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Licence to Quill: legal services licences following the recent wave of Russian sanctions
In the wake of Russia’s unlawful invasion of Ukraine, public perception, triggered – and at times encouraged – by the media and MPs, appears to support a blanket ban on representing persons and entities designated (DPs) under the UK’s new sanctions framework, or even non-designated persons allied to Vladimir Putin or his regime. As a result, lawyers have quickly become stuck between, on the one hand, a purported moral obligation and internal-firm practice based on commercial considerations ostensibly consistent with foreign policy and, on the other, their duty to preserve due process. In this article, Alex Haines delineates between what is and is not permitted.
20 March 2024The classification of interest rate swaps as contingent liability cases
In this article, Katherine Ratcliffe summarises Mr Justice Jacobs’ decision in CJ and LK Perks v NatWest Markets [2022] EWHC 726 (Comm) as to when the limitation period for an interest rate swap began and explains why Mr Justice Jacobs’ conclusions are correct.
20 March 2024Russian sovereign debt default: a disputes perspective
Russia’s default on its foreign currency sovereign bonds is unprecedented and likely to lead to bondholder litigation as well as derivatives disputes. This article highlights the reasons for Russia’s default and explores the scope of potential bondholder litigation, together with some of the obstacles which bondholders may face in bringing claims against Russia. The article then considers the ripple effect on the derivatives market, where it is possible that investors in products linked to Russian debt may seek to recover losses by bringing mis-selling claims.
20 March 2024ESG Update: Green/sustainable finance in the real estate finance market
In this update Oriol Espar and César Herrero examine recent trends in real estate financing from a green/sustainability perspective and offer some guidance on dealing with green/sustainability-related wording, especially as regards green real estate finance transactions.
20 March 2024Cryptoassets, consumers and foreign arbitration
This article considers Soleymani v Nifty Gateway LLC [2022] EWHC 773 (Comm) (Soleymani) in which the High Court held it had no jurisdiction and granted a stay under s 9 of the Arbitration Act 1996 (AA 1996) of proceedings brought by an English consumer primarily to enforce his rights under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 (CRA 2015).
20 March 2024The Excluded Asset Gap: why floating charges capture realisations of unsecured assets
Will the proceeds of the sale of an asset, excluded from the scope of a floating charge, be captured by that charge when sold by an insolvency practitioner? In this article the authors consider the default position under general law in relation to this issue and what parties should do to ensure their intentions are appropriately reflected when formulating security packages.
20 March 2024Legal conundrums: taking security from English limited partnerships
Unlike an English private limited company incorporated under the Companies Act 2006, an English limited partnership (LP) is not a legal entity. In practice, this can create confusion and risk when LPs create and register security. Stephan Smoktunowicz examines some of the key considerations when taking security from LPs including the grey areas which surround registration and how to approach them more safely.
20 March 2024Waiving goodbye to termination rights in default scenario negotiations
A key weapon in the lender’s arsenal is the default provisions contained in a loan agreement and the actions that the lender may take upon the occurrence of an event of default. In Lombard North Central plc v European Skyjets Limited [2022] EWHC 728 (QB), Mr Justice Foxton considered whether certain events of default had occurred and whether Lombard had validly terminated the loan agreement so as to enable it to enforce its security, namely Skyjets’ aircraft. The judge’s legal analysis provides a useful recap of the legal principles. This article focusses on the doctrine of waiver by election and some practical considerations for lenders in a default scenario.
20 March 2024Tiptoe through the tulips: fiduciary and common law duties of care in cryptocurrency
Tulip Trading Limited v Bitcoin Association for BSV and ors [2022] EWHC 667 (Ch) involved an unusual claim by an alleged owner of Bitcoin seeking to force core developers of the Bitcoin code to take reasonable steps to “patch” that code to circumvent the fact that the claimant no longer controlled the relevant private key. This was analysed by the court on traditional principles of fiduciary duties and common law duties of care, but more broadly the claims can be seen to challenge the decentralized nature of the Bitcoin blockchain and the importance of private keys to the certainty and security of that blockchain.
20 March 2024Financial sanctions and the case for digital central bank money
Central banks around the world have been contemplating the creation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)1 for the best part of the last five years, with some of them already experimenting, at the time of writing, with pilot schemes. This article explores to what extent the armed conflict that recently erupted in Europe’s periphery strengthens, as some have argued, the case for their issuance so as to better enforce financial sanctions imposed on deviant state actors or, instead, creates risks of currency retaliation as well as jeopardising the credibility of public money and its issuers.
20 March 2024
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