Womble Bond Dickinson | Transatlantic Law Firm

Recent insights

WBD's Bristol office works with local charities to tackle food poverty

24 Feb 2021

The Bristol office at WBD has pledged its support to a number of organisations working to tackle food poverty.

Duo of senior promotions bolsters WBD's trust and estate disputes team

23 Feb 2021

WBD has bolstered its private client team , and particularly its trust and estate disputes offering, with two senior promotions announced recently.

WBD partner comments on STEP's latest market report - The Social and Economic Benefits of Trusts

23 Feb 2021

WBD's private client partner Edwards Stone, is working with STEP, the global professional association for practitioners who specialise in family inheritance and succession planning, to promote the beneficial role that trusts play in wealth planning across the world.

Equality and diversity – when did you last carry out refresher training?

23 Feb 2021

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) recently held in Allay (UK) Ltd v Gehlen that an employer was not able to rely on the "reasonable steps" defence to a harassment claim and therefore had to pay a former employee compensation of just over £5,000. It had provided training to the perpetrator and other employees around 20 months before the harassment took place but the EAT held that the training had become stale and needed refreshing, meaning that the employer could not use the defence and was liable for the harassment.

FAQs - extension to the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme

23 Feb 2021

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (the Scheme) has now been extended to 30 April 2021. This FAQ deals with the changes to the Scheme.

Scotland: building and fire safety regulation post-Grenfell

22 Feb 2021

Following the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017, the UK Government has been reviewing and taking steps to reform our building and fire safety regimes.

However, one thing that is often overlooked in discussions around building and fire safety is the fact that the starting points for reviewing and improving this around the UK, particularly England and Scotland, are different.

Public sector exit payments: the cap didn't fit

22 Feb 2021

In a surprise move on 12 February 2021, the Government announced that the Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments Regulations 2020 will be revoked. The Regulations came into force on 4 November 2020 and introduced a cap of £95,000 on exit payments made by a long list of public sector bodies and offices listed in the Regulations.

Transport operators and COVID-19 one year on: a new wave of litigation?

19 Feb 2021

In June last year, we published an article on managing the risk of injury claims in light of COVID-19 and the enhanced workplace practices for employers in the public transport industry. We are now nearly 12 months on from the start of the pandemic and, while the majority of the population is still living under tight restrictions, the vaccine roll-out has provided us with the very much needed light at the end of the tunnel. Transport operators are now able to begin to plan for the future with greater certainty and work on a road map back to full operability.