Welcome to our August 2025 edition of Legal News.
Here is a selection of our recent publications.
- M&A Half-Year Review 2025
William Fry’s report on M&A activity during the first six months notes an increase in deal volume despite a volatile geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop. - Navigating AI, NIS2, DORA, DSA, DMA and the rest of the EU’s Tech Regulations
Europe’s Digital Soup: Across the EU, a suite of new digital regulations is rapidly reshaping how organisations build, deploy, and scale technology. - High Court Applies Kirwan v Connors Reformulated Test in Delay Cases
In two judgments of particular interest for litigants and practitioners managing claims where no steps have been taken in several years, the High Court applied the reformulated principles on delay established in the SC decision in Kirwan v Connors. - Judicial Review of Planning Decision on Climate Grounds Successfully Defended
William Fry LLP was pleased to act in the successful defence of a judicial review challenge to the grant of planning permission for a new Tesco store, drive-thru café, and petrol station in Cavan town. - Artificial Intelligence and Copyright: Significant U.S. Judgment
The decision in Bartz v Anthropic PBC, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (Court), may be the most significant U.S. ruling yet on whether artificial intelligence developers can lawfully use copyright-protected works to train their models. - EU Publishes Final Draft of General-Purpose AI Code of Practice
The European Commission has settled its Code of Practice for General-Purpose AI Models. This final text, covering transparency, safety and security and copyright, turns what was once positioned as a voluntary framework into something far closer to a baseline for proving compliance under the EU AI Act. - Is Your Online Platform Ready? Deep Dive on new Child Online Safety Guidelines
On 14 July 2025, the European Commission released its first guidelines under the Digital Services Act. These guidelines will apply to all online platforms accessible to minors, setting a new benchmark for child safety online. This article highlights the key measures and recommendations of the guidelines for all online platforms. - CRU Opens Consultation on Funding for ESB and EirGrid under PR6
Following the publication of its PR6 Strategy Paper in April 2024 and engagement with key stakeholders, the CRU has now released a draft determination proposal. The CRU is inviting stakeholder submissions on the PR6 Draft Determination until 11 September 2025. - EU Securitisation Market Reforms
The European Commission has proposed reforms to the EU securitisation framework to address specific impediments to bond issuance and (non-bank) investment.
