Key developments in May included the European General Affairs Council’s authorisation of the opening of Article 50 negotiations and adoption of the first set of negotiating directives. The European Commission also published draft position papers on citizens’ rights and financial settlement, while the House of Commons Library released a briefing paper on options for the UK’s participation in EU agencies post-Brexit.
The influence of technology in disrupting the traditionally conservative legal profession and shaping our future as in-house lawyers continues its inexorable momentum forward. We’ve been highlighting this trend on this blog in the last few months (see in particular: The rise of the machines: new technology and its impact on the professions; How in-house lawyers can become “digital” lawyers; The Tech Express: time to jump on board, say lawyers; and How to identify, acquire and implement the right technology for your legal department).
The key event this month is the general election on 8 June. In-house lawyers may also be interested in new research highlighting an increase in legal cases against FTSE100 companies and the expected publication of the Taylor review on modern employment practices.
The Conservative Party, Labour Party and Liberal Democrat Party have published their manifestos for the General Election on 8 June 2017. They contain several policy statements of interest to in-house lawyers.
On Friday 5th May, Transparency International UK (TI-UK) held its latest Business Integrity Forum meeting at Thomson Reuters in Canary Wharf with more than 50 participants (primarily in-house legal and compliance experts) from 30 companies. This event covered a number of relevant issues for in-house counsel and compliance officers.
In the wake of the recent national ransomware attack and significant fines being imposed on Facebook and WhatsApp, it seems that data protection is hitting the front pages more frequently than ever before (see Legal update, Commission fines Facebook for providing misleading information about acquisition of WhatsApp). This is a trend that is only likely to increase as cyber attacks grow in ferocity, strength and impact, and with the advent of rigorous compliance requirements and substantial fines under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which becomes effective a year today. Continue reading
Based on the experience of company secretaries and best practice as carried out in some of the UK’s largest listed companies, the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (ICSA) recently published a useful guidance note on terms of reference for audit committees.
Key developments in April included the European Council’s adoption of EU negotiating guidelines for Brexit and the publication of a report by the House of Commons Exiting the European Union Committee on the UK government’s negotiating objectives.
Has your ethics and compliance program become a coral reef? That was one of the questions posed to attendees at the ECI annual conference in Washington DC last week at LRN’s session on program effectiveness.
Theresa May’s announcement of a general election on 8 June 2017, and the accompanying period of “purdah”, will have an impact on several issues that in-house lawyers have been tracking recently, in particular the various proposals on corporate governance reform. Other notable developments this month include final guidance on gender pay gap reporting and two consultations on the General Data Protection Regulation.