Conference programme

Acquiring a gambling business involves unique legal, regulatory, and compliance challenges that require specialised knowledge. This panel will explore the critical issues we face when advising clients on the acquisition of gambling operators or that of suppliers of key gambling products. Panelists will provide insights on due diligence, with a particular focus on navigating complex licensing requirements, anti-money laundering (AML) obligations, understanding jurisdictional variations in gambling laws, and assessing regulatory compliance risks.

The session will also examine the structuring of transactions, the impact of the acquiring entity’s group structure on regulatory change of control approval, and the negotiation or re-negotiation of key contracts in the context of a highly regulated industry. Special attention will be given to how changes in local and international gambling regulations may impact acquisition strategies. The session will offer a roadmap for those involved in the acquisition of gambling businesses to ensuring that deals are not only contractually sound but also compliant with the ever-evolving regulatory landscape.

The rapid emergence of a multipolar world and surging geopolitical conflict are challenging established international laws, norms, and principles; entrenching global impunity; and raising existential questions about the future of international law and multilateral institution in world affairs. As 19th century-style great power competition makes a comeback, and the United States retreats from historic commitments to alliances and multilateralism, tensions escalate in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, as frustration grows globally with perceived double standards and hypocrisy in foreign policy decisions, some actors engage in “whataboutism” tactics and weaponize such debates for geopolitical and ideological purposes. In combination, such trends threaten to undermine the validity and universality of established laws, norms, and principles that have anchored the global order and guided multilateral cooperation for decades. Against this background, our expert panel will discuss what the future might yield for international law, international institutions, and multilateral cooperation.

Can new legislation around the globe assist to prevent the spread of information intended to deceive, or will traditional enforcement mechanisms hold sway in preventing dissemination of hate speech, fake news and propaganda, facilitation of counterfeit and stolen goods and objects of art, as well as infringement of Internet Protocol (IP) through the use of Artificial intelligence (AI).

This panel will look at the following issues:

• Does regulation combat misinformation, or encourage censorship; 
• What mechanisms are in place to prevent altered or falsified satellite images;
• How can actors and artists prevent infringement of their images and IP rights through the use of AI?
• And what can be done to prevent the infringement of trademark rights or unfair competition through false association between brands and entities?

This session will explore how we can use artificial intelligence in our practice to become better lawyers, as well as how this technology is reshaping the profession.

In this session we will explore activism in Canada and beyond.

The modern era of smart phones and social media has coincided with a coarsening of discourse, political polarization, and campus radicalization. Social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and continued work-from-home practices have eroded the bonds between people from diverse backgrounds that further contribute to these trends. The legal profession is not immune from these trends, with charges of “lawfare” and “existential threat” to the rule of law from across the political spectrum. On the other hand, the profession also has the potential to help fix what is broken, given opportunities for international dialogue, reconciliation, fairness, and objectivity inherent in legal practice. Join our panel who will offer their views regarding how the current environment is fuelling societal conflict, what steps have and can be taken to ameliorate the situation, and how lawyers and regulation can help (and hurt) those efforts.

With the proliferation of international conflicts waged through economic – in addition to conventional – means, sanctions has emerged as an area of legal practice which has changed frequently in recent years and continues to do so. Please join our panel of eminent speakers with diverse interests in the field as they canvass the role of sanctions as non-judicial means of international law enforcement, as well as issues of concern, including the implications of sanctions on access to justice, access to legal representation, and the role of lawyers, business, and the administration of justice during times of conflict.  Panellists will speak on their experience and observations, then engage in a discussion amongst themselves, and the floor will then be open for Q&A.