While controlling the waves of the Covid-19 pandemic, Vietnam continues to position itself as an attractive investment destination in the Asia-Pacific region despite the ongoing US-China trade war. As a promising proposition for foreign investors, Vietnamese lawmakers have recently introduced several major changes to its investment-related legislation with the new Law on Investment (LOI) 2020 and Law on Enterprises (LOE) 2020, which will officially come into effect on 1 January 2021. Continue reading “Doing business in Vietnam”
Class actions in the UK: preparing for a changing landscape
If you were asked to name a well-known example of a class action, the first one to spring to mind might be Hollywood’s Erin Brockovich, based on the true story of a Californian community that claimed for damages against an energy corporation for suspected groundwater contamination, and secured a multi-million-dollar settlement. Although the likes of Brockovich and John Grisham have brought class actions into popular culture, the UK, particularly the English courts, have a long-established procedure to accommodate these cases. Scotland too, has now entered this area of law, having introduced class action rules this summer. Continue reading “Class actions in the UK: preparing for a changing landscape”
Change has come – do the right thing, right now
This really had to be a Covid-19 issue. As we return with our first issue of IHL since before lockdown began, we hope this finds you all in robust mood, ready to help guide your businesses through this latest patch of turbulence despite the post-apocalyptic headlines thrust in front of you on a daily basis.
Continue reading “Change has come – do the right thing, right now”
Significant matters – Autumn 2020
Sainsbury’s makes cuts to adviser panel
Herbert Smith Freehills and DAC Beachcroft were among the firms to win spots on Sainsbury’s most recent legal panel, with the supermarket chain cutting its roster by a third with 11 spots reduced to eight.
Continue reading “Significant matters – Autumn 2020”
James Stebbing – Six Nations Rugby and the British & Irish Lions
James Stebbing talks to The In-House Lawyer about breaking into sports law, working with two of rugby’s best-loved sporting brands and what the Covid-19 pandemic means for next year’s South African tour and beyond.
Continue reading “James Stebbing – Six Nations Rugby and the British & Irish Lions”
Dan Webster – Harrods
The retail group GC talks to The In-House Lawyer about what it takes
to advise one of the world’s most recognised department stores.
The year of working from home
A growing gig economy, automation, Brexit… the threats to UK employment were already growing. Then a global pandemic hit. As life is redrawn and rebuilt on a near-daily basis by Covid-19, employment lawyers are struggling to recontextualise existing laws while grappling with the ever-changing guidelines being churned out at dizzying speed. Kathryn Dooks, a partner in the employment team at Kemp Little, recalls the ‘mad rush’ at the beginning of the crisis. Continue reading “The year of working from home”
Rupert Skellett – Beggars Group
As general counsel for one of the UK’s premier record companies,
Rupert Skellett tells The In-House Lawyer about the realities of being at
the forefront of negotiations with some of the world’s most exciting artists.
Ria Sanz – AngloGold Ashanti
The mining firm’s in-house counsel considers the keys to success and
the importance of values when heading a legal and compliance team.
Competition at a crossroads
Mark Friend, partner and head of the London antitrust group at Allen & Overy, argues competition law in the UK is ‘currently at a crossroads’ and cites the current political climate and comments made by the Competition and Markets Authority’s (CMA) former chairman, Lord Tyrie. ‘This crossroads is partly driven by Brexit, and what that will mean to the CMA and future enforcement priorities, but also partly driven by this feeling among some policy makers that competition law may not be working properly, or is not adequately protecting all consumers.’ Continue reading “Competition at a crossroads”
Eye of the storm
‘We are on the threshold of what is going to be the biggest restructuring challenge in the history of insolvency. Nothing will have come close’. So says Mark Phillips QC of South Square Chambers on the Corporate Governance and Insolvency Act 2020, passed in June 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 crisis. The legislation’s stated purpose is to give companies affected by the lockdown and the potential fallout from the UK’s exit deal – or lack of one – with the European Union the breathing space and tools needed to survive a mounting debt or liquidity crisis.
Mediations in an emergency
It doesn’t need to be said that the current Covid-19 pandemic will have significant, lasting impacts on businesses. Parties negotiating contracts even a year ago could never have envisioned the situation in which they would now find themselves, and the resulting tangle of part-performance and non-performance is expected to significantly overburden courts around the world, both while the crisis is ongoing and after, when the disputes that have been put on hold for the duration of the crisis begin to flood the judicial system.