Trainees take on business

Advertising Video on Demand – To AVOD or avoid?

Published on 15 September 2023. By Niamh Greene, Trainee Solicitor

As most movie and TV streamers can attest to, Subscription Video on Demand services (or 'SVODs') continue to multiply. No need to put the kettle on while the adverts play; SVODs offer consumers an instant, ad-free escape to worlds unknown at just a click of a button.

Listing reforms in the UK: to market, to market?

Published on 19 July 2023. By Ali Chowdhry, Associate

The Financial Conduct Authority is proposing wide ranging reforms to the UK's Listings Rules to entice more high growth companies to list in London

Luxury today - go green or go home?

Published on 09 May 2023. By Chloe Shum, Trainee Solicitor

"Sustainability" is the new buzzword in marketing.

Next-gen AI: Disrupting your business?

Published on 11 April 2023. By Nicholas McKenzie, Trainee Solicitor

It’s no secret the tech sector is going through a tough time at the moment with the large swathes of layoffs seen in 2022 continuing into 2023. So much so that bespoke trackers now actively monitor the 167,004 (and counting) tech jobs already lost this year.

Cloud computing in business: A silver lining?

Published on 07 March 2023. By Alexandra Prato, Associate

Cloud computing is a resource that businesses have rapidly adopted as a major step towards completing their digitalisation.

Restaurant closures on the rise - is the industry at boiling point?

Published on 21 February 2023. By Emily Snow, Trainee Solicitor

Rarely a week goes by without the sad news of another restaurant closure. Unfortunately, this is a trend that shows no sign of slowing down. Between May 2021 and May 2022, restaurant closures across the UK increased by 64%, working out at around 120 closures on average every month.

Trainees take on 2023

Published on 02 February 2023. By Lauren Butler, Associate and Tom Butterfield, Trainee Solicitor and Ella Ennos-Dann, Associate and Rory Graham, Associate and Rebecca James, Trainee Solicitor and Lewis Manning, Associate and Nicholas McKenzie, Trainee Solicitor and Emily Snow, Trainee Solicitor

2022 was a year of extremes, with focus on our longest-reigning Monarch alongside our shortest-serving Prime Minister (and a lettuce).

TGI…Thursday?

Published on 04 January 2023. By Megan Grew, Associate

What would you say if I offered you 100% of your salary and you only had to work four days a week? For the employees of 70 companies across the UK, this was their reality for the second half of 2022.

Bit off more coin than they can chew? – The world of celebrity cryptocurrency endorsements

Published on 24 November 2022. By Tom Butterfield, Trainee Solicitor

By now, most of us have had some experience of being invited or persuaded to invest in cryptocurrency. This may be from a chat with a friend or on social media, as an increasing number of celebrities and influencers with no-doubt lucrative endorsement deals try to entice fans into investing. The latter usually take the form of an invitation to invest in their own cryptoassets (through release of limited edition NFTs) or an endorsement of an existing token or coin. But are endorsements of this kind a step too far? It would certainly be surprising for an influencer to promote a more traditional financial product over social media, but due to cryptocurrency's mass accessibility and position in popular culture, the position is slightly more nuanced.

Profits have never been cuter – Is the rise of the pet industry truly sustainable?

Published on 03 October 2022.

Many readers will have gained a cat or dog in the last two years – in fact 3.2 million pets have been purchased in Britain since March 2020. In a country of 67 million people, there are now 17 million pet owning homes and around 34 million pets. The increase has been most pronounced among younger households. This has led to commensurate growth in the UK pet industry. The question remains whether this rise is sustainable?

Clean beauty: Here to stay or be washed away?

Published on 17 August 2022. By Lauren Butler, Associate

Beauty trends come and go, but with the sector now worth approximately £28bn in the UK alone, such trends have the opportunity to generate significant income for businesses. A recent movement around "clean" beauty has had a significant impact on the industry globally. It is estimated that nearly a third of the US market is "clean" beauty, and an increase of 12% is expected from 2020 to 2027. But what is "clean" beauty, why is it gathering pace and what does its future look like?

The subscription business model - a lockdown trend or here to stay?

Published on 19 July 2022. By Ella Ennos-Dann, Associate

Demand for online shopping skyrocketed during the pandemic, with online shopping sales in the UK rising by 48%. Whilst consumers were forced to stay at home, many were left with time to fill and a desire to find entertainment from the comfort of their lockdown abodes. At the same time, retailers and other hard-hit industries, such as restaurants, found that they needed to diversify in order to make an income whilst they were closed.

'Popping to the shop' a thing of the past?

Published on 13 June 2022. By Rory Graham, Associate

Have you noticed that overnight, seemingly every poster on London's streets and billboard in its tube stations advertise a service that will magic groceries to your front door in an impossibly short timeframe? These are signifiers of the battle being fought in the instant grocery delivery space.

Escaping Reality Through Reality TV

Published on 12 July 2021. By Ela Broderick-Basar, Associate

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have run-around the upper East side of New York City with a bunch of wacky housewives, stayed in a luxury villa in Mexico and sashayed down the runway with 12 other queens. And this summer I will be returning to Majorca for a long, hot summer!

Tale as old as time: music ownership, is it time for industry-wide change?

Published on 04 June 2021. By Harpreet Kaur, Associate

Taylor Swift's battle with her former record label, Big Machine Label Group, and its buyer, Ithaca Holdings LLC, has been widely documented in the press over the last few years. This saga is another example of the exploitation that is rife within the music industry, but will Swift's experience finally bring about change? Fellow 'Swifties' and I hope so.

Delays expected: why high-speed rail projects are failing worldwide

Published on 03 June 2021. By Poppy St John, Associate

Throughout history, railways have been a universal symbol across the world of prosperity and innovation. From the steam railways spanning swathes of the American West in the 1800s, to the futuristic bullet trains of Japan, for centuries nations have invested heavily in the construction of new trainlines to embrace modernity and connect various far-flung cities. As rail journeys become more and more ubiquitous, with 463 million rail journeys undertaken in the UK in 2019-2020, high speed rail seems to be the logical next step to make rail travel faster, more efficient and greener…in theory.

A meaty debate: traditional vs lab-grown alternatives

Published on 26 May 2021. By Noonie Holmes, Associate

This January, a record 500,000 people pledged to eat only plant-based food as part of Veganuary, but avoiding meat may not be the only way to eat sustainably.

The science of cross-cultural small talk – Don't treat others as you want to be treated

Published on 11 May 2021. By Becky Baker , Associate

Leaders and scholars of business ethics often espouse the benefits of the "golden rule" - treat others as you would want to be treated - but it could be a risky way to approach cross-cultural business relationships.

What have you been watching during the pandemic?

Published on 23 April 2021. By Kiran Dhoot, Associate

The COVID-19 pandemic has seen dramatic shifts in the content and media we consume, and the way in which we consume it. That is not itself surprising, but how and to what extent has our media consumption actually changed?

Insect protein, a market ready for metamorphosis

Published on 25 February 2021. By Charles Underwood, Associate

Mealworm arancini to start, followed by Mezcal worm tacos with guacamole and grasshopper bacon bits. For dessert, cricket flour brownies. All washed down with a delicious Mezcal margarita.

Trainees take on 2021

Published on 02 February 2021. By Elizabeth Zang, Associate and Georgia Durham, Associate and Nicole Clerk, Associate and Poppy St John, Associate and Becky Baker , Associate

Build Back Greener? Environmental policies post COVID-19

Published on 27 November 2020. By Sarah Herniman, Associate

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus and the difficult year that has ensued, many have pointed to the environment as a potential silver lining.

Wheeling and Dealing: how e-scooters could spin opportunities for insurers

Published on 14 July 2020. By Sharona Zovich, Associate

E-scooters, or "Personal Light Electric Vehicles," have become increasingly popular on a global scale over recent years.

"Always look on the bright side of life" - even when life has been turned upside down

Published on 10 June 2020. By Ela Broderick-Basar, Associate

Seeing the coronavirus in a positive light

Catastrophe bonds: a storm in a teacup or a floody good opportunity?

18 May 2020

Catastrophe bonds are a type of insurance-linked security. They offer an alternative to reinsurance policies and allow insurers and reinsurers to offload a proportion of their risk. As the name suggests, they are often triggered by damage that an insured suffers as a result of a natural catastrophe such as a hurricane, earthquake or flood, but can also be designed to respond to events such as a pandemic.

Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Published on 17 April 2020. By Poppy St John, Associate

Is a 'right to disconnect' a productive workplace policy?

Trainees Take on 2020

Published on 27 February 2020. By Elizabeth Zang, Associate and Georgia Durham, Associate and Poppy St John, Associate and Sean Cannon, Associate

RPC's trainees had mixed fortunes in attempting to predict the major events of 2019. As can be seen from our 2019 predictions blog, Theresa May's departure was correctly predicted, but the trainees were well wide of the mark in forecasting Beto O'Rourke as the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination for the US Presidency: Beto suspended his campaign on November 1 2019, a full four months before primary season. No one foresaw the UK's first December general election since 1923 either, which is perhaps more forgivable.

Coronavirus and its damage to the health of businesses

21 February 2020

Coronavirus (nCoV) has dominated the headlines since the first case was confirmed on 19 January 2020. The virus has spread to every region in mainland China. Cases have also been reported in Australia, France, the US, the UK and Japan, among other countries. As the death toll continues to rise and scientists work under pressure to create a vaccine, it is evident that the world is facing a health crisis. But what about the impact it is having on business?

Between a rock and a card place - the changing nature of professional introductions

04 February 2020

To what extent is the humble business card being affected by changes in how professional introductions are made? With details of our professional lives now often available online, there are fewer opportunities to introduce ourselves through our business cards

Unpacking Christmas Ads: A British Retailer's Christmas Miracle?

Published on 20 December 2019. By Lucy Baughan, Associate

This blog discusses what makes Christmas ads "successful" both through the eyes of the public at large and from the perspective of the British retailers themselves. In some cases, popular Christmas ads lead to an increase in sales over the festive period. However, as some retailers have experienced, festive ads are not always a retailer's Christmas miracle and come with their own limitations.

Does workplace recycling deserve to be binned?

29 November 2019

It has been a big year for action on climate change - from Greta Thunberg's impassioned speech at the UN, to the Extinction Rebellion's pink yacht, which blockaded Oxford Circus. In a number of ways the British public are making greater efforts to reduce their carbon footprint. Over the past two decades, the rate of household recycling has risen from 11% in 2000 to 45.2% in 2017/18.

Equine law - not just horsing around

14 October 2019

Equine law as a practice area has become increasingly prominent, with a growing number of legal issues requiring firms to skill-up; but is there a clear definition of what 'equine law' is?

Is it time for a three day weekend?

17 July 2019

Reducing the number of days in work was an idea first explored by John Maynard Keynes in 1930 when he predicted that in the next 100 years the working week would only be 15 hours. Whilst his prediction has yet to come to fruition, an increasing number of businesses are switching to a four day week in light of claims of increased productivity and staff happiness.

Roma wasn't built in a day; how Netflix conquered the Oscars

05 March 2019

In 2017, at the Cannes Film Festival, the film 'Okja' was debuted. It was produced by Brad Pitt's production company 'Plan B' and starred Tilda Swinton and Jake Gyllenhaal. It also featured a giant CGI pig, whose capture and treatment raised issues on animal welfare, and whose - spoiler alert – rescue, made the hairs on the back of one's neck stand up.

Who was best dressed at the Oscars?

27 February 2019

Always popular, often outrageous, and unfortunately sometimes sexist; the best and worst dressed lists have been must-have articles for publishers around award season since 1940. But does success or failure on these lists have any impact on the brand of the celebrity, or the designer?

When does an Oscar speech become defamatory?

Published on 18 February 2019. By Harry Langford-Collins, Associate

In recent years, it has become the norm for presenters and winners alike at the Oscars to use their stage time to make political statements. However, politics at the Oscars has not always been so accepted. We take a look here at the shifting attitude of the Academy towards politically-charged speeches, and whether they may cross the legal line into defamation.

Can you sell an Oscar?

Published on 08 February 2019. By Lucy Baughan, Associate

An Academy Award (an Oscar) is one of the most prestigious accolades which a person in the film industry can receive. The awards symbolise tradition, exceptional quality and exclusiveness. Leaving the film reviews to the Academy itself, we focus on what is behind the Oscars brand: what the brand stands for and the steps the Academy has taken to protect the brand's integrity.

Hyper-Personalisation: the brands who want to know your name

Published on 04 February 2019. By Amber Oldershaw, Associate

In a modern day society widely dubbed as 'The Digital Age', corporations must compete like never before to capture a fluid market seeking instant gratification.

Look to the future: Trainees take on 2019

25 January 2019

The trainees didn't fare too badly with their 2018 predictions. They doubted England's ability to make it past the group stages of the World Cup, but foresaw how Brexit would dominate the news agenda. They over-optimistically predicted the introduction of automated bundling, but came very close on the value of Bitcoin. Read on to see this year's predictions.

Trainees took on 2018: did we predict the unpredictable?

16 January 2019

2018 certainly will not be forgotten in a hurry, and what a year it was. Brexit negotiations dominated headlines, Theresa May's 'Dancing Queen' routine went viral, and England made it to the semi-finals of the World Cup! No, we didn't predict that either.

NDAs: Not done with after all?

Published on 08 January 2019. By Alice Tittensor, Associate

Non-Disclosure Agreements are currently under significant scrutiny following various public scandals in which they have been used to silence employees who were allegedly subjected to harassment by their employers. In light of this recent controversy, this article explores the current debate surrounding NDAs.

Speech is golden

Published on 05 November 2018. By Ben Harris, Associate

With voice shopping projected to rise to £3.5 billion in UK sales by 2022, we consider how smart speakers are making waves and breaking barriers in the retail sector.

Meet your new loss adjustor: the drone

Published on 10 October 2018. By Leah Wood, Associate

Listed by Lloyd's in 2016 as an 'emerging risk', drones have caught insurers' attention in the last few years. However, the potential benefits for the industry go further than the new capital received from premiums.

The Retail empire strikes back

29 August 2018

Like Rocky in Rocky I, II, III, IV, V and "Rocky Balboa" (yes, there were really that many) the retail sector has taken a bit of a battering of late. However, like any prize fighter, the industry could be on the verge of another evolution and fighting back. The general perception is that traditional bricks and mortar retailers have struggled, those with a strong online offering have fared better, but retailers that have fared best are those dominating the online retail space. With so many traditional stores and household names in trouble, why are businesses still investing in physical stores?

Has Instagram made it cool to be sensible?

Published on 15 August 2018. By Samantha Thompson, Senior Associate

Recent studies suggest that teenage rebellion is a thing of the past. The post-millennial age group, a.k.a. 'Generation Sensible', is apparently more interested in studying and family-time than ever before. Social media has been cited as a contributing factor, as it reduces the need for face-to-face contact between friends. But has it had a more active role in this behavioural shift?

Micro-investing: from small acorns…

25 July 2018

With the number of card payments overtaking cash for the first time, spare a thought for the piggy-banks of the nation. Where once they were full to the brim with coppers, they now lie forgotten and unused. So what are people now doing with their spare change? Not investing, it would seem…

Bike sharing: running green or running riot?

13 July 2018

The two largest Chinese bike sharing companies, Ofo and Mobike, both started operation in the UK last year. Unlike the local schemes, their users are able to park the bikes at any appropriate location, rather than a designated parking dock. Though these "dockless" schemes emerged in a bid to promote a greener life, they have attracted increasing concern because of the environmental and economical hazards they create.

Big Data in Insurance

11 June 2018

Big data is creating change in the insurance industry both by leveraging historic insurance data and by using new data sources to create exciting new opportunities.

A Royal comparison: who did it best?

Published on 24 May 2018. By Mafruhdha Miah, Senior Associate

Now that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have returned to London to begin their new lives as a Royal couple, we take a look back at how their wedding compared to the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011.

The ‘Meghan effect’: its impact on retailers

Published on 18 May 2018. By Emily Saffer, Associate

The right people endorsing a brand can have a significant impact on its popularity. For example, brands that have been associated with Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle have seen a huge surge in their profile.