Gulf Standard Time

Please join ACC Middle East members and Afridi & Angell for this discussion and Q&A. This interactive session will provide an opportunity to meet up and share experiences and insight into some of the unique challenges corporate counsel are facing today, including the effect of COVID-19 on employment, risk management and current and future disputes. Afridi & Angell will answer some of the most frequently asked questions derived from the firm’s interactions with clients as well as from the COVID-19 Legal Advice hotline that the firm ran over the past three weeks.

Please submit questions that you would like to discuss on registration. Alternatively, you may email your questions in advance to middleeast@accglobal.com. You will also have an opportunity to pose your questions during the webinar session.

A number of significant developments were introduced during 2020 in the UAE which impact on doing business in the UAE as well as the wider region. Developments included amendments, as well as new laws, in civil litigation, corporate and commercial law, and labour law. Not to mention measures that are continually being introduced and adapted by the authorities to combat COVID-19.

Join us at this webinar where partners Charles Laubach and Danielle Lobo will provide a high level discussion of a number of these developments that impact your day-to-day practice. The discussion will include:

• amendments to the Companies Law in connection with the removal of the 51 per cent restriction on UAE national ownership and changes to provisions relating to LLCs;

• compliance with Economic Substance Regulation;

• AML and your obligation to develop and enforce an internal AML policy, to conduct business and country risk assessments, to develop and implement a “Know Your Customer” policy, to train employees, and to report suspicious transactions;

• ultimate beneficial ownership and the framework for identifying and recording details of real beneficiaries of entities licensed to conduct business in the UAE; and

• a quick round-up of COVID-19 frequently asked questions.

We are pleased to invite you to a briefing conference call on force majeure clauses in contracts governed under UAE law.

Whether an event constitutes a force majeure event – and thus excuse the non-performing party of its contractual obligations – must be determined by an analysis of the facts, the contractual terms, and the applicable law. During the call we will discuss, among other things, the principles of UAE law on force majeure and the impact of commonly used contractual terms.

Dial-in details along with discussion slides will be circulated next week prior to the call.

There is an increased focus on diversity and inclusion both globally and in the Middle East. The UAE is leading the way for the Middle East region, with a strong focus on gender inclusion and the empowerment of women, which has resulted in significant progress including women now holding fifty percent of the seats in the Federal National Council.

As a follow up to the Global Women’s Forum and Squire Patton Boggs’ partnership with the Dubai Women Establishment on the event, we invite you to join our panel event to continue the discussion on this important topic. Our esteemed panel members will engage in a lively discussion to provide their insights and experiences on how organisations can improve their diversity, as well as how inclusion in the workplace can be embraced, and the benefits of doing so. As part of this discussion, we will be looking at the recent legislative changes in the Middle East and how that has and will drive forward more positive change.

The panel session will be moderated by partner Sarah Lawrence and associate Amanda Coppen. We will hear insights from:

• Sahiba Watson, Principal Recruiter – MENAP, Uber
• Ammar Al Zughaiby, Senior Counsel, formerly at the MLSD, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
• Romantha Govender, Head of Diversity & Inclusion, Unilever
• Sahia Ahmad, General Counsel, Dubai Tourism
• Liam Collens, Regional Legal Director and Compliance Officer, Reckitt Benckiser

We will also look at employment legal developments across the region, including the new discrimination provisions in the UAE and Saudi Arabia. There will be a Q&A session to answer audience questions.

Please RSVP by Thursday 12 March 2020. Spaces are limited and will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.

We look forward to welcoming you.

We will be discussing the key employment law developments over the past year and what changes we expect to see introduced in 2021 and beyond. The session will consider the statutory regimes under both the UAE Labour Law and the DIFC Employment Law. We will discuss key trends and share experiences of how businesses are managing tricky employee issues such as: discrimination; changing terms and conditions; post termination restrictive covenants; personal data; pension and end of service gratuity; and terminations and redundancies. There will be time for discussion and questions!

Stress Management: How to Optimize Your Stress Response for Well-Being

Stress is an inevitable and important part of the daily human experience. Particularly during these stressful and uncertain times, the ability to manage acute stress is increasingly relevant. In this session, Morgan Lewis’s Director of Employee Well-Being, Krista Larson, will share practical, evidence-based strategies for making your stress work for you (instead of the other way around). This session was designed by Krista to be delivered specifically for lawyers, and provides practical steps to help you manage stresses at work and in your everyday lives.

Speaker bio:

Krista Larson serves as Morgan Lewis's director of employee well-being. In this global position, Krista works to design and implement a custom wellbeing curriculum as part of the firm's employee engagement efforts. Krista earned her Master’s in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied the science of well-being with the founder of the field, Dr. Martin Seligman. It was through this experience that she became passionate about the use of Positive Psychology to enable organizations and their people to better thrive.

International Leadership Coach and Consultant Lakeshia Ekeigwe will join us from the US for this topical event to be hosted by Morgan Lewis. Lakeshia is highly specialised in working with in-house counsel and will be talking about mastering your career without sacrificing health, happiness or relationships.

Following the keynote presentation, there will be an interactive panel discussion, including Patrice Borders, Esq., US Based Emotional Intelligence Consultant, focused on the well-being of legal teams and how mindfulness can contribute to increased focus, better productivity and overall well-being of lawyers in the workplace. The panel of speakers will discuss their experiences and share some best-practice examples of how law firms and corporate workplaces are supporting their employees’ well-being.

16:30 Arrival and refreshments

17:00 Keynote speaker

17:45 Panel discussion

18:30 Q&A / Canapés and refreshments will be available from 18:45

19:00 Networking

Please note that there are limited seats for this event and that priority will be given to members of the ACC and clients of Morgan Lewis.

You are invited to a webinar to hear from Baker Botts and the General Authority for Competition (GAC), Saudi Arabia regarding the new Saudi Arabian Competition Law.

GAC Agency representatives Dr. Fuad Alagsam (Head of Economic dep.), Mr. Hamoud Alotaibi (Investigation and Seizure Unit Head), Ms. Lama Almazyad (Economic Specialist) and Abeer Ibrahim AlRashudi (Institutional Relations Specialist) together with our panel of Baker Botts lawyers (Paul Lugard, Abdulrahman Aflah and Dina Jubrail) will share their insights and practical experience on key competition law developments of interest to domestic and multinational companies doing business in Saudi Arabia. Topics to be addressed during the webinar include:

1. 1. Overview of the Saudi Arabia competition regime and practical insights.
2. 2. Overview of the latest changes and implications.
3. 3. Discussion of the new merger control thresholds and procedure.

This webinar will provide an understanding of how best to respond to these new developments in Saudi Arabia competition law.

Webinar Timing:

13.00-14.00 - UAE

12.00-13.00 - KSA

10.00-11.00 - Europe

09.00-10.00 - UK