Point break

Feature

Legal spend is the second-largest ‘cost centre’ for £21bn global banking giant Barclays. This tantalising statement is in the bank’s 2018 Request for Quotation document, sent to law firms ahead of its final panel review this year and seen by The In-House Lawyer. The document provides detail on what Barclays describes as this ‘sizeable’ legal …

A general view of bankruptcy in Mexico | Rivera Gaxiola, Carrasco y Kálloi

Legal Briefing

When companies face financial difficulties in Mexico, our legislation provides a formal procedure known as concurso mercantil (insolvency) to restructure its finances and provide legal security to their creditors. This procedure is divided into two phases: i) conciliation and ii) bankruptcy or liquidation. The purpose of the conciliation phase is to achieve the continuation of …

Hot topics for credit institutions: MIFID II in Romania | EY Law

Legal Briefing

The long-awaited Romanian transposition of the EU Directive 2014/65 on markets in financial instruments (MIFID II, in force since January 2018) has started this summer with the enactment of two main pieces of legislation – (i) Law 126/ 2018 on markets in financial instruments (Romanian MIFID II Law), closely followed by (ii) Regulation 10-4/ 2018 …

Arbitration in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia | Legal Advisors, Abdulaziz Al-Ajlan & Partners in association with Baker & McKenzie Limited

Legal Briefing

The arbitration landscape has changed significantly in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) in recent years. In this note, we will explain two important developments that have precipitated this change, namely, a new arbitration law and a Saudi centre for arbitration. New arbitration law On 24/5/1422H (corresponding to 16 April 2012), a new set of …

The GC {Re}Defined | Morrison & Foerster

Legal Briefing

We live in an era of technological disruption where entire industries are being created, decimated, and reshaped. The same forces bringing about those transformations are also redefining roles in the C-suite – chief among them, the general counsel. The GC role has long been evolving from a purely legal function to one more integrated into …

Across boundaries

Feature

Alex Novarese, The In-House Lawyer: How do people feel about the service from law firms? Simon White, Cognizant: There are a lot of individuals I like a great deal but as institutions, I struggle with law firms as a concept. Alex Novarese: Because? Simon White: I work at a company that has a large legal …

Emerging need for whistleblower programmes | Lee and Li

Feature

As reported in KPMG’s 2016 Global Profiles of the Fraudster, more than half of the frauds were uncovered by whistleblowers and tip-offs. So to more effectively root out corporate malfeasance and corruption, some countries have promulgated laws to make internal reporting channels in both the public and private sectors mandatory. The laws include the Whistleblower …

Tumbling into crisis

Feature

Corporate crises are on the upswing. A faster-paced R&D cycle, improved but riskier technology, 24-hour news… the list of triggers goes on. But our understanding of such events has not always evolved at the same pace. We speak of a crisis as a single incident but, in reality, a chain reaction will likely ensue – …

The rising tide of litigation against directors | Clifford Chance

Legal Briefing

Over the past few years in London, our disputes practice has seen a rising tide in big ticket claims against individual directors. We have also seen a similar trend across our global network and in some of the offshore jurisdictions where we have strong links with local firms.