Conference programme

This session will explore: 

•    Trends in retail fund launches, including liquid alternatives and crypto-based exchange traded funds (ETFs);
•    new environmental, social and governance (ESG) related market and regulatory trends, including human capital and modern slavery in value chains;
•    trends in artificial intelligence (AI) use in fund governance, asset management and sales, and distribution;
•    what’s new in Mexico and key developments in Latin America;
regional trends in fund formation jurisdictions; 
•    and political and geopolitical risk management.
 

This session will focus on what firms need to do better to win business, based on hundreds of examples. Trevor Faure will join as a keynote speaker. Faure has been involved in around USD$1bn of legal spend and is known as ‘The billion-dollar man’. We will give practical advice on how law firms can eradicate mistakes and create win-wins in client relationships.

The life sciences sector is booming, with the venture capital deal volume having increased manifold within the past years. This is accompanied by significant growth in business-to-business (B2B) disputes between life sciences companies including, for instance, those concerning failed joint ventures for new drugs or unauthorised use of third-party intellectual property (IP) rights. The panel will discuss the unique features of the life sciences industry and how the disputes can be avoided or resolved through mediation, litigation and arbitration.

The stresses associated with judicial service have not been widely discussed. There are various pressures: government interference, meeting performance expectations, appellate review and workload. There may be issues associated with illness, including mental illness. What happens when a judge is not coping? How should we ensure that judges do not end up leaving a career simply because problems were allowed to develop? What is best practice in ensuring judicial wellbeing?

Seed capital, convertible instruments, safes, carried interest – where are we now?

This session will provide an opportunity to showcase the results of the IBA’s 2023–2024 anti-corruption survey, and any resulting recommendations that emerge from that study, including next steps for the IBA’s global anti-corruption strategy.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues continue to have an impact on workplaces across the world. While some progress has been made with the greater inclusion of women in senior roles, this is not uniform. In addition, Black persons and disabled persons continue to be significantly underrepresented in the workforce let alone in positions of leadership. This session reviews how corporates are performing from a social ESG perspective and the need for change.

There has been a significant rise in the use of equity derivatives and convertible bonds in equity acquisitions. This trend is driven by several factors:

Benefits for acquiring companies:

•    Flexibility and capital efficiency: equity derivatives and convertible bonds offer flexibility in structuring the deal, allowing for tailored payouts based on performance or future events. This can be more efficient than upfront cash payments, especially for high-growth targets.
•    Risk mitigation: derivatives like options can hedge against potential downside in the targets stock price, protecting the acquirers’ investment. Convertible bonds, with their potential equity conversion, can also limit downside risk.
•    Staged acquisition: derivatives can be used to structure a phased acquisition, allowing the acquirer to gain control over the target gradually while monitoring performance before committing fully.

Benefits for target companies:

•    Access to capital: convertible bonds offer target companies immediate access to capital without diluting existing shareholders as much as traditional equity issuance.
•    Alignment of interests: convertible bondholders have an incentive for the targets stock price to rise, as their bonds convert into equity at a predetermined price. This aligns their interests with existing shareholders.
•    Exit strategy: derivatives can provide target companies with a potential exit path, allowing them to be acquired at a predetermined price if certain performance metrics are met.

Specific instruments:

•    Convertible bonds: these are the most common instrument, offering debt financing with the option to convert into equity at a predetermined price and interest rate.
•    Equity swaps: these allow acquirers to gain exposure to the targets stock price without actually owning the shares, providing flexibility and potential leverage.
•    Collars: these options contracts set a minimum and maximum price for the targets stock, limiting potential losses and gains for the acquirer.
•    Warrants: these give the holder the right to purchase shares in the target company at a predetermined price in the future, providing potential upside for the acquirer.

Challenges:

•    Complexity: structuring and accounting for these instruments can be complex, requiring specialised expertise.
•    Volatility: derivatives are sensitive to market volatility, which can introduce additional risk to the transaction.
•    Tax implications: the tax treatment of these instruments can be complex, requiring careful planning.

Overall, the increased use of equity derivatives and convertible bonds in equity acquisitions reflects their ability to provide flexibility, mitigate risk, and create win-win situations for both acquirers and target companies. However, its crucial to understand the complexities and potential challenges associated with these instruments before utilising them in transactions.

This session will take a look at foreign direct investment, and its rise in modern years, with a focus on how this affects the Arab World.

The working life of lawyers in the 21st century is impacted by a number of new disruptors in terms of ESG challenges, economic instability, ethical dilemmas and clients demanding greater value from their legal teams. This session will consider: how to instil a critical mindset in students; what critical thinking actually means; problem solving as a taught skill; and how students can develop the confidence to tackle difficult conversations and challenging moral and political issues.

Around the world there is an increased focus in ensuring there are reliable water sources. In many areas, this includes the use of new technologies to protect the environment, be energy-mindful and provide a reliable water source simultaneously. The panel will evaluate the use of a variety of desalination technologies, recycling water and other new technologies to answer this critical need.

This very dynamic session will enable you to select from a menu of hot topics in the intellectual property, communication, technology, art, media and space sectors and participate in roundtable discussions.

Topics of current interest will be selected to stimulate a lively debate. Moderators on each table will introduce the table topic and the participants do the rest. Background knowledge or experience within areas up for discussion is not required. Our menu will include hot and late breaking topics in the areas of intellectual property and entertainment law, communications, technology, art, media and space law.

Discussions will revolve around the interface of law, business, technology and culture – with a global focus. Many topics for discussion are often the subject of considerable public and media interest. By participating in this ‘hot topics’ session, you will gain a deeper insight into these areas and be able to add your own comments.

The format is interactive networking. The session will provide you with a great opportunity to meet many other lawyers and to discuss topics of mutual interest with them: don’t forget your business cards/ecards to share. We welcome new participants in these discussions!

Our hot topics roundtables are designed to be interactive. We will host a series of tables where we discuss ‘late breaking’ topics in the areas of international sales, trade, franchising and product law and the topics are selected to be of current interest and likely to stimulate discussion and debate.

Moderators at each table will introduce and briefly discuss the table topic and then participants will weigh in with their views. You will have the opportunity to discuss three topics.

We have scheduled turnover times when the participants change tables to move to the next topic of their choice. By participating in the table discussions, you gain a greater insight into these areas and the other participants and table moderators benefit from your comments.

In a final wrap-up afterwards for all participants, the moderators will share the highlights of their tables.

The session will provide you with a great opportunity to meet many other lawyers and discuss topics of mutual interest with them.

Many times in our sessions, participants meet lawyers from other countries who they keep in touch with for years to come. Every year our table moderators comment that they ‘learnt as much or more’ from the table as the participants themselves.

This session will look at gender-related killings (femicide), the most brutal and extreme manifestation of violence against women and girls.

Despite decades of activism from women’s rights organisations and global awareness raising, evidence shows that progress in stopping such violence has been deeply inadequate. Femicide has become a social crisis. Gender-based killings are prevalent in every country – the UN has reported data from every continent. Women in the public eye, particularly women human rights defenders, politicians and journalists are often targets of intentional violence on and offline. Femicide is not inevitable and can be prevented by tackling social norms, engaging with communities and supporting the police to adopt gender-responsive policing. The implementation of such initiatives must happen now, to prevent the femicide crisis intensifying. 

This session will discuss several options potentially available to private companies seeking funding in a tough venture market.

Discussions will include;

• Debt financing;
• Angel investors; 
• Crowdfunding; 
• Insider bridge rounds; 
• Sale of assets;
• The possible impact of such options on future equity rounds;
• Alternative sources of private capital including private equity; 
• And family office funding for more established closely held companies.  

At the proposal of the Diversity and Inclusion Council, last year the IBA launched an online e-challenge diversity and inclusion training tool and encouraged all officers to use it as a means of gaining a practical understanding of how unconscious bias compromises the way we interact with others. The Council also supported and assisted the IBA European Region Forum to launch a Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Toolkit to assist law firms in similar endeavours. 

Underlying the launch of these tools was the desire to enhance diversity and inclusion by providing the skills to identify how unconscious bias affect our day-to-day business and inter-personal interactions and how to neutralise its constrain.

This session will share data on how gender imbalances in the IBA have improved (or not) and further discuss how our cultural background due principally to our upbringing conditions the way in which we interact with others in a manner that compromises diversity and inclusion without realising not only in areas of gender, but also in areas such as ethnic origins, race, SOGI and neurodiversity.

A period of intense debate (at least in Europe) on competition law and sustainability has yielded helpful agency guidance. There is now a transition to concrete action – in terms of actual competitor collaboration (being waved through by agencies), but also high-profile enforcement against agreements to restrict technical development at the expense of the environment. Agencies are also debating whether and how to address sustainability-related factors in their merger control analysis. Our panel will discuss the journey so far and the road ahead: what are the key areas of convergence and divergence? What teachings can be drawn from the cases that have come to light so far involving cooperation?

The idea of space mining is not new. However, until recently, technological and financial constraints have prevented it from becoming a reality. This might be about to change. With the continuing decrease of launching costs and national and international efforts to private legal certainty for mining operations in space, space mining might soon attract the necessary investments to take off. Indeed, the first contracts have already been signed for the extraction and sale of lunar resources. The panel will address the advantages and challenges of mining in space, as well as the applicable legal framework.
 

This session will explore key issues in wellbeing for law students and early practitioners, as well as how law schools and trainers can ensure they are managed appropriately. The issues will include, inter alia: incivility; the virtual work/study environment; diversity and inclusion; instilling work ethic; loyalty and commitment; and internships.

The session is focused on the importance of consulting employment law specialists in different jurisdictions to address some of the most common employment law issues that arise in cross-border restructurings, including reductions in force, changing employee terms and conditions, and transfer of employment.