Partners at Clifford Chance (CC) have voted in head of capital markets Adrian Cartwright as the firm’s new senior partner, succeeding Jeroen Ouwehand, who will step down after four years in the role.
London-based Cartwright held off competition from Ouwehand and Dubai office managing partner Edmund Boyo in the recent election and will start his four-year term on 1 January 2023.
Continue reading “CC votes in capital markets head Cartwright to succeed Ouwehand as senior partner”
Dechert has unveiled a new-look leadership team, with David Forti and Mark Thierfelder elected as new co-chairs, and Sabina Comis and Vincent Cohen set to become the firm’s inaugural global managing partners.
The new team, which will take office 1 July 2023, replaces Andy Levander, the firm’s chair since 2011, and Henry Nassau, the firm’s CEO since 2016.
The approaching festive period has not led to a cooling of the recruitment market, with corporate structuring, M&A, tax and IP expertise topping firms’ wishlists.
It was a busy period for Morrison Foerster, with the firm recruiting an IP team in London. The group is led by Steven James, who joins as a partner from Brown Rudnick, where he headed the UK and European IP group. Other members of the team include of counsel Ruth Arkley and senior associate Hattie Chessher.
Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) has appointed London partner Mike Flockhart as its new joint managing partner for corporate, succeeding the veteran deals guru Stephen Wilkinson.
Flockhart (pictured), who will assume the role on 1 December, will work alongside fellow co-head and Australian partner Carolyn Pugsley. Wilkinson, well regarded as the firm’s relationship partner for key client Sky, will return to full-time practice after four years in the leadership position.
Continue reading “HSF names London partner Flockhart as new corporate co-head”
Ashurst announced today (29 November) the rubber-stamping of a joint venture with South Korean firm HwaHyun, claiming to become the first international firm permitted to practice local law in the jurisdiction.
The association, which was approved by the Korean Ministry of Justice today, brings to fruition a longstanding aim for Ashurst. The firm first signalled its intent to launch in Korea when its legal market opened in 2011, before putting plans on ice in 2016.
Continue reading “‘Delighted to be the first’: Ashurst unveils Korean joint venture”
Partners from Haiwen & Partners take an in-depth look at TMT in China
The TMT (commonly known to represent ‘technology, media and telecom’) sector covers businesses in the areas of telecom, media and online-related or digital technologies. Typically, such businesses include internet content services (eg, social network, online audio and video, content search engine, etc.), e-commerce business, AI solution providers, data and digital services, and other similar businesses. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Overview of the key legal issues in the TMT sector in China”
Penkov, Markov & Partners’ Nikolay Cvetanov and Dimo Katrandzhiev on the GDPR risks facing employees checking the references of potential new employees
Although the GDPR has been in effect for a while now, organisations (especially applicable to small and medium-sized businesses) continue to face challenges with the alignment of all processes and activities involving processing personal data. Particular areas where our legal practice has identified compliance issues, given various customer enquiries, represent marketing and staff recruitment activities. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: GDPR aspects to consider when conducting reference checks”
Lim Zhi Jian, Bahari Yeow and Alex Choo of Rosli Dahlan Saravana Partnership on how Malaysia is responding to technological progress
‘The nation’s digital transformation agenda will also be fast-tracked, including measures such as the rapid adoption of digital technologies and closing the urban-rural digital divide.’ Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Digital transformation in Malaysia”
Yoshifumi Onodera of Mori Hamada & Matsumoto explains the current developments in intellectual property law within the TMT sphere
Key trends I would like to introduce to you are as follows:
Continue reading “Sponsor briefing: Key trends on IPR protections in TMT areas in Japan”
Paul Lanois of Fieldfisher on how California led the way in creating new legislation inspired by GDPR
Since the introduction of the European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which went into effect in May 2018, there has been an increased interest in consumer data protection and privacy around the world (as seen for example with the introduction of new laws such as Brazil’s General Law for the Protection of Personal Data). Continue reading “Sponsor briefing: The evolving data protection framework in the United States”
Pedro Henrique Ramos, senior partner of b/luz, on the opportunities available in the Brazilian TMT market
The evolution of law practice in media, technology, and data protection in Brazil is marked by a long and winding road, sparked mainly by changes in the economic and international landscape.
In the 2000s, social networks like Orkut and Facebook brought questions about limitations of liability, freedom of expression, and cyber crimes that challenged the Brazilian legal framework at that time. Complex business arrangements required a new bunch of technology agreements. Broadband got not only interconnections and regulatory stuff but also net neutrality.
Continue reading “Sponsor briefing: Doing business in Brazil”
Harbottle & Lewis added a new string to its TMT bow this year when it hired a commercial technology team formerly of The Legal 500 top-ranked tech boutique Kemp Little.
The team, led by Emma Wright, telecoms and tech regulatory star, includes data privacy partner Anita Bapat and tech partner Rupam Davé, who adds technology transformation projects and digital platforms expertise. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: The Wright move”
Gasser Partner’s Hannes Arnold and Christina Delia Preiner on how Liechtenstein is keeping up with and shaping developments in fintech
Fintech companies are revolutionising traditional business models in the financial sector, especially in banking and insurance. There is little doubt that fintech is here to stay and the digitalisation of the financial industry will continue to advance rapidly. For a financial centre it is important not only to keep pace with developments, but also to help shape them. The prerequisites for a financial centre’s success are flexibility and a willingness to innovate, not only for trailblazers and founders, but also for established market players and the entire ecosystem, including regulatory and supervisory authorities. Continue reading “Sponsored briefing: Fintech in Liechtenstein”
Nicholas Lauw, Yuankai Lin, Selina Toh and Pu Fang Ching from RPC Premier Law on the legal issues related to the metaverse
The term ‘metaverse’ was originally coined in a 1992 science fiction novel, Snow Crash. The term would receive global attention 29 years later when Mark Zuckerberg rebranded Facebook as Meta and announced that it would be building its own version of the metaverse. Continue reading “Sponsor briefing: Navigating the metaverse – negotiating boundaries in this borderless world”
Often the most daunting thing about venturing into the unknown is also what makes it the most exciting – you don’t really know how it is going to turn out. The prospect of launching LB’s inaugural TMT Yearbook in 2022 was perhaps no exception, but any niggling fears over the relevance of this new title to our readers were quickly assuaged when we analysed dozens of interviews with the sector’s great and good.
While it is true that every sector has its own particular challenges, opportunities and – frankly – client foibles to contend with, advising TMT clients seems to take that to a whole other level, whether the company is just emerging onto the tech or life sciences scene or is one of the highest-value corporations in the world. Continue reading “(Almost) Everything you always wanted to know about TMT*”
Throughout school, science seemed to be the direction I was heading in. I did the undergraduate piece and went on to the doctorate. I loved both actually, particularly the doctorate. We were doing some really cutting-edge physics, like trying to detect a new particle for the first time, that sort of thing.
There were elements of being a physicist and doing experiments that were really exciting. When you felt you’re on the verge of discovering something really new, it’s hard to describe the high that comes with that. It’s also hard to describe the low when the experiment fails and the result slips through your fingers. Continue reading “Perspectives: Mark Watts, Bristows”
Business never stands still. Cross-border organisations must evolve in response to an ever-shifting world of geopolitical risk and opportunity together with the rapid changes being brought about by technology, data and digitisation. To do this, they look to their senior leaders to ensure this complex landscape is navigated effectively and adroitly. A successful general counsel (GC) today must be a central part of that team, a business leader firmly seated at the strategic table who is able to drive the delivery of strategic outcomes and help unlock commercial innovation across the business – in addition to protecting a company from regulatory and legal risks.
Against this backdrop, it is no longer realistic to rely on traditional legal support models alone. The GC needs to call on a host of broader resources. They must embrace innovation to remain informed and agile, to drive sound decision-making, manage cost and enable growth across the business. Continue reading “Opinion: Technology, data and digitisation are redefining the role of GCs”
I grew up in Lebanon when there was a civil war. I say this with a bit of embarrassment but, because of the civil war, I never completed a school year. I had to be homeschooled for a lot of the time and the school year was always interrupted. I didn’t really have, like many young adults when they reached the age of 18 or 19, a clear vision of what I wanted to do.
Culturally, I was not the child who excelled in the subjects that families take pride in their children being good at. In Lebanon at the time, parents did not necessarily take pride, especially in young boys, in being good at French, Arabic, history, geography and arts. Those were where I was strongest. I was pretty good at maths, but the science curriculum wasn’t something I was very interested in. Continue reading “Perspectives: Nassib Abou-Khalil, formerly of Nokia”
‘TL,DR. That’s a real thing for them [the big tech companies]. That language pops up. If you’re plodding in as an old-school lawyer you’re going to last three seconds in that room. They’ll just think you’re a wanker.’
So says one prominent external adviser to the ‘Big Five’ tech companies – generally agreed to be Amazon, Apple, Google, Meta and Microsoft. And while that sentiment undoubtedly rings true among those in the sector, do not mistake it for levity. Continue reading “Tech giants: TL,DR – Too long, didn’t read”
‘At the early stage, companies get lots wrong. Their corporate governance is often non-existent. Their contractual framework and intellectual property ownership can be messy. They often do not properly implement the legal frameworks necessary to deal with data. But that’s fine because they’ve got one objective at early stage, which is to grow the financial strength and reputation of their business.’
Representing emerging companies can be an arduous undertaking. As the above assessment from Ashurst corporate partner and tech M&A aficionado Jonathan Cohen suggests, when companies and their founders are first starting out, an immaculate legal framework tends not to be top of the agenda, as budgetary and personnel constraints see other areas prioritised. Continue reading “Startups: Upstarts”
