Legal briefings from the world's leading law firms

The May edition of Travers Smith's newsletter discusses new statutory objectives for the Pensions Regulator; abolition of short service refunds/automatic transfers; consultation on proposed improvements to automatic enrolment; single-tier state pension; GMP equalisation; and much more.

The UK Treasury recently published its responses to its January and March consultation papers on implementation of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. Travers Smith focuses on some of the main points of importance which emerge from the response to the January consultation.

Travers Smith provides a round-up of the latest developments affecting employers and employment law, including managing malingerers; whether employees can refuse to work Sundays; harassment and careless remarks; when redundancy policy will be contractual; whistleblowing; and unfair dismissal.

Despite the changes to the application of competition law to land agreements, some tenants still try to negotiate terms into leases or heads of terms which aim to restrict a landlord's freedom to let other units in its building. Should a landlord agree to include such a clause in a new lease?

Travers Smith offers an overview of recent market developments in the finance sector. Under discussion this month are the 'Twin Peaks' the new regulatory regime; the radical consequences of receipt of a Notice of Assignment; the disappearance of the Mandatory Costs Schedule; and more.

Travers Smith provides a quarterly listing of expected future changes in UK law affecting work-based pension schemes. Areas covered in this edition are automatic enrolment and NEST; the Takeover Code; annual allowance; disclosure of information requirements; and money purchase benefits.

Hydraulic fracturing for shale gas, aka ‘fracking', is still in its infancy in the UK and remains a highly controversial subject. In this update, Travers Smith focuses on recent changes to UK policy on fracking, and provides a short overview of the relevant regulatory regimes.

Travers Smith details the latest developments affecting the UK pensions sector. This edition focuses on the Government's draft Pensions Bill, state pension reform and the end of contracting-out; as well as developments affecting the pension protection levy, scheme funding and automatic enrolment.

Travers Smith details all the latest developments affecting employers and employment law. Under discussion this month are a broad range of issues including religious beliefs at work, keeping tabs on Twitter, misconduct investigations, previous warnings, shared parental leave and flexible working.

Six of EMIR's implementing measures have now been published and come into effect on 15 March 2013. In this briefing, Travers Smith highlights the key practical implications in terms of timing for counterparties to derivatives trades.