REUTERS | Luke MacGregor
August 7, 2018

Brexit: Finding certainty

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 of time to make decisions and enact contingency plans.

In our recent survey with Acritas, Attitudes to Brexit – In House Lawyer Perspectives Across Europe, we found that three quarters of European in-house lawyers are spending less than 10% of their time preparing for Brexit, with some spending none at all. A huge 63% of respondents are expecting Brexit will be business as usual for them with no increase in legal work. But in the UK we cannot assume it will be business as usual and we do not have the luxury of waiting for certainty on the legal framework of Brexit.

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REUTERS | Gloabl Creative Services (no copyright)
August 2, 2018

Towards robot governance? A short tour of current conversations on artificial intelligence

The development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) continues its inexorable momentum. Investment in AI is skyrocketing. However, with a few exceptions, how AI relates to the work of in-house lawyers on a day to day basis remains somewhat distant and confusing. This post aims simply to provide some food for thought on future governance in this area which can seem at once extremely exciting and utterly overwhelming. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Corbis
July 31, 2018

Taxation of termination payments: has the dust settled on the treatment of PILONs?

The new rules for the tax and class 1 NICs treatment of termination payments took effect from 6 April 2018. Nearly four months on and, even with the benefit of HMRC guidance, it is fair to say the application of the new rules remains uncertain in many, relatively common, termination scenarios. This blog post is intended to highlight some of the issues causing problems in practice. Continue reading →

REUTERS | Mike Blake
July 26, 2018

What’s on the agenda for in-house lawyers in August 2018?

This month, in-house lawyers will be continuing to digest the new version of the UK Corporate Governance Code, which was published in July, together with the Financial Reporting Council’s (FRC) revised version of its Guidance on Board Effectiveness.

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REUTERS | Phil Noble
July 24, 2018

Practical tips for wellbeing at work

Life in the law can be tough. At LawCare, the mental health charity for lawyers, we receive hundreds of calls every year from lawyers who are feeling stressed and struggling with the pressures of work.

In our experience, many lawyers are not great at self-care. Although they know they should look after themselves (for example, by going for a run or taking regular lunch breaks) they are just too busy, working long hours and don’t want to be the person who gets up from their desk when everyone else has their head down.

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REUTERS |
July 11, 2018

Working with external counsel: Building innovative and strategic partnerships

At Practical Law’s GC Leadership Summit last week, one demand was repeatedly made of external counsel by in-house lawyers: know our business. This doesn’t just mean knowing what a company sells, its share price, or where its offices are, which some firms still fail to familiarise themselves with. These are important, but in-house counsel want and expect more than that; they want their retained lawyers (or those pitching to them) to really understand their business and their sector.

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REUTERS |
July 11, 2018

Internal investigations, technology and litigation: key takeaways for in-house lawyers

An in-session poll at Thomson Reuters’ recent GC Leadership Summit revealed in-house lawyers’ top concerns when handling internal investigations. On a show of hands, many felt that they lacked the necessary understanding of the technology software options available for internal investigations and document review. How to decide the right people for an internal investigation, how to retain confidentiality and privilege, and how to be fully prepared and resourced for e-disclosure, were also high on the agenda.

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REUTERS | David Mdzinarishvili
July 9, 2018

An age of rapid change and the in-house lawyer’s role

I attended Practical Law’s GC Leadership Summit last week. A recurring theme throughout the day was change and we explored some of the broad range of challenges businesses and workers – and, in particular, lawyers – are facing in a time of turbulent disruption and transformation driven by technology, economics, politics and societal change. Resilience became a watchword of the day, offering us a large part of the antidote.

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REUTERS |
July 4, 2018

Want to change your career? Options for the senior in-house lawyer

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 choice than working as a freelance or part-time lawyer.

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