Our International Travel Claims Expertise
Casualty Practice International & Travel Claims
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Contents
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A unique perspective on International & Travel claims
Our global footprint
Our Employers & Public Liability Expertise
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Our Motor Expertise
Our Fraud Expertise
Our Hotel/Tour Operator Expertise
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Our Wider Offering
Added Value Offering
Work Structure
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34. International & Travel Team our Senior Contacts
Industry Influence
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In 2022, the global tourism industry generated $9.6 trillion in revenue
A unique perspective on International & Travel claims
Clyde & Co is the world’s pre-eminent insurance law firm, providing the highest quality advisory and dispute resolution services to insurers and their clients operating in both established and emerging markets.
With over 2,000 legal professionals operating from more than 60 offices and associated offices on six continents, we have created a unique offering to insurers and corporates that encompasses a technically strong, consistent claims handling function, led from the UK and delivered through our office network around the globe. Our global coverage ensures we can operate to clients’ global SLA’s, wherever claims occur, ensuring a consistency in delivery, best possible claims outcomes, and lowest possible overall indemnity spend. The market in international and travel claims has been expanding rapidly in recent years and following the outcome of Brexit, the legal landscape is further complicated in international claims and requires specialist knowledge to navigate. There is likely to remain significant claims being made by UK nationals in foreign jurisdictions. As such, we are focusing our efforts even more intently on providing specialist solutions to our clients in this area. This niche specialism sits alongside our existing expertise across the Casualty claims space to include EL/PL, motor, fraud, disease, costs property and product liability. We already act for numerous insurers and travel/ tourism sector corporates right across Europe and cover the full gamut of injury claims from low value/ high volume, right through to claims of the utmost value, severity and sensitivity. Our team of sector specialists are experts in jurisdiction and conflict of laws disputes, and can provide clear and actionable advice in these areas.
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They bring so much in terms of efficiency and value to the client. They also offer a world class service.
Our Global footprint
Chambers & Partners Europe, UK-wide
UK & ROI
We have over 60 offices on six continents, ensuring we can provide a global service to our clients, as and when required. In addition to our 15 offices across the UK and Ireland, we have our own offices in key European territories such France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands and Spain, as well as further afield in USA, Canada, Australia, MEA and APAC. These Clyde & Co offices are further supplemented by a network of affiliated or “best friends” relationships in all other major European jurisdictions.
Europe
Global
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Our Employers & Public Liability Expertise
We act for the broadest range of clients in this market, including global, UK and specialist insurers, Lloyd’s and London Market underwriters, brokers, FTSE-100, FTSE- 250, and multinational corporations and many public sector organisations including local authorities and blue light.
Our expertise across injury types is further enhanced with dedicated subject matter groups in areas critical to the development and understanding of large loss claims; brain injury, spinal injury, amputation, chronic pain as well as issues relevant to claims and the wider market; care provision, deputyship, and actuarial influence. Our cross-border capability and long- standing experience in these most significant claims have allowed us to compile various databases addressing, for example, life expectancy, vulnerable claimants, wider injury modeling, foreign law valuing tools’ and wider injury modelling. Our Team provide claims management and resolution advice to clients which include local government authorities, businesses and major insurers, handling claims in relation to third party public liability claims, including occupier’s liability, trespass, contractors’ liability and public works
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects overall traveler numbers to reach 4.0 billion in 2024 exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels (103% of the 2019 total)
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Case Study - EL/PL Claim Spain
Background
The Claimant suffered a complete quadriplegia injury after using a slide at a waterpark in Spain. He claimed that the slide was unsafe and incompatible with regulations and that he had not been given proper instruction on how to use the slide safely by the lifeguards at the waterpark. The Claimant was in his early twenties at the time of the accident and so his claim had an initial reserve in excess of £10 million. We were retained by the insurer and the waterpark who had a limited indemnity.
Outcome
Liability was disputed and a split trial was ordered.
Working between our Manchester and Madrid offices, we were able to front-load the case with early evidence collection and site visits including crucial testimony from the lifeguards on site. We instructed experts in the fields of Accident Reconstruction, Aquatic Safety, Spinal Injuries and Spanish Law. We built a very strong defence although our Aquatic Safety expert indicated that there were some breaches of safety standards, the main one being that the slide had been built at too steep a gradient for the water depth of the reception pool. We argued that the breaches were not necessarily causative of the Claimant’s accident and a full defence was unlikely. Following a JSM we maintained our very strong defence to obtain a commercial settlement. This resulted in a settlement that represented an 85% saving against the initial damages reserve. Significantly this result enabled the to park to survive as uninsured losses of the full value of the claim would have put the business in peril. Throughout the claim we were able to advise on strategies to minimise reputational damage and to manage adverse press. This included the negotiation of a confidentiality clause within the settlement agreement. This was extremely important as the English tabloids had taken a particular interest in this case. The overall result was possible because of the coordinated work between our offices in the UK and Spain as well as having the ability to work closely with the insured in an overseas location.
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Just a few words to express my thanks and congratulations for your extraordinary handling of this complex claim. Your extraordinary management, has solved the file, in amounts that sincerely in my 30 years of experience in insurance, I would not have dreamed that it could go so well, and it is your merit and I want to emphasize it. THANK YOU. We are very grateful for this brilliant performance. I am moved to write these words, because it is so easy to do what is easy, that sometimes we lose perspective.
Feedback from Major Insurer COO & Director of Client Services Spain
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Our Motor Expertise
Using the latest MI and business intelligence
We are able to use our position as leaders in motor claims to work with the motor and wider insurance market in developing strategies to reduce claims, indemnity spend and to support our clients in achieving their own objectives. Insurers, underwriters and large commercial fleet operators rely on us for our expertise and our early and robust strategies aligned with their claims philosophies. Our full package of motor legal advice and support extends beyond defendant claims services and covers road transport, regulatory advice, policy coverage, counter-fraud investigations, recovery of insured and uninsured losses and the defence of road traffic accident (RTA) prosecutions. Our process also has the benefit of minimising indemnity spend and ensuring consistency in approach. Foreign RTA’s can be dealt with in line with existing domestic insurer strategy, in terms of claims handling and reserving. We also have extensive experience of handling domestic and international claims under 4th EU Directive and Green Card Regulations, and our team has experience of handling claims throughout Europe and working closely with handling agents. In addition, the application of client SLA’s, reserving philosophies and familiarity of reporting is present.
technology to provide analysis and identify new market trends.
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Clyde and Co LLP ‘would be our first choice for multi- jurisdictional work’.
Chambers & Partners Europe, UK
Case Study - Motor Claim, Germany
Background
Outcome
We acted for a German insurer in a road traffic accident which occurred in Germany.
The case was resolved at a joint settlement meeting for under £1.5m.
The Claimant was knocked from her motorcycle and suffered a brain injury and serious orthopaedic injury to her lower limb. Liability was resolved 60/40 in the Claimant’s favour in proceedings brought in the German courts. We were instructed in relation to the quantum only proceedings brought by the Claimant in England but with German law applying to quantification of damages. The Claimant alleged significant cognitive and mobility difficulties. She brought a claim in excess of £6.5m including an extensive care regime, aids provision and housing adaptions.
A key driver to reduction of the claim was obtaining the German ambulance record to demonstrate the correct initial recordings on severity of the brain injury. This meant our medical experts were able to conclude that the brain injury was mild and cognitive deficit was not permanent and would improve with treatment. By utilising our offices in Germany it was easy to obtain evidence on the ground such as ambulance records. Furthermore, we had invested in rehabilitation funding for the Claimant, and she commented via her solicitors at this had really helped her ‘turn a corner’, which was a real positive for co-operative settlement negotiations.
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Our Fraud Expertise
Case Study - Fraud, Spain
Background
Our expertise covers a broad range of insurance fraud, including animal, casualty, motor and fleet, travel, household and property and commercial.
From identification and investigation, through to civil and criminal prosecution, our fraud risk management service provides a tailored approach to managing fraud exposure, helping to protect brand, maintain policyholder relationships and minimise costs. We hold extensive cross-border data on fraud and our Fraud Sentry intelligence system screens claims to identify instances of fraud early in the process. Our dedicated, in-house fraud team work in conjunction with our EL/PL and Motor fee earning teams, employing a range of tools to assist in the identification and handling of potentially fraudulent claims. An example of this is Genesis, our own weighted fraud detection tool, designed for specific types of claim. We have now developed a version of Genesis to assist in the identification of potentially fraudulent holiday sickness claims. As well as identifying the risk of fraud, Genesis also identifies the risk of exaggerated claims, making it quite unique in the EL/PL claims space. Our sophisticated Opponent Based Strategy (OBS) has been running for a number of years, and assists us in controlling indemnity spend, through conducting detailed analysis of individual claimant firms and their behaviour. We are now expanding the scope of our OBS to include holiday sickness claims.
We represented a Spanish insurer of a hotel in Barcelona. The Claimant alleged that during her stay whilst using the hotel’s disabled platform lift it was forcefully lowered into her face, causing her to suffer a fractured nose, facial injuries and significant neurological injuries. Our investigations in UK and Spain showed that there was no conclusive and/ or contemporaneous evidence that this accident happened as described.
Outcome
We successfully defended this claim to trial, where the claim was dismissed. The defence we mounted was that no such accident occurred at all; we obtained expert evidence to prove that the claimant’s version of events was physically impossible, and we had substantial evidence to show that the claimant, who had severe long- standing mental disabilities, had previously fabricated events to correspond to injuries. We placed the claimant and her solicitors on notice, of our intentions to seek a finding of fundamental dishonesty. Shortly before trial, the Claimant’s solicitor submitted evidence to show that the claimant no longer had the necessary capacity to conduct litigation. We put our case to the claimant’s daughter in cross examination and her evidence was found lacking, and the entire claim was dismissed with an order for the claimant to pay our costs, and a separate provision for us to issue an application seeking an order for the claimant’s solicitor to show cause as to why they should not pay our entire wasted costs of bringing the claim.
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Stands out as market leading when it comes to fraud investigation
Legal 500, 2023
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The team is commended for its work on behalf of foreign clients. “We’ve used the Madrid office to co-ordinate with different offices worldwide and it’s been very good”, remarks one interviewee
Our Hotel/Tour Operator Expertise
Chambers & Partners Europe
Clyde and Co act for a number of prominent corporates within the Hotel and Tour industry, including several leading Tour Operators and Hotel Groups.
Our team has extensive experience in handling Package Travel Regulation Claims. We have a proven track record of success in helping Tour Operators to assess and process significant volumes of claims.
We offer a comprehensive range of services, including:
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Disaster management advice H&S training packages
Claims management Risk assessment Crisis communication
Legal support
We understand the importance of providing a quick and efficient service to our clients. We have a dedicated team of experienced professionals who are committed to providing our clients with the best possible service.
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Case Study - Hotel/Tour Operator Claims, Dominican Republic
Background
The Claimant suffered alleged gastroenteritis whilst at the insured’s hotel in the Dominican Republic. As a result of his initial gastric symptoms he was hospitalised, which led to him suffering severe brain damage and organ failure. He lacked mental capacity and required 24/7 care. A damages reserve was held at over £10m. This was a Package Travel Regulations Claim. Outcome Through working closely with the hotel and the tour operator and obtaining significant evidence on the ground, we were able to build a substantive denial to the allegations in the Claimant’s claim that his illness was caused by the food and drink supplied by the hotel not being of satisfactory quality. Following the collapse of the Tour Operator, the Claimant brought a claim directly against the hotel and their insurers. With our network of foreign lawyers and expertise in jurisdiction we showed the difficulties in respect of jurisdiction, limitation and indemnity, if he were to attempt to bring the claim against the hotel or the insures directly. This approach proved successful as the claim was compromised on a commercial basis with a 99% saving on reserve. By working closely with the hotel, tour operator, and insurers we were able to front-load our evidence to present the significant risks to the Claimant in pursuing his claim. Ultimately, this led to a substantial saving for the client.
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Our Wider Offering
Our core offering is supplemented by a broader set of services, enabling us to deliver
These include:
Intelligence We utilise the services of a team of dedicated intelligence analysts conducting claimant profiling and witness tracing services supplementing our investigation work. Investigators Our 5 investigators cover the whole of Great Britain and have a combined >100 years in insurance and legal practice. We have developed close links with international experts to investigate any incident around the world. Counsel Our in house counsel specialise in procedural advocacy, drafting and advice across a wide range of personal injury litigation including catastrophic injury work. Forensic Accountants Our 4 strong team engage in quantum investigations on all type of insurance class matters for insurers in a global array of territories. Costs We have 50+ lawyers who litigate some of the largest and most technically complex legal cost claims and are specialist in cross border works.
the best possible results to clients.
£
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Added Value Offering
Training •
Wide menu of training on topics relevant to you in this specialist area
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Choose from a menu of over 100 separate training modules
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Bespoke training packages to cover issues such as Health & Safety
Legal Updates & Advice •
Access to legal updates from our UK and global teams on developments relevant to you and your members
Case Surgeries & Collaboration • Informal advice sessions at your offices
Clyde & Co’s Insights & Portal Access • Access to our resource library of cases, reports, guides and commentary on key legal and market issues across the insurance industry
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Extranet/portal technology including MI reporting
Ad-hoc ‘Horizon Scanning’ Projects • Round table discussions on topical issues
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Thought leadership contribution
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Brexit working group
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Product development support e.g. policy wording drafting
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Craig Evans - Rising Star 2022 & 2021
Legal 500
Work Structure
Industry Influence
Whilst all of our offices and ‘Best Friend’ firms are capable of dealing with the international
How it works... •
Evidence of our expertise lies in our influence within the industry, and representation on key industry bodies that focus on international travel issues:
Instructions are sent to Clyde & Co UK office in Birmingham and Manchester Day to day handling of the claim undertaken by Clyde & Co UK team with support where required from either a Clyde & Co European office or an affiliate firm – Affiliate firms, where used, instructed as Agents – Clyde & Co UK responsible for advising and updating client Clyde & Co UK are responsible for the all aspects of MI, Quality Assurance etc Minimising indemnity spend - local legal advice and representation is inherently more expensive than using our team in Manchester at enhanced panel rates – Consistency in approach – we reflect your claims handling philosophy and approach in our own reserving and handling Whether working with a Clyde & Co or affiliated office, we adhere rigorously to your global SLA, to ensure consistency of quality and service delivery
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Members of the FOIL EU Sector Focus Team – a team of 4 Defendant Lawyers who specialise in Cross Border claims. As part of the group, we consider Defendant issues in European Claims from an Insurer’s perspective. Our governmental committees and to the ABI. Issues we have covered in the last 2 years include Vnuk and Motor Insurance Directives, Brexit and Gastric Holiday Claims. We also hold seminars and roundtable events with European Lawyers thoughts are channelled through FOIL to relevant We have recently contributed to FOIL Consultation responses on CMC regulation, LASPO post implementation review and fixed costs, all of which considered the topic of holiday illness claims. In addition, we have contributed to FOIL’s position on the post Brexit legal framework We are members of PEOPIL (Pan European Organisation of Personal Injury Lawyers). This gives us access to a database of lawyers and other relevant experts right across Europe
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claims, to provide our clients with a
seamless service, we coordinate and lead the claims from our UK offices, irrespective of the jurisdiction of the accident.
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Key benefits for you... •
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Single billing
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Joined-up case management systems
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Clients have access to whole team, thus ensuring consistency of advice and no duplication of work as we have full control of spend and costs estimate
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The lawyers at Clyde & Co put an enormous amount of effort into the work that they do but they never seem to lose focus on the main issue; getting the best result for the client
Client quote – Legal 500
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Craig Evans has been Ranked Lawyer ‘One to watch’ – 2022 & 2021 in Chambers & Partners
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International & Travel Team our Senior Contacts
Craig Evans Partner, Manchester +44 (0)161 240 2609 craig.evans@clydeco.com
David Thompson Legal Director, Birmingham +44 (0)121 234 6133 david.thompson@clydeco.com David Thompson is a Legal Director focusing on catastrophic injury and cross border litigation. He is well- known in this field. His caseload typically includes matters to do with serious brain injury, spinal cord damage, amputation, chronic pain and fatalities. He leads a team in our Birmingham office. In respect of jurisdiction and conflict of laws disputes, David’s expertise has led him to advise clients under Rome II, Brussels I (recast), Lugano and common law. In such disputes, David is equipped to deal with complex issues involving foreign lawyers while providing expert evidence to the court. He and his team act for a range of clients including a major global composite insurer for its UK and European offices, the MIB and other national guarantee funds, and a global corporate in the aviation sector.
Andrew Tolmie Partner, Edinburgh +44 (0)131 525 8658 andrew.tolmie@clydeco.com
Craig has since 2011 solely specialised in catastrophic and large loss international liability claims with a focus on personal injury and contractual recovery. He is recognised as a leader in the field of cross-border claims and regularly presents at industry events. He is part of the FOIL European Sector Focus Team and member of PEOPIL. Craig’s clients include European and global insurers, multinationals and global hotel chains. He is retained to advise on all aspects of jurisdiction and choice of law. His international case load typically contains high value matters with complex issues he is described as ‘a huge enthusiast for cross-border personal injury work with a keen feel for the issues. A superb defendant lawyer’ Legal 500. Notable claims include defending severe brain injury claims as a result of falls and infectious causes, successfully defended multiple tetraplegic & paraplegic spinal injury claims, advised on fatalities across the global and provided claims handling and disaster management assistance following mass outbreak claims. Craig regularly lobbies in relation to key issues in the area and has an array of contacts across the globe to assist in all issues.
Andrew acts for insurer clients representing their Scottish interests across business lines. The majority of his practice is in high value, catastrophic and fatal personal injury cases including employer’s liability, public liability and road traffic accidents. Andrew also represents insurers in high value property and product liability disputes. Through insurers, Andrew has represented clients in the criminal courts in Health & Safety and road traffic prosecutions including fatalities. Andrew is instructed on behalf of Spanish based insurers and hoteliers in cases brought by Scottish pursuers following accidents abroad.
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Greg MacDougall Partner, Edinburgh +44 (0)131 220 9216 greg.macdougall@clydeco.com Greg specialises in insurance litigation and has experience of a wide range of insurance litigation actions, both in the Court of Session and the Sheriff Court. He is a specialist in motor claims, especially in claims involving serious personal injury claims and complex credit hire or fraud issues. He deals with the civil claims arising from the Glasgow Bin Lorry Tragedy and recently appeared as Junior Council in one of these claims where a spectator of the events sought to be categorised as a secondary victim. Greg is the head of the Scottish Travel and Holiday Claims Team and has an expertise in handling complex holiday sickness and food poisoning claims and accidents abroad. Such complexities have included the investigation of the links between salmonella and ulcerative colitis. He has also dealt with aviation claims and claims on behalf of baggage handlers, ground crew and airlines including claims involving the Montreal Convention.
Cormac Fitzpatrick Partner, Ireland +44 (0)28 9595 2501 cormac.fitzpatrick@clydeco.com Cormac heads the catastrophic injury and large loss services on offer within Northern Ireland. A partner at our Belfast and Derry branch, Cormac has specialised in insurance referred litigation and associated work since 1990. His expertise has led him to act on many cases covering a broad range of areas. These include road traffic accidents, employers’ liability and public liability, professional negligence, fire damage recovery, fraud, subsidence, assault, trespass to the person, litigation involving complex clinical issues, catastrophic injury litigation and substantial damages recovery actions. Cormac advises insurance clients on complex policy indemnity issues, first-party fraud (property and motor) as well as third party fraud. He also advises on health and safety legislation/investigations.
Chris Murray Partner, Manchester +44 (0)161 240 2659 chris.murray@clydeco.com
Matthew Ford Partner, London +44 (0)20 7865 3394 matthew.ford@clydeco.com
Emily List Partner, London +44 (0)20 7865 3328 emily.list@clydeco.com
Chris is a partner with 30 years’ experience handling injury claims and coverage issues for insurers across employers, public, product and motor litigation in multiple jurisdictions. He is regularly instructed to deal with very high value claims litigated in the US; some exceeding $20 million. He has defended claims of the utmost severity in a wide variety of countries such as Morocco, France and Turkey. He deals with claims, Inquiries and Inquests arising from deaths abroad as he is an Assistant Coroner for South Manchester and West London. His connections extend throughout the European legal community via his role as a Judicial Officer for European Swimming (LEN) and as an appointed arbitrator for the International Court of Arbitration for Sport based in Lausanne
Matthew Ford leads our travel and tour operator team, and travel practice group. He advises corporate and insurer clients on significant loss, complex and sensitive injury claims. Matthew is an active member of Airmic, The British Insurance Brokers’ Association (BIBA) and The Travel and Tourism Lawyers’ Association (TATLA). He regularly contributes to various insurance and industry seminars and publications.
Emily List is a partner in our travel and tour operator liability team at our London office. She acts on behalf of leading tour operators defending claims brought under the Package Travel Regulations (PTR). Emily also advises on complex, large loss employers liability and public liability claims for insurers and corporate clients. She advises major retailers, leisure providers, and international hoteliers on risk management and civil defence strategy. She also delivers regular client training on these topics. Emily’s expertise was recognised in 2021 when she was named a rising star in the Legal 500 list.
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60+ Offices worldwide* 5,000 Total staff 3,200 Legal professionals 2,400 Lawyers 480 Partners
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*includes associated offices Clyde & Co LLP accepts no
responsibility for loss occasioned to any person acting or refraining from acting as a result of material contained in this summary. No part of this summary may be used, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, reading or otherwise without the prior permission of Clyde & Co LLP. © Clyde & Co LLP 2022
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