As expected – or feared – implementing the incoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a mammoth task for some companies. ‘It is all-encompassing,’ says Karen Kerrigan, chief legal officer at equity crowdfunding firm Seedrs. ‘The advantage of being a small business is that you can involve all the other departments. Frankly, I would be …
The final session of the 2017 Commercial Litigation Summit sought the views of senior in-house counsel on managing disputes. Chairing the panel, Stephen Moriarty QC of Fountain Court Chambers kicked off the debate by tackling the perception of an in-house department as a cost centre – effectively, a necessary evil – citing the CV of …
When President John F Kennedy stood before Rice University on 12 September 1962 and boldly declared that not only would the US be the first country to land on the moon, but they would do it before the end of the decade, he captured the imagination of a generation.
Alex Novarese, The In-House Lawyer: Looking at the top of the market, how is buying behaviour changing?
As expected, in one of the most substantive changes to the taxation of real estate in recent years, the Chancellor has announced the extension of corporation tax to the income of non-UK corporate landlords (NRCLs).
Austrian law regards directors and officers as fiduciaries of their respective company (or rather: its shareholders). This is because, as a basic principle, executives do not usually manage their own assets but rather assets belonging to third parties.
David Boyd, partner in Eversheds Sutherland Consulting and previous head of banking for the firm talks about the changes in the legal market and how solutions deemed ‘new law’ are becoming the future in the way legal teams work.
For 35 years the standard test for dishonesty in criminal trials has been that set out by the Court of Appeal in R v Ghosh. But last month, the Supreme Court overturned this authority in obiter comments in the judgment of Ivey v Genting Casinos. We examine the reasoning behind this decision and its likely …
Continue reading “White-collar crime: law on dishonesty re-written”
Political and public pressures continue to drive significant changes in the approach to criminal corporate enforcement throughout the world. The UK has proved no exception and in September 2017 the Criminal Finances Act 2017 created another strict liability criminal offence for businesses, for failing to prevent facilitation of UK or foreign tax evasion.
When a company learns that there may have been serious misconduct within the organisation, one option is for it to conduct its own internal investigation to establish what has happened, who is liable and how to make sure that it does not happen again. A company investigation may take place either instead of or in …
With investigations such as the Paradise Papers and LuxLeaks placing tax arrangements squarely under the spotlight, it seems clear that businesses as well as wealthy individuals need to consider tax planning from a reputational as well as a legal perspective. In the eyes of the public, there is scant difference between tax evasion and aggressive …
Continue reading “Criminal Finances Act: another change to the corporate legal landscape”
Internal investigations can be challenging – they are fast paced, highly sensitive, completely confidential and necessitate strategic choices at every turn. They require a steady hand at the helm, guided by the most accurate and precise information available at the time. Internal investigations combine a number of skills such as crisis management, damage control and …
Continue reading “The structure of an internal investigation”