Pinsent Masons

It is becoming increasingly common for businesses to face civil penalties of around £1m or more for breaching UK export control laws. Export control breaches are criminal offences, but the 1979 Customs and Excise Management Act allows HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to "compound" offences and of

Lawyers Shonagh Brown and Pamela Gilmour discuss the Moveable Transactions (Scotland) Bill, recently passed by the Scottish Parliament, and how it aims to modernise and simplify the law of moveable transactions. Scots law has not traditionally been recognised for its dynamic or innovative nature, bu

The publication of the 2022 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) highlights that the perceived risk of bribery and corruption in many countries has shown no improvement — and in some important markets such as the UK is unfortunately worsening — which highlights the

Law firm Pinsent Masons' Scottish corporate team looks back on 2022, having advised on deals worth billions of pounds in various sectors, and discuss the outlook for the year ahead. The stand-out deal in the last 12 months was Ithaca Energy’s £2.5 billion listing on the main London Stock

Pinsent Masons has announced that Scottish litigator Laura Cameron will succeed John Cleland as the firm’s managing partner with effect from 1 May 2023. During her 28 years at the firm, Ms Cameron, who is based in Glasgow, has had significant influence in shaping the business through leadershi

The second in a series of four events dedicated to supporting the FinTech Scotland Research & Innovation Roadmap will take place in Edinburgh this week. The FinTech Research & Innovation Event Series is providing a platform for discussion that will continue to support an industry-led approac

A new duty is being proposed in Scotland that would require employers to pay for transport home for staff working late night shifts, writes Audrey Ferrie. Scottish Greens MSP Maggie Chapman is working with Unite Hospitality and others to prepare a members’ bill which would require compani

The Court of Session has confirmed that courts will enforce any alternative dispute resolution (ADR) provisions which are written into contracts and will uphold the power and discretion of the decision makers in those processes, writes Steven Blane. Lord Lake’s opinion demonstrates that t

Pinsent Masons' senior associate, Graham Horsman, discusses the current economic impact of interest rates on rent. Interest rates are on the rise and expected to hit unprecedented levels with some observers predicting a recession on the horizon – both of which will impact commercial tenants an

A new fintech event series has been announced which is focused on collaboration and stakeholder engagement to support the development and delivery of the recently published FinTech Scotland Research and Innovation Roadmap. The financial services industry contributes £132 billion to the UK econ

Alistair Wood, an associate at Pinsent Masons discusses Scotland's corporate self-reporting regime. With our separate legal systems, the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) regime does not operate in Scotland, and as a result civil recovery remains the only option short of prosecution for Scottish

David Hamilton and Stacy Keen, financial crime specialists at Pinsent Masons, write about the changes the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has recently introduced to tackle breaches of sanctions and how businesses may be affected. The risk to businesses of sanctions enforcement has become more acut

According to a Freedom of Information request by Pinsent Masons, the UK is closely monitoring hundreds of companies that could be using offshore tax havens to reduce their tax bills, under a new system that requires authorities from the British Virgin Islands to the Caymans to share information.

Tom Stocker, partner and sanctions expert at Pinsent Masons, discusses the implications for businesses that comply with sanctions on Russian trade. Despite successive rounds of UK, EU and US sanctions ratcheting up the pressure on Putin’s government and a further round of sanctions being immin

Angelique Bret, partner and specialist in consumer law at Pinsent Masons, discusses the implications for businesses who break UK consumer protection law. Businesses that breach UK consumer protection laws will be subject to fines of up to 10 per cent of their annual global turnover under proposed ch