2020 was an unprecedented year for business; companies have had to mobilise quickly in the face of various converging global and geopolitical events, such as Brexit and Covid-19, reviewing their operations and risk landscape, and the ensuing pressures of navigating the short, medium and long term impacts have been borne by legal teams across all […]
From tech to managing people, general counsel are at the forefront of transformation within their companies. To explore these issues, DWF partner Hilary Ross talked to The Lawyer. Three of the biggest topics for GCs have always been: finding time; what good leadership looks like in-house; and diversity and fairness. In 2020 GCs had to […]
When it comes to suffering a cyber crisis, it is often said to be a matter of when and not if. Therefore, creating and sticking to an action plan for when the situation arises is more important than ever before – and it is best not just left to the privacy specialists. This was the […]
Shoosmiths partner Tony Randle in conversation with The Lawyer editor Catrin Griffiths Catrin Griffiths: The experiences we all had in 2020 aren’t going away. In the first lockdown there was a sense of adrenaline, when we were metaphorically or literally baking sourdough and getting to grips with the novelty of the situation. But going into 2021 […]
In-house lawyers are increasingly considering bringing in operational specialists to help improve efficiencies in legal departments. As legal teams grow in size, and there is more focus on operational efficiency, lawyers are pulled away from their core duties to help with organisational issues, such as managing team budgets and headcount, analysing legal spend, and running […]
Thanks to the pandemic, managing risks within businesses has never been more challenging. In-house teams are shepherding their organisations through the turbulent legal and regulatory landscape, often with constrained time and limited resources. Legal departments have also had to change the way they communicate with their businesses. The remote working environment has implications for identifying […]
In this 60-second interview, Autologyx CEO Edward Wilson talks to The Lawyer about how to avoid getting overwhelmed by the fast pace of legal tech change, about clients currently having to do all the hard work when it comes to implementing solutions and stringing them together, about platforms as 1-stop shops and the next big […]
In our latest 60-second interview, the DMA’s head of legal Asli Yildiz talks to The Lawyer about the evolving role of the GC, the importance of collaborating both internally and externally and not forgetting the lessons learned during the pandemic. What legal/business issues have taken up your time over the last six months? Like most organisations, […]
Our latest 60 second interview features Norton Rose Fulbright’s global and US chair and US Head of employment and labor Shauna Clark. Shauna talks to The Lawyer about the different ways in which the pandemic has impacted clients, about partnering with clients on diversity and inclusion initiatives, and her advice for junior lawyers at the […]
Commercial director at DWF Mindcrest Craig Chaplin talks to The Lawyer about blending New Law (ALSP) and Old Law (Traditional Law Firms) together and getting that recipe right.
James Touzel, head of TLT’s FutureLaw team and digital sector, talks to The Lawyer about the progress of digital transformation across the legal profession, the key skills that make for success, and the need for dogged determination.
In this latest advice video, Lisa Lee Lewis, head of advisory in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Risk Consulting practice, explores how the pandemic has prompted a rethink on operational resilience. She highlights key areas of risk and how institutions can strengthen their operational resilience frameworks as part of their 2021 business plans and beyond. The advice […]
Countrywide’s Tasha Dhami on being yourself, being curious and being prepared for an interview.
“Show your personality, show some emphathy and listen” – Bhavisha Mistry’s advice for in-house lawyers.
LexisNexis’s Mark Smith on the importance of focus: the “what”, the “how” and the “why”.
The “3 pieces of advice” series is a collection of brief, 5-minute slots created as a platform for legal professionals to share work and life advice with their peers. In this latest video, Consilio senior director James Morrey Jones looks back over the last 6 months and reflects on Consilio’s move to remote working: “In […]
This free to watch webinar on the role of empathy, confidence and assertiveness in the workplace, and at gender biases in the legal industry was part of the virtual conference Managing Risk and Litigation that took place on the 18-19 November. Complete the fields below to access the 40-minute recording of this discussion. The webinar features 4 inspirational women working in litigation and the lessons they have to share with the rest of the industry, with the discussion moderated by The Lawyer editor Catrin Griffiths. Empathy, confidence and assertiveness should not just be the burden of women. Nevertheless, there are particular traits that seem to be associated with gender and an expectation that all women must have the impostor syndrome. In fact, the panel stresses how the idea that all women “are going around feeling like they’re incapable of doing their job effectively” can be quite damaging. Other interesting concepts discussed in this webinar include the notion of “guarding your voice” and how it’s all about choice: you are the one deciding when to speak, but also when to be silent. Often for those with an impostor syndrome, the issue is about making the choice not to speak when they know they should speak. “So don’t hold back, because you will have something important to say, something highly relevant that needs to be factored into the decision making”. And if people don’t really want to listen to your advice, it’s because it might be difficult advice to take on board, and not a reflection on you as an individual. Speakers: Carol Paton, Head of Litigation & Investigations, NatWest Claire Darwin, Matrix Chambers Chinwe Odigboegwu, Senior Commercial Legal Manager & Secretary, Diversity and Inclusion Board, Guinness Nigeria Charlotte Digby, Chief Counsel – Litigation and dispute resolution, Rolls-Royce Moderator: Catrin Griffiths, Editor, The Lawyer
This free to watch webinar on how the legal industry has embraced the “tech revolution” of 2020 and the challenges of virtual hearings was part of the virtual conference Managing Risk and Litigation that took place on the 18-19 November. Complete the fields below to access the 40-minute recording of this discussion. Virtual court hearings and trials are concepts that at the start of 2020 seemed futuristic to most of us. But the last 9 months have shown us that the technology is there, and the issue is mostly with culture and our willingness to embrace change. So, what are the permanent long-term changes we can expect from this year’s tech revolution? Can technology truly make things more efficient? Watching a screen all day is quite different from being in the courtroom. It is almost impossible to pick up the nuances, and there are genuine concerns when it comes to witnesses not being in the same room, despite the fact that it has been commonplace in English trials for a while now for certain witnesses to give their evidence by video. The conclusion is that we should expect a more institutionalised change around the optimal way of running a trial, now that we’ve seen what can be achieved through the use of technology. Watch the full webinar for further thoughts and predictions from Sir Nigel Teare, 10 Fleet Street and Dorothy Cory-Wright, Partner at Dechert.
This free to watch webinar on how regulators and organisations are looking at culture, the connection to litigation risk, and how companies are managing this was part of the virtual conference Managing Risk and Litigation that took place on the 18-19 November. Complete the fields below to access the 25-minute recording of this discussion. Businesses are having to operate in a global environment of heightened regulatory accountability and scrutiny, with regulators increasingly focusing on cultural change and on issues that only a few years ago would not have been seen as a regulatory priority area. Despite the fact that most businesses operate in an environment of rules and principles, this hasn’t delivered better outcomes so perhaps dealing with the root cause of bad behaviour, culture and conduct, is the way forward. The temptation for organizations is to only look at how to fix the problems, instead of what is actually causing them. This session aims to shed some light on how regulators and organisations are looking at culture, the connection to litigation risk, and how companies are managing this. The role of regulation in corporate culture: can a rulebook dictate culture? Why do regulators care about culture and can they influence this through their policies? Is the regulatory focus on culture leading to a reluctance to take responsibility? Speakers: Tepo Din, EMEA Head of Litigation, Enforcement and Investigations, BNY Mellon Christine Moran, Global Lead for Conduct Risk, State Street David Abbotts, Former Global Head of Regulatory Compliance, Legal, Conduct and Culture Audit, HSBC
This free to watch webinar on how businesses can best respond to external and internal pressures and how to successfully manage reputational risk was part of the virtual conference: Managing Risk and Litigation that took place on the 18-19 November. Please complete the fields below to access the 30-minute recording of this discussion. In today’s increasingly politicised world, companies often find themselves forced to “take a side” and join the political discourse. This session, therefore, touches on some of the non-COVID related big issues for 2020, such as the killing of George Floyd, the BLM movement worldwide, the impact of the US elections and some of the campaigns led by people like Marcus Rashford; huge societal issues that very difficult for current global organizations not to engage with. As a result, a lot of companies that are traditionally apolitical have found themselves getting involved in such issues, either out of choice or because they were compelled to as a result of the pressure received from their employees, shareholders or other stakeholders. Taking a stance is not enough though – it is important for companies to do so in a way that’s authentic while being aware of the potential backlash and how to respond to it. As an international business operating in multiple jurisdictions, sometimes with opposing political agendas, how do you define and uphold your company values when something that is right in one country might not be in another? Can companies remain apolitical, when their employees are increasingly political, expecting and demanding a reaction? Speakers: Tarun Tawakley, Head of Employment Law and Commercial Litigation, Deliveroo Stuart Leach, Head of Litigation and Disputes, Montfort Communications John Zerafa, Founder, Clear Thought Communications Sarah Emerson, Partner, Dispute Resolution, Teacher Stern
This free to watch webinar was part of the virtual conference In-house Counsel as Business Partner in association with EY that took place on the 21st – 23rd of October. Complete the form below to access the 40-minute recording of this discussion. Given the swift and somewhat seamless move from the office to working from home and a realisation that teams can get offshore commoditised work (and the fact that no one likes the morning commute), should we now be re-evaluating the necessity for office space? This session explores the new ways of working and what this means for the office of the future, current employees and new recruits. The speaker panel features Conga digital transformation officer Aishling Finnegan, Uber legal director Kandarp Thakar, Countrywide general counsel and company secretary Gareth Williams and is led by Cory Riverside Energy general counsel and company secretary Tess Bridgman.
This free to watch webinar was part of the virtual conference In-house Counsel as Business Partner in association with EY that took place on the 21st – 23rd of October. Complete the form below to access the 25-minute recording of this discussion. In this session, Ian Waterworth, head of programme and change – legal COO and executive director at Standard Chartered Bank offers an uncensored and personal view on a project he has worked on. He reflects on the things that went well, the things that didn’t go so well and how nothing ever goes exactly to plan. Some of his top tips includes the need to plan properly to avoid risks, be realistic about your goals, maintain a contingency and management reserve for those known unknowns and enjoy the rewards when you get to the end, the journey is worth it!
Join this free to attend virtual roundtable for a discussion around what the COVID-19 aftermath might look like.
Join this free to attend virtual roundtable for a discussion on demonstrating the value of the legal team through the use of KPIs.
Join this free to attend virtual roundtable for the latest dispute resolution strategies in the current climate and lessons learned from the first virtual trial in the commercial court.
Join this free to attend virtual roundtable on successfully navigating the evolving requirements of individual accountability.
Join this free to attend virtual roundtable and share your thoughts on how to tackle the challenge of diversity in law and how to create the necessary change within your organisation.
Join this free to attend virtual roundtable for a discussion around the risks and compliance challenges arising from our change in working practices.
The questions to ask yourself when weighing up which strategic aims are best for your legal department, and how to effectively plan the optimisation of a legal function.
We appear to have reached a global consensus that it is no longer a question of if we should regulate Big Tech but how we regulate, with a flurry of legislative proposals in Europe and legal actions in the US jostling for attention in the final weeks of 2020.
Class actions are an established feature of litigation in the United States and are viewed by many corporates across the Atlantic as an inevitable cost of doing business. The same cannot be said for Europe, where collective proceedings and class actions have historically been rare. But there are signs that class actions are on the rise in Europe, prompted by a number of recent changes to procedural law intended to enable group proceedings.
Partner Daniel Wilmot, Senior Associate Veronica Connolly, and Associate James Coen set out the issues that GCs should think about when considering whether to proceed with a virtual arbitration hearing.
By Keith Wojcieszek, Nicole Sette Cyber threat actors are actively scanning for and finding exposed usernames, passwords and other online credentials in code repositories. Kroll identified two such incidents via its initial intake process for cyber forensics investigations in October 2019. In both cases, cyber threat actors obtained Amazon Web Services (AWS) login credentials and […]
By Tom Everett Heath, Tadashi Kageyama, Recaredo Romero, Richard M. Plansky, Steven Bock, Jason N. Smolanoff, Timothy V. Horner, Monique Melis Mitigating business risk has always relied on knowledge of markets and counterparties, and of the forces that could disrupt a company’s agreements and assumptions. In the pre-digital, pre-global age, gaining such knowledge was made […]
Through its cyber intake process, Kroll identified 23 ransomware incidents during the month of July 2019 that affected organizations across sectors, including service, retail and education.
In the past year, we’ve seen a significant uptick in clients asking to use TAR, largely because of the advent of Practice Direction 51U, the Disclosure Pilot for the Business and Property Courts, as of 1 January 2019.
DWF have produced a report exploring the learnings from the first two topics of the Brave New Law series, covering ‘Jobs to Be Done’ theory and ‘Leading in Extremity’.
During conversations with multiple clients, one of the common themes emerging is the question “How can we articulate the value we are bringing to the business?” There is no silver bullet however, as the definition of value will differ from organisation to organisation.
Find out which phase of digital maturity your legal department is in and where it is headed, and how your organisation is expected to fare in the evolving digital landscape.
In this whitepaper, you’ll learn why legal departments should create a digital strategy, the components of a digital strategy and then the steps for creating a digital strategy specifically for the legal department.