Lawyer, Law Student, Law, Education, Commercial Awareness
Gabriella Cinotti
What a freight-ful day to catch the train

Railway strikes in the UK have halted services throughout July and Augst 2022.

What a freight-ful day to catch the train
Commercial Awareness, Education, Law, Law Student, Lawyer
Gabriella Cinotti
Don’t hate the player, hate the game

Sony, owners and creators of the gaming sensation PlayStation, have been hit with a lawsuit with a possible £5 billion pay out.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game
Commercial Awareness, Education, Law, Law Student, Lawyer
Gabriella Cinotti
A New Wave of Russian Sanctions 

What Just Happened?

The UK government has once again extended its trade sanctions with Russia.

A New Wave of Russian Sanctions 
Commercial Awareness, Education, Law, Law Student, Lawyer
Gabriella Cinotti
Business in the age of climate change 

The UK underwent a record-breaking heatwave in July with another hitting the country in August.

Business in the age of climate change 
Lawyer, Law Student, Law, Education, Commercial Awareness
Gabriella Cinotti
You Can't Buy That!

The UK has blocked a Chinese company from purchasing intellectual property from the University of Manchester using its powers under the National Security and Investment Act.

You Can't Buy That!

Education

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The Environment Belongs to us all Equally- Does it though?

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The Environment Belongs to us all Equally- Does it though?

What just happened?

With the recent mass rekindling of the Black Lives Matter protests following the cases of police brutality in the US, other forms of institutionalized racism have come back to light as well. The UK’s Office for National Statistics reported that as of the data updated till 9th June 2020 “for all ages the rate of deaths involving COVID-19 for Black males was 3.3 times greater than that for White males of the same age, while the rate for Black females was 2.4 times greater than for White females.”

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Is time ticking on Tik-Tok?

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Is time ticking on Tik-Tok?

What just happened?

“Today we are filing a complaint in federal court challenging the Administration's efforts to ban Tik-Tok in the US”. Tik-Tok’s lawsuit alleges that the Trump administration has violated due process protections, exceeds the scope of sanction rules and offers no evidence that proves Tik-Tok presents a national security threat.

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Huawei and UK 5G: cybersecurity threat or political strategy?

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Huawei and UK 5G: cybersecurity threat or political strategy?

What has just happened?

On Tuesday 14th July, Oliver Dowden, the UK Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media, and Sport announced a UK ban on Huawei supplying kit for the construction of the country’s 5G mobile phone network and that by 2027 all existing Huawei equipment integrated into the network will be removed. This is a U-turn from the position the government took in January when Boris Johnson declared that the Chinese company could have a limited role as a 5G supplier.

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Can the UK's travel and tourism sector be the legal industry’s saving grace?

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Can the UK's travel and tourism sector be the legal industry’s saving grace?

What has just happened?

The economic activity in the United Kingdom and all over the world has declined drastically amid the global health emergency caused by coronavirus. Foremost among the industries most affected by the economic lockdown is the UK's travel sector, depending on the duration of the crisis, OECD estimates indicate that the potential shock could range between a 60-80% decline in the international tourism industry in 2020.

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The Financial Circus of the 21st Century: A second wave of the PPI scandal scouted on the horizon.

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The Financial Circus of the 21st Century: A second wave of the PPI scandal scouted on the horizon.

What has just happened?

The PPI scandal has become the largest consumer redress scheme in British history, with an estimated £38 million paid out to consumers who were mis-sold the policy, with yet more to come. The deadline to file for compensation for PPI fell in August 2019. However, the case has not been put to rest as there is, in fact, another layer to the PPI scandal.[1] On top of the initial mis-selling of the product, which banks have been ordered to compensate buyers for, lenders took a huge commission from the insurance broker in some cases 95% of the original policy's cost, without telling the customer they were doing so.

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The Decline of Victoria's Secret

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The Decline of Victoria's Secret

What just happened?

The UK arm of Victoria’s Secret has been hit by changing consumer tastes and weakened spending. The retailers hired administrators from Deloitte after being hit by the coronavirus lockdown putting more than 800 jobs at risk.

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Economic Needs Undermine the Viability of an Environmental Revolution?

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Economic Needs Undermine the Viability of an Environmental Revolution?

What just happened?

Potentially one of the most unexpected consequences of Covid-19 has been the revelation of a symbiotic relationship between human prosperity and the environment. Inextricable links have been identified between the natural world with all areas of human experience. Beyond environmentalism, sustainability has become imperative for national recovery in its entirety.

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One Doctor Enough to Section a Person?

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One Doctor Enough to Section a Person?

What just happened?

Temporary changes have been made to the UK Mental Health Act (MHA) 1983 due to the coronavirus outbreak, the Coronavirus Act 2020 is a new UK law to help under staffed mental health services cope during times of crisis. Although currently, the changes don’t apply, they are available to be used if the situation demands so.

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02- Three Merger- Given the Green Light

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02- Three Merger- Given the Green Light

What just happened?

The General Court (GC), Europe’s second-highest court, annulled a 2016 ruling made by the European Commission to block a proposed £10.25bn merger between O2 and Three on consumer interest grounds. The court ruled that the Commission had made several ‘errors of law’ and could not prove that competition would be harmed in the crowded UK telecoms market. This landmark ruling strikes a blow for Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s tough-acting competition commissioner, and could pave the way for further consolidation between Europe’s mobile operators.

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‘Rough Sex’ no Longer a Viable Defence to Murder

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‘Rough Sex’ no Longer a Viable Defence to Murder

What just happened?

In a clause added to the Domestic Abuse Bill, on 6th July 2020, the House of Commons ruled out ‘consent for sexual gratification’ as a defense for serious harm caused to a person. This would make it difficult for defendants in cases of sexual harm, rape or murder to take the defense that the offence occurred ‘accidentally’ in the course of sexual act that was completely consensual.

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Labour Abuse: Who Picks my Fruit?

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Labour Abuse: Who Picks my Fruit?

What just happened?

At the beginning of the summer, the government launched its ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign, to encourage the unemployed, furloughed or students to take minimum wage harvesting and packing jobs in the agricultural sector. An inquiry carried out by BBC’s Farming Today has revealed what the new workers experienced when performing roles usually held by foreign workers. The things they were faced with ranged from poor industry practices to fully-fledged human rights abuses and situations that could qualify as modern slavery.

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Benefits Ban Ruled as Indirectly Discriminatory

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Benefits Ban Ruled as Indirectly Discriminatory

A York County Court has ruled that the use of the ‘No DSS’ letting ban is unlawful, due to indirect discrimination.[1] The case was brought by the charity Shelter on behalf of a disabled single mother who enquired about renting a two-bedroom property in the city and was told her application would not be considered as she was in receipt of housing benefit.

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Apple’s Irish ‘Luck’ Angers EU

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Apple’s Irish ‘Luck’ Angers EU

Judges at one of the EU’s leading courts quashed an order by the European Commission (EC) for Apple to repay over €14.3bn in taxes to Ireland. The ruling stated that the EC had failed to achieve the ‘necessary legal standard’ when claiming that Apple had received an illegal and selective economic advantage from Irelands’ Revenue Authority.

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Wirecard’s Woes: Firm Fabricates Existence of €1.8 billion

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Wirecard’s Woes: Firm Fabricates Existence of €1.8 billion

The Wirecard incident is one of Europe’s biggest accounting fraud scandals. It shook confidence in corporate Germany as Wirecard was forced to file for insolvency last month after admitting that €1.9bn of its cash probably did not exist. This has triggered a criminal probe into the group’s former executives as well as an EU investigation into BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator.

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Depreciation of the Nation’s Housing Transactions

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Depreciation of the Nation’s Housing Transactions

A regional reduction in property prices coupled with diminished transaction levels has led to heedful property surveyors producing cautious property estimates. This can be largely contributed to an industry fear of over-valuation and a lack of post-COVID housing market data.

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Is China a Detriment to Hong Kong's Economy?

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Is China a Detriment to Hong Kong's Economy?

The national security law is a new piece of Beijing backed legislation that allows for the extradition of Hong Kong citizens to the Chinese mainland. It leaves some of the world’s largest businesses facing an unenviable choice: between losing out on the island’s unique financial possibilities and tacitly supporting an expansionist government.

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Labour Abuse and Entrapment in the UK

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Labour Abuse and Entrapment in the UK

Across various sectors in the United Kingdom (UK) workers are experiencing labour abuses creating a serious modern slavery problem in the UK. The latest Global Slavery Index released in July 2018, estimated the number of victims of modern slavery in the UK at 136,000

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INTU falls into Administration- Is this just the start?

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INTU falls into Administration- Is this just the start?

The administration of Intu properties has shown that if the current trend towards online over physical retail continues, firms could see a shift in their client’s business focus and an increase in administration and insolvency work for many high street retailers and shopping centres.