Legal briefings from the world's leading law firms

In recent years there has been a growing demand in offshore jurisdictions for more innovative and user-friendly trust solutions. This briefing outlines how the BVI and Cayman Islands have sought to meet this demand via specific legislative amendments to classic trust principles.

Despite being unremarkable in terms of general legal significance, the Weavering case provided a perfect opportunity to illustrate how not to be a fund director. This briefing from Harneys outlines how the judgment provides a clear common sense guide on what to avoid.

With the introduction of a single European passport for securities, investors can now forum shop for the jurisdiction of choice to locate their holding company. This article details why Cyprus has experienced an inflow of applications for initial public offerings and admissions to trading of shares.

It has been almost three years since the Black Swan case brought about substantial change to BVI law. In this detailed article, Harneys' Phillip Kite and Claire Robey set out where BVI law now stands in this important area.

With the introduction of the Cyprus tax legislation of 2003, Cyprus positioned itself as an attractive holding regime. This article from offshore specialists Harneys outlines the main features of the new regime as well as Cyprus' special defence for tax on dividends and reorganisation rules.

In this guide, Harneys' corporate and commercial team provides a detailed comparison of takeovers and corporate reconstructions in the British Virgin Islands. The comparison examines the advantages, disadvantages and procedural steps for plans of arrangement, mergers, consolidations, and much more.

Effective from 7 December 2011, the Cayman Islands legislature passed the Patents and Trade Marks Law which repeals and replaces the previous law and introduces some significant changes to patent and trade mark law in the Cayman Islands. This briefing from Harneys details the new rules in full.

This comprehensive guide, courtesy of Harneys and The Practical Law Company, uses a question and answer format to examine in detail the types of retail and hedge funds in the BVI, the regulatory framework that governs them and the requirements that apply to managers or operators of these funds.

The British Virgin Islands promotes a type of company known as 'segregated portfolio companies'. This article explores the likely way in which a court in an onshore common law jurisdiction may deal with the various issues which would arise in relation to an insolvent British Virgin Islands SPC.

This article from offshore specialists Harneys outlines how disclosure orders constitute an important weapon for the tracking down and recovery of assets, and therefore, an important area in both the Commercial Court and the High Court.