members and firms worldwide. The revised Rules will take effect from 2 February 2022 and are designed to represent a transparent system of conduct and regulation and bring RICS’ ethical standards into one clear framework.
7 December 2021
Top Tips for Handling a Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Investigation
Whether you are a professional individual or a firm, Regulated Members of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) are expected to comply with ethical, conduct and competence-related professional standards. When things go wrong and a Regulated Member has seemingly breached these standards, RICS may investigate and take disciplinary action.
6 December 2021
Are builders ‘gaming the system’ to flout fire safety legislation?
Last week Assistant Commissioner Fire Safety, Paul Jennings of the London Fire Brigade stated that developers are ‘gaming the system’, looking to reach only the minimum standards required for building safety and ‘bending the rules’. AC Jennings explained that we are not seeing the cultural change within the built environment that we would expect, following the tragic events of the Grenfell Tower fire and the subsequent Hackitt review.
