Company and Commercial Online CPD

Learning outcomes:

• Employment disputes
• Contractual issues
• Conflicts of interest
• Keeping clients satisfied in complex or difficult insolvency procedures

Speaker:

Steven Jansch, Partner, Head of Insolvency, Solicitor Advocate, Gilson Gray LLP
Steven was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 2002 and was admitted as Solicitor Advocate in 2013. Steven’s practice area is in litigation, debt recovery and insolvency. He has been heavily involved in many caseloads and recent key instructions, including; acting for Scottish foreign insolvency practitioners - acting for lenders in relation to security enforcement, refinancing, turnarounds and exits - advising a liquidator on pursuing a gratuitous alienation and unfair preference action against a publicly high profile former director and negotiating compromise of those claims to the benefit of the company's creditors – plus many more.

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Learning outcomes:

• Directors' duties
• Derivative proceedings
• Dealing with difficult shareholders
• Potential changes to the corporate insolvency law and their implications for directors.

Speaker:

Professor Nicholas Grier, School of Business, Law and Social Sciences, Abertay University
Prof. Grier is Professor of Scots Law at Abertay University, and was formerly the head of the Law Department at Edinburgh Napier University. His area of expertise is commercial law, in particular company law, insolvency law and diligence, and he regularly speaks on these areas around the UK. He has written various books and articles on business law, banking law and company law and is one of the authors of Gloag and Henderson's Introduction to The Law of Scotland. He has also been called on several times to provide legal advice to select committees within the Scottish Parliament. Prof. Grier is a qualified solicitor and admitted member of the Society of Writers to the Signet.

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Learning outcomes:

• Reviewing the use of CVAs to restructure leasehold obligations, close sites and obtain rent reductions
• Considering the requirement for regulatory change and the best practice protocol proposed by the British Property Federation

Speaker:

Claire Massie, Partner, Pinsent Masons LLP
Claire is Head of Client Relationships for Pinsent Masons' Financial Services Sector and heads the firm’s Banking & Restructuring team in Scotland. Claire is a restructuring and insolvency partner experienced in all aspects of turnaround, restructuring and insolvency law. With over 20 years experience, Claire advises corporates, banks and funds on restructuring and recovery strategies in the real estate, leisure, retail, energy and care home sectors.

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This module will look at key aspects of competition law, with particular attention to: 

• Cartels
• Commercial agreements with restrict competition
• Abuse of dominance
• State aid
• Merger rules

Speakers:

Catriona Munro, Partner, Dentons UK and Middle East LLP
Catriona is qualified as a solicitor both in England & Wales and in Scotland. Although she has a wide-ranging practice, her particular areas of expertise are cartels and contentious competition proceedings, and has extensive experience of private damages cases in England & Wales, Scotland and other jurisdictions, acting for both claimants and defendants. Catriona has for a number of years contributed to Getting the Deal Through's publication Private Antitrust Litigation and contributed the Scotland chapter to a major textbook on International Competition Litigation. Catriona is a member of the Competition Appeal Tribunal User Group.

Jamie Dunne, Senior Solicitor, Brodies LLP
Jamie has a broad range of experience in public law, regulatory and competition matters, including advising public bodies, regulators and regulated entities on their powers and duties, procurement matters (both contentious and non-contentious) and information law. He is a member of the UK Constitutional Law Association and tutors in public law and EU law at the University of Edinburgh. He is secretary of the Scottish Competition Forum and sits on the competition law policy committee of the Law Society of Scotland.

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Learning outcomes:

• Axiom Legal Financing Fund as a case study: legal and practical considerations

Speaker:

Ian Richardson, Director, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Having worked in accountancy, regulatory, and commercial environments in Australia, New Zealand and the UK, Ian is proud to be part of Grant Thornton’s fraud insolvency team, leading a team of 20 or so professionals in the north of England. Ian leads investigations and initiates recovery actions for a wide variety of creditors, including HMRC, financial institutions, commercial organisations and private investors who have lost money in investment schemes.

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Learning outcomes:

• What is a Third Party Right?
• Overview of legislative background
• Understanding the structure of the 2017 Act
• Third Party Rights in practice

Speakers:

Karen Manning, Senior Associate, Burness Paull LLP
Karen specialises in construction law, and is involved in a range of advisory work and has particular construction expertise in the education, housing, office, retail and leisure sectors. Karen acts for a number of different type clients in both the private and public realm and also provides support to the wider firm on construction issues in property, funding and public/third sector transactions.

John Macleod, Lecturer in Commercial Law, University of Glasgow
John MacLeod joined the Law School in 2018 from the University of Glasgow. His interests range across private and commercial law, with a particular focus on structural and taxonomical questions, the law of delict, the law of property and the law of debt. He has worked extensively with the Scottish Law Commission and the Law Reform Committee of the Law Society of Scotland. He delivers CPD across a range of topics.

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Learning outcomes:

• Understanding Blockchain
• Tracing transactions

Speaker:

Vijay Rathour, Partner, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Vijay is qualified solicitor and former barrister, and has advised on many large and complex investigations and trials with a focus on financial disputes. He left private practice to join the FSA as a lawyer in the Retail 1 Enforcement teams. Vijay is an ethical hacker and enjoys a role on the Committee of the Cybercrime Practitioners Association. He is also engaged by the Ministry of Justice to re-draft the Civil Procedure Rules on Electronic Disclosure and Investigative techniques for the modern era.

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Learning outcomes:

• What do we mean by the term 'offshore'
• Asset Tracing & Recovery work offshore
• Skills & resources required to undertake offshore work
• Your possible touchpoints with Offshore

Speaker:

Mike Saville, Director, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Mike is experienced in handling insolvency cases in the UK and Guernsey, as well as across the Caribbean region. He is a UK licensed insolvency practitioner and has led insolvency appointments since 1992 and since 2010 from the Cayman Islands. He is now resident back in the UK and focused on managing offshore appointments from the UK.

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This module provides an introduction to Open Banking, with a high level overview of: 

• The definition and aims of Open Banking
• What is driving Open Banking
• Application Programme Interfaces (APIs)
• The challenges facing incumbent banks

Speakers:

Neil Campbell, Managing Legal Counsel, Royal Bank of Scotland
Stewart Bingham, Senior Legal Counsel, Royal Bank of Scotland
Working within the everyday banking team, leading on payments legal support centrally and through the personal banking franchise. Schemes, PSD2, Open Banking, innovation. Stewart advises on consumer and SME products with a main focus on current accounts and overdrafts. 

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Learning outcomes:

• Personal insolvency: potential future developments
• Restructuring/corporate insolvency: current and emerging challenges
• What are the potential areas for reform?

Speakers:

Kelly Jones, Associate Director, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Kelly has over 15 years' insolvency experience and her role includes leading the Scottish personal insolvency team and some corporate insolvencies. She has significant experience in personal insolvency including managing trading appointments, asset investigation/realisation and raising court actions.

Paul Burke, Associate Director, Grant Thornton UK LLP
Paul has over 16 years' experience working on insolvency and restructuring options for corporates. He has worked on advisory and insolvency assignments within the property, construction, manufacturing, retail and automotive sectors.

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Learning outcomes:

• Recent trends in insolvency
• What lies ahead
• Anticipated changes to insolvency law

Speaker:

Yvonne Brady, Partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn
Yvonne is a specialist insolvency and restructuring lawyer. A member of the Law Society’s Insolvency Solicitors Committee, she has been named Scotland’s Star Individual in the field of corporate Recovery and Restructuring in the Chambers Directory 2016 (for the fourth consecutive year) and described as “the most experienced recovery lawyer in Scotland”.

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Learning outcomes:

• Recent trends in insolvency
• What lies ahead
• Anticipated changes to insolvency law

Speaker:

Yvonne Brady, Partner, Shepherd and Wedderburn
Yvonne is a specialist insolvency and restructuring lawyer. A member of the Law Society’s Insolvency Solicitors Committee, she has been named Scotland’s Star Individual in the field of corporate Recovery and Restructuring in the Chambers Directory 2016 (for the fourth consecutive year) and described as “the most experienced recovery lawyer in Scotland”.

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Learning outcomes:

• Pointers for good drafting practice
• Common drafting errors and what you should keep in mind to avoid them

Speaker:

Alastair Dunn, Partner, BTO Solicitors LLP
Alastair’s mainstream practice covers the formation of corporate entities, establishing project and joint venture vehicles, drafting bespoke high value commercial contracts and the provision of general contract and commercial advice. Alastair acts for a number of the firm’s well-established clients including national and international organisations, owner-managed companies, entrepreneurs, funders, shareholder groups and investors.

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Learning outcomes:

• Overview of the SLC proposal
• Execution in counterpart: problems in practice and current developments
• Case law discussion and update

Speaker:

Peter Alderdice, Senior Associate, Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP
Peter specialises in advising banks and institutions on financial services regulation. He has extensive experience of drafting documentation for mortgage lending, consumer credit and retail banking products and advising on regulatory risk issues. He also advises on fiduciary services, payment systems and clearing arrangements and provides legal opinions to institutions for regulatory capital purposes.

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Learning outcomes:

• Controls on the use of exclusion and limitation clauses: incorporation, interpretation and statutory control
• Update on exclusion of liability for consequential and indirect loss: discussion of recent cases
• Some drafting tips

Speaker:

Fiona Caldow, Managing Practice Development Lawyer, Dentons UK and Middle East LLP
Fiona has 15 years experience as a commercial litigation lawyer, the last 3 of which have been spent in a practice development role with a focus on knowledge management, innovation and training.Fiona has a particular interest in contract law, and sits on the Law Society of Scotland's Obligations Sub-Committee.

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Learning outcomes:

• Why does LIBOR matter and when is it going to end?
• What to do about current contracts with LIBOR provisions;
• Alternatives to reliance on LIBOR in contracts.
  

Speaker:

Jamie Apted, Associate, MBM Commercial LLP
Jamie specialises in banking, complex contractual, financial and insolvency disputes. Jamie provides advice to a range of clients from multi-million pound private equity funds to small family businesses. His cases regularly contribute to the developing case law in his areas of practice. Jamie’s expert knowledge of the Scottish court system and financial agreements has also led him to be instructed in a number of uncontentious matters drafting financial services agreements for private equity funds and insolvency practitioner firms.

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Learning outcomes:

• Drawing the distinction between penalty clauses and liquidated damages
• Discussion of recent decisions and the key take-away points
• Some drafting tips

Speaker:

Gillian Jamieson, Partner, Anderson Strathern
Gillian is a commercial litigator specialising in complex, high value commercial contract disputes. Her experience encompasses actions in the Sheriff Court, Court of Session, cross-border and international litigations, as well as alternative dispute resolution procedures. Gillian has been a part-time civil litigation tutor on the Diploma in Legal Practice at the University of Strathclyde Law School from 2014-2019 and is a contributing author to Lexis Nexis.

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Learning outcomes:

• Comparing Brussels I Regulation (recast) with the Hague Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Judgments in Civil or Commercial Matters (2019)
• Cross-border elements in commercial contracts: the forum for dispute resolution

Speaker:

Dr Kirsty J Hood QC, Themis Advocates
Dr Kirsty J Hood QC called to the Bar in 2001, and took silk in 2015. Kirsty was Clerk of Faculty at the Faculty of Advocates between October 2014 and April 2019 – the first woman to hold that post. Her particular expertise is in private international law. Kirsty is the author of Conflict of Laws within the UK; author of ‘'International' Rules in an Internal Setting’ in Ruiz Abou-Nigm, McCall-Smith & French (eds), Linkages and Boundaries in Private and Public International Law; was a contributor to Wilkinson & Norrie, The Law Relating to Parent and Child in Scotland (3rd edn); provided the material for the LexisPSL Dispute Resolution Practice Note on 'Jurisdiction in Scotland - Overview'.

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