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This quarterly environmental law update provides a summary of a cross-section of news stories in the period July 2021 - September 2021. 

Rebecca Niblock and Edward Grange examine the key changes & similarities to extradition law following Brexit. The introduction of new surrender arrangements under the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. Changes effected under the Extradition (Provisional Arrest) Act 2020.

The Master of the Rolls, Sir Geoffrey Vos, has approved the new guideline hourly rates (GHR) proposed by the CJC and the Stewart committee which will come into effect on 1st October 2021.
These new rates are a result of the final report of the Civil Justice Council released at the end of July 2021 and the forerunning consultation that took place between 8 January and 31 March 2021.

Rebecca Niblock and Mary Young follow on from an article they wrote in September 2020 about whether there should be a right to banking, and the possibly unintended consequences of banking facilities being withdrawn or frozen.

In a article originally written for Legal Action Group, Rebecca Niblock and Edward Grange,  examine two important changes since the last edition of Extradition law: a practitioner’s guide.

On 20 July 2021 Vue Entertainment Ltd (‘Vue’) was fined £750,000 and ordered to pay costs of £130,000 following a fatal accident at the Star City cinema in Birmingham on 9 March 2018.

This last year has undoubtedly been a busy and challenging one for the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). It has seen additional activity arising from its response to the Covid pandemic, the further responsibilities it has taken on post-Brexit (see our related blog: #Brexit, the CMA and competition enforcement), and its work concerning the design and implementation of a pro-competition regime in digital markets. This article looks at its recently published Annual Report and Impact Assessment, calls for change, and the work it has been doing in relation to digital markets.

Alun Milford, Partner in our Criminal Litigation team, has been quoted in Compliance Week in an article reviewing ten years of the UK Bribery Act. Questions are asked about its success with mixed views presented as to how the legislation and its enforcement have fared since it came into force.

Charities are not immune to financial crime, fraud or other wrong-doing; there are a number of ways in which charities may be exploited by criminals. 

On 9 July 2021 Southern Water Services Ltd (SWS) was fined £90 million, to be paid out of company operating profits, in what was the largest fine ever imposed on a water company.

This quarterly environmental law update provides a summary of a cross-section of news stories in the period April 2021 - June 2021. 

The recent case of R v Wood Limited Treatment highlights the problems faced by prosecution authorities in proving causation for the purposes of establishing criminal liability for corporate manslaughter.

Account Freezing Orders (AFrOs) are a measure introduced by the Criminal Finances Act 2017 and have been available to a wide range of law enforcement agencies since February 2018.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), in its annual business plan published today, sets out its areas of focus for the year ahead.  It is, as ever, essential reading for all those in the regulated sector. 

In September 2020 the FCA published a statement regarding the listing of cannabis-related businesses (CRBs) in the UK. Since then several CRBs have been admitted to the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and appetite for investments in the medicinal cannabis industry continues to grow.

As a criminal defence solicitor specialising in defending allegations of sexual misconduct and representing children, the perfect storm that has erupted since the launch of Everyone’s Invited has made me privy to some of the saddest and most distraught children I have ever advised.

Sandra Paul, Partner in our Criminal Litigation team, appeared on BBC Radio 4 Women's Hour show on 7 July 2021 to discuss the Lady Nourse case along with providing her views on the law for those who've been accused of historic sexual offences. 

It’s the incendiary network exposing the rape culture endemic in our schools — but are innocent teenage boys getting caught in the crossfire? Katie Strick reports on a rising conflict in education

The head of the Youth Justice Board has rightly criticised the Government’s plans to raise child custodial sentences. At a time when England and Wales falls behind most European countries in protecting children with the lowest age of criminal responsibility (10), it is inexplicable that the Government is taking a further regressive step by seeking to increase the length of time that children must spend in prison.

Many art dealers, galleries and auction houses are now subject to the UK’s anti-money laundering regime and are defined as art market participants (AMPs) - see our related blog The compulsory embrace of the art market by the UK's Anti-Money Laundering regime. On 28 June HMRC published its first assessment of the key areas that AMPs should consider when conducting their own assessments of the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing to which their business is subject.