No great advantage

Alex Speirs: Now less than a year out from the UK’s scheduled withdrawal from the EU, how would you characterise the current state of negotiations? Dominic Grieve: They’re not going well at all. We are not talking the same language. The UK is seeking a bespoke deal recognising our past membership of the EU, our …

Taking the gloves off

The penultimate session of the 2018 Commercial Litigation Summit drew a large audience to hear the views of the most important players in a major dispute – GCs and senior in-house counsel. This debate featured a panel of two private practice litigators – Jenner & Block’s Jason Yardley and Simon Bushell from Signature Litigation, and …

Significant matters

Policing in-house counsel The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) launched a consultation in January on whether in-house lawyers at finance houses should be policed under the incoming Senior Managers Regime, in an attempt to clarify uncertainties regarding the overall responsibility of an in-house legal function under FCA’s rules. Bringing lawyers under the regime, designed to boost …

Workplace law: Doyle Clayton

Feature

UK Immigration – Rumsfeld déjà vu Known knowns, known unknowns, unknown unknowns and… There are few UK organisations where EU citizens living in this country are not clients or customers or, more importantly, employees. Throughout the private and public sectors – from chief executives through to middle management and minimum wage workers, EU citizens have …

M&A impacts of recent antitrust focus on pre-closing integration | Latham & Watkins

Feature

In recent years there have been markedly increased levels of scrutiny from regulators over the sharing of sensitive information between competitors in the process of mergers, takeovers, and other corporate transactions. As a result, M&A deal teams are increasingly turning to clean-team arrangements to ensure that a competing business purchaser can review competitively sensitive data …

Start-up snapshots

The In-House Lawyer profiles some of the start-ups bringing a fresh perspective to the legal tech industry     Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo, LB282, May 2018 Daniel van Binsbergen, Lexoo Apperio Founded: 2012 (as Legal Tender) Team size: 17 Investment raised: £3.4m Leaders: Chief executive Nicholas d’Adhemar Key clients: Dentons, Network Rail, Deliveroo, Octopus Investments …

The wheat from the chaff

In a quiet east London street off the bustling Brick Lane, a few doors from a sign tagged ‘Vegan Hair Salon’ is a co-working space. You meet Gaz, the office’s bulldog, and work among Star Wars figurines, gaming consoles and an electric drum kit.

Virtual fear and loathing

Clichés abound over the stereotypical contrast between stuffy lawyers and progressive tech start-up gurus. Clearly law firms – whose liberal and often misplaced use of the term ‘innovation’ often adds fuel to the fire – have plenty of work to do. At the same time, some clients are far more insistent on innovation from their …