Practical Law

Episode 60 of the Hearing has been released and is available here. In this episode I talk with Radd Seiger, the spokesperson for the family of Harry Dunn, Co-Founder and Principal of Confluence Crisis Management Services, and an old friend and colleague.

As lawyers we deal with systems of justice on a daily basis. This is true whether we are working as in-house lawyers, criminal barristers or paralegals. However, the connection of our work to justice is often obscured by the detail of our work or sometimes its remoteness. Reviewing a data room for a share acquisition … Continue reading The Hearing: Episode 58 – Ethical leadership in the law and racial justice →

I recently sat down to talk with three experts about COVID-19 and the economic implications of the crisis. In particular, we explored how this relates to lawyers, the legal industry and the implications for our future. You can listen to the recording as part of the new series of The Cross-Examination episodes for The Hearing podcast. Every recession … Continue reading The Hearing: Episode 51 – COVID-19: the economic implications for lawyers and law firms →

COVID-19 has decimated supply chains for goods and labour across the world. It is inevitable that many businesses are now facing the same dilemma: what to do when they have enough resources to fulfill some of their contracts, but not all. What do you do when you have orders for 50 pallets of toilet roll, … Continue reading COVID-19: what do you do when you can fulfill some, but not all, of your business-to-business contracts? →

In-house solicitors will be familiar with the obligations of directors as set out in section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 (especially now there is a statutory requirement to report on it). Many of those same solicitors will be equally familiar with directors (newly appointed or otherwise) who believe that they have a legal obligation … Continue reading Fallacy of the Duty to Maximise Profit →

How is your organisation discussing and describing the current climate situation?  Is it a climate change or a climate crisis?  Are you even discussing it at all?  Over the last year there has been a radical shift in public opinion on climate crisis. Extreme weather events, the rise of the school climate strike movement, Extinction … Continue reading Why your organisation needs a climate crisis committee: using language to effect radical business change →

In the last couple of years in-house lawyers have been flooded with extra work, first from GDPR preparedness and then Brexit. Were it not for these two events it is likely in-house lawyers would already be focusing their minds toward climate change risks. However, despite the ongoing distraction of Brexit, climate change is a fundamental … Continue reading Deloitte launches essential climate change resource centre for professionals →

In the 9 years since the Bribery Act 2010 (the Act) came into force there has been a notable lack of case law. At the time the Act was made law this was the strictest anti-bribery legislation in the world and it is therefore interesting that so few prosecutions or deferred prosecution agreements have resulted … Continue reading The Bribery Act 2010: House of Lords recommends more guidance and greater clarity →

Next, the retailer, released their half year results on 25 September 2018. A full eleven pages of that statement was devoted to their Brexit planning and it makes for fascinating reading. Even if clothing retail is not your sector, Next go into useful detail on what their risks and operational challenges are expected to be, … Continue reading Next prepares for Brexit →

The UK is (still) in a state of uncertainty about the precise impact of Brexit. But that shouldn’t stop in-house legal teams preparing themselves, indeed the more uncertain Brexit looks the more preparation is required.  A resilient and efficient in-house legal team will be a vital asset both for defending businesses against Brexit threats and … Continue reading The Brexit ready in-house team: four steps to take today →

Brexit readiness for businesses has slowed considerably.  A combination of uncertainty and GDPR preparation has pushed it to the back of the agenda for in-house lawyers. But with only seven and a half months to go before the leave date (and a potential no deal scenario) we must find some certainty before we run out … Continue reading Brexit: Finding certainty →

If you are a senior in-house lawyer and want to try something new it is easy to lock yourself into a “Head of Legal or bust” mentality (in the same way that private practice can be fixated on partnership) without looking at the other career options that are on offer. There is a lot more … Continue reading Want to change your career? Options for the senior in-house lawyer →

Doing more with less has been the rallying cry of the in-house world for over ten years. The challenge of increasing regulation and decreasing budgets has never gone away and is now our permanent state. But doing more with less feels impossible when your desk is permanently swamped with work. Firefighting gets in the way … Continue reading Four practical steps to improve effectiveness in your legal team this week →