Legal leaders congregate
The 8th Annual Corporate Legal Counsel: A New Era forum was organised by Marcusevans conferences from 2-4 November, 2015. The theme of the conferences was on leading change, transcending boundaries and engaging legal facets to rise above traditional functions. Held at the Hyatt Regency Creek Dubai, the seminar gathered the leading legal minds of the region to talk about how to push the boundaries to become the trusted advisor of the organisation. Day one was chaired by James MacPherson, global head of ADR, Capplex, UK. Highlights of the day – Bapsy Dastur, general counsel and chief legal officer of Stolt Nielsen analysed the latest local and federal legislations in the region to assess its impact in organisations with a focus on how to comply with the law’s provisions. Fayyaz Mahmood, general counsel of Bahrain Airport Company and Bapsy Dastur had an interesting debate on the need for a separate compliance and legal function. Following which, Amir Ghaffari, partner, Vinson & Elkins, talked about the key considerations in deciding between negotiation, mediation, arbitration or litigation by assessing the main differences and requirements. Alex Ridout, general counsel and company secretary of Lamprell, chaired Day 2. He presented an fascinating presentation on the role legal counsels can play to protect companies from cyber threats (turn to page 18 for his views). Anneliese Reinhold of Du shared her expert presentation on evolving roles and responsibilities of legal counsels. She emphasised on the importance of moving from a traditional approach to a more progressive role, equipping legal counsels to deal with a range of challenges like content piracy, privacy and environmental initiatives. Lubna Qassim, general counsel and company secretary of Emirates NBD talked about fostering a corporate culture that embeds a legal risk response strategy. Other presentations included discussions by Michael Hancock of HSBC and Steven Black of SEDCO holding. The seminar proved to be a great platform for in house counsels to discuss abd brainstorm ideas to equip themselves to be leaders in this rapidly evolving legal landscape.
