The Archive (2020-2023)

2024 is set to be a big year for UK employers. We are anticipating significant changes to employment law, affecting how people work, diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI) and hiring and firing. In addition, the post-Brexit employment landscape is starting to take shape, with significant changes taking effect on 1 January 2024. There is much for employers to look out for, to ensure they keep pace with the changing legal landscape. In this podcast Clare Fletcher and David Rintoul take you through the key changes, and what you need to do to ensure your business is prepared.

Phase 1 Complete; Phase 2 to come! In this podcast, we reflect on the lessons learned from Phase 1 of consumer duty implementation, and the challenges that face firms for closed books ahead of 31 July 2024. This episode sets out a general market-wide overview; we will separately be launching follow up discussions deep diving into specific issues that consumer duty poses for banking, insurance and asset management sectors.

Three years on from the pandemic and one year on from our last podcast, what does hybrid working look like and are there any emerging trends? In this podcast, partners Phil Linnard and Jane Edwarde are joined by Martin Boyle (Head of Legal - Dispute Resolution and Employment, Ocado Group) to discuss what has changed over the last year, the current global picture and the wider impact of hybrid working on employee retention, human resources, real estate requirements and mental wellbeing.

The past 9 months have seen turbulence stemming from the Truss-Kwarteng mini budget, a UK government debt market intervention by the Bank of England and rising interest rates, against the backdrop of questions about the UK's ability to thrive outside the EU. Charles Randell, Jan Putnis, Nick Bonsall, Dr. Sabine Dittrich and our host Selmin Hakki discuss how the post-crisis financial system is weathering these challenges and anticipate future areas of focus for financial regulators. They also explore where the UK stands in its plan to 'rethink the rulebook' post-Brexit.

2023 promises to be a significant year for low carbon hydrogen production in the UK with the first contracts supporting green and blue hydrogen production expected to be entered into from H2 2023. As a result, hydrogen producers, their investors and lenders will be examining the UK Government’s latest update to the hydrogen production business model with interest.  In this podcast we discuss some of the key issues on which industry is engaging with government. These include which end uses will be eligible for support under the business model, how volume risk is managed, and how CO2 network cross-chain risks are proposed to be mitigated.

As AI adoption increases, and governments and regulators across the globe grapple with how best to regulate AI, Slaughter and May are producing a series of ‘Regulating AI’ thought pieces that will consider some of the legal issues that arise from developing and using AI solutions. The latest in this series is a podcast in which IP Partner Laura Houston and PSL Richard Barker discuss some of the key intellectual property law considerations and issues relating to AI. They consider which IP rights are relevant, look at whether AI itself can own or infringe IP, discuss some of the outcomes of the UKIPO’s recent consultations and calls for views and talk us through some of the changes that are expected to be made following those consultations.

In this podcast, Competition Partner, Jordan Ellison and Senior PSL Annalisa Tosdevin discuss the competition law considerations arising from the use of algorithms. They consider some of the concerns around algorithms, the extent to which these concerns are really a competition law issue and how competition regulators might get involved. They finish with some practical takeaways for clients who use AI and algorithms in their business.

The UK government has thrown its weight behind CCS, aiming to capture and store 20-30 Mt of carbon emissions per year by 2030 from across the economy. However, the cost of installing and operating carbon capture equipment, together with the cost of transporting and storing that carbon once captured, is currently prohibitively expensive and therefore requires government support. With detailed draft contracts designed to support capture projects published recently, Oliver Moir, Iain McCann, Rory Botros and Kathryn Emmett discuss key issues for investors in capture projects: from pricing and deliverability, to co-dependency on the CCS network and termination rights.

The UK government has doubled its ambitions for low carbon hydrogen and is now aiming for 10 GW of low carbon hydrogen capacity by 2030. However, revenue support for new build production projects is needed to make them viable, investable and bankable. Oliver Moir and Kathryn Emmett discuss the draft heads of terms for low carbon hydrogen support in the UK including key issues for hydrogen production projects: from pricing and the low carbon hydrogen standard, to network co-dependency issues, offtake and termination rights.

Two years after lockdown was first imposed, most businesses now have increased flexibility about where and how their employees work. But what have we learnt about the hybrid model, and can this be taken forward as we move beyond COVID-19? In this podcast, partners Jane Edwarde and Phil Linnard discuss how hybrid working has evolved over the past two years, and what challenges and opportunities this presents for both the employment relationship and the UK property sector.

In our third and final podcast in our Autumn series of M&A Perspective, David Watkins, Alex Dustan and Kerry O’Connell explore trends behind the headline M&A statistics in Europe and look at how companies are navigating increased regulation in order to get deals done.

In the second podcast of our M&A Perspective Autumn series. David Watkins, a corporate partner at Slaughter and May join Laura Turano and Krishna Veeraraghavan at Paul Weiss to discuss the record deal activity in the US, the drivers behind the growth, and also share their views on recent changes at the DOJ and FTC and the subsequent impact on competition law.

In the Autumn series of M&A Perspective, we take an in depth look at some of the key trends influencing M&A across three regions. In the first of the series, David Watkins, Natalie Yeung and Chris McGaffin examine differences and similarities in deal activity across Asia. They discuss geopolitical pressure, pivotal shifts in Chinese policy and then take a broader view of deal activity and dynamics in South East Asia.

As employers put into place their return to office strategy, leases are now being reviewed with an ‘ESG’ lens. In this podcast, our Real Estate team discusses the increasing importance of ESG considerations for corporate occupiers. Graham Rounce, Samantha Brady, Mark Gulliford and Ben Redding share some insight on what we are seeing from clients in this space and answer questions on government-led initiatives to improve the sustainability of workplaces and corporate HQ’s, while also touching on the importance of lenders in this process. Listen to the full podcast below.

In this podcast, our lawyers give some practical pointers on what businesses can do to build operational resilience and be prepared for future challenging periods. The pandemic affected large swathes of the economy, but with temporary COVID-related restrictions easing and vaccination programme bedded down, the economy is open for business. However, businesses are facing a number of headwinds, including supply chain disruption, raw material price increases, gas price increases and labour shortages. With the backdrop of government support starting to wind down and temporary protections being withdrawn, in this podcast, Ian Johnson, Andrew Jolly and Megan Sparber discuss how businesses facing a possible restructuring can prepare for all eventualities in order to achieve the best outcome.

Climate change and sustainability currently has a strong focus not only within ESG circles but also in the broader business and investment community. As part of our 'Path to COP26' series, this podcast features partners Harry Hecht, Jan Putnis and Lisa Wright in conversation about how in-house lawyers can join the conversation on climate change, covering topics such as TCFD disclosures, climate reporting and sustainability standards and what challenges and opportunities they expect to come in light of COP26.

An increasing number of companies and treasury teams have been considering issuing green and ESG bonds. Earlier this year our financing team worked with Chris Vaughan, GC at Whitbread on the issuance of a dual-tranche Green Bond. In this podcast, Chris gives us an issuer’s perspective on green and ESG bonds, and discusses the attraction, advantages and practicalities for these bonds with Matthew Tobin and Jennifer Sadek.

As businesses reshape their working patterns, Standard Chartered Bank was already ahead with their ‘Future Workplace, Now’ project. We sat down with Nicola Doran, Head of Employment Law Europe, Americas & AME at Standard Chartered, to discuss the challenges and opportunities of hybrid working models across the world.  From employee surveys and office space design to diversity and inclusion and future generations, partners Phil Linnard and Caroline Phillips explore with Nicola how we can reinvent the 9 to 5 and what role legal teams can play.

As businesses reshape their working patterns, social cohesion appears at the heart of the discussion around the future of work. In this podcast, partners Jan Putnis, Jeff Twentyman, Phil Linnard and Natalie Cook discuss how we can define social cohesion, how it has been impacted (and could be re-invented) by the pandemic and why it matters to in-house legal functions.

In the final podcast in this series, Ben Kingsley, Natalie Donovan and Emily Bradley turn to consider the promise presented by quantum technologies, and discuss how businesses can start to leverage the opportunities they present. They catch up with Alexei Kondratyev, Managing Director and Head of Data Science and Innovation at Standard Chartered Bank, to hear more about the work that Slaughter and May’s clients are already doing in this space.