Thrings

Award-winning law firm Thrings has doubled its rankings in a prestigious international legal directory for the second year in a row. The Chambers High Net Worth Guide showcases leading professional advisers for international private wealth, providing an objective view by identifying and ranking law firms, lawyers and a range of other professional advisers globally.

Businesses requiring new starters to agree to repayment of training costs if they leave the role early may need to start checking the small print following a recent Court of Appeal decision. Jeremy Nixon, Partner in Thrings’ Employment team takes a look at the judgment, its view on the restraint of trade, and what employers need to look for in their contractual documentation.

Biodiversity net gain (BNG) has been a statutory requirement for over two years now, and for many schemes, it has been one of the trickier boxes to tick. The default position is usually a mandatory 10% BNG on most planning permissions, with some local authorities imposing higher percentages through local plans. New regulations, laid before parliament this week and set to come into force on 6 August 2026, confirm some of the anticipated changes to the BNG regime we have been expecting.

Award-winning law firm Thrings has been ranked third in a list of the most-recommended law firms across the South West, according to new independent research. The ranking comes from Legal 500's annual client survey, which asks the question: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend this firm?”. Responses are then used to calculate a client satisfaction score that can be compared against other firms.

“Golden brick” rules for social housing could soon change following the launch of a new government consultation, proposing changes to VAT relief. Led by HMRC and the Treasury, the consultation is aimed at the people who deal with the problem every day – landowners, developers and registered providers. Mary Waters, Partner in Thrings’ Development of Land team, takes a look what is being proposed and what developers need to know.

For many business owners, disputes are something to be avoided rather than planned for, but 2026 has, so far, shaped up to be a year in which the ground can shift without warning. Understanding the current direction of travel on the likes of contract disputes, how these are resolved, and how visible they become once they reach court, could save time, stress and money in the long run.

AI is changing the way employees raise workplace complaints, with the pace of change faster than employers may realise. Tools such as ChatGPT are now being used routinely by employees to draft formal grievances, appeal disciplinary decisions, challenge redundancies, and even prepare employment tribunal claims. The result is a new kind of complaint landing in HR inboxes: polished and often far longer than anything the employee might have written unaided.

If an employee questions or complains about how you are using their personal data, businesses are now subject to a statutory requirement to do something about it under new data protection laws. Coming into force as part of the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025, the obligations outline what businesses must do when responding to concerns and claims raised by employees and other individuals that they hold data for.

Plans to support farming over the next quarter century have been unveiled by the government with the publication of the Farming Roadmap 2050: Growing England’s Future. Hailed by the government as the most ambitious long-term commitment to the sector since the second world war, the plan comes as a direct response to the independent Farming Profitability Review created by Baroness Minette Batters and aims to provide the family community with clarity beyond the next harvest.

As UK summers grow hotter, heatwaves are increasingly a fact of working life. Many employers have policies for snow and ice, but far fewer have thought about what happens when temperatures soar. Carey Willis Fleming, Senior Associate in our Employment team, takes a look at the responsibilities employers have and what they need to know.