MCLE London™ Programme 2022

SESSION 1

Sustainable Finance & Development

A review of some  key aspects of the COP 26 international conference of 2021 and initiatives relating to financial aspects of Climate Change amelioration for the future.

Ida Levine, Attormey at law (CA) Board-level financial services professional and NED, formerly European general counsel and head of compliance for global fund managers and law firm partner, with broad legal and compliance, regulatory strategy, governance, risk, finance, derivatives, public policy, audit, investment, M&A, banking and finance, and private equity experience.

Suzanne Spears. Attorney at Law (NY), Partner – International Arbitration group, Co-Head of Global Business and Human Rights Practice, Allen & Overy. Adjunct professor Notre Dame University.

Dr. Andy Sloan, Founder at International Sustainability Institute Channel Islands, Netherite & Grunweldt Advisory (Climate Capital and Risk)

SESSION  2

Brexit – One Year On.  Overview of the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), and issues going forward, following the UK’s departure on the 31^st December 2020

Consideration of some of the most relevant issues for private and commercial practice, banking and financial services etc., at the end of the first year following the final departure of the UK from the EU on the 31^st December 2020 

John Bell LLB, LLM, Barrister (EW). Solicitor (EW). Richard has a specialised international financial lawfirm practice (FMLI), and is an author of numerous books and articles on financial markets matters.He has spent time on secondment to the London International Financial Futures and Options Exchange, and has worked in Brussels closely with the European Institutions. Memberships: Law Society of England & Wales, International Bar Association, Securities & Investment Institute, Royal Institute of International Affairs, Society of Advanced Legal Studies (Fellow), Royal Air Force Club.

SESSION  3

Doing Business in the Middle East and North Africa via the UAE and Dubai, from a legal perspective

Noff Al Khafaji LLB – Lawyer (Dubai) – Senior Associate Corporate Structuring Team. New developments in corporate structuring, as the UAE and particularly Dubai seek to make corporate set up and operation more straightforward while maintaining proper regulation

Janet Gooi LLB, LLM – Barrister (EW), Lawyer (Dubai) – Senior Associate,Tax. UK and Malaysian qualified lawyer with international tax and legal experience in the Middle East, Malaysia and the UK, including tax litigation, international tax structuring and tax aspects of cross border M&A, restructuring and private equity transactions

Jennifer Leader-Green, Solicitor (EW), Lawyer (Dubai) – Senior Associate, Employment and Incentives Practice. contentious and non-contentious employment law matters

Panel Team, Al Tamimi & Company, International Lawyers, Dubai International Financial Centre, United Arab Emirates. Founded by Essam Al Tamimi in 1989, Al Tamimi & Company has become the leading law firm in the Middle East & North Africa with offices in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

SESSION 4

The Changing Landscape of Continuing Legal Education: Box Ticking, Ensuring Competence, and Professional Development

In the thirty years since the launch of the “Annual International MLCE London Conference,” (formerly “CLE Europe”) continuing legal education (CLE) in the US has changed considerably. With reference to the goals of CLE (and professional development, generally), this panel will review some of the outstanding concerns about this tool as it is used to ensure professional competence and ask the question “why isn’t CLE as effective as it should be?”.

Recent changes to CLE regulations in several US jurisdictions have addressed contemporary concerns like DEI and substance use/mental health, but gaps still exist (e.g. skills for new lawyers, subject-specific development). Bridging these gaps must be done with reference to how adults learn as well as through a re-examination of the goals of continuing legal education.

Professor Doctor Martha-Marie Kleinhans, PhD (Law (Chicago, IL) is Director, Business and Program Development for the American Bar Association’s ABACLE. She both guides entities on their webinar and in-person programming as well as working across the ABA to develop new in-person programs and distance-learning courses. Martha-Marie came to the ABA in 2018 from the higher education sector, where she had been managing a consulting company. Prior to that she was Vice-Provost for the nascent Malaysia campus of the UK’s University of Reading and before that a law professor and dean at the University of Reading in England. She has common and civil law degrees from McGill University in Canada as well as a PhD in law from the University of London.

Gina Roers-Liemandt, BA, JD, Director of MCLE and Member Professional Development at the American Bar Association. Gina is a member of ACLEA (The Association for Continuing Legal Education), where she is currently President Elect, as well as holding many other leadership positions in the past, including chair of the MCLE Committee. An internationally-recognized expert on MCLE rules and requirements, she teaches the MCLE portion of ACLEA’s “Boot Camp” for new members, and is a frequent lecturer on rules, regulations, processes, and trends in accreditation. Gina earned her J.D., cum laude, from the University of Minnesota Law School, and a B.A., cum laude, from Winona State University (Minnesota).

SESSION 5

Competence: Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategies And How They Apply To The Legal Profession

Jonathan Goodliffe – BA Law, Solicitor (EW), legal journalist and researcher into addictive issues in professions, and particularly alcohol abuse.

SESSION 6

Elimination of Bias

Exploring and Transforming Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Legal Sector: The InterLaw Diversity Forum’s Research and UK Model Diversity Survey

Daniel Winterfeldt, MBE, QC (Hon), Attorney (NY), Solicitor (EW). Managing Director & GC for EMEA and Asia, Jefferies; Founder & Chair, InterLaw Diversity Forum. He is a senior corporate and securities lawyer with over 22 years of experience in London and New York. Daniel founded the Forum for US Securities Lawyers in London in 2006 to address US securities issues in the London market across law firms, banks, and intermediaries. In 2008, Daniel founded the InterLaw Diversity Forum to promote meritocracy and inclusion for all diverse, under-represented, and socially disadvantaged groups in the legal sector. In 2020 Daniel was appointed Queen’s Counsel Honoris Causa (Honorary QC) for his contributions to capital markets in England & Wales through the Forum for US Securities Lawyers in London, and for his contributions to diversity, inclusion, and culture in the legal sector through the InterLaw Diversity Forum. He has recently been awarded an MBE for “Services to Capital Markets, to Equality and to Diversity in the Legal Profession”.

Professor Lisa Webley,LLB (Hons), MA Legal Practice, MA Higher Education. Head of Birmingham Law School and Chair in Legal Education and Research at the University of Birmingham, UK. She holds a Senior Associate Research Fellowship at IALS, University of London, is General Editor of Legal Ethics, and is Chair of the International Working Group for the Comparative Study of the Legal Professions. Her research concerns the regulation, education and ethicality and professionalism of the legal profession, and broader access to justice and rule of law concerns. She has a particular focus on E,D&I in the legal profession and is involved both with the Interlaw Diversity Forum and the Apollo Leadership initiative.

SESSION  7

Digital Legal Practice – Online Tribunal Judgments and the Limits of Open Justice

The principle of open justice is a constituent element of the rule of law: it demands publicity of legal proceedings, including the publication of judgments. Since 2017, the UK government has systematically published first instance Employment Tribunal decisions in an online repository. Whilst a veritable treasure trove for researchers and policy makers, the database also has darker potential – from automating blacklisting to creating new and systemic barriers to access to justice. Scrutiny of existing legal safeguards, from anonymity orders to equality law and data protection, finds a number of gaps, which threaten to make the principle of open justice as embodied in the current publication regime inimical to equal access to justice. This is a wake-up call for practitioners, employers and employees in the UK

Jeremias Adams-Prassl, MA(Oxon) DPhil (Oxon), LLM (Harvard Law). Professor of Law, Faculty of Law, Oxford University, and Deputy Director of the Faculty’s Institute of European and Comparative Law

Abigail Adams-Prassl, Professor of Economics at Oxford, Department of Economics; Governing Council, Royal Economics Socety, Specialist Advisor, UK Parliament Equalities Select Committee; Co-Founder of The Covid Inequality Project

SESSION 8

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW

Hot Topics: Current issues relating to Competence in Technology and US Multi-jurisdictional practice

David G. Ries, Attorney at law (PA), Of Counsel, Clark Hill, Pittsburgh, PA. BA magna cum laude, Boston College, Massachusetts. JD, cum laude, Boston College Law School, Newton, Massachusetts; Member, Boston College Industrial and Commercial Law Review.

A member of the American Bar Associations Cybersecurity Legal Task Force, he is the co-author of Locked Down: Practical Information Security for Lawyers, Second Edition, and Encryption Made Simple for Lawyers. He is also the editor of eDiscovery, Fourth Edition, and a contributing author to Information Security and Privacy: A Legal, Business and Technical Handbook, Second Edition.

SESSION 9

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW

David G. Ries, Attorney at law (PA), Of Counsel, Clark Hill, Pittsburgh, PA

Daniel J. Siegel, Attorney at Law (PA, NJ), Law Offices of Daniel J Siegal, Havertown, PA . BA Franklin and Marshall College (with honors); J.D. Temple University School of Law
While running his own lawfirm, Dan Siegal is a prolific speaker and author including presenting 350+ programs, writing 250+ articles and publishing 13 books on various topics related to workers’ compensation, appeals, litigation, ethics, legal technology and attorney workflow management (https://danieljsiegel.com/books/). He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Delaware County Bar Association, as the American Bar Association Law Practice Division’s Professional Development Board Chair, Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Committee on Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Chair, and as the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Professional Guidance Committee Member.

Professor Sharisse O’Carrol –  Attorney (OK) Partner O’Carrol and O’Carrol. Distinguished  Fellow of the National Institure for Teaching Ethics and Professionalism (2005 and 2007) ABA Award for Innovation and Excellence in Teaching Professionalism

Diane L Karpman – Attorney (CA), of Karpman & Associates, Los Angeles, a practice specialising in attorney-related issues

John T Berry – Attorney (FL), (Now retired) Legal Division Director for the Florida Bar, supervising lawyer regulation and the Professionalism Center of the Professionalism Commisssion of the Florida Supreme Court  And Florida Bar. ABA  Michael Franck Award for achievement in lawyer ethics, professionalism and conduct (2001)  

Ellen Peck – Attorney (CA), Director Legal Division Florida Bar, supervising lawyer regulation and professionalism efforts – former Chair of ABA’s professionalism Committee (2003-2006); award-winning expert in judicial education, ethics and professionalism

And 

A Moment of Remembrance for Dick Diebold Lee of San Francisco – Attorney (CA) and Lead Ethics presenter for  the first 20 years of this London MCLE Program from 1992 to 2012; and a former founder director of CLE Europe (predecessor of MCLE London),  who passed in February 2020, aged 84