Conference programme

Several bilateral and multilateral treaties have recently been (re)negotiated to enable access to natural resources, including the US/Ukraine Treaty and others involving Australia, China, and Japan. This panel will analyse how these treaties influence investment, geopolitics, and the global mining landscape.

Tariffs and the realignment of international trade (dis)agreements at the government level have caused multinational companies to rethink their manufacturing and supply chain structures. This panel will discuss the tax issues that arise as companies enter new markets and reorganise trade patterns, distribution networks and manufacturing operations.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) transactions can be significantly affected by sanction regimes, and liabilities resulting thereof, especially criminal liability. The focus should not just be put on acquiring a company that may be exposed to liabilities resulting from existing breaches of sanctions, but rather when the execution of the transaction itself could constitute a breach of sanctions. In said situations, considering the limitations sanction regimes/criminal law pose is a key aspect to set up the right structure for the transaction as well as for adopting the necessary measures to exclude/mitigate said exposure.

For example, sanction regimes prevent putting assets and/or economic profits at the disposal of certain targeted individuals and the breach of said obligations may entail criminal liabilities. What happens if a sanctioned individual holds, through an affiliated-non-sanctioned-entity, a stake in a multinational company that is looking to be acquired? Can said stake be acquired? Under which circumstances and what measures should be adopted? If said stake is not finally acquired, should the new shareholder establish any kind of mechanism to prevent the payment of dividends up the ladder and into the non-sanctioned affiliated entity?

When considering the answers to these questions, and the decisions that will need to be adopted by the company’s internal bodies, it may be advisable to keep the explanations simple and direct, in case they need to be shared at some point in time with the authorities or even a judge in the criminal jurisdiction. In-house counsels that have faced these kinds of situations acknowledge the multiple challenges resulting thereof, which may be summarised as the encounter of two worlds: M&A and criminal law.

This session will explore alternative approaches to resolving disputes before they reach the bench, focusing on the roles of judges and counsel in mediation, facilitation and negotiation. It will examine how these processes can complement formal litigation and contribute to more efficient and effective dispute resolution.

Discussion of trends current at the time of the Copenhagen conference that affect capital markets.

This session will explore the key factors and strategies needed to increase the representation of women in top leadership positions within law firms. Industry leaders will share insights on the structural, cultural and strategic changes required to achieve true gender parity at the highest levels of decision-making. Join us for an open discussion with managing partners from global firms on what it really takes to make leadership more inclusive.

This very dynamic and well-attended session enables you to select from a menu of hot topics in the Intellectual Property (IP), communications, media and technology sectors and participate in roundtable discussions.

Topics of current interest are selected to stimulate a lively debate. Moderators on each table introduce the table topic, and the participants do the rest. Background knowledge or experience within areas for discussion is not required. Our menu will include hot and 'late breaking' topics in the areas of intellectual property law, internet law and mobile technologies, privacy and data protection, technology contracting and dispute resolution, arts law, media and space law.

Discussion is usually 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. In participating in the table topics 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 and contact details to share. We welcome new participants in these discussions.

This session will look into a wide range of issues faced by children around the world, eg, war, tracking, grooming, child marriage, slavery, abduction, forcible transfers, FGM and whether the international system is responding appropriately to the needs to the child.

Panellists will discuss how courts and tax authorities have applied or attempted to apply anti-avoidance rules, whether in the form of a domestic GAAR, the principal purpose test (PPT), treaty-embedded SAARs, or the beneficial ownership test, to deny treaty or EU Directive benefits. The discussion will explore the similarities and differences among these approaches and consider the point at which taxpayers appear to be falling over the anti-avoidance tax cliff.

In this session we will discuss and share best practices to promote LGBTQI+ diversity in the workplace. Spain has recently implemented legislation obliging companies with 50-plus employees to implement measures promoting LGBTQI+ equality in the workplace and many global companies have for many years had policies and best practices to ensure diversity and equality for LGBTQI+ employees.

An update on the judicial selection toolkit project led by the IBA SPPI.

This session will examine the legal frameworks and regulatory considerations surrounding the implementation of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). We will discuss potential benefits such as enhanced financial inclusion and payment efficiency, alongside risks including financial stability and privacy concerns. The impact of CBDCs on traditional banking systems will be explored, as well as challenges in cross-border regulation. Participants will review global approaches to CBDC regulation and consider the future landscape of digital currency governance, offering a legal perspective on this transformative innovation in the monetary system.

As AI becomes mainstream, ethical, bias, and transparency issues are key to successful governance.

This panel will examine how AI adoption is transforming operations, risk profiles and value creation in closely held companies and what boards must do in response. The panelists will map practical use cases — eg, sales enablement, customer support, coding copilots, document automation and forecasting. They will also map the attendant risks, including data leakage and trade‑secret loss, intellectual property ownership, model bias and hallucinations and supply‑chain/vendor AI exposure. The discussion will translate these developments into directors’ duties: setting AI strategy and risk appetite, instituting model governance and inventories, strengthening data governance, overseeing cybersecurity and incident readiness and ensuring decision‑useful reporting where owners and directors often overlap. Panelists will explore practical considerations, such as how these developments are affecting directors’ and officers’ insurance and how they may be reshaping the interaction between outside counsel and the general counsel/corporate secretary.

This panel will examine the current landscape of renewable energy in Latin America and the legal, regulatory, and commercial dynamics shaping the region’s energy transition, including solar and wind energy, biofuels, and the impact of demand from data centres and digital infrastructure on the energy sector. Speakers will discuss policy stability, permitting regimes, and transmission bottlenecks. The conversation will also address ESG and licensing considerations, and the evolving role of tax incentives, carbon markets, and green hydrogen.