Selling Digital Products Worldwide: Getting It Right and Staying Legal

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Selling ebooks, courses, software, templates or SaaS subscriptions across borders looks simple from a checkout-button perspective, but underneath sits a dense layer of tax, data protection, consumer-rights and payments law that differs sharply between the UK, the US, Canada, Australia and the wider EU. A creator based in England selling to customers in Los Angeles, … Read more

What Makes a Good Lawyer an Expert?

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What makes a Good Lawyer an Expert?

THE MODERN EXPERT LAWYER: FROM COMPETENCE TO AUTHORITY Jurisdiction: England & Wales Focus: Legal Strategy, Argument Construction, and Resource Utilisation 1. Executive Summary: The Architect of Strategy In the modern legal landscape of England and Wales, “competence” is merely the entry ticket. The Statement of Solicitor Competence (SRA) mandates that we identify legal principles and … Read more

The Employment Rights Bill: Transformative Changes for Workers and Employers

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The Employment Rights Bill, which passed its final parliamentary hurdle in December 2025 and received Royal Assent on the 18th. The new Act represents the most significant overhaul of UK employment law in a generation. Once implemented, this legislation will fundamentally reshape the relationship between employers and workers across England, Scotland, and Wales, introducing sweeping … Read more

Bad Behaviour in Classrooms

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Based on the text in the image taken from the Sunday Times and current government announcements from late 2025, here is the breakdown regarding the White Paper and Ofsted’s findings on behaviour. Has a “Bad Behaviour” White Paper been produced? Not yet. While the newspaper clipping mentions a White Paper coming “this autumn” (Autumn 2025), … Read more

Harm as defined by the Children’s Act (as amended)

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Reported cases on Harm Section 31(9) of the Children Act 1989, as amended by the Adoption and Children Act 2002, defines harm as: “Ill-treatment or impairment of health or development, including, for example, impairment suffered from seeing or hearing the ill-treatment of another.” ” Based on my comprehensive research, I can now provide you with detailed reported … Read more

Law Relating to Employment Investigations

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In British Home Stores Ltd v Burchell  ICR 303 remains the cornerstone authority for assessing the fairness of misconduct dismissals in England and Wales, despite being decided over 45 years ago. The “Burchell test” establishes a three-stage framework that Employment Tribunals must apply when determining whether an employer acted reasonably in dismissing an employee for … Read more

Employee Rights at State Pension Age

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Employee Rights

Employee Rights at State Pension Age: Comprehensive Protection from Forced Retirement and Age Discrimination The fundamental legal position is clear: you cannot be forced to retire simply because you reach state pension age in the UK. Since the abolition of the Default Retirement Age in October 2011, the law provides robust protection against age discrimination … Read more

UK Workplace Temperature Regulations

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uk-workplace-temperature regulations

UK Workplace Temperature Regulations: From Minimum Standards to Maximum Heat – A Legal Analysis of Climate Adaptation in Employment Law   The Office Shops and Railway Premises Act 1963 established a crucial precedent by setting a minimum workplace temperature of 16°C for office work, representing one of the earliest statutory recognitions that workplace temperature directly … Read more

CFA Success Fees are Excluded from Awards

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Supreme Court Ruling in Hirachand v Hirachand: Success Fees Under Conditional Fee Agreements Excluded from Awards The Supreme Court has delivered a landmark judgment in the case of *Hirachand v Hirachand & Another*, clarifying the treatment of success fees under Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs) in inheritance claims brought under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and … Read more

Significant UK Age Discrimination Cases Reported in 2024

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 UK Age Discrimination Cases from Harassment to Commissioner to Protect Older Worker’s Rights, reported in 2024 Age UK ordered to pay £4,000 after losing age-related harassment case – Age UK was fined for harassing an older worker during a job application process, resulting in a £4,000 compensation for injury to feelings. Age UK fined £4,000 … Read more

Inadequate Behaviour Support in UK Schools 

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Cases and Reports:  A report by the Education Select Committee highlighted that mental health support for children struggling to attend school is “grossly inadequate”. The number of children absent from school has more than doubled since the pandemic3.  Ofsted published a report at the end of the school year looking at the well-being of teachers. … Read more

Some Significant Age Discrimination Cases Reported in 2023

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Here are some of the most significant age discrimination cases reported in the UK in 2023: Eileen Jolly vs. Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital1: An 89-year-old NHS secretary, Eileen Jolly, became the oldest person in the UK to win an age discrimination claim. Her superiors at Reading’s Royal Berkshire Hospital fired her, claiming that she was … Read more

Govt. to ban mobile phones use by student’s in lessons & breaks

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mobile phone ban

The government has recently announced (19th February 2024) a new policy that will prohibit the use of mobile phones by students during lessons and breaks. This decision aims to create a more focused learning environment and promote face-to-face interactions among students. By implementing this ban, the government hopes to enhance academic performance and reduce distractions … Read more

Retail worker sacked for Smoking

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Employers have to be extra careful when dismissing employees. Even if employees have committed acts of gross misconduct, dismissing them may be unreasonable. An Employment Tribunal (ET) made this remark in a case where a store supervisor was sacked for smoking on company premises. The woman worked for a national retail chain which took a … Read more

The Implications of Harpur Trust v Brazel for Schools and Academy Trusts

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Harpur Trust v Brazel  Earlier this year, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) released a guide that outlined the requirements for school and academy trusts to deal with complaints. The guide contained a case study based on the recent case of Harpur Trust v Brazel, which provides an interesting background to the issue and … Read more

Teaching in the UK

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As a teacher, you have a number of rights and responsibilities. You have the right to instruct and punish, to give consequences or withhold privileges. This is known as coercive authority. It implies that you have a right to impose consequences on those who cross the line. Teaching in the UK Teaching in the UK … Read more

7 Points About Distance Contracts: Where No Formal Contract is Signed

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Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013 – Distance Contracts – No Formal Contract Signed The Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013 apply to contracts made with businesses in the course of business. This includes contracts made on business premises, contracts made at a distance, and contracts relating to the provision of digital content. These … Read more

Age Discrimination in the UK: Employer Justified Retirement Age

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Age Discrimination in the UK The law protects employees from discrimination based on their age in a number of ways. Age discrimination, also known as compulsory or justified retirement age, is one such practice. It can occur when an employer does not respect an employee’s age, whether it’s directly or indirectly. Justified retirement age The … Read more

Registering Lasting Powers of Attorney

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Registering Lasting Powers of Attorney

Solicitors registering lasting powers of attorney could be compelled to complete the process through the government’s digital channel under proposals to reform the LPA process published recently. Compulsion is among the options suggested to reduce the 6% error rate in applications from solicitors, as well as to save the cost of handling paper. These proposals appear … Read more

National Minimum Wage and Sick Pay

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National Minimum Wage – Current rates These rates are for the National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage. The rates change every April. Year 25 and over 21 to 24 18 to 20 Under 18 Apprentice April 2019 (current rate) £8.21 £7.70 £6.15 £4.35 £3.90 April 2020 £8.72 £8.20 £6.45 £4.55 £4.15 Coronavirus and … Read more

CORONAVIRUS AND CONTRACTS: FORCE MAJEURE

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The outbreak of coronavirus (also known as COVID-19) is having a significant impact on the ability of businesses to perform their contracts. As of 03 March 2020 there have been 2809 cases reported and 56 deaths. It is very likely to get much worse in the UK before it gets better. Businesses have to be … Read more

Zero Hours or Contracts with No Guaranteed Hours of Work

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Zero hour contracts

A zero hour contract  is just as it sounds, a contract with zero hours or to put it another way, a contract with no guaranteed hours of work. In other words workers are not guaranteed any hours of work whatsoever from an employer/agency. Zero hour contracts are widely used in many sectors including the public … Read more

Professional Negligence with Wills, Tax and Probate

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Delay in preparing Will

The starting point is the House of Lords’ decision in White v Jones [1995] 2 AC 207 in which it was confirmed that that a solicitor or will draftsman may be liable to disappointed beneficiaries under a Will where the solicitor is guilty of undue delay in drawing up a Will for execution by the testator before the testator’s death.

In White v Jones the testator quarrelled with his two daughters, and executed a Will cutting them out of his estate. He was then reconciled with his daughters. On 17 July 1986 the defendant firm of solicitors received a letter from the testator asking them to prepare a new Will to

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The law on mistake

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Smith v Stanley [2019] 2 WLUK 174 has several points of interest. Reported mainly because the court intervened to correct the mistakes made, it is the mistakes themselves that are worth attention as they were easily made but carried serious consequences.

A testator died in 2015 leaving a pecuniary legacy of £4.2m to be held on trust for the benefit of his second wife for life, remainder to his children;

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Delay in Probate will be over by Christmas

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Delays in Probate ApplicationsThis is good news although the HMCTS didn’t say which Christmas!
In a meeting with the Law Society, HMCTS said grants of probate currently take around four weeks to be issued, but the process should take just two weeks by Christmas. It is also working to clear stopped applications that are blocking the system. HMCTS previously said the system would be back to normal in November.

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Researching how to report to a Regulator is protected

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whistleblower protection
whistleblower protection
researching how to report to a regulator

The case of Bilsbrough -v- Berry Marketing Services [2018] involved an employee who researched how to blow the whistle. The Tribunal confirmed that because the employee was researching how to report to a regulator he can rely on the same legal protections as actual whistleblower’s.

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No “reasonable financial provision” after living together for 42 years

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no reasonable financial provision

In the case of Thompson v Ragget & others [2018] an unmarried couple lived together for over 42 years prior to the testator’s death in 2017. This case is similar but less acrimonious than Martin v Williams [2017] , also regarding an unmarried couple, with the addition of an estranged spouse. Both cases involve claims for reasonable financial provision and present and

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Inheritance tax – Residence Nil Rate Band

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HMRC - inheritance tax -residence nil rate band

The HMRC recently released data revealing that in 2018-19, it was a record year for inheritance IHT - Residence Nil Rate Bandtax receipts with a total of nearly £5.4 billion. This is an increase of £2 billion in 2017 -18. One of the factors driving this increase is the rise in the asset values, and in particular residential property. The inheritance tax nil rate band (NRB) has

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UpSkirting Now a Criminal Offence

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The Voyeurism (Offences) Act 2019 received Royal Assent amends the Sexual Offences Act 2003  Voyeurism and upskirting now a criminal office. Until now offenders could only be prosecuted for voyeurism or outraging public decency. But voyeurism only applies to filming in “private” while outraging public decency usually requires a witness – and upskirting often goes … Read more

Transparency makes things clearer, or does it?

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SRA Transparency RulesSix months on from the introduction of the SRA Transparency Rules it is surprising to hear that some firms are yet to comply with the new obligations. The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) recently published (June 2019) the results of its Transparency Rules Web Sweep showing nearly 58% of firms were partially complying and 17% were not complying at all.

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Upcoming Posts in the coming months

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1. Practice guidance for Lawyers seeking apppointment as accredited Legal Representatives in the Court of Protection/ 2. Dependant claims by Testator’s adult children – Nahajec v Fowle [2017] 3. Unmarried partners – property rights – Lewis (as Executrix of the Estate of Blackwell, deceased) v Warner [2017] 4. Court of Protection – Protection of Trust … Read more

Cost of Death Certificates Rises

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A three-fold rise in the cost of a death certificate could result in solicitors being unable to administer some estates, lawyers have warned. The General Register Office this month increased the cost of obtaining a certificate online from £4 to £11.

Charlotte Pritchard, a member of the private wealth team at national firm BLM, told the Gazette it is not unusual for families to require between 10-20 death certificates in order to administer an estate. She warned that where solicitors are appointed payment may need to be initially funded by the firm; particularly if no family members are able to find the up-front cash.

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Lawyers warned over potentially negligent GDPR advice

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A legal compliance expert has warned that lawyers may need to take action over potential breaches of data protection rules.

Brian Rogers, Director of Regulation and Compliance Services for Riliance, said those who advised businesses how to comply with new GDPR rules last May should revisit that advice – and even contact clients to admit they made a mistake.

Rogers spoke to the Gazette after lawyers were publicly criticised last month by Chris Combemale, Chief Executive of the marketing network DMA Group. Combemale told a Westminster Legal Policy Forum conference that many of the 1,000 DMA members had been wrongly told to focus on consent as the basis for processing data.

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A worker’s minimum holiday pay under EU law. Can it be reduced to reflect short-time working?

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In the case of Hein v Albert Holzkamm GmbH  a construction worker in Germany working under a collective agreement. The collective agreement provided that holiday pay would be paid on the basis of a 13-week average calculation. This calculation of holiday pay was in accordance with the national law in Germany. After a 26-week lay-off, his holiday pay was calculated on the basis of this 13 week average, excluding overtime.

European Directive

Consequently, this meant that it was lower than his normal pay, in breach of Article 7(1) of Directive (EC) 2003/88. [note] Article 7(1), Annual leave
1. Member States shall take the measures necessary to ensure that every worker is entitled to paid annual leave of at least four weeks in accordance with the conditions for entitlement to, and granting of, such leave laid down by national legislation and/or practice.
2. The minimum period of paid annual leave may not be replaced by an allowance in lieu, except where the employment relationship is terminated.[/note]  This Directive relates to certain aspects of the organisation of working time of the EU Member States.

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Google must delete links to articles in “Right to be Forgotten” case

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Google was ordered to take down links to articles about the historic criminal convictions of a businessman.

Two businessmen (NT1 & NT2) convicted of criminal offences many years ago brought claims made under Data Protection law and the English law tort of misuse of private information, for the “right to be forgotten” or, more accurately, the right to have personal information “delisted” or “deindexed” by providers of internet search engines (“ISEs”)

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Careless talk costs careers

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The recently published judgment in Forz Khan v Bar Standards Board provides insight into the professional consequences of careless talk and use of LinkedIn. It comes hot on the heels of an SDT judgment in Deborah Daniels who was prosecuted by SRA for making a series of Tweets that were offensive and which expressed hostility towards Islam, Catholicism and Judaism.

The two are completely unconnected but yet again lawyers have been professionally sanctioned for inappropriate communications. The only real surprise is that despite clear professional obligations that have been around for quite some time, they took place.

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Can My Employer Reduce My Hours?

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Question

“I need to know can my employer reduce my hours? I am the manager of a taxi firm and work 39 hours per week Monday to Friday.  I am worried, can my employer reduce my hours? My boss used to drive my autistic son to his special school until an incident occurred and he refused to take my son on this contract. I reported him to licencing for driving while talking on his mobile. Things have never been the same since and he has now reduced my hours to 16 hours with immediate effect. I will only be working two days a week on minimum wage. He said I can use my holidays this week and start back next Thursday 31st March. My other problem is that he took on a part timer about three weeks ago and this doesn’t affect him, whereas I’ve been here for well over five years. I’m also concerned that he pays other people cash in hand to cover some shifts in the office.”

“Please can you tell me my rights, as I need to inform working/child tax that I’m going part time.  Can he legally do this to me?  He says things are financially strangling him and will cover my shifts. I’m paid cash, fully on the books, get a weekly wage slip along with a weekly wage.   I claim working tax and child tax credits and am the sole earner in our household. I have never received a written contract, but so far, he’s stuck to all aspects of employment law i.e. 28 days holidays etc and the correct minimum wage.”

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GDPR, References and Confidential Information

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The GDPR impacts on the giving of references and supplying confidential information
Employers are advised to write a clear policy on the giving of references. The ICO (Information Commissioner’s Office) has said employers should have a clear policy setting out, which employees are authorised to give references and in what circumstances.

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SRA – new focus on “principles” not “rules”

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The SRA is focussing on ‘principles’ and ‘professional judgement’ as opposed to ‘rules’ A principle based system is more uncertain than fixed rules and therefore it is more important to legal practices to have a set of recorded systems and controls in place that are applied consistently across the firm. The rules are clear particularly … Read more

This site provides general information about the law of England and Wales. It is not legal advice and does not create a solicitor–client relationship. The law changes, and how it applies depends on the facts of your situation. Take advice from a qualified solicitor before acting on anything you read here.