Litigation between the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) and the Small Business Administration (SBA) may be nearing an end (The Associated General Contractors of America, Inc. vs. United States Small Business Administration, et al.,United States District Court for the District of Columbia). AGC initially filed a lawsuit against SBA in December 2020, challenging the introductions of Form 3509 and Form 3510 (Loan Necessity Questionnaires) in October 2020 ...
If you are the owner of an ageing wind, hydro or solar installation that receives Feed in Tariffs (FiTs), you may be considering replacing part or all of the generating equipment to upgrade your installation. "Will repairing or replacing the generating equipment affect my accreditation?" This is something we are being asked increasingly often and, frustratingly, the FiT Legislation and Guidance is inconclusive on this point. But not for much longer ...
With the main goal of the EU being to cut CO2 emissions in order to become carbon neutral by 2050, offshore represents valuable “available space” for the development of clean energy projects. While in some cases offshore is already a crowded place, other offshore locations are still free of significant energy infrastructure. Therefore, planning ahead is more important than ever ...
Wills for Jersey residents What is a Will? Jersey law treats movable and immovable assets differently for succession purposes, therefore we need to consider them separately when looking at your estate planning needs. Movable assets include things such as bank accounts, jewellery, furniture, cars, life insurance proceeds and shares (including shares in a property holding company entitling the owner to occupy a share transfer apartment) ...
WiMax, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a new product developing in Chile that promises to revolutionise Internet access. WiMax allows high speed transmission of data and multimedia services (e.g., the Internet and videos) from laptops, cell phones and other portable devices from distances greater than was possible with previous technologies. According to some preliminary tests, WiMax equipment can reach up to 40 km in open spaces ...
Long before eMortgages, electronic signatures, and mobile apps hit the secured lending scene, Lord Nottingham proposed that the English Parliament pass An Act for Prevention of Frauds and Perjuries in 1677 to prevent nonexistent agreements from being “proved” through false testimony. That statute and its progeny remain an important resource in today’s financial services industry ...
Despite complying with conditions attached to planning permission for an onshore wind farm development, developers, landowners and operators may find themselves defending an action for nuisance if the noise from the wind turbines unreasonably interferes with the use of another's land ...
Leif Ramberg in team advising the West Sweden Chamber of Commerce on comments on proposal from the Environmental Procedure Committee Summary The Environmental Procedure Committee has been instructed, by supplementary directive, to review the legal rules which apply to the expansion of wind power ...
Litigation arising from Winter Storm Uri remains active and ongoing since it began nearly three years ago. It has major implications for the Texas energy and power markets and businesses operating in those sectors ...
Recent developments in health and safety law will affect all those involved in offshore renewables projects, which are very much in focus following the Crown Estate’s announcement of Round 3 awards in early January. However, the new rules do bring clarity and consistency for those working in the sector and bring offshore health and safety regulation in line with onshore projects ...
On 23 September 2021 we hosted our latest IHL webinar on working with AI: the key types, implementing AI and what the future might bring. Ian Blackwell represented Next Retail Ltd on the panel, alongside Simon McArdle and Sebastian Price, Commercial Partners at Shoosmiths. The background: Artificial intelligence (AI) is here now, and its power is taking off. Put simply, AI is a gamechanger ...
The global biofuels industry needs to be better regulated to ensure it does not harm the environment, the UK's climate change minister has stated.Speaking at a recent conference organised by Britain's Renewable Eneregy Association, Phil Woolas MP cited several studies which have shown that biofuel production has led to deforestation and increased house prices in some areas of the world, most notably across Asia ...
Ransomware Goes Corporate - A First-Hand Account An Interview With.... Sandra Elvin, National Security Office for Microsoft Sweden Jon Åsberg, Editor-in-Chief at Fokus, Sweden’s leading weekly news and current affairs magazine Faced with a range of obstacles, business leaders were already dealing with rising challenges to their risk and approach to cybersecurity; and then, along came Covid-19 ...
WSG Members Featured in Financial Times Innovative Lawyers 2022 Report for Europe WSG member firms Colbalt, Ellex, Garrigues, PLMJ and Shoosmiths were recently recognized as top firms for innovation in the Financial Times Innovative Lawyers 2022 Report for Europe. The report explores key trends and transformations taking place in the legal sector with an index of firms and articles and is the most widely respected published assessments for innovation in the law ...
As reported in the July 2015 IOGA News, on June 24, 2015, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“WVDEP”) filed a proposed legislative rule amending the Horizontal Well Development Rule, 35 C.S.R. 8 (the “Horizontal Well Rule”), which established a public comment deadline on July 27, 2015. Then on June 25, 2015, WVDEP filed three proposed legislative rules implementing the Aboveground Storage Tank Act, as amended, W. Va. Code § 22-30-1, et seq. (“AST Act”) ...
Under legislation passed in December 2011, which established a comprehensive program for the regulation of oil and gas operations utilizing horizontal drilling methods and related activities, the West Virginia Legislature directed the Department of Environmental Protection to conduct certain studies to inform future decisions regarding the need, or lack thereof, for further legislation or regulations in this area ...
On June 19, 2013, the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals (“the Court” or “WVSCA”) issued an important decision that bolsters the ability of financial institutions and other defendants to enforce arbitration agreements. Credit Acceptance Corporation v. Front, Docket Nos. 11-1646, 12-0545 (W. Va. June 19, 2013), Slip Op. Spilman consumer finance attorneys were pleased to obtain this victory on the consolidated appeal of two orders denying arbitration ...
We have in 2021 seen a remarkable (continued) recovery in the Norwegian financial market. This is also evident from the perspective of our banking and financing team. We have assisted our clients with a considerable number of new financings and refinancings, across most sectors. It has especially been hectic within the shipping, aviation and renewable energy sectors and we have seen a steep increase within acquisition financing ...
Record number of fines in 2021 At European level, a record number of fines have been issued during 2021 for violating the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Since the GDPR entered into force in the EU on 25 May 2018, the supervisory authorities have imposed or notified fines in approx. 900 cases with an accumulated amount of approx. EUR 1.3 billion. As many as 500 of these cases are from 2021 with accumulated fines of as much as EUR 1 ...
Trends IT contracts An increasing number of clients have requested aid in purchasing either cloud service technology or offering cloud services to the market. We have seen a significant shift from on-premise solutions (i.e. local servers on customer premises) to public cloud and multi-tenant cloud solutions. Initially, customers pushed suppliers to offer cloud solutions. Now we see the opposite: suppliers pushing customers (who are not always ready for this) into the cloud ...
After a hectic first quarter, the focus shifted dramatically after the lockdown in mid-March. Within a few days, we went from negotiating new financings within most industries to assisting our clients with urgent waivers and liquidity loans. After the initial chaotic period, we have, however, seen a more normalized period with considerable activity where strong companies and good projects have been able to obtain new financings on acceptable terms ...
General Since the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) was introduced in 2010, several legislative acts have been adopted in the EU without being incorporated into the EEA-agreement. This is mainly due to Norwegian constitutional issues. These constitutional issues were resolved in 2018, and as result, a huge backlog of EU legislative acts needs to be incorporated into the EEA-agreement and transposed into Norwegian law ...
After an extremely busy 2021 where the financial markets and the lending sector recovered rapidly from the COVID-hibernation, 2022 has been a turbulent year that did not live up to expectations in terms of activity. With geopolitical unrest, high inflation and rising interest rates as the backdrop, financial markets were volatile and funding costs increased substantially ...
As of March 14, 2017, the recently enacted Consumer Review Fairness Act (the “Act”)1 will prohibit “gag clauses” – contract provisions that prohibit or restrict a consumer's ability to write negative reviews of products and services. While enforcement by the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) and state attorneys general is set to begin on December 14, 2017, businesses should act now to ensure compliance ...
The U.S. General Services Administration recently added Green Globes as an additional third-party green building certification system for federal government construction projects. With this addition, many are now asking about the difference between Green Globes and LEED. Green Globes has emerged, in some parts of the U.S., as a rival building option to the more well-known Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (“LEED”) system ...
