Patrick Bracher

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Contracts need consensus

By Patrick Bracher on April 17, 2018 Posted in Drafting tips

The basis of any contract is consensus between the two parties. The court in Vincorp (Pty) Ltd v Trust Hungary ZRT found that the two parties alleged by the plaintiff to be parties to a contract had different things in mind when they negotiated and that no contract came into being because it lacked the … Continue reading

AI in the law firm – Investigations and compliance

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on April 17, 2018 Posted in General

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in legal investigations and compliance is one of the most ground breaking ways in which AI is set to change the way in which lawyers do their work. AI is your new detective A fitting example of AI in legal investigation action is a due diligence of a company. … Continue reading

AI in the law firm – Predictive analytics

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on April 15, 2018 Posted in General

The use of artificial intelligence (AI) is a critically important tool which empowers lawyers to work more effectively, and provide increased value to clients. One of the ways that lawyers and their clients can benefit from AI is through the use of predictive analytics. AI is better suited than its human counterparts to analyse and … Continue reading

Interpretation of contracts by giving extreme examples is not helpful (UK)

By Patrick Bracher on April 15, 2018 Posted in Drafting tips

A recent UK case made the following point regarding interpretation of contracts based on hypothetical, extreme examples: ‘There was also, as there sometimes is in commercial cases that turn on points of interpretation, the temptation to provide illustrations of ‘commercial sense’ by the use of hypothetical, and occasionally extreme, examples of what any particular interpretation … Continue reading

AI in the law firm – AI is your new document drafter

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on April 11, 2018 Posted in General

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is set to change the way in which lawyers do their work. Apart from affecting areas like legal research and analysis, AI in the law firm has led to an increased focus on document automation. Large transactions often require an entire suite of legal documents, all of which take time to draft … Continue reading

AI in the law firm – AI is your new law librarian

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on April 11, 2018 Posted in General

The advent of artificial intelligence (AI) has long been eulogised and feared by the legal community. Augurs say that it will bring about efficiency and possibly bring an end to its antithesis – the billable hour. Unlike the once-common lift operator, AI is not set to replace lawyers any time soon, but it will, without … Continue reading

New Prudential Authority CEO: FSB now Conduct Authority

By Patrick Bracher on April 9, 2018 Posted in General

The National Treasury has announced the appointment of Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank, Kuben Naidoo, as the CEO of the Prudential Authority under the Financial Sector Regulation Act. The announcement also explains the process for appointing the Commissioner and Deputy Commissioner of the Financial Sector Conduct Authority. The FSB will ‘close down on 31 March … Continue reading

Subcontractor required to provide own insurance held not entitled to project insurance (UK)

By Patrick Bracher on April 5, 2018 Posted in Insurance

Where project-wide cover was taken out for a construction contract for extensions to a school but the roofing contractor was obliged to take out its own insurance, it was held that the roofing contractor who caused a fire and a loss of £8.75 million was not entitled to the benefit of the project-wide insurance. The facts … Continue reading

Assignment of main agreement included past and future addenda

By Patrick Bracher on April 5, 2018 Posted in Drafting tips

The Supreme Court of Appeal rejected what it called a highly technical defence that the cession of all right, title and interest in a master equipment rental agreement only carried with it a cession of the hired equipment addenda at the time of the cession and not future addenda. At the time of the cession … Continue reading

Financial Sector Regulation Act in force from 1 April 2018

By Patrick Bracher on April 3, 2018 Posted in Banking, Insurance

Most sections of the Financial Sector Regulation Act 2017 were brought into force from 1 April 2018. This step was anticipated as the first step towards the commencement of the new Insurance Act on 1 July 2018. By a two-step process the Minister was empowered in a Gazette of 29 March 2018 to make regulations, which were passed … Continue reading

Subrogation summarised (UK)

By Patrick Bracher on March 29, 2018 Posted in Insurance

A neat description of subrogation appears in a recent UK case: ‘The concept of subrogated rights is well known. If a party is insured against an insured risk, and that risk eventuates and causes loss, the insurer will make good to the insured party the loss suffered as a result of the occurrence of the … Continue reading

UK loss adjusters guilty of breach of data protection

By Patrick Bracher on March 29, 2018 Posted in General

A jury in England has found four individuals and the firm providing loss adjusting and claims management services guilty on charges of unlawfully disclosing personal data that was illegally obtained regarding the financial information of a number of individuals including details of their banking transactions. The firm used private investigators who obtained and disclosed the … Continue reading

Short-term Insurance Act 1998: Proposed amendments to the regulations made under section 70 affecting premium collection

By Patrick Bracher on March 26, 2018 Posted in Insurance

New draft premium collection legislation The National Treasury has published draft regulations for comment by 23 April 2018 regarding the collection of premiums by intermediaries (short-term and long-term premiums). The draft regulations require detailed premium collection authorisations by insurers to intermediaries. The proposed regulations also require a separate bank account for premiums received and require payment … Continue reading

Interpreting insurance policies (UK)

By Patrick Bracher on March 26, 2018 Posted in Insurance

A recent UK decision made some interesting remarks regarding the interpretation of an insurance policy which should be no different in South Africa: The wording of the schedule and the policy wording must be considered together without giving greater weight to either. The fact that clearer words could have been used does not mean that … Continue reading

No cover for racing school accident even though exclusion not read by insured (US)

By Patrick Bracher on March 14, 2018 Posted in Insurance

Where a motor policy excluded coverage ‘for any vehicle located inside a racing facility for the purpose of … or participating in any driving school, driver training or skills training’ the court refused the insured an indemnity to cover a crash at a motor racecourse skills-training event. The insured crashed while he was instructing a … Continue reading

When are statutory requirements mandatory or directory?

By Patrick Bracher on March 11, 2018 Posted in General

The failure to comply strictly with formalities and other procedural requirements imposed by a statute does not necessarily lead to invalidity. Even where the formalities required by statute are peremptory it is not every deviation from the literal prescription in the statute that is fatal. The question remains whether, in spite of the defects, the … Continue reading

Court blocks access to blog website? (UK)

By Patrick Bracher on March 6, 2018 Posted in General

In a right-to-be-forgotten case, the anonymous claimant sought an order against Google Inc to block access to a blog website on which an old news story appeared about the applicant’s conviction and sentence years before. The case was dismissed because the claimant, who appeared for himself, had sued the wrong Google company and had not … Continue reading

What is personal lines business?

By Patrick Bracher on February 28, 2018 Posted in Insurance

Despite objections at the comments stage, the Registrar of Short-term Insurance has defined a ‘policy’ for the purposes of the Policyholder Protection Rules as a short-term policy where the policyholder is a natural person or a juristic person with an asset value or annual turnover less than the R2 million threshold. That has ridiculous consequences. It … Continue reading

Reciprocal performance under reciprocal contracts

By Patrick Bracher on February 26, 2018 Posted in Drafting tips

The principle of reciprocity in contracts recognises the fact that in many contracts the common intention of the parties, expressed or unexpressed, is that there should be an exchange of performances. There is a presumption that interdependent promises are reciprocal unless there is evidence to the contrary. The common intention is that neither of the … Continue reading

Strict compliance with policy cancellation provisions is necessary

By Patrick Bracher on February 19, 2018 Posted in Insurance

Two 2017 US cases illustrate the importance of a notice cancelling a policy complying strictly with the requirements of the policy and the law. In Las Vegas Inc v Oregon Mutual Insurance Co, the notice of cancellation became effective on a stated future date if the policyholder did not pay the premium by a required … Continue reading

Chinese court gets robot assistant

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on February 19, 2018 Posted in General

China’s Supreme People’s Court has employed Faxin, a legal-services robot, which assists judges in sifting through reports and identifying laws relevant to cases. Faxin is an artificial intelligence (AI) platform aimed at transforming China’s overburdened legal system. Faxin is not the only such product currently being used in China. FaXiaoTao, a chat bot, matches clients … Continue reading

AI goes to law school (China)

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on February 18, 2018 Posted in General

Concerned with the influence of technology in practicing law, Peking University Law School is looking to bring artificial intelligence (AI) into curriculums by establishing a new AI research centre. Peking University Law School is partnering with a cloud-based analytical tool Gridsum to launch the research centre which will focus on the possibilities and opportunities of … Continue reading

Ontario AI legal challenge showcases latest AI legal developments

By Adriaan Louw and Patrick Bracher on February 13, 2018 Posted in General

The Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General and the Legal Innovation Zone launched an artificial intelligence (AI) legal challenge to encourage law firms to use technology companies that apply AI to legal applications. The six finalists each provide a unique approach using AI to solve legal problems in one way or another. Their work also … Continue reading