The process of litigation starts with service of documents and, without legal advice, it is precisely at that point where things can go badly wrong. As a guideline High Court ruling in a contract dispute showed, issues as to whether valid service has or has
The peerless reputation of English judges for integrity and neutrality has resulted in this country becoming the focus of the global fight to root out corruption. A case on point concerned a former senior official of a foreign state who was alleged to have received
Contracts often require payments for services to be made in advance in order to get the ball rolling and provide liquidity, but this gives rise to obvious risks. An instructive High Court ruling, however, showed how effective bank guarantees are in ensuring that such payments
If you have spent time and money building up public recognition of your trade mark, you do not have to just stand by and watch others taking unfair advantage of your investment. In a case on point, a tea supplier saw off an attempt to
The arrival in Britain of a £10 million painting attributed to Medieval Italian master Giotto di Bondone provided an opportunity for the Court of Appeal to give comprehensive guidance on the legal aspects of the cross-border movement of cultural treasures. There was no dispute that
No one would doubt that a hole in a ship’s hull or some other structural defect might render her unseaworthy – but the Court of Appeal has ruled in an important test case that flaws in a container ship’s working chart and passage plan, which
Those who personally guarantee repayment of corporate loans usually believe that they are taking an acceptable risk, but such a step should never be ventured without legal advice. A case on point concerned a businessman who was alleged to have underwritten a bank loan of
Good judges are not verbose and they are positively encouraged to give reasons for their decisions as succinctly as possible. However, as a case concerning an alleged Ponzi scheme showed, fairness demands that they deal thoroughly with the evidence so that litigants understand why they
Judges often have opportunities to bring about fundamental changes in the law, but they always keep a weather eye to the impact of such changes on the real world. In a case on point, the Court of Appeal declined to alter the long-standing principles of
