Key items on the agenda for businesses this month include the due date for publication of the first gender pay gap reports and the continuing countdown to implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR).

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

A group of organisations representing the interests of rights holders and intellectual property (IP) practitioners across the EU has submitted a joint statement to the European Commission on the treatment of trade marks and design rights post-Brexit.

What’s new for corporate counsel in IT law in 2018?
It’s a 2 x 3 matrix for what’s new in IT Law in 2018. First, there’s a lot happening at the intersection of financial services and IT law, and of course there’s GDPR and Brexit. Second, we’ll all be seeing more “Fourth Industrial Revolution” legal work (such as artificial intelligence (AI), robotic process automation (RPA), blockchain and digital reality).

Introducing Practical Law’s new in-house GDPR toolkit
The recent blog post by Ros Foster and Patrick O’Connell of Browne Jacobson invited us to take a step back from the awesome complexity of the GDPR as we get closer to 25 May and focus our energies on the Regulation’s core principles. It is too easy to get stuck in the GDPR’s “rush hour traffic” at this point and we hope our most recent GDPR content enhancement will help you maintain a sense of perspective. Continue reading

A look at some recent developments in trade mark law in relation to protecting 3D shapes, two-colour combinations and logo marks, and what this means for brand owners.

In our day-to-day lives adopting new technology is generally easy, non-contentious and something that most of us enjoy, whether it be using a fitness watch, watching a new “smart” tv, shopping online or booking a holiday. Yet in business, where the benefits are arguably larger, there is still a resistance to technological innovation. However, we have now arrived at a new technology tipping point and companies that fail to recognise and react to this shift risk undermining their strategy and being left behind by their competitors.

Brexit: February 2018 round-up
The most significant development in February came right at the end of the month when the European Commission published a draft text of the UK-EU withdrawal agreement.

An alternative to BigLaw: using AI to connect in-house lawyers with small and mid-sized law firms
Technology has revolutionised industries from retail to communications and tourism, but despite lawyers embracing LinkedIn, the legal services industry is still relatively resistant to forming new client relationships online.
When it comes to choosing law firms for one off instructions or to pitch for a panel, General Counsel (GCs) at major international companies still overwhelmingly rely on personal networks and close contacts. A new Globality survey (Global Trends in Hiring Outside Counsel) of more than 300 GCs and senior in-house lawyers at businesses with over $1 billion in annual turnover found that 68% rely on their existing network of contacts to identify law firms to work with.

What’s on the agenda for in-house lawyers in March 2018?
Key items on the agenda for businesses this month include the countdown to implementation of the General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (GDPR) and the government’s response to the Taylor Review of Modern Working Practices.

Ask Bruce: answers on personal development for in-house lawyers
Bruce Macmillan, Founder Director of The Centre for Legal Leadership, answers questions on the personal development of in-house lawyers.
I’ve recently accepted the role of GC in a medium-sized legal team which I’m due to start in May. What steps should I be taking now to ensure that I am up to speed when I start my new role?