Herbert Smith Freehills Podcasts

The latest edition of our Regulation in Focus podcast series features Clive Cunningham and Andrew Procter, both partners in our FSR practice, in conversation about the milestone publication of the UK regulators’ final policies on operational resilience. https://hsfnotes.com/fsrandcorpcrime/2021/04/07/uk-regulators-release-final-operational-resilience-policies/ The discussion ranges from the challenges for senior managers to the nuances of setting impact tolerances in dual regulated firms to the wider global context. Speakers: Clive Cunningham, Partner and Andrew Procter, Partner

Huge swathes of column inches have been dedicated to the UK government’s business interruption loan support schemes, but little has been said to date about the implications of these schemes unwinding. Jenny Stainsby is joined by James Palmer and John Chetwood to discuss the dual challenges of recapitalisation and managing financial distress.

Natalie Gaspar, Partner, Melbourne and Fatim Jumabhoy, Partner, Singapore 2021 and beyond will likely see a rise in workplace complaints from employees. We discuss how to prepare, and how the union movement might respond more generally to ESG issues.

Leah Watterson, Senior Associate, Melbourne Consumer companies face current and emerging class action risks from a range of areas including corporate disclosure and employment issues. We highlight the key areas to keep an eye on in 2021.

In this special edition of our banking litigation podcast, we consider a key risk area for financial institutions handling client payments - the Quincecare duty of care. This episode is hosted by Ceri Morgan, a professional support consultant in our banking litigation team, who is joined by Mark Tanner and Scott Warin. Quincecare duty claims typically arise where a bank or deposit holding financial institution has received a payment mandate from an authorised signatory of its customer, and executed the order, in circumstances where (allegedly) there were red flags to suggest that the order was an attempt to misappropriate the funds of the customer. The past few years have witnessed an uptick in such claims, with a proliferation of judgments being handed down in quick succession since the Supreme Court’s decision in Singularis Holdings Ltd v Daiwa Capital Markets Europe Ltd [2019] UKSC 50 https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2018-0039-judgment.pdf. In our podcast, we discuss how these judgments have defined both the scope of the duty, and the potential tools in the armoury of banks to defend these claims. You can find links to our blog posts on the cases covered in this podcast below: • Court of Appeal judgment on scope and exclusion of “Quincecare” duty of care https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/2019/10/22/court-of-appeal-judgment-on-scope-and-exclusion-of-quincecare-duty-of-care/ • Supreme Court upholds first successful claim for breach of the so-called “Quincecare” duty of care https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/2019/10/31/supreme-court-upholds-first-successful-claim-for-breach-of-the-so-called-quincecare-duty-of-care/ • High Court refuses to strike out Quincecare duty claim against a PSP where its customer was hijacked by fraudsters https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/2020/09/23/high-court-refuses-to-strike-out-quincecare-duty-claim-against-a-psp-where-its-customer-was-hijacked-by-fraudsters/ • High Court provides further insights on the risks of Quincecare claims against banks https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/2020/12/17/high-court-provides-further-insights-on-the-risks-of-quincecare-claims-against-banks/ • High Court confirms current scope of Quincecare duty is limited to protecting corporate customers and does not extend to individuals https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/2021/01/26/high-court-confirms-current-scope-of-quincecare-duty-is-limited-to-protecting-corporate-customers-and-does-not-extend-to-individuals/ • Hong Kong court refuses to expand scope of Quincecare duty https://hsfnotes.com/asiadisputes/2021/04/19/banks-may-rest-assured-as-hong-kong-court-refuses-to-expand-scope-of-quincecare-duty/ Don't forget to subscribe to the banking litigation blog: https://hsfnotes.com/bankinglitigation/subscribe/

Join Herbert Smith Freehills’ Employment team for a coffee catch up as they discuss current hot topics impacting the employment sphere. In this, first episode, the team looks at returning to work in the UK following the Covid-19 pandemic. They tackle issues including the roadmap for returning to work; the implications of a no jab no job policy and whether employers should be focussing on getting negative tests rather than jabs. Speakers: Tim Leaver, Partner, Employment, Christine Young, Partner, Employment and David Palmer, Senior Associate, Employment

On this emergency episode Steven Jacobs is joined by Robert Linnehan, a writer at XLMedia, to discuss recently-publicized legislation that would legalize mobile sports wagering in New York.

Peter Jones, Partner, Sydney and David J Ryan, Senior Associate, Melbourne The value of data as a genuine asset cannot be doubted for the consumer sector, but will the future continue to allow the current forms of data analysis and monetisation. Or are we on the cusp of a significant political, societal and regulatory backlash?

In this episode, Alan Mitchell and Aoife Xuereb discuss the recent introduction of group costs orders in class actions commenced in Victoria and issues that arise in security for costs applications in class action proceedings.

In the latest episode in our public M&A podcast series, we discuss the changes to the Takeover Code that will come into force on 5 July 2021. The changes will: • update the rules on regulatory clearances, including removing the historical, special status for EU merger clearance and UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) clearance; • simplify the timetable for contractual offers; and • introduce a flexible contractual offer timetable, to accommodate regulatory timetables which run for longer than 60 days. Speakers: Antonia Kirkby, Professional Support Lawyer Mark Bardell, Partner

This podcast is a deep dive into an issue that impacts you, and all FCA regulated firms – treating vulnerable customers fairly. It features Karen Anderson, Cat Dankos and Ben Goodman from our contentious financial services regulatory practice in London, discussing the FCA’s aim of ensuring that vulnerable consumers experience outcomes as good as other consumers and receive consistently fair treatment across all FCA-regulated firms and sectors. Speakers: Karen Anderson (Partner), Cat Dankos (Regulatory Consultant) and Ben Goodman (Of Counsel)

On this episode Steven Jacobs is joined by Natasha Blycha, the Global Head of Digital Law at Herbert Smith Freehills and an expert on blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Jacobs and Blycha discuss this revolutionary technology and how it may further disrupt the legal world (and the gambling world). The discussion includes a focus on cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and smart contracts.

What do the Government's audit and corporate governance reform proposals mean for companies? In this podcast, we discuss the UK Government's long awaited consultation paper on audit and governance reform with the Financial Reporting Council's Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs, and Miranda Craig, Director of Strategy and Change. The consultation paper proposes some fundamental reforms in a number of areas in relation to audit, corporate governance and corporate reporting. In this podcast we consider some of the key issues for corporates including in relation to director liability and accountability, risk management and internal control process and procedures and audit and assurance. Visit the FRC website to hear more about the consultation and share your views. https://www.frc.org.uk/https/www-frc-org-uk/frc-for-you/beis-consultation-document-2021/how-you-can-hear-more-about-the-consultation-and-s Speakers: Gareth Sykes, Of Counsel, Kate O'Neill, Director of Stakeholder Engagement and Corporate Affairs and Miranda Craig, Director of Strategy and Change at the Financial Reporting Council

Businesses who deal with consumers will generally wish to have a good relationship with Government, regulators and other public authorities. However, there are times when a company’s interests are such that they come into conflict. At those times companies may wish to consider how that conflict might be resolved if it were to reach court. Last June, we created a guide to Regulatory Disputes in the Consumer Sector https://sites-herbertsmithfreehills.vuturevx.com/20/21553/landing-pages/public-law-consumer-cases.pdf. This guide is designed for businesses that interact with consumers, for example, selling products to the public direct or through retailers, who might have to consider how to proceed when regulatory matters become contentious, and indeed those who work at regulators themselves. The guide collates a number of significant cases from recent years to demonstrate how administrative law principles work in practice within this sector. However, since we published the guide, there have been additional and significant developments, in particular due to the impact of the UK leaving the EU. Andrew Lidbetter, Jasveer Randhawa and Hannah Lau have therefore recorded a podcast giving an update on the post-Brexit landscape and other important developments, to build on the guide.

In the latest episode in our public M&A podcast series, we look at recent situations where we have seen shareholders influence a bid situation, whether by: • encouraging M&A • affecting M&A or • threatening M&A. Speakers: Antonia Kirkby, Professional Support Lawyer and Greg Mulley, Partner