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Legal Focus

SEPTEMBER 2014

This month’s Legal Focus is as in-depth as ever, covering a wide range of major practice areas and issues, from Bribery and Corruption to Shale and Unconventional gas. This feature reflects the news of the legal world, and there has certainly been plenty keeping the world’s legal news rooms busy over recent weeks. The stories below are explored further within the following interviews and features with expert lawyers from across the world, as well as related issues from their specific jurisdictions and comment on the other legal implications that many of these major stories uncover. We hope you enjoy this edition of Legal Focus

Forensic Services in Dispute Resolution

Most of the disputes we see arise out of supply, management or service contracts, or from share or business transactions. For example, where one of the parties believes that the contract is not delivering the value it had envisaged, or where one party is alleged to have breached terms of the contract, typically resulting in a termination and claim for the loss of the profits that would have accrued absent the termination. Larger scale matters (investor state disputes for example) often necessitate the valuation of a business rather than a particular revenue / profit stream within it.

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We continue to see a steady stream of transactional disputes, which may increase further with the improving M&A market and increased volume of deals. Such disputes may take the form of an expert determination (where Deloitte may act as the determining expert or act as an advisor to one of the parties through the determination process), or play out as a contractual dispute through the Courts or before an arbitral panel, for example allegations centred around the seller breaching warranties provided as part of the deal.

Laws for Medical Marijuana Use

While the following number is a rapidly moving target, as of this writing there are 23 states that have legalized medical marijuana. The District of Columbia has followed suit. Viewed in a broader sense, a look at the current national legal patchwork reveals that 36 states plus DC have liberalized marijuana laws in general.

They have either legalized medical marijuana or provided access to low potency formulas, decriminalized the recreational use of the plant, decriminalized its medical use, or flat-out legalized all recreational and medical uses, as in the cases of the states of Washington and Colorado.

All that said, according to statistics provided by the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) and the National Conference of State Legislatures, 27% of the population now live in a state that still has full prohibition, 35% live in states with legal medical marijuana, 4% live in states with decriminalized possession laws, 31 % live in states with both legal medical marijuana and decriminalized possession, and 4% live in fully legal states.

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Also, in Legal Focus... In addition, this month’s Legal Focus takes a look at Expert Determination, M&A, Aviation,

International Trade and Agency & Distribution law. www.lawyer-monthly.com