Legal briefings from the world's leading law firms

The Protection of Freedoms Act covers a whole range of issues, including amendments it makes to the 'vetting and barring' scheme brought in under the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006. Eversheds summarises the key changes of particular importance to health and social care professionals.

The Government recently passed the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 as part of a series of reforms aimed at protecting individuals from intrusion by public bodies. Eversheds summarise what is currently known about the new Act and outline why it is advisable for local authorities to act now.

Eversheds outlines how retailers can take full advantage of the forthcoming London 2012 Olympics and ensure business is not disrupted. Areas covered include opening hours; temporary lets; access to services; insurance; the supply chain; signage, displays and products; and managing staff.

As part of the State opening of Parliament, the Queen's Speech set out the Government's plans for legislation over the course of the new parliamentary session. Eversheds provide a summary of the key points, including new initiatives for dispute resolution, executive pay and flexible parental leave.

Eversheds' Lee O'Connell explains how responsibility is now falling to corporate counsel to play a pivotal role in identifying and driving targeted legal risk and compliance programmes across multiple jurisdictions that incorporate good ethical, legal and risk management behaviours.

'Distributed denial-of-service' attacks aimed at companies in the financial services industry have tripled in the first quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year, according to new security data. Eversheds detail what the hackers are targeting and how companies should be preparing.

The concept of litigation privilege exists to protect parties from litigation. However, the rules surrounding it can be a difficult area to navigate. This article aims to disentangle those rules, resolve any myths and provide a step-by-step guide to the key points which businesses need to know.

Responsible for enforcing data protection legislation, the ICO is becoming more active in respect of not only breaches by businesses and organisations but by individual staff members whose actions damage the reputation of their employer. Eversheds analyses the recent spate of notable cases.

It is risky to require an employee to retire as the employee may be able to claim unfair dismissal and age discrimination. However, an employer can successfully defend itself if the retirement age can be justified. Eversheds studies the recent Seldon case which exemplifies these issues.

China's Ministry of Commerce has issued important new legislation in relation to record filing and information disclosure about commercial franchises. Eversheds detail how retailers who intend to expand their business in China by adopting a commercial franchising model will be affected.