What do Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, Google chairman Eric Schmidt and British cycling sensation Laura Kenny have in common? Of course, they’re leaders in their field – but they also all have a coach.
So should we all have a coach? I say yes, absolutely, but of course you’d expect me to say that – I am one. But let me tell you why you should, based not on my experience as a coach, but as a former executive who needed one to thrive and, at times, to survive.
Until recently, Scottish Limited Partnerships (SLPs) had remained a relatively obscure legal entity. Historically intended to provide a vehicle for managing ventures like highland crofts and fishmongers, they had been a fairly innocuous legal construct. But around ten years ago something changed.
According to Companies House data, there was a sharp and seemingly unexplained increase in SLP incorporations from around 2008. Instead of a few hundred being set-up annually, the numbers rocketed into the thousands. In 2016 alone, more SLPs were registered (5,215) than in the century after they were introduced in 1907 (4,458).
The key developments this month were the government’s introduction of the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill 2017-19 and publication of a joint UK-EU technical note on citizen’s rights.
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), in partnership with Spend Network, has recently developed and launched a free tool to help procurers screen their tender data for signs of potential anti-competitive behaviour. For those in procurement, this will help to identify and investigate unfair practices. For those bidders working in an anti-competitive manner, this heightens the risk of revelation and investigation.
“Most of us spend too much time on what is urgent and not enough time on what is important.”
Steven Covey
I, like most other in-house lawyers I imagine, often find myself thinking about, or discussing with colleagues, the lack of time we have to do what needs to be done. The requirements to complete forms and other administrative tasks, attend conference calls or endless meetings, and be the first port of call for any “emergency” that arises can mean that there is little time left in the day for what we are actually trained to do: review, interpret and advise on the law.
It is now over a year since the first organisations were required to start producing their slavery and human trafficking statements in compliance with section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015, making it possible to assess and compare the large number of statements already published. Continue reading
I started in the role of Chief Privacy Officer role at Pearson very recently, though I have been in the Legal team for eighteen years. I have been blessed with a wealth of resources at my disposal: a central Data Privacy Office team, policies for each area of the business, an incident response toolkit, an established privacy impact assessment process, memberships of various expert bodies and access to training and knowledge resources. I realise that probably makes me very lucky amongst many of you.
But even with the backing of good infrastructure, making best use of resources is key. So what have been the next steps?
Giving your employees access to the right speak up channels (or ‘intake’ channels) is a critical part of any whistleblowing programme.
But what are the most commonly used channels, what are their pros and cons, and which are likely to be the most effective within your organisation?
I attended Practical Law’s GC Leadership Summit last week. This year’s central theme was innovation which set the scene for some interesting discussions on corporate governance, the changing role of the general counsel and approaching the GDPR and cyber challenges, amongst other things. Here’s a whistle-stop tour of some of the key messages. Continue reading
The key developments this month were the formal start of Brexit negotiations and the publication of several Brexit-related Bills in the 2017 Queen’s Speech.