Allen & Overy is an international legal practice and trusted counsel to the world’s leading companies, financial institutions and public sector organisations. In this series of podcasts, our lawyers share their perspectives on today’s most significant global legal, regulatory and commercial issues. Disclaimer: Podcasts are not legal advice. Laws may have changed since a podcast was recorded.
The market volatility triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic is raising questions about the rights that parties have to exit commercial commitments they have entered into and whether there is any legal commitment to carry them through. In this episode, litigation counsel Helen Biggin, litigation consultant Peter Watson and structured asset finance senior associate Chris Mitchell, discuss whether documents, such as non-binding letters of intent, can be deemed to be binding if one party's actions suggest that an agreement has been made and what steps parties can take to ensure that they do not inadvertently create a binding agreement.
The focus of this podcast is on the exponential growth in the Internet of Things and the ley legal issues that should be considered by device manufacturers. Catherine Di Lorenzo (Counsel, IP/IT, Luxembourg) and Rose Hall (Global Head of TMT sector BD) discuss these issues with a focus on cybersecurity and data protection.
In this podcast, co-heads of Allen & Overy's Middle East Asset Management and Financial Services Regulatory practice Nick Smith and Jodi Norman, and Kamar Jaffer, a counsel in that practice, are joined by Taimoor Labib, founding partner at Affirma Capital and Head of MENA and Chairman of Africa, to examine the impact of the pandemic on the region’s midcaps and SMEs.
They explore how governments in different countries have reacted, the stimulus measures in place across the MENA region, the wider trends and challenges they are seeing in capital raising and also how greater co-ordination and collaboration among financial services players – in particular, banks, institutional investors, private equity funds, fintechs and equity crowdfunding platforms – can help to improve the outlook of these critically important businesses.
Following the release of UK government guidance on how organisations can safely re-open workplaces on Monday 11 May, Allen & Overy’s UK Employment team held a call to guide employers through the key points they need to understand to help safely navigate their lockdown exit strategy.
In particular, the call focused on office-based workplaces and whether there are now answers to many questions employers have been considering, such as whether temperature testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) need to become features of our workplaces. The team also reflected on other legal obligations that need to be factored into the return to work planning such as the physical design of workplaces and the challenges of public transport.
The in-house legal function is facing a decade of potentially transformational change. Intense cost pressures, rapid advances in technology and the growth and fragmentation of the legal supplier market are changing the way in which internal legal departments work and deliver their services. Jonathan Brayne, partner and chairman of Fuse, Allen & Overy's tech innovation space, and Shruti Ajitsaria, partner and head of Fuse, discuss the opportunities and challenges that General Counsel and heads of legal operations should consider.
In the latest in a series of conversations with leading figures in the world of anti-corruption, Billy Jacobson speaks with Shruti Shah, President & CEO of Coalition for Integrity, about the potential for fraud in relation to the US government’s Covid-19 stimulus packages, the importance of independent inspectors general and anti-corruption legislation pending before Congress.
International Capital Markets partner Amanda Thomas and Jennifer Cresswell, a counsel in the International Capital Markets practice share their thoughts with ICMA on the practical implications of Covid-19 for European primary debt capital markets.
