Coronavirus and Force Majeure
The coronavirus outbreak, which has now been declared a
"serious and imminent threat to public health" by the UK
health secretary, presents challenges to a party's ability to
perform contractual obligations in affected areas. In this update, we analyse whether parties will be
able to rely on a contractual force majeure clause to entirely
excuse, or temporarily suspend, performance when working in regions
affected by the outbreak.
Call to overhaul system for prosecuting fraud
The director of the SFO, Lisa Osofsky, has criticised the
UK's "antiquated fraud laws", stating that they
hinder convictions.
Ms Osofsky attributed the SFO's failure to prosecute several
corporations in recent years to the high evidential standard
required for fraud, stating: "I wish we had some of the
lower [evidential] standards for fraud because we have a very
antiquated system... In fraud cases I've got to have the
controlling mind of a company before I
