The collaborative approach

Interview with: Sadiq Jafar

Sadiq Jafar

The managing partner of Hadef & Partners talks about the latest growth trends in the UAE and working alongside international law firms

How are client demands in the UAE changing? The UAE is a relatively young jurisdiction and, to support domestic growth, there is parallel development of laws and regulations, courts, arbitration centres and other soft infrastructure. This, together with the emergence of financial free zones, contributes to changing client demand patterns. The introduction of new legislation …

Jan Hofkens: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger

Interview with...

Jan Hofkens

Lydian’s employment, pensions, and benefits partner on what sets his firm apart in the Belgium market and the challenges facing his clients

What has been your greatest achievement, in a professional and personal capability? In a law firm, it is all about teamwork and people. You can only deliver high quality services to your clients when you have a strong team of experienced and talented lawyers around you. I am very proud of the team of 17 …

Reasons to go green

Leadership

Raising awareness, engaging with your people, and changing behaviours can help improve your environmental performance, explains Dr Georgios Zampas, senior citizenship executive at Herbert Smith Freehills

At Herbert Smith Freehills, we recognise that everyone has a part to play in balancing our growth as a business with reducing our impact on the environment. We have a responsibility to align our approach to sustainability across all of the offices in our network and our intention is to create – and be part …

Think international arbitration is ‘soft’ litigation? Think again

Career corner

illustration of bridge between heads

Litigators who yearn for the rough and tumble of the local courtroom are not necessarily the best fit for international arbitrations, writes Kyle Richard Olson, senior associate disputes resolution lawyer at Baker McKenzie Chicago

Before becoming a lawyer I assumed that arbitration was a lesser man’s litigation, an academic exercise kept behind the curtains. I was wrong. After a decade practising international arbitration, I’ve learned that no two arbitrations are the same; each requires its own thorough and creative approach to the intellectual aspects of the case, balanced with …

Moving towards compliance in ambiguous times

Compliance

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Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz’s Tanya Forsheit and James Mariani explore the evolution of US privacy law

As we stand on the eve of drastic change to the data privacy legal landscape in the United States, many companies are preparing to analyse their business practices and wondering where to start. There is considerable ambiguity regarding what compliant data privacy practices look like in 2020 due, at least in part, to one moving …

From Uber to Lawber

Technology

White & Case’s chief knowledge officer, Oz Benamram on how digital transformation may change the legal industry

As the legal ecosystem grows more complex with alternative providers, law companies, sophisticated tech, and growing legal departments within client organisations, now is a good time to consider potential scenarios of how the industry might look in years to come. I recently spoke about one of these scenarios at an industry conference, drawing parallels from …

Lawyers, know your tech

Technology

Don’t get hung up on product name, focus on the match to your business requirements, writes Roy Russell, CEO of Ascertus Limited

Given the amount of technology systems corporate legal departments and law firms deploy, the actual use of those solutions are often limited by organisations’ apparent understanding of the description of the systems or indeed the functional requirement they implemented the products for. There are so many point solutions that law firms and in-house legal departments …

Where next for London as a disputes centre?

The Big Issue: Disputes

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The capital must not rest on its laurels, as other innovative disputes hubs seek to take advantage of Brexit, writes Peter Hirst, partner and co-chair of Clyde & Co.’s global arbitration group

The first London International Disputes Week took place in May and successfully served to highlight why London is likely to remain a leading international disputes hub in the years to come – a huge concentration of talent across disputes disciplines, a favourable, popular and flexible legal system, the power of the English language, and much …