Key themes and developments on the agenda for businesses in January include the government’s Green Paper on corporate governance reform, the duty to report on payment practices and performance and the rise of the “gig economy”.

What’s on the agenda for in-house lawyers in January 2017?

Gender Pay Gap Reporting: key changes at a glance
Private and voluntary sector employers with 250 or more employees will be required to publish gender pay gap information by 4 April 2018 and annually thereafter.

Where are we now on artificial intelligence?
For decades, Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) has served as an inspiration for Hollywood’s latest heroes and bleakest dystopian futures. More recently, AI systems have taken on the role of personal assistants: our phones and computers, cars and planes, homes and cities, they are all powered to an ever increasing extent by AI systems. Even your TV remote will soon understand when you speak to it.
In most of these cases, the instructions given to the AI system are within the confines of human predictability, based on an individual’s consent or what can be deemed to be the data controller’s legitimate interest. The assumption is that AI systems use personal data to make things easier and that individuals should be able to choose how their data is used. Continue reading

UK Government: GDPR the central plank in cyber risk management strategy
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has just published its Cyber Security Regulation and Incentives Review which considers whether there is a need for additional regulation or incentives to boost cyber risk management in the UK economy.
The Review brings to fruition an in-depth consultation with a wide range of businesses, industry partners and stakeholders, and evidence from a wide range of sources, and forms part of the Government’s £1.9 billion strategy to protect the UK in cyber space. Continue reading

Key messages from the CBI’s “Making a Success of Brexit” report
“Brexit means Brexit – and we’re going to make a success of it”
Theresa May’s words on 31 August may have been mocked in some quarters but the UK business community is committed to making the best of the risks and opportunities Brexit will throw at the UK, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which published its ‘Making a Success of Brexit’ report yesterday. Continue reading

One of the big horizon issues exercising in-house lawyers is the raft of new compliance obligations which will be directly enforceable against data processors under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which ministers have confirmed will apply from 25 May 2018. The new framework will have an impact upon any business activities that make use of data processors, as the new requirements fundamentally change the relationship between data controllers and data processors. Continue reading

December vlog: corporate transparency developments on the horizon
December’s vlog focuses on developments on the horizon around corporate reporting.

Legal advice privilege: High Court applies Three Rivers
The High Court has applied the controversial Court of Appeal decision in Three Rivers (No 5) holding that certain employees of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) did not form part of the “client” for the purposes of legal advice privilege.

Beyond Section 54: insights into Modern Slavery Act compliance best practice and more from the Trust Women Conference 2016
Following on from my colleague, Lynsey Poulton’s blog post last week on section 54 Modern Slavery Act statements, I wanted to report back on the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s Trust Women Conference which took place last week. The event offered a real opportunity to gather some expert insights on corporate compliance at ground level in this rapidly developing area. Continue reading

In-house round-up: autumn 2016
This round-up summarises the developments that generated the most interest from in-house lawyers in the past three months, including government proposals on corporate governance, preparing for the GDPR, the EU-US Privacy Shield, Brexit and several interesting High Court decisions.