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A groundbreaking collaboration between NetworkRail and two telecoms companies, Neos Networks and Freshwave, is aimed at enhancing mobile network connectivity alongside Britain’s busiest railway lines. The project, officially unveiled by the Department for Transport in June 2025, builds on the government’s Plan for Change, focused amongst others on improving Britain’s infrastructure with higher public and private investment. In line with those ambitions, the main goals of Project Reach will be improving passenger experience by tackling persistent connectivity blackspots on main railway lines across Britain and building a digital connectivity backbone fit for UK’s modern digital aspirations. Although the project is …

Why your first payslip now matters for sponsor licence compliance Scottish tech companies are increasingly reliant on global talent to address skills shortages in software engineering, data, AI, and cyber security. Recent changes to Home Office sponsor guidance mean that even well‑intentioned employers could now face scrutiny for something as routine as how a first payslip is calculated. Updates linked to HC 1691 shift the focus of Skilled Worker salary assessment away from headline annual figures and towards what is actually paid in each pay period. This sits alongside wider sponsor duties, including right to work checking, and applies to …

Over the course of the last year, the Government review of copyright and artificial intelligence has generated a significant amount of press coverage. AI continues to receive more than its fair share of column inches as progress continues apace and the law inevitably struggles to keep up with developments in technology.  However, the Government’s desire to make the UK one of the nations at the forefront of AI innovation and to attract investment into the economy, has highlighted both the need for regulation of AI and also the delicate balancing act that is required to ensure that a culture of …

The Inner House’s decision in Sarwar v Phlo Technologies Ltd provides an important reminder of the limits of dismissal at debate in commercial litigation — particularly where waiver and personal bar are founded on complex contractual and factual matrices. In allowing a reclaiming motion, recalling the Commercial Judge’s interlocutor dismissing the action at debate and instead ordering a proof before answer, the Court reaffirmed that implied waiver is “by its nature fact sensitive” and will only rarely be determined without evidence. Background The pursuer, Mr Sarwar, was the Founder, majority shareholder and a director of an online pharmaceutical company, Phlo Technologies Limited. …

On 25 March 2026, the Department of Business and Trade published its Consultation Paper on the introduction of a corporate re-domiciliation regime in the UK. What is re-domiciliation?  Re-domiciliation is the process by which a legal entity incorporated in one jurisdiction is able to change its place of incorporation to another jurisdiction whilst retaining its legal identity. Many jurisdictions already have established regimes in place to allow for re-domiciliation, including Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, Australia, Luxembourg and other EU and offshore jurisdictions. What is the current law in the UK? Currently, if a foreign registered company wishes to move its …

Mackrell International (MI), the global legal network of which BTO is a long‑standing member, has been ranked Band 1 in the Chambers Global Guide for the 14th consecutive year, as BTO prepares to represent Scotland, UK at the network’s annual general meeting in Munich later this month. This continued recognition reflects the strength, quality and collaboration of firms across the network and is based on independent research and client and peer feedback across more than 190 jurisdictions. BTO is pleased to be part of a community that consistently operates at the highest level internationally. Keith Heddle, MD of MI, commented: …

Few phrases in employment law carry quite the same weight as “gross misconduct”. It sounds definitive – the sort of behaviour that makes dismissal not just justified, but inevitable. The reality is less clear-cut. “Gross misconduct” is, at the end of the day, a matter of opinion. In each case, whatever the “label” applied by an employer, the question for an employment tribunal, considering a claim of unfair dismissal, is whether the employer acted reasonably in dismissing for misconduct. Take the recent widely reported case of the Waitrose employee dismissed after intervening to stop a shoplifter. A long-serving worker, frustrated …

According to a 2025 McKinsey & Company report, AI has become a mainstream feature in the workplace, with 76% of employees using it by 2025, up from 30% in 2023. It is reshaping not only how work is performed, but also the nature of tasks and decision-making. For employers across the UK, this shift introduces significant legal risks and requires a more proactive and structured approach to governance. The use of AI in the workplace raises a range of legal concerns. In particular, the “red lines” for deploying AI in HR functions centre on discrimination and bias, data protection and …