Paul Gilbert attempts to chart what is so rarely discussed: the core competences and obligations of a general counsel. At the risk of saying something that sounds unhelpfully like, ‘general counsel means general counsel’, I have spent a lot of time over many years considering how people in this role should define their purpose and …
Energy giant pushes through alt billing The march away from hourly billing continues as Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest consumers of legal services, confirmed that all its work must be priced under ‘appropriate’ fee arrangements (AFAs), following its 2016 panel review. AFAs, which include capped, fixed and contingency fees, had been in …
Do you ever get the feeling you’re flying blind as a general counsel? Not in the context of your own business, which will generate reams of numbers and facts to indicate how the legal function is performing within that one company. But in the context of how GCs and legal teams are developing at a …
The ‘marine renewables’ sector is increasingly of interest to contractors. There are a number of reasons for this. For some, fewer opportunities exist within the oil and gas sector. Other see the increased number of offshore wind projects as an opportunity. In both instances, it is clear that the growth in marine renewables projects will …
A recent case in the High Court provides a helpful analysis as to the scope of directors’ duties in situations where dividend payments are vulnerable to challenge. It proves a cautionary tale to directors who are considering the payment of intergroup dividends and illustrates how the legal issues surrounding this area are complex and need …
Continue reading “Dividends and directors’ duties – case update”
The High Court judgment in Essar Oilfields Services Ltd v Norscot Rig Management Pvt Ltd [2016] was brought down by His Honour Judge Waksman QC (sitting as a deputy High Court judge). The report of its delivery on 15 September 2016 had already sparked great interest in the world of litigation finance and for good …
In March 2016, the Home Office announced that there would be two phases of changes to the Tier 2 sponsorship regime following a review of the category published by the Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) on 24 March 2016. The first of the phases had been due in autumn 2016. On 3 November 2016, the Home Office finally …
Continue reading “Changes to the Immigration Rules – November 2016”
All in-house counsel will be aware of the merger control rules that grant competition authorities the power to monitor, assess and even modify or prohibit M&A activity. There are very few jurisdictions around the world that do not enforce some form of merger control and, with the notable exception of Luxembourg, all 28 EU Member …
Continue reading “Merger control in the European Union: an overview”
Although there are over 75 countries in the world with merger control regimes that, for the most part, apply to foreign-to-foreign transactions, the US and EU remain the key jurisdictions when assessing global mergers. This is the case once a transaction is announced and notified, but maybe even more so when legal teams of companies …
Continue reading “Merger Review on Both Sides of the Atlantic: a comparison”
‘Our future will always be written in part by immigrants’ Hillary Clinton Immigration was a prominent and highly charged topic of the 2016 presidential election. Hillary Clinton acknowledged that the US immigration system was broken and had promised to pass comprehensive reforms to strengthen the economy and to offer a path to full and equal …
Continue reading “US immigration reform in the wake of the 2016 presidential election”