This round-up summarises the developments that generated the most interest from in-house lawyers in the past three months, including Brexit, the formal approval of the General Data Protection Regulation, the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation, the anti-corruption summit, the first compensation order for workers kept in modern slavery, and a number of interesting commercial contracts cases.
In this webcast, Adrian Pashley, Senior Editor (Charities), Thomson Reuters Practical Law, interviews Darren Heath about his role as solicitor and in-house legal adviser at the charity Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
Early in June, the Centre for Ethics and Law, UCL Laws, published the first stage of our Ethical Leadership for In-House Lawyers Project. In this project, we are collaborating with in-house lawyers to understand the ethical challenges they face and help them build their capacity to deal with such challenges. The first stage, the Mapping the Moral Compass Report, is now available in executive and long form formats.
As of today, annual returns are a thing of the past for UK companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). Instead, they will now need to file a confirmation statement. Like an annual return, a confirmation statement is used to update Companies House records, but there are some key differences to be aware of.
Key themes and developments on the agenda for businesses in July include dealing with the implications of the EU referendum result, the introduction of the new EU market abuse regime and the publication of the Briggs review of the civil courts structure.
On 24 June 2016, the EU referendum result was announced, with a majority of voters deciding that the UK should leave the EU. Once the government notifies the European Council that the UK has decided to leave the EU, the two-year period for the negotiation for exit under Article 50 of the Treaty of the European Union can start.
We spoke to practitioners in a range of areas to gauge their reactions on the shorter and longer term implications of this decision.
For more detailed coverage of the legal implications, see the collection of articles at our EU Referendum landing page. For coverage of the business implications as they unfold, see the Thomson Reuters blog: Everything you need to know about Brexit. Continue reading
At a recent panel I spoke at relating to the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA), the Home Office representative was showered with questions regarding the transparency in supply chains provision (Section 54, MSA).
The requirement in section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 (MSA) for certain businesses (broadly those with a turnover in excess of £36 million and who carry out business in the UK) to issue annual slavery and human trafficking statements is, in many ways, just another step in a general trend towards increased non-financial reporting by companies.
It has been estimated that between 12,000 and 17,000 businesses might have to issue annual statements under section 54. Yet early indications suggest that there is a lack of understanding among some organisations of these requirements.
Confidential business information is a valuable asset and this is especially true of product formulations and manufacturing processes. Helping the business to protect such information from competitors is often a key role for in-house lawyers.
However, EU rules on access to environmental information can provide a mechanism for the public in general – and by way of extension, competitors – to gain access to the commercially sensitive information of businesses being held by public authorities.
Data protection law has received a new public prominence in recent months, with the media focusing in particular on global internet companies, such as Facebook or Google. At the same time, the practical implications of data protection law in a range of contexts have continued to be quietly and incrementally developed in the courts. One recent example is the High Court decision in Guriev v Community Safety Development (UK) Ltd, which offers particularly salutary lessons for those who make use of private investigators.