MCLE London™ Programme 2018

GDPR – THE NEW DATA PROTECTION REGIME FROM EUROPE – OVERVIEW AND REQUIREMENTS
New regulations concerning Data Protection are coming into force in Spring 2018 and are going to affect pretty much every business and institution with its quite Draconian provisions. For some it may be helpful, for most it may not be anything more than an extra inconvenience, expense and enhanced risk with ever-present penalties for non-compliance. This is an overview from the viewpoints of both in-house corporate practice and private practice, with some positive elements to take away.

Jon Bartley, Partner in Reynolds Porter Chamberlain LLP, Jon is a solicitor with a practice within the partnership specializing in digital technology and e-commerce, data protection, cybersecurity and coinsumer law.

Tom Worner, General Counsel and Corporate Development Director of MVF, one of the UK’s fastest growing tech companies, with offices in London and Austin, TX. He has a broad remit, covering legal, regulatory and compliance affairs, and is also responsible for MVF’s M&A activity. Tom qualified as a lawyer (England and Wales) in 2005, and has worked both in private practice and in-house, including as Corporate Counsel with Toshiba.

ATTITUDES TO KILLING IN WAR – ASPECTS OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW
As well the psychological and psyops efforts and effects, per Clausewitz’s dictum, to bring the enemy into “a more amenable frame of mind”, “hot” War itself is principally about breaking things, killing people, and theft/reclamation. There is a lot of it going on at present, and the principal victims (and sometime targets) are not just soldiers but innocent civilians (women, children, old folk, the sick, doctors, bystanders, prisoners, householders – euphemised currently as “collateral damage”). Present bellicose international political discourse suggests we shall see much more of it, so what does international humanitarian law make of this and what influence does it or can it wield? The ICJ has examined these things many times but in the absence of injunctive enforcement capacity it is almost always long after the events. This is an exposition of current studies suggesting that in practice standards of conduct may actually be influenced most by the attitudes of those actively involved and those supporting or opposing them and that legal concerns do have a positive effect.

Janina Dill is John G Wynant Associate Professor of US Foreign Policy at the Department of Politics and International Relatons at the University of Oxford, a Professorial Fellow at Nuffield College Oxford, and a Research Fellow of the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law, and Arrmed Conflict. She has also been a professor in the Department of International Relations at the London School of Economics and has undertaklen graduate studies at Cambidge, Princeton and Oxford. Her research interests are international law and ethics in international relations, specifically in war. 

THE BREXIT EFFECT? A NEW (ENGLISH LANGUAGE) INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL COURT OPENING IN AMSTERDAM IN 2018
For many years the Commercial Court in London has been the forum of choice for much international commercial litigation in the English language. Now alternatives are about to appear in Europe using English as the Lingua Franca – (or perhaps the Lingua Anglica?) – both Germany and France are apparently working on one (the latter may perhaps struggle a bit) but the inherently commercial Netherlands is leading the way (and Eire may be missing a trick). It will likely revolve around the Dutch Commercial Code and EU law. Intended to open its doors in 2018 subject to legislative ratification, the court will offer a useful alternative for future commercial litigation for the whole of the European Union.

This is a review of the court’s proposed activity and also other aspects of litigation in Holland potentially advantageous to US and international forum shopping in Europe.

Adam Kiolle, is an Australian solicitor (Queensland) practicing international corporate and commercial law with Blenheim Lawyers, a Dutch firm based in Amsterdam

BLOCKCHAINS, DECENTRALISED AUTONOMOUS ORGANISATIONS (DAOs), ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) ETC. AND LAW 
Vast new areas of digital technological activity are already bearing down on us with escalating speed and have not yet been fully examined or appreciated by the world of the law.

Blockchain technology, for example, has even been suggested as an inherently workable potential solution to the Irish Border commerce and customs problem post-Brexit, if a solution is actually being sought. Swathes of employment activity (e.g. Uber-style practices combined with driverless automobiles may remove employment from professional drivers, who may go the way of drovers, teamsters and postilions) may disappear because of the efficacy of intelligent systems and electronic intelligence which it is said will remove much or all of the element of human judgment by echelons of cleverer algorithms in commerce and life generally.

Just as the plowman and his team of horses has been supplanted by the GPS-directed agricultural machinery which can sow and reap to the square yard entirely on its own (provided the satellite is working properly and has not been hacked as a GPS “spoof”), some proclaim and foretell the end of legal practice (and lawyers). But what is it all, how does it work, where it may already have taken us.

This is an overview by a lawyer who is also experienced in IT development and this accelerating technology.

Florian Glatz is a Rechtsanwalt from Berlin, who practices as “the Blockchain Lawyer”, lecturing and consulting about this rapidly developing technology and the law, and who believes the profession needs to wake up to it and embrace the challenges and the opportunities.

SUBSTANCE ABUSE and MENTAL HEALTH (MH) – The Gathering New Psychoactcive drug and Opioid Crisis in the UK.
Opioid and new psychoactive drug abuse is a massive national crisis in the USA. It is now an increasing problem in the UK too. This is an overview.

Roz Gittins, MPharm (Hons) MSc DipClinPharm CertPsychPharm MRPharmS MCMHPIP is Director of Pharmacy for Addaction, a national third sector organisation. She was co-opted on to the Council in 2016. She is the Medicines Safety Officer for Addaction and as the organisation’s professional lead for Pharmacy, manages the National Medicines Management Team.

PRACTICE MANAGEMENT – Cybersecurity as both a shield and a sword.
Data Protection is now an absolute necessity, but how to safeguard it in practice from unauthorised disclosure or cybercrime? Also KYC and contentious work can be greatly enhanced by its proper use. Systems and above all training are essential. This session is an introductrion to:

• The biggest threat to your organization: over 95% of cyber intrusions occur from human error
• How your organization may be at risk due to the latest cyber hack
• Improving employee online practices to decrease the risk of exposing confidential client data
• Understanding how Ransomware, social engineering and other malwares impact law firms
• Leveraging the intelligence on the Web to proactively approach due diligence, and litigation.
• Accessing “deep web” databases to uncover information critical to your business and clients.
• Equipping your employees with cyber intelligence skills to differentiate your firm
• More sophisticated online research skill

Roy Zur, Founder and CEO of Cybint Solutions, a provider of customised cyber education solutions, is a certified attorney in Israel, and an experienced entrpreneur and cyber intelligence specialist. He now works with BARBRI in New York.  

THE ELIMINATION OF BIAS IN THE PROFESSION AND THE RECOGNITION OF BIAS IN SOCIETY – ARE THERE LIMITS TO FREE SPEECH EVEN IN THE USA, AND IF SO WHAT ARE THEY?
“Hate Speech is Free Speech” read the placards pleading the 1st Amendment in support – but is it? Even Facebook and Twitter have come reluctantly to recognise in recent weeks that there really are public interest limits and that they do have a social responsibility for content – just as printers and publishers were forced to realise when the new technology enabled the swifter and broader public transmission of differing religious and political thought a few centuries ago. This is a thought provoking exploration of the legal philosophy of where, if at all, to draw the lines – comparing European, UK and US views.

Professor Eric Heinze, is an attorney and member of the Bars of New York and Massachusetts. He is currently a professor of Law and Humanities at Queen Mary University of London, a public research
university in London and a constituent college of the University of London, tracing its origins back to 1785.

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS IN THE PRACTICE OF LAW – The Continuing National and International Revolution In Lawyer Ethics And Lawyer Regulation – Cases, Regulatory Reform And Finding A Better Approach

John T Berry – Attorney (FL), Director Legal Division Florida Bar, supervising lawyer regulation and professionalism efforts – former Chair of ABA’s professionalism Committee (2003-2006); awardwinning expert in judicial education, ethics and professionalism – joins us for the fouth time

ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS SESSION (CONT).