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Bullying at Work, Race-Sex etc Harassment, Stalking, Cyberstalking, Information and Advice from a specialist Barrister

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Last updated on April 3rd.

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• AP Partnership - Peterborough. Specialists in UK employment law, business and management development providing an online Newsletter covering topics in employment law, including industrial tribunals, Health & Safety, recruitment, outplacement and management training.

• Ashursts - London. Articles on many topics of corporate law including taxation, pension fund pooling vehicles, and modernisation of transfer pricing legislation.

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• Babbe Le Pelley Tostevin - Guernsey, have a specialised site e-lawoffshore.com providing free news, articles, and consultations on offshore legal topics.

• Berwin Leighton Paisner - London, Brussels, Paris and Singapore, provide a "data protection mini-portal" with up to date information to help private and public sector organisations comply with data protection law and practice.

• Brabners Chaffe Street offers a site called Shareholder Rights which aims to outline the legal position of shareholders in a Private Limited Company, the pitfalls, the precautions that can be taken and what can be done if it all goes sour. There are major sections on company structure, rights of a shareholder, selling your shareholding, shareholder disputes and valuing a shareholding.

• Bevan Brittan, with branches across the West of England and Wales, make all the firm's printed publications available free on line in a section called "Knowledge". These include Claims Online (Claims), Onsite Insight (Construction), Healthline and Mental Healthline (Health and Social Care) Technology Transfer (IT) and Resources (Employment). (Most of the information is in pdf form).

• Bird & Bird - London and International. There are 50 articles written by Lawyers at the firm, on Multimedia, Intellectual Property, Communications and Information Technology law.

• Blake Lapthorn Tarlo Lyons - Fareham, London, Portsmouth, Southampton & Brussels. There are newsletters on Business topics, Environment Law, Employment and Charity Law.

• Blandy & Blandy - Reading. There is an employment law newsletter, covering topics like contractual obligations, liability for racial and sexual harassment, failure to return from maternity leave, TUPE and redundancy.

• Boyes Turner - Reading. A major section on personal injury as well as articles on commercial property, corporate & commercial, IT, intellectual property , employment, insolvency and litigation.

• Bretherton Price & Elgoods, of Cheltenham & London, offers a series of free email "Legal Alerts" in employment, company/commercial, corporate finance, commercial property and commercial litigation. You can register on the site.

• Brethertons - Rugby and Banbury. They offer information sheets online on intellectual property and copyright (what you can and cannot protect, and how to go about it). Business tenancies ar discussed, with a description of the types of tenancy available. There is a monthly business newsletter online called corporateFILE.

• Bryan Cave, an international law firm with 18 offices worldwide including Kuwait, Riyadh, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, has used its expertise to provide a special site for Iraq Information, particularly relating to participation in the economic development of Iraq and the Middle East generally. The site contains primary source materials relating to the Iraq sanctions regime including International Regulatory Bulletins, Middle East Bulletins, United Nations documents on Sanctions and USA documents as well as articles by members of the firm on these topics.

• Business Inc Ltd is a company providing free company registration guides pertaining to company law in the UK (see here) and all of the offshore jurisdictions they incorporate in e.g. British Virgin Islands. Their offshore guides are unique and cite the various Acts and company legislation in each jurisdiction. They also provide UK company statutory forms (see here) and whilst these are available from Companies House many users find them convenient to download from here. C

• Charles Russell have set up a special part of their site to provide information on Data Protection. There is a substantial background briefing and articles on current topics. It is possible to sign up for regular Data Protection updates.

• Clark Holt - Swindon. Substantial position papers in two sections of the site - the "Corporate" section and the "Commercial/Computer" section.

• Law-Now from CMS Cameron McKenna, features many free information services including e-commerce, European competition law, including Poland and the Czech Repulic in particular, Financial Services and markets Act 2000, Human Rights, Employment Law, and topics related to Pensions and the Pensions Ombudsman.

• Clifford Chance - London and International. A truly massive site with a great deal of information. Online newsletters include: Budget 1998, Public Policy - Freedom of Information, Dealing with the Millennium - The Year 2000, European Monetary Union: The Legal Framework. There are also online newsletters on Europe in Prospect, China, Private Finance Initiatives, Asian Financial Markets, Asian M&A, Legal Risk In The Financial Sector, China Banking News, European Financial Markets, Employment News, Media Briefing, Russia and the other states of the CIS, Securities and Derivatives, and International Funds.

• Company Law Forum is a new site from LexisNexis intended to provide a Web 2.0 environment for the legal and business community to share thoughts, useful links, and have discussions on company law related issues. The content of the site is free to access although you have to register for it. As it says on the site "The new website offers users the opportunity to discuss and debate current issues such as the implications of sections covering proxies for FTSE100 companies and the problems of the 48-hour deadline for appointment. Other topics include the delay of the final raft of commencements until 2009, the impact of potential derivative actions on D&O insurance and how the changes to directors’ duties interact with the duties on insolvency through a Web 2.0 interface." There are several substantive articles on these topics already. There is a directory of registered users which allows users to contact each other privately. (Tip - if you want others to know who you are and to contact you, use your real name as the user name, complete with capital letters). Apparently there will also be News and current awareness headline feeds.

• Company Law Club offers a number of services for members (it is free but you have to register) including access to a database of company law (similar to a basic company law textbook online) and access to forms from Companies House. The site is supported by company registration agents Incorporation Services Ltd. From January next year, there will also be a Newsletter providing a Digest of reported cases and New legislation (including statutory instruments).

• Collyer-Bristow - London, provides newsletters on employment topics.

• Corporate Law and Governance is a blog from Robert Goddard of Aston Business School Birmingham. It provides news from the UK and beyond concerning corporate law and governance. These areas are broadly defined to include capital market regulation, financial reporting and the legal environment in which companies (of all sizes) operate.

• Country Briefings is a company which provide business travellers and global professionals with reports on the business, economic and political climates in 31 countries. Reports are updated every 6 weeks. Prices start at 40 for one country's report but visitors can have access to the first report free.

• Croner.CCH provide a site called humanresources-centre.net aimed at employers. It offers free guidance on employment and other HR issues, a discussion forum and free newsletters. There is also a very good set of links for employment related sites.

• Croskerrys - Dublin, specialise in debt collection and the site conains a large amount of information on the courts, processes and stages involved in debt collection in Ireland.

• Cruickshanks - London - provide information on Purchasing Property and also on Immigration and Relocation matters.

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• Davenport Lyons - London, offers material on employment, licensing, e-commerce and other commercial law topics.

• David Price Solicitors & Advocates - London, are experts in media law and they provide a Guide to Media Law covering Defamation, Breach of confidence and privacy, Malicious falsehood, Contempt of court and Copyright. They provide a newsletter on the site (or you an sign up to receive it by email) containing reports and comment on media law. They aim to cover all cases in the High Court and Court of Appeal as well as decisions of the European Court of Human Rights on freedom of expression and relevant adjudications of the Press Complaints Commission and the Broadcasting Standards Commission.

• debtmaster.co.uk is a service for businesses offered by Silverman Sherliker LLP of London. The service is run by qualified lawyers with substantial experience of recovery procedures for collecting debt whether in the UK or overseas. For uncontested debts they work on a "commission only" basis - if they do not recover your unpaid debts, you pay nothing. There is also information on commercial debt collection issues on the site with a FAQ section. They are happy to provide a free legal consultation to get started.

• Denton Wilde Sapte - London and International. A massive site with online articles on Banking & Finance, Corporate, Digital Media & Internet, Leisure, Publishing & Copyright and Rail & Transport.

• Dickinson Dees - Newcastle upon Tyne provide information, articles and documents (some on subscription only) on their main site and also on two special sites: bizdocs.co.uk for many business documents and hralert.com for specialist HR related topics.

• Discrimination Law Blog comes from the Discrimination Law Team at Brabners Chaffe Street. The blog forms part of their specialised web site Discrimination Law which itself provides a great deal of information on this general area of law. The blog says that it "provides news and updates on discrimination law, report recent cases and provide practical tips for both employers and employees".

• Duncan Grehan & Partners - Dublin, provides information on Advertising Law, Copyright Law, Company Formation and other topics.

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• EEF is an organisation providing engineering and manufacturing support & employment advice for business. Amongst other topics, it covers the employment relations act & employee relations law. You can register here (free) and search their database of information.

• EHR provides Employment law and HR advice to employers. The firm is run by Kate Charlton, a qualified employment lawyer who has worked in industry for many years in senior HR roles. Based in the West Midlands EHR, is a one stop shop offering a fully integrated employment law and HR advice service.

• Elbourne Mitchell has provides case reports, articles and commentary on re-insurance, shipping and regulatory matters.

• Ellis Whittam & Partners of Chester, provide a regular free email bulletin called "Employer's Brief". This gives details of changes in UK employment law and health & safety regulations, picking out the things which really matter to UK employers (in plain english!). There are also some substantial articles on employment topics here. Partner Mark Ellis also writes a blog here covering similar topics but in a slightly lighter vein - and with the ability for viewers to comment.

• UK Employment Law on the Internet. This site contains 1,200 pages of basic employment information consisting of shortened extracts from an early 1997 edition of the e-LOAD program ("employment Law on a Disc") published by the Law Society. This is designed to become a practical reference source for employers with UK employment law problems. (The more recent version of this is available on the site for a fee, including a cheap 24 hour access).

• Employment Relation Solicitors offers a monthly newsletter on employment issues.

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• Farrer & Co. - London. There are "Briefings" on Agricultural Estates and Private Property, Intellectual Property and Media Topics.

• The Federation of European Employers (formerly The EU Employers' Network) is an association for progressive employers operating across Europe. The Federation was founded in 1989, with financial assistance from DGV of the European Commission. Today it has members in all EEA states - plus Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Russia, USA, Canada, Japan and Israel. The site is a major source of pan-European national pay, employment law and collective bargaining data on the web. It includes legislation from the many countries it represents.

• Field Fisher Waterhouse - London, have set up a series of specialised sites for business viewers, all of which provide free online information of various sorts. These are brandslaw.com, sportsbusinesslaw.com, Ecomlex.com, e-ploymentlaw.com, equityincentives.co.uk, europeanfranchising.com, isoscelespatents.com, ffwpublicsector.com and www.ffwtravellaw.com.

• Forum Commercial provides a forum for buying and selling businesses, including commercial properties and also franchise opportunities. There is a section on the site called Forum Legal which has been set up by St Albans firm Sherrards, led by Maria Cordina. There are articles of current interest relating to the legal aspects of setting up a business including property, tax, insurance, e-business, employment and company/commercial. Buyers can search the site's opportunites for free, and sellers pay a fixed fee - but there?is no commission payable if a sale is made.

• Forwarderlaw is an international resource for legal information on freight forwarding and multimodal transport operations. On the site there is online commentary on developments in the law, a database of past articles, recent cases on the law of international transport, information on mediation and dispute resolution and biographies of the national editors.

• Fox Williams - London. They provide electronic Newsletters, which can be delivered by email, on Company Concerns, Employment Update, Personnel News, IT & Cyberlaw Update.

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• Gherson & Co. are specialists in UK immigration and nationality law and their site covers a whole range of these topics with options for further information developing as the viewer investigates, rather than being all thrust at the viewer at the beginning. The site is in 9 languages as well, including Chinese, Japanese, Russian and Indian. There is an extensive set of articles on UK immigration law and practice as it relates to the relocation of companies and personnel in the UK, and related matters.

• Gillhams - North West London - provide a section of legal publications with information and guidance relating to commercial legal issues, particularly intellectual property and IT focused enterprises.

• Gordons - Leeds, Bradford and Keighley - provide information on Company and Commercial matters, Commercial Property, Employment and Litigation.

• Graphite HRM is a company specialising in Human Resource Management in Ireland and which provides an online reference manual on the translation of employment law into practice. This includes "Personnel Policies and Procedures: The Law in Perspective" which is updated regularly in line with legal changes. The manaul is available on subscription but there are sample sections which can be viewed free of charge on the site.

• Gudeon & McFadden is an American law firm based in London practising exclusively in U.S. immigration and nationality law. The majority of their clients are British companies doing business in the USA. There is a large amount of information on the site and also links to US and other bodies involved in this topic. There is a useful "What's New" page on the site for the latest news.

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• Harbottle & Lewis - London. There are articles on the theatre, the film industry, artists' royalities and copyright, as well as computer topics. There is an online newsletter called New Media News.

• Highstone Company Formations offers a fast and easy online company formation system. There is also information about the process of forming companies on the site.

• Hill Dickinson - London, Dubai and Piraeus, offer guides and bulletins on shipping, dispute resolution, insurance and reinsurance, commercial property and the Middle East.

• HSEdirect has been developed by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) in partnership with Butterworths Tolley. The site is designed to cater for anyone who has a responsibility for health and safety issues and management in the workplace, "whether youre a dedicated health and safety professional, a personnel manager, or a managing director of a small business".
  The free area includes daily news summaries, all HSE press releases, current consultative documents, Year 2000/2001 health and safety conference diary, useful contacts, FAQs (frequently asked questions) and links to other relevant sites.
  The subscription are includes commentary health and safety policy, employers duties to employees, employment protection and enforcement, and also approved Codes of Practice and HSE guidance on legislation, a selection of the most commonly used HSE forms, fully amended and annotated text of health and safety legislation, European Directives which relate to health and safety issues, and practical summaries of key cases, recent cases and cases of special interest.

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• International Correspondence Lawyers is a directory provided by a German publisher Daten Info Service Eibl GmbH. The directory provides lawyers worldwide with an opportunity to present their company details, correspondence languages and fields of expertise. There is also an associated directory of financial advisors and tax consultants. The site also provides general information on tax rates, legal forms of companies and requirements for setting up a company in more than 70 countries. There is also a section called Law National Organizations which lists significant organisations (Bar Associations, Law Societies, Courts, Parliament, legislation) for all these countries which would be a good starting point for any search relating to legal information. There is a similar listing of International Law Organizations.

• The International Law Office provides commentaries (called Newsletters) under key categories of commercial law (arbitration, banking, commercial property, company and so on) from 300 lawyers around the world. There are also commercial/legal overviews for each country, and a register of 2,000 firms which can be searched by area and by specialisation. There is also a section of news and "deals".

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• Jeffrey Green Russell - London. They offer an "Internet Law Digital Newsletter", (delivered by email) and there are also articles in Construction Law, Computer Topics and Licensing Law.

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• Kestrel Taxation Resources provide extensive free information on VAT, PAYE, Inland Revenue Practice and investigations (how to survive them), tax evasion (not a guide on how to fiddle!) and the Contributions Agency.

• Kidd Rapinet (several locations in London and the South East including Aylesbury, Basingstoke, Beaconsfield, Farnham, High Wycombe, Maidenhead, Reading and Slough) provide articles on many business topics. Recent areas covered have included taxation, privacy and electronic communications, monitoring employees at work, software licensing, mergers, outsourcing, e-commerce and due diligence.

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• Lawbuild provides an archive of newsletters on construction law and related topics, including a glossary of construction law expressions. Articles are non-academic and practical, aiming to give non-lawyers and non-construction lawyers basic information in an interesting way. The firm's Principal, David Lewis, doubling as editor, fires off occasional opinion pieces on legal and non-legal topics.

• Lawdit Solicitors offer several specialised sites relating to IT law -
  
  • The Trade Mark Room for taking trademark registration requests online
    
  • Police and Protect for assisting in internet brand protection, and
    
  • Lawdit Resolve an alternative approach to litigating matters and resolving disputes.
  The sites, all linked together, provide a veritable cornucopia of information on these topics.

• Lawrence Graham - London. Articles on business, energy, building, commercial property and IP.

• Laurence Kaye provides information on technology, media, intellectual property and e-commerce law. There is a major section called "Knowledge Zone" with a large number of FAQ's, articles and checklists. The FAQ's cover Is linking to other websites legal?, Legal rights involved in a website?, Who owns a website?, When do I have to notify the Data Protection Commissioner?, Can I still send unsolicited e-mails?, Can employers monitor their employees' e-mails?, Has UK Copyright law changed?, What are moral rights?, Intellectual Property and how to protect it, Contracts - ten key deal points, Business Online - top ten points.

• Lawrite HR provides employment law and HR solutions for employers in the UK. The Lawrite Employment Law software was first launched in 1999. The current version works through the web browser and seamlessly combines locally-stored document templates, PDF guides and manuals, with web-based news and update files. There are more than 120 templates including employment contracts, policies and procedures and sample letters to employees. The software is available as part of a range of services including 24/7 telephone legal support, an insurance-backed Employment Tribunal indemnity scheme and different levels of HR support including bespoke drafting of contracts, staff handbooks and other HR documents.

• LK Shields, of Dublin, offer a large amount of free legal information on the site, including an extensive section called Investing and Working in Ireland. Other publications online cover Banking and Financial Services, Business, Company Secretarial, Data Protection, Employment and Industrial Relations, EU and Competition, Intellectual Property, Technology and E Commerce, and Pensions and Benefits.

• Lovells - London and International. Lots of online newsletters, including computer, communications and media, environmental digest, EU and competition law, financial risk, insurance and re-insurance, intellectual property, property law, and single European currency.

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• Mace & Jones - Manchester & Liverpool, provide a series of online guides (in pdf) to help business owners deal with legal minefields. The Guides are on Business Sales Share Sales, Management Buyouts, Shareholders Agreements, Limited Liability Partnerships, Employee Share Schemes, Agency and Distribution Agreements, Terms of Trading, Contracts of Employment, The Data Protection Act 1998, Intellectual Property Rights Commercial Leases, Civil Litigation, The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, and The Enterprise Act 2002.

• Macfarlanes - London and International. Topics covered include financial services, commercial property, tax and employment law. One particular feature is a "Maternity Rights Calculator" which can be used to calculate the eligibility of an employee for Statutory Maternity Pay, Maternity Leave and Extended Maternity Absence.

• MacRoberts - Glasgow, Edinburgh and London, provide a large amount of material (under "publications") on employment, construction, corporate litigation, health and safety, property, pensions and technology media & communications - a major source of news and current information here. You?can sign up for an email alert in these topics. There is also an extensive set of links to other legal resources (internationally) under the "Links" section.

• Massers - Nottingham, offer free initial advice on business matters by email.

• Marketing Law is a site offered by Osborne Clarke, provided for brand owners and suppliers of marketing services such as advertising, direct marketing and promotion marketing agencies. There is information on laws and regulations affecting this market sector. You have to register for parts of the site, including an email update service, but its free.

• Marriott Harrison - London, provides a news section on media topics and also a series of articles on media developments and on SME business and company startups.

• McCann FitzGerald, based in Dublin, provides extensive information on Ireland as a business location and on many other commercial topics, including commercial property, construction, e-commerce and information technology, employment, energy, EU and competition, intellectual propertly, the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin, inward investment, maritime, mutual funds and telecoms.

• McGrigor Donald, Glasgow, Edinburgh and London. Information on The New Regime For Legal Protection of Databases, Countdown to a Scottish Parliament, Electronic Commerce, The Millenium Time Bomb (legal briefings for Suppliers and Users), Guide for Overseas Investors, construction law and employment.

• John Mayall, Patent Attorney and European Patent Attorney, provides information on patents, trademarks and Intellectual Property. There is a page linking to the Trade Mark Laws of many countries of the world, using the official statute data base of the country concerned if available or other material and versions of the statutes if necessary.

• Mewburn Ellis LLP is one of the UK's largest firms of Chartered Patent Attorneys, European Patent Attorneys, European Trade Mark Attorneys and European Design Attorneys. They cover the full range of intellectual property issues: Patents, Trade Marks, Designs, Industrial Copyright and related matters. There is "basic" information in the site as well as detailed practice sheets for those already knowledgeable.

• Mills & Reeve - Birmingham, Cambridge, London and Norwich. The Mills & Reeve "University Campus" provides specialist information for Higher Eduction establishments and personnel. There are topical Educational briefings and a summary of Education News each week.

• Mondaq is a provider of free legal and professional articles online. The sections "UK Briefing", "International Briefing" and "Offshore Briefing" categorise information on the legislative and regulatory framework affecting business and investment in the UK and European Union, Eastern Europe, North America, South-East Asia & China, Africa and the Middle East and major offshore centres. Mondaq also provides these articles to Dow Jones, Reuters, Datastar, Lexis Nexis, WestLaw and FT Profile. Mondaq Professional Surveys provide details of peer-nominated practitioners around the world. Mondaq has recently formed an alliance with Butterworths Tolley.

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• Nabarro Nathanson - London and International. Their Legal Briefings includes: Brussels Update, on significant EC developments prepared by the firm's Brussels-based EC/Competition unit; PropertyEdge and Quarter-Day, on commercial property law and property generally; Inform, on the IT, communications and new media industries; In The Public Interest on issues concerning statutory powers and PFI. It is possible to receive these in email form.

• Robert Newey & Co. - London. Information on UK business taxation, including VAT, employment and international tax issues.

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• Olswang - London. Some information on the rental of films and sound recordings and an article on digital audio broadcasting.

• Osborne Clarke offers several interesting and innovate sites:
  • gamesbiz.net is a site for Computer Games Companies with lots of free information such as articles, "keynotes" and financial information on games companies via hemscott.net. There are also a large number of documents for sale - approach is "Easy as A, B, C" - Agreements, Briefing notes and Checklists.
  • Marketing Law which provides free information on advertising and marketing law, case reports and updates and also some documents for sale.

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• Page Hargrave, Trade Mark and Patent Attorneys, provide a detailed review of the latest legal developments in UK and European Intellectual Property Law (take the "What's New" section) as well as much background information on the subject.

• The UK Patent Office. Information on patents, trade marks, copyright and intellectual property, designed for use by companies and members of the public as well as patent experts.

• Patent and other Intellectual Property Information Resources from the British Library. The site has sections describing free databases for patents around the world, trademarks, designs and patent offices. There is information on the resources contained in the BL itself, and also lots of general information on patents for non specialists.

• Pattinson Brewer - London, offer online "pocket guides" to maternity rights, the disability discrimination act, the rights of casual, temporary and fixed term employees, TUPE, protection from harrassment and labour law updates for trade unions.

• Pinsent Masons produce free bulletins and articles on trade marks and designs (mainly in pdf). There are introductory articles as well as current and topical ones.

• Philippsohn Crawfords Berwald - London, provide a series of comments and briefings on forthcoming and existing legislation relating to property (particularly commercial property) as well as developments in the courts.

• Poppleston Allen - Nottingham, provide a large amount of information on licensing law, details of licensing session dates in each area, information on the licensing bill, information on betting and gaming, and planning. There is a FAQ section where you can search for past answers and add new questions. You can subscribe to a free newsletter on these topics.

• Prettys - Ipswich. Numerous articles on general commercial topics including employment law, contracts, landlord and tenant, disability legislation and other topics.

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• R2b Media Ltd is a company providing employment law news and information to over 11,000 professionals in the UK. The information is provided by lawyers from Hansells, Morton Fraser, Samuel Phillips and Heptonstalls. It is provided in the form of professionally written business information updates and podcasts which are published on a monthly basis and sent out to subscribers free of charge.

• Rakisons - London. A bi-monthly online Newsletter on IT and Telecommunications Developments and substantial articles on IT outsourcing and European Licensing of Telecommunications Services.

• Reynolds Porter Chamberlain - London. Many articles and on-line newsletters on insurance topics, general business law, construction law, health law and e-commerce.

• Robson McLean - Edinburgh - offers articles on employment, property, environmental matters, the Euro, and Scottish Devolution.

• Rogers & Norton - Norwich. Updates on line in employment, tax, family, motoring, business, employment and property.

• Roydens is the employment law site of David Royden, Employment Law Solicitor, Laytons Solicitors. The site contains over 50 pages of employment law information and offers free e-mail advice on employment law issues. David Royden is head of Employment Law at the Manchester Office of Laytons Solicitors which also has offices in London and Guildford.

• Roiter Zucker provide articles in Intellectual Property with particular reference to Pharmaceuticals.

• RT Coopers - London, provide regular updates on IP, data protection and IT security, pharmaceuticals and biotech.

• Russell-Cooke - London, provide a monthly update with information on charity law. (Take the "Services for Charities and Organisations" link and then "Charities Team" and then "events and updates").

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• Sacker & Partners - London, provide information on pensions from a company point of view. There is a Pensions Survival Guide, information on the Regulation of Pensions Schemes and information on Incapacity. There is also a page of recent news.

• Semple Fraser - Glasgow & Edinburgh. Articles on many topics of commercial, environmental and corporate law.

• Shepherd+ Wedderburn - Edinburgh, provide newsletters on and articles on Commercial Property Law, Commercial Law, Construction, Corporate Finance, Employment, EU & Competition Law, IT & Intellectual Property Law, Pensions, Planning, Private Finance Initiative (PFI). There are also general newsletters on commercial topics.

• Silverman Sherliker LLP are now offering an addition site uktrademarkregistration.com. There is information on trade marks and registration and case studies of people who did not do this. As a special promotion, the firm is also offering free trade mark searching at the moment and fixed fee trade mark registration in the UK, EU and Internationally.

• Simmons & Simmons provides elexica, their free online legal resource. elexica offers an email current awareness service, legal updates, weekly EU Diary (also available in Palm(TM) format), training modules (with CPD hours), legal checklists (also available in Palm(TM) format), a legal discussions forum and an extensive library of categorised web links. There are also regular 'specials' such as detailed analysis of the Budget 2004, a detailed review of Japanese law and a comprehensive guide to the EU Financial Services Action Plan All material on site is produced by the firm's professional support lawyers and, although predominantly in English, includes a growing number of items (some in their local language) from Simmons & Simmons' international offices, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Hong Kong and Shanghai. The site content is regularly reviewed and older material either removed or updated. elexica has more than 20,000 registered users and its email alerts are sent out to a distribution list of 15,000. The current awareness emails are on the following subjects: Budget 2004, Commercial Contracts, Construction, Corporate, Corporate Recovery, Employment, Environment, EU Diary, Finance Litigation, Financial Services, Global Counsel Handbooks - Japan, Insurance, Intellectual Property, IT & E-commerce, Key UK Legal Developments, Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology, Property, Securities & Derivatives, and Tax.

• Simon Daly - Billingham, Teeside, offers information on commercial debt recovery and a series of articles on current legislation & civil litigation cases that affect debt recovery and credit management.

• Shoosmiths - National, multi-branch firm. Bulletins on Commercial Finance, Banking and Commercial Lending, Transport Law, Construction Law, Food Law, International, Private Finance Initiative (and especiallly as affecting Local Authorities), Commercial Property and Building Services, Parallel Importing, Insurance, EMU - The Legal Implications for Businesses and other topics.

• Sprecher Grier Halberstam - London, provide information on current topics of business, e-commerce, employment and commercial law generally. They also offer a separate site called WebLAW.co.uk which focusses on the topic of e-commerce and legal aspects of web site development and maintenance.

• Stafford Young Jones - London, provide a guide to Business leases.

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• Tax Planet is a global network of legal and accounting professionals focusing on tax (domestic and international). International tax work without a global team of professionals is virtually impossible, even for SMEs and individuals. Tax Planet strives to achieve a global presence in numerous countries with the size of the team in proportion to a country's size, complexity and international impact. The site has a research section containing mainly tax and tax-related links and information on countries, international organisations and global issues. There are many deep-links to selected pages with useful contents to facilitate research work.

• Truman & Co - Exeter provide Legal Advice Centre which has information on many business topics, including business structure (company formation, company secretary and so on, and business agreements, and will also provide initial legal advice without charge.

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• UK Corporator is an expert system for generating limited company formation documents online. The system operates on a question and answer basis to obtain the information needed for the forms, providing full explanatory notes at each stage so that the user is in effect "coached" in the process of preparing the documents, and taking account of the relevant Companies Act provisions. There is also a considerable amount of free information available on the site relating to the incorporation process for people to use whether or not they are using the system on a paid basis. At the end of the generation process, the user can decide whether he or she wishes to go ahead with the formation and pay the 49.99 (plus Government charges payable direct to Companies House) required for the finished documents and delivering them automatically. All content has been written by the directors of the company who are also solicitors. The system can be used directly by the person wanting to set up a limited company, or by a solicitor wishing to carry out the process quickly and efficiently on behalf of clients. The original system has already been widely used in Australia as Incorporator.com.au.

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• v-lex limited - Gateford, Worksop, are a firm of solicitors who are specialists in IT Law and they provide several short documents free on their site: simple short offer of employment letter, simple software licence, simple confidentiality agreement, and simple working time regulations agreement.

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• Watmores - London, provide advice and commentary on the Woolf reforms with particular reference to Insurance Companies and designed to assist the companies themselves (not just other lawyers). There is also a section of insurance case law and a section of current law digests (from Sweet & Maxwell).

• Williams Powell - London (Patent and Trade Mark Attorneys) provide lots of information on patents, trade marks and intellectual property.

• Winward Fearon - London. Significant amounts of information in construction, particularly with= "Adjudication Watch" which is a list of decided cases from the Courts in relation to statutory adjudication under the Housing Grants Construction and Regeneration Act, 1996.

• Wollastons - Chelmsford, Essex. Take "News and updates" to find information on employment, the Data Protection Act, the Competition Act, and rules for Business Immigration.

• Woolley & Co are a firm of lawyers linked by mail, phone and email (e-lawfirm.co.uk). They provide information on internet trading, e-commerce, online terms and conditions, data protection and other topics. You can also receive information on these topics by email.

• Workplacelaw.net is the web site of Asset Information Ltd, a publisher and conference provider based in Cambridge. The site offers legal information for companies on Employment, Premises and Health & Safety. There is already news on these topics on the site with cases and articles to follow.

• World Link for Law (formerly Euro-Link for Lawyers) is a leading international association of law firms comprising a network of 50 law firms with 56 offices in 32 countries worldwide. The site provides free business information (country by country) in relation to company formation options, debt collection and enforcement, commercial property acquisition and labour law.

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• Young & Lee - Birmingham, provides information on law for employers and also commercial law.
• Young & Pearce - Nottingham, provides extensive information on licensing law, a corporate law guide (for small limited companies) and a guide on business leases.

• Yuill & Kyle, in Glasgow, provide information on debt collection in Scotland with continually updated news on debt recovery and credit control. You can also use their downloaded documents to send letters to debtors on your own headed notepaper, complete with interest due (which is otherwise very tedious to calculate). Z