Legal briefings from the world's leading law firms

As part of a suite of legislation aimed at facilitating the diversification of the local economy, the Cayman Islands has enacted the Patents and Trade Marks Law 2011, effective 7 December 2011. Mourant Ozannes outlines the principle improvements over the previous IP regime.

Letters of wishes are typically used in relation to discretionary trusts in order to guide a trustee as to how the settlor would wish them to exercise their discretions. This briefing discusses two Jersey cases to discuss some of the issues surrounding letters of wishes in general.

This article discusses Guernsey as a fund domicile and in particular, its growing relationship with the Middle East and North Africa region and the products based there. Amongst the areas covered are the type of funds attracted to Guernsey and what Guernsey is doing to attract MENA fund managers.

In this article, Mourant Ozannes's Neil Lomax provides answers to 10 key questions on the challanges and opportunities facing the hedge fund industry in the wake of the global recession. Topics discussed include regulation; M&A activity; trends; new products; recruitment; and more.

From January 2012, a new regulatory authorisation process for the establishment of privately placed funds is available in Jersey. This briefing provides a general overview of the new PPF regime, how it will be managed and administrated, permitted investors and promoter requirements.

From a director's perspective, in addition to creating a strategy to increase shareholder value, he or she must also consider how that value should be distributed. This briefing looks at how Jersey law deals with the shareholder dividends and the key issues to consider before making a payment.

Under the Mutual Funds (Amendment) Law, 2011 which came into force in December, certain master funds in the Cayman Islands will be subject to new regulations. This briefing explains who will be affected and what will be the impact of the regulation.

The Guernsey Royal Court has delivered its first judgment on a contested company administration application since the introduction of the Companies Law 2008. The decision provides useful guidance on the factors the court will consider in exercising its discretion to make an administration order.

The Royal Court of Guernsey has ruled that restraint orders obtained in Guernsey on requests from foreign authorities can only apply to assets located in the Bailiwick. Mourant Ozannes take an in-depth look at King v HM Procureur and outline the Court's findings on extraterritorial effect.

This briefing studies In the Matter of the Y Trust [2011], which involved an application to distribute the assets of the Trust. In addition to outlining the case's background and decision, Mourant Ozannes studies the various parties' positions and the wider legal principles at play.