Gulf Standard Time

As lock-down measures across the U.A.E. ease and businesses re-open in the new post Covid-19 reality, join us for this interactive session led by Squire Patton Boggs Employment partner, Sarah Lawrence, to discuss the key legal considerations for employers as staff return to work.

This session will cover what you need to know, solutions and strategies relating to:
•    Dealing with return to work issues
•    Advising on the “new norm” of employees working flexibly and wanting to continue to do so; what issues can this raise from an employment law perspective in the Middle East?
•    Managing employees that have tested positive for Covid-19
•    Managing quarantine periods and annual leave
•    Challenges with employees outside of the UAE and not currently able to return

Please submit questions on registration and you will also have an opportunity to pose questions during the session. Every effort will be made to address these during the session. We look forward to welcoming you.

The session will be led by Squire Patton Boggs employment partner, Sarah Lawrence 

Join us for our second interactive Employment Law webinar to discuss the key legal employment considerations and challenges across the Middle East in light of COVID-19.

This session will cover what you need to know, solutions and strategies relating to the response to Covid-19 in the Middle East focusing on:

•    Implementing cost saving measures
        o    Readjustment of salaries / benefits and how to implement these changes
        o    How to make modifications to measures already implemented 
        o    Making longer term changes to employment contracts

•    Managing reductions in workforce
        o    Redundancy / termination procedures and issues

The session will be led by Squire Patton Boggs employment partner, Sarah Lawrence 

Join us for a webinar to explore tech tips for in-house lawyers. 

During the webinar, Hussain Hadi, Head of Middle East Publishing at LexisNexis will share: 

•    What tech tools are corporate counsel currently using?
•    Getting more from existing tools including Microsoft Office and Legal Research platforms 
•    Quick wins including collaboration tools and website monitoring software
•    Helpful Apps recommended by in-house lawyers.

Join us to discuss emerging trends in corporate legal teams in the GCC and explore practical tools for measuring and demonstrating value. With constant pressure “to do more for less” and improve operational efficiency, in-house lawyers need to carefully evaluate their processes and demonstrate tangible value to the business.

This program constitutes a module of the ACC's in-house certification program (ICC), an intensive program designed to help in-house attorneys become proficient in the essential skills identified as critical to an in-house legal career and in assisting legal teams in positioning themselves as indispensable to their corporate client.

LexisNexis will share the latest global and Middle East research on how in-house lawyers currently measure value, including service level agreements, post-deal debriefs, internal surveys, and quantifying risks avoided and share case studies and best practice.

Overview of ACC / LexisNexis survey results:
•    What is keeping in-house lawyers awake at night?
•    What are the top priorities over the next 12 months?
•    What tools and resources are in-house legal teams investing in?
•    Reviewing operations and identifying paint points
•    Using metrics and defining purpose

This session will be hosted & presented by Hussain Hadi, head of publishing at LexisNexis Middle East and he will be joined by the following panellists: 
•    Ashraf Ibrahim, head of legal department and corporate secretary at Trust International Insurance & Reinsurance Co
•    Faris Hadi, general counsel, Ithra Dubai

Consumer packaged goods (CPG) businesses in the GCC face altered markets and challenged supply chains following the Covid-19 crisis. Governments are taking a more active role in managing supply, pricing and quality. Multinational businesses have to monitor the course of government responses closely and dynamically re-assess their business exposure as conditions continue to change. Counterparty risks remain elevated, and while a collaborative approach may help protect supply chains for better times, effective due diligence and cash collection strategies are vital.

This interactive roundtable will provide an opportunity to hear from regional experts Patrick Osgood, Senior Analyst, Control Risks and Ben Smith, Partner, Clyde & Co. how best to manage the risks. The session will be facilitated by Ibrahim Abdel Aziz of Johnson & Johnson Middle East.

Lars Leppin, Therapeutic Value Managing Director at Janssen GCC, will give the business perspective regarding:

1. what happened over the last few months (focus on the patients journey)
2. what will ‘stay’ after the end of the pandemic crisis
3. where the major issue at an industry level, with particular reference to the legal issues at stake.
4. Legal implications, questions and inputs from the group

Ezgi Bayindir , Privacy Head MENA at Novartis, will then complement the session with an overview of the major privacy developments within the region in terms of regulation, enforcement and ‘pain points’ open.

The format is the usual interactive roundtable, aimed at hearing the different experiences among us while the session will be hosted via zoom, which will enable us to reconnect and get closer again.

This round-table will porvide an overview of recent competition law trends and developments in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with an emphasis on FMCG markets. We will discuss the General Authority of Competition’s approach towards agreements with resellers and competitors, abuse of dominance and provide insights into the current enforcement of the new merger control rules. In addition, we will discuss pricing-related topics, provide our views on procedural matters, in particular leniency and discuss best collaboration practices between inhouse counsel and external advisors.

Your suggestions and questions prior to the webinar are welcome and we look forward to your participation.

Panellists are: Stephen Matthews – Partner, Paul Lugard – Partner and Rakan Alyusuf – Associate.

Companies in the field of FMCG are regularly facing data privacy related questions when interacting with their customers and this round-table will provide an opportunity for an interactive discussion on topics that are most relevant like:

• Hypertargeting
• Direct to consumer / B2C selling and associated data
• Promotional campaigns / competitions or giveaways for products / services
• Subject access requests
• Social media use of information, photos and data (names, account names)

The session will be facilitated by Liam Collens, regional legal director & compliance officer at Reckitt Benckiser and Nadim Bardawil, senior associate at BSA Ahmad Bin Hezeem & Associates will share his insights and knowledge on the local law requirements as well as best practice in industry.

You will have an opportunity to ask questions.

Now more than ever, technology is playing a prominent role in supporting in-house counsel in serving their business clients.

In a series of short, demo-style webinars that will take place every two weeks, we will learn how the Microsoft MEA legal team leverages various Microsoft tools to drive efficiency and productivity.

The focus of the first session will be on Microsoft TEAMS. Joanne Fischlin, Head of corporate, external and legal affairs, Microsoft Gulf will share best practice in using video, chat, document sharing & editing and collaboration channels with tips to better connect as we all work remotely. Hussain Hadi from LexisNexis will co-host the session.

You will have an opportunity to ask questions in a 15-minute Q&A session.

Recent regulations like the GDPR in Europe and CCPA in California have started a global transformation in data protection, with new laws in U.A.E. and K.S.A. imminent. This interactive webinar will explore the common attributes between data protection laws in different regions and highlight considerations for organisations in preparing for the new laws. 

The webinar will cover: 
•    Overview of upcoming U.A.E. and K.S.A. data protection laws
•    The GDPR and CCPA – identifying common attributes and how they differ  
•    Leveraging technology to help solve data protection challenges.

You will have an opportunity to ask questions in a 15-minute Q&A session.