Ahmed Badr did not want to be a lawyer. A self-professed ‘huge geek’ at school, he was never happier than when sat a computer doing some programming or web design. ‘You would never find me playing football,’ he reflects.
The In-House Lawyer (IHL): Can you describe your career path so far and tell us a little bit about your current role at GSK?
In recent years, financial crime prosecutors have sought to encourage companies to establish compliance programmes designed to avoid – or at least detect – illegal conduct, by including the requirement as a precondition to their securing a reduced penalty, or other form of leniency, following a compliance incident. In responding to those incentives by implementing …
Continue reading “Compliance programmes and the protection of legal privilege”
The legal industry is still fragmenting. Pre-2008 it was an easier game: a buoyant economy, predictable government and a converging world flattened by globalisation and the internet. Law firms sought to be ‘global’ and ‘full-service’ and merged or opened offices accordingly. The business model was simple: bigger clients, bigger teams, higher utilisation, higher rates. Hold …
Against a backdrop of Government expressions of support for ethnicity pay reporting in the UK in 2018 and a consultation paper which appeared to favour some form of Government intervention, the lack of any legislative proposals since had been perceived by some as a sign of waning commitment. Immediate reaction to the independent Government Commission …
Continue reading “Moving ethnicity pay gap evaluation from the ‘too difficult’ pile”
‘It’s a snowball effect. Look at private equity (PE) – that used to be dominated by Clifford Chance (CC), Freshfields and Ashurst but now it’s US firms,’ warns Weil London head Mike Francies. ‘The same hasn’t happened in M&A yet but nearly all of the top US firms here are now trying to build it. …
Continue reading “Is the Magic Circle’s dominance in the UK M&A market under threat?”
The current Chilean regulations on data protection, Law No 19,628 on privacy protection (DPL), enacted in 1999, has become outdated and it does not properly regulate new scenarios that the development of legal relationships between participants of an economic system creates.
New Law is as a breed still a lot better at promise than delivery, particularly on claims of providing better value than law firms.
New role for Booth at Crown Estate Rob Booth, one of the leading lights of the in-house legal community, will be stepping away from his position as general counsel and company secretary at The Crown Estate to become the company’s new head of assets.
Despite Covid-19 remaining a global concern at the time of this article, much of Hong Kong has in fact returned to its pre-pandemic hustle and bustle for quite a while. However, the pandemic has left an imprint on the city – apart from making face masks a must-have when going out, as there seems to …
Continue reading “Post Covid-19 Hong Kong: a new kind of ‘business as usual’?”
Economic environment overview The Russian economy was greatly affected by the global epidemic and the decline in business activity. Economic performance was influenced by the OPEC+ oil pact, the drop in oil prices and the volatility in the dollar exchange rate. However, those difficulties were overcome relatively well, since the government implemented support measures to …
Continue reading “The Russian M&A market since the outbreak of the global pandemic”
When discussing the current direction of antitrust regulation, Carles Esteva Mosso, a partner in the competition practice at Latham & Watkins’ Brussels office puts it succinctly: ‘In Europe, we are seeing an evolution towards more intense merger enforcement.’ At a national level, many jurisdictions appear to be keen to occupy a role at the forefront …