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Schrödinger’s property? D’Aloia and the legal superposition of digital assets
In this article, the authors argue that courts must deepen their understanding of digital asset technologies to avoid perpetuating ambiguities evident in the D’Aloia judgment.
09 February 2025Climate-related disasters, why insurance is not the solution and what is
We are in the Age of Climate Superlatives: all seven continents have experienced rolling record temperatures and floods, unprecedented glacier retreats, massive forest fires and more. The consequences have been expensive in terms of lives, livelihoods, economic losses and disruption. In 2024 alone, tropical cyclones caused over $100bn in financial loss and damage and hundreds of lives in the Caribbean, southern United States, and southwest Asia. Floods in China, Brazil, Spain, Germany and across Africa cost about half of that and also killed hundreds. Multi-year droughts across sub-Saharan Africa and Central America claimed even more lives and lost livelihoods. A knee-jerk response has been that we need more insurance or insurance instruments like “cat-bonds” and regional risk pools for these climate disasters. This response is understandable but mainly wrong, as I explain below. We need alternative approaches and emerging instruments.
09 February 2025Private IPOs as a capital raising and exit strategy in today’s market environment
In this article, the authors take a closer look at private market capital raising and liquidity transactions that have recently become referred to as “Private IPOs”. They explain what are commonly understood to be the key features of a Private IPO compared to a conventional initial public offering (IPO) and a conventional private placement, analyse why it may be an attractive option in the current market environment, and consider the potential drawbacks associated with it. Finally, the authors “look around the corner” to explore what role Private IPOs might play alongside the existing conventional capital raising and exit strategies.
07 February 2025Reliance revisited: High Court construes statutory requirements for UK securities fraud claims
In Allianz Funds Multi-Strategy Trust v Barclays plc [2024] EWHC 2710 (Ch) the High Court struck out claims by investors in Barclays plc by those who did not claim to have read the Bank’s market publications, and all claims for dishonest delay. In doing so it made potentially far-reaching findings as to the scope of UK securities legislation.
07 February 2025Crypto-lending: does the UK’s consumer credit regime offer an avenue for redress?
As cryptoassets have evolved, “staking” (the generation of rewards for locking up tokens), borrowing on margin, and lending against cryptocurrencies to, for example, bet on future movements of cryptoassets against fiat currencies, have all become available activities. In this article, David Mcllroy and Clyde Darrell examine how such activities interact with the UK’s consumer credit regime and the extent to which it can offer individuals an avenue for redress.
07 February 2025Force majeure in loan agreements: illegality under the standard form LMA clause
In this article, Matthew Parker KC considers some aspects of the LMA standard form illegality provision, including what does “unlawful” mean? and the application of the provision irrespective of the relative importance of the obligation.
07 February 2025“Green revolution”? Solicitors’ duties in the light of risks relating to climate change
In this article the authors consider the impact on solicitors engaged in banking and finance transactions of the Law Society’s recent Guidance on the Impact of Climate Change on Solicitors . How is growing awareness of the potential risks associated with climate change affecting the nature and content of solicitors’ duties – and potential liabilities – to their clients?
12 January 2025Valuation date in cryptoasset claims
The volatility of many cryptoassets is such that the date on which they fall to be valued for damages assessment can be critical to the commercial viability of crypto litigation. Yet this is a subject that receives comparatively little focus. This article reviews two recent cases, one from each of the English and Singaporean High Courts, where the question of valuation date for cryptoassets has arisen and, on the basis of those decisions, suggests a practical framework for approaching valuation date issue in typical cryptoasset disputes.
12 January 2025Offshore case law on bondholders as contingent creditors
It is critical to the operation of bond markets that ultimate account holders bringing liquidation proceedings against bond issuers are given only limited recourse to issues. One recent BVI decision, in which it was held that accountholders have standing as contingent creditors to present a winding-up petition against the issuer, unexpectedly stretches those limits. This article examines whether that decision is correct.
12 January 2025Indirect transfers of value “at the expense of” a claimant: comparative perspective
An essential ingredient of an unjust enrichment claim is that the enrichment be “at the expense of” the claimant. In a typical case where the claimant transferred value to the defendant directly, the requirement is obviously met. Where however more than one transaction and/or entity is involved, the analysis will have to be more carefully considered. Terna Energy Trading DOO v Revolut Ltd [2024] Bus LR 1401 (Comm) provides much-needed clarification here, offering analyses in terms of an agency relationship and a series of co-ordinated transactions. Singapore and Hong Kong both adopt a very similar – if even slightly broader – approach.
12 January 2025
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