Aon Risk EMEA chief counsel Richard Ferris kicked off The Lawyer’s Managing Risk and Mitigating Litigation event by telling delegates in-house counsel are ”still learning risks the hard way”, because not enough money or time is dedicated to understanding and dealing with corporate risk.

The event, which gathered over 100 in-house litigators and counsel in London, focused on best practice, the main trends impacting in-house litigation teams, and the use of technology and external counsel through panel sessions, roundtables and presentations.

Alongside Ferris, The Lawyer’s speaker lineup included Nokia head of litigation Richard Vary, EE general counsel and company secretary James Blendis, Standard Life head of conduct and compliance Peter Tyson, and Serious Fraud Office head of bribery and corruption Ben Morgan.

The challenging regulatory environment, the impact of internationalisation, the emergence of new litigation hotspots and the impact of cyber risk in businesses were the main points of Ferris’ presentation.

Singpore has developed into an arbitration hub thanks to the launch of the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, with international companies opting to take disputes to courts there rather than those in London. This trend is set to continue, Ferris said, and the weight of courts in the Middle East and Asia Pacific has to be factored in by in-house counsel in future.

“There’s nothing a regulator likes more than low-hanging fruit. You can’t present yourself as that,” Ferris added. ”If we can track the risks we make today, we can address those risks in the future more proactively.”