Herbert Smith Freehills Podcasts Herbert Smith Freehills Podcasts

Andrew Eastwood and Bryony Adams discuss an important Federal Court judgment handed down recently in ASIC v Noumi Ltd which has wide-ranging implications for organisations facing litigation and regulatory proceedings and their approach to legal professional privilege, particularly those in the banking and financial services sectors.

In this episode, we return with Part 2 of our discussion with Bill Siegel, the CEO of Coveware. We look closely at Coveware itself (and its history), the scope of Coveware’s services, how threat actor negotiations unfold, banning ransom payments, the role of the cyber simulation and what makes a good simulation. We also discussed the role of the board during an incident and managed to squeeze some cyber predictions out of Bill, including the impacts of AI on the cyber landscape. This is a “must listen” episode!

This month Jojo Fan spoke with Cindy Hui, General Counsel for Alibaba's International Digital Commerce Group. Cindy shares her tips for young women looking to enter new tech industries, and the trend towards work-life integration enabled by increased connectivity and new ways of working.

In our first Podcast on the work of the Treasury Taskforce, Stephanie Panayi and Andrew North delved into the merger reform proposals that were under consideration by the Treasury Taskforce preceding today’s Government announcement.

Leveraging Andrew's extensive knowledge of the UK and EU merger regimes, we dissect several key aspects of the Treasury’s consultation including:

🔹 why the ACCC considers there is a case for merger reform 🔹 the reform models on the table and how the merger test may change 🔹 what the notification thresholds might look like 🔹 how ancillary agreements might be managed 🔹 the interaction between FIRB and the ACCC 🔹 when we should expect to see change.

Stay tuned for more insights and updates on the merger reform proposals and other considerations of the Treasury Taskforce.

Jacqueline Wootton, Christine Wong and Christopher Hicks discuss the intersection between corporate criminal responsibility and ESG in a Third Wheel X Investigate 360 collaboration episode exploring governance, social licence to operate and the regulation of ESG issues under criminal standards. The serious risks associated with criminal matters are underlined, from corporate penalties and investigations through to individual prosecution and reputational consequences as well as the patchwork of inconsistent standards and methods for determining when a company will be held criminally responsible. They discuss the ongoing road to reform, including a radical change in relation to foreign bribery and the potential introduction of Deferred Prosecution Agreements. Our team conclude with some of the steps companies can take to future proof their business to respond to criminal liability and risk.

UK Employment Law changes in force from 6 April

It is estimated that 55% of the UK workforce is planning on requesting flexible working hours once some significant changes to Employment Law, including to the flexible work request regime, come into effect from Saturday 6 April. https://hsfnotes.com/employment/2024/03/29/uk-april-2024-hr-checklist/

Employers need to be aware of these changes, which extend to family leave rights, redundancy protection, tribunal compensation award limits, minimum wage and pay for statutory leave, and update staff policies and handbooks accordingly.

In this episode, Christine Young and Anna Henderson discuss the changes to various family leave rights and changes to flexible work request regime, and suggest best next steps for employers.

Contact us (georgie.hobern@hsf.com) if our team can assist yours when making the necessary updates to policy.