AI prompts are transforming the way legal documents are drafted. When crafted with technical precision, prompts can greatly enhance the utility and credibility of AI-generated content, especially when the AI relies exclusively on data contained in client matters, without incorporating outside sources. Read more...

As the first steps when opening a matter are so important, we have reviewed this section of our commentaries. Read more…

As we enter 2025, the Looking to the Future publication has been updated to assist practitioners with changes anticipated in the next 12 months.

Part of our series of common legal questions and their answers, we look at the difference between property ownership and a tenancy. Read more...

There is a newly added section in our commentaries, offering a streamlined summary of the key steps legal practitioners follow throughout the legal process. Read more…

Part of our series of common legal questions and their answers, we look at the criteria for eligibility for the Cladding Safety Scheme. Read more...

The By Lawyers unique writing style and strong commitment to plain language drafting benefit practitioners. Read more…

Practitioners now benefit from a section of the Looking to the Future commentary that has a breakdown of the relevant pledges from the manifesto documents of the main political parties. Read more…

A new guide, Electronic Signing and Witnessing, has been added to the Reference Materials folder in all By Lawyers matter plans. Read more…

Following the government announcements that breathing spaces are being extended for business tenants and companies, the Dealing with legal issues during COVID-19 publication has been updated.

Following user feedback we have published two new drafted commercial leases which are available on the Commercial Lease - Acting for Landlord matter plan. In addition to the Law Society standard leases, we now have a new commercial lease drafted in By Lawyers plain English style. The Commercial lease - Optimised presentation is formatted to present matter-specific information in the initial pages of the document, with the boiler-plate clauses which need no amendment in the following pages. A new Commercial lease - Standard presentation is also available. The commentary has also been updated with a discussion of the reasons why the optimised style is more useful for clients and practitioners - not least because all the amendments take place within the first few pages of the lease. Both styles contain all the lease considerations that are usually required. We also have increased the number of optional clauses available to insert into these leases where relevant including: Landlord’s conditions of consent to underletting clause Landlord’s conditions of consent to assignment clause Landlord's break clause Tenant's break clause Parking space clause We invite you to explore these new documents. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

Following a user request, a new Deed of Variation of Rentcharge has been added to the Sale of Land guide. The new deed enables parties to relinquish any remedies for breaching an existing rentcharge deed. As lenders become more anxious about the possible effects of s 121 of the Law of Property Act 1925 and the potential for leases to be granted where rentcharges are outstanding, we believe that this deed will be a useful tool for conveyancers in mitigating these risks for their lender and lay clients.

The Commercial Lease guide has been enhanced with points to note from the recent case of Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings Ltd v Blacks Outdoor Retail Ltd [2020] EWHC 1263 (Ch) regarding service charge certificates.

Following a user request, a new Deed of assignment of equitable interest in residential land has been added to the ‘Blank Deeds, Agreements, Statements, Declarations, Consents and Execution clauses’ folder which is available in the ‘A. Getting the matter underway’ section of every matter plan. We trust that users will find this new document helpful. Comments and feedback are always welcomed.

The Commercial Lease guide has been enhanced with the inclusion of two new precedent documents to assist practitioners: Authorised guarantee agreement and Licence to assign. These can be found in the folder D. If Required – Sublease, assignment, variation and surrender.