Overview

Legal Week presents the first instalment of our new online panel show for in-house lawyers. Fuelled by the most popular briefings from legalweeklaw.com, the panel explores five key subjects over the course of the show, including force majeure clauses, alternative fee arrangements, the Bribery Act, employment law and document retention.

Jeremy Barton, general counsel and head of risk management at The Boston Consulting Group, presents the first show alongside Ian Leedham, senior counsel at National Grid, and Robert Cummins, assistant general counsel at Intelsat.

The first topic the panel debates covers force majeure clauses in English law contracts, which have been brought under the microscope following the Japanese earthquake and tsunami as well as the Arab Spring.

As a number of key corporates kick off panel reviews, fixed and alternative fees are discussed, including whether the removal of hourly billing will actually bring down costs.

Following the long-trailed introduction of the Bribery Act in the UK earlier this month, the show also looks at how prepared in house lawyers are to police anti-bribery policies, given that government guidance stresses the need for top-down implementation.

Julie Quinn, head of Nabarro’s employment practice, joins the panel to explain a number of issues regarding termination of an employee’s contract and information provided by employers following the recent case of McKie v Swindon College.

The final session deals with new rules governing document retention, which are explained by Jonathan Maas, assistant director at Ernst & Young.