We recognise that it's sometimes hard for in-house lawyers to keep up with legal developments. Why not let us make it easier for you? This annual update will provide a practical guide to recent developments in commercial contract law and the key cases behind them.

Speakers

Dominic Batchelor, Patricia Wade

Who should attend?

General interest, no prior knowledge required.

Date and time

Tuesday 7 February 9.00 - 10.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.45 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Dominic Batchelor

Accreditation

This is the first session in a series of five hands-on workshops following on from our successful overview seminar held on 8 November 2011: "Keeping the peace: ten strategies to navigate the conflict between IP and competition law". This 90-minute workshop will cover:

• How to deal with the key competition law issues when licensing intellectual property
• How to apply the competition law block exemptions
• Particular issues for licensing between competitors

Key speakers: Dominic Batchelor and Euan Burrows

Who should attend?

This workshop will offer an opportunity to exchange views on particular cases, raise specific concerns and highlight solutions for any problems which arise. Participants should therefore have some background knowledge and understanding of the topics to be discussed, and will be invited to play an active part in setting the agenda for each meeting. Places at the table will be limited to ensure that all can contribute to the discussions.

Please note that you do not need to attend all five workshops in the series, although you are very welcome to do so.

Date and time

Thursday 9 February 8.30 - 10.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.15 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Dominic Batchelor
Euan Burrows

Accreditation

Due diligence is often regarded as a necessary evil – adding little value to the overall process. This session will underline the role that legal and tax due diligence plays in reaching a successful conclusion to a transaction, whether you are a financial sponsor or a trade player, and provide some practical advice on the potential pitfalls, with a view to ensuring that you get what you need from a diligence process.

Speakers

Karan Dinamani, Richard Palmer, Mark Sperotto

Who should attend?

General interest, no prior knowledge required.

Date and time

Tuesday 21 February 9.00 - 10.30 am
Breakfast available from 8.45 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Richard Palmer

Mark Sperotto

Accreditation

All sessions qualify for Solicitors Regulation Authority CPD hours (accreditation code 008/ASHT), Bar Standards Board CPD hours (subject to individual event accreditation), New York State Bar Association CLE credits and Legal Practice Board of Western Australia CPD points. As a guide, a one-hour session is equal to one hour/credit/point

Are you aware of the existence of unconscious bias and its potential impact on all aspects of talent management – including recruitment, promotion and managing performance? And if you become aware of unconscious bias in operation, are you confident that you have the judgement to assess it and the skills to tackle it?

This workshop, led by diversity and employment law experts and with the assistance of specialist actors, will provide you with crucial tools to make the most of your people and provide some protection for you and your business.

We will offer insights into and skills around:

• Recognising unconscious bias and the impact it can have in the workplace.
• Reviewing key people processes to ensure objectivity and protection from challenge.
• Developing the ability to challenge in a constructive and engaging manner.

Speakers

Paul Brown, Deborah Dalgleish

Who should attend?

General interest, no prior knowledge required.

Date and time

Tuesday 28 February 9.00 - 10.30 am
Breakfast available from 8.45 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Accreditation

All sessions qualify for Solicitors Regulation Authority CPD hours (accreditation code 008/ASHT), Bar Standards Board CPD hours (subject to individual event accreditation), New York State Bar Association CLE credits and Legal Practice Board of Western Australia CPD points. As a guide, a one-hour session is equal to one hour/credit/point

Managing the rogue director is just one example of the multi-faceted compliance situations facing General Counsel today. In this interactive session, Ashurst's international compliance and investigations group will use a role play of a hypothetical, but unfortunately not unfamiliar, scenario to draw out the legal issues and priorities that need to be taken into account when making the judgement calls required. Issues covered will include anti-competitive behaviour, employment rights, conducting an internal investigation, data protection, regulatory concerns, the UK Bribery Act and implications for the board.

Speakers

Dominic Batchelor, Euan Burrows, Rob Moulton, Angela Pearson, Edward Sparrow, Crowley Woodford

Who should attend?

General interest, no prior knowledge required.

Date and time

Tuesday 6 March 9.00 - 10.30 am
Breakfast available from 8.45 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Dominic Batchelor

Euan Burrows

Rob Moulton

Angela Parsons

Edward Sparrow

Crowley Woodford

Accreditation

All sessions qualify for Solicitors Regulation Authority CPD hours (accreditation code 008/ASHT), Bar Standards Board CPD hours (subject to individual event accreditation), New York State Bar Association CLE credits and Legal Practice Board of Western Australia CPD points. As a guide, a one-hour session is equal to one hour/credit/point

There continues to be significant interest in acquiring regulated infrastructure assets, for example in the energy, water and airport sectors. This reflects the relatively stable and secure revenue streams they generate, despite the uncertain economic climate. This session will provide an update on current developments relating to infrastructure M&A in the UK, focusing on issues such as:

• Strategies to win deals.
• Commercial due diligence issues.
• Regulatory and competition considerations.
• Pension liabilities.
• Environmental risks.

Speakers

Neil Cuninghame, Steven Hull, Nigel Price, Eavan Saunders Cole

Who should attend?

General interest, no prior knowledge required.

Date and time

Wednesday 14 March 9.00 - 11.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.45 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Neil Cuninghame

Steven Hull

Nigel Price

Eavan Saunders Cole

Accreditation

All sessions qualify for Solicitors Regulation Authority CPD hours (accreditation code 008/ASHT), Bar Standards Board CPD hours (subject to individual event accreditation), New York State Bar Association CLE credits and Legal Practice Board of Western Australia CPD points. As a guide, a one-hour session is equal to one hour/credit/point

This is the second session in a series of five hands-on workshops following on from our successful overview seminar held on 8 November 2011: "Keeping the peace: ten strategies to navigate the conflict between IP and competition law". This 90-minute workshop will cover:

• Principles of comparative advertising in an on-line environment
• "Smell-alike" perfume cases
• Google in the spotlight: AdWords and search results

Key speakers: Mark Lubbock and Inbli Iserles

Who should attend?

This workshop will offer an opportunity to exchange views on particular cases, raise specific concerns and highlight solutions for any problems which arise. Participants should therefore have some background knowledge and understanding of the topics to be discussed, and will be invited to play an active part in setting the agenda for each meeting. Places at the table will be limited to ensure that all can contribute to the discussions.

Please note that you do not need to attend all five workshops in the series, although you are very welcome to do so.

Date and time

Thursday 15 March 8.30 - 10.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.15 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Mark Lubbock

Accreditation

This is the third session in a series of five hands-on workshops following on from our successful overview seminar held on 8 November 2011: "Keeping the peace: ten strategies to navigate the conflict between IP and competition law". This 90-minute workshop will cover:

• Principles of exhaustion and how to protect your intellectual property
• Patent, copyright and trade mark exhaustion
• The Premier League/Karen Murphy case

Key speakers: Mark Lubbock and Duncan Liddell

Who should attend?

This workshop will offer an opportunity to exchange views on particular cases, raise specific concerns and highlight solutions for any problems which arise. Participants should therefore have some background knowledge and understanding of the topics to be discussed, and will be invited to play an active part in setting the agenda for each meeting. Places at the table will be limited to ensure that all can contribute to the discussions.

Please note that you do not need to attend all five workshops in the series, although you are very welcome to do so.

Date and time

Thursday 19 April 8.30 - 10.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.15 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Mark Lubbock
Duncan Liddell

Accreditation

This is the fourth session in a series of five hands-on workshops following on from our successful overview seminar held on 8 November 2011: "Keeping the peace: ten strategies to navigate the conflict between IP and competition law". This 90-minute workshop will cover:

• Standardisation: avoiding the competition pitfalls
• The concept of FRAND and how to challenge it
• Economics issues in calculating FRAND royalties, etc.

Key speakers: Donald Slater, Mark Lubbock and Emily Clark

Who should attend?

This workshop will offer an opportunity to exchange views on particular cases, raise specific concerns and highlight solutions for any problems which arise. Participants should therefore have some background knowledge and understanding of the topics to be discussed, and will be invited to play an active part in setting the agenda for each meeting. Places at the table will be limited to ensure that all can contribute to the discussions.

Please note that you do not need to attend all five workshops in the series, although you are very welcome to do so.

Date and time

Thursday 17 May 8.30 - 10.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.15 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Donald Slater
Mark Lubbock

Accreditation

This is the fifth session in a series of five hands-on workshops following on from our successful overview seminar held on 8 November 2011: "Keeping the peace: ten strategies to navigate the conflict between IP and competition law". This 90-minute workshop will cover:

• When patent management becomes abuse of a dominant position
• Issues with settlement agreements in competition law disputes
• Compulsory licensing, etc.

Key speakers: Euan Burrows, Nigel Parr, Dominic Batchelor

Who should attend?

This workshop will offer an opportunity to exchange views on particular cases, raise specific concerns and highlight solutions for any problems which arise. Participants should therefore have some background knowledge and understanding of the topics to be discussed, and will be invited to play an active part in setting the agenda for each meeting. Places at the table will be limited to ensure that all can contribute to the discussions.

Please note that you do not need to attend all five workshops in the series, although you are very welcome to do so.

Date and time

Thursday 21 June 8.30 - 10.00 am
Breakfast available from 8.15 am

Venue

Broadwalk House,
5 Appold Street,
London
EC2A 2HA

Speaker bios

Dominic Batchelor
Euan Burrows
Nigel Parr

Accreditation