Conference programme

Launching products across 100 jurisdictions can be a monumental undertaking that requires strategic foresight, legal precision and operational agility. This panel will bring together leading experts in international product law, regulatory compliance and dispute resolution to explore the challenges and opportunities inherent in global product rollouts. The discussion will examine how organisations can harmonise compliance strategies across jurisdictions with varying consumer protection laws, and product liability and regulatory frameworks. It will also address risk management approaches for identifying and mitigating cross-border risks, including crisis management for product recalls and liability exposure. Attendees will leave with a roadmap for balancing speed-to-market with regulatory rigour, ensuring both consumer safety and brand integrity worldwide.

Across many regions, defending justice has become an act of courage. This panel unites lawyers committed to protecting colleagues who face persecution for upholding the rule of law in contexts such as politically sensitive litigation, human rights defence, anti-corruption matters, election-related disputes, media and free-expression cases, and criminal defence where due process is at risk. Through powerful personal stories and on-the-ground examples, speakers will showcase defenders who have risked their safety to represent others, and the international networks that rally in their support. Panelists will explore how the global legal community can mobilise—through advocacy, pro bono assistance, and cross-border collaboration—to protect the independence of the legal profession and the right to counsel everywhere. The end goal is actionable: equip participants with a clear support options and how to activate networks before, during, and after a crisis. At its heart, this conversation celebrates solidarity in action: lawyers standing with lawyers to ensure that justice itself is never silenced.

What should we expect from innovative lawyers? Join us as we explore the topic.

This session will explore multiparty, parallel proceedings and other complexities.

Beyond the massive casualties of armed conflict, war also systemically impoverishes. Markets collapse, services vanish, and livelihoods are targeted or incidentally destroyed. This panel interrogates poverty in conflict zones through a legal lens, mapping how international humanitarian law, international human rights law, refugee law, sanctions regimes and domestic frameworks can sometimes entrench and sometimes alleviate material deprivation. Speakers will examine poverty-producing practices such as siege and starvation, forced displacement, property destruction and gendered barriers to work; the political economy of conflict including illicit trades, corruption and aid diversion; and avenues for redress including strategic litigation, reparations, conditionality and accountability mechanisms.

In a time of rapid change, driven by technology, client expectations, and evolving talent, law firms must continually rethink their culture and focus. This session will explore how business professionals can lead with clarity and purpose, balancing innovation, efficiency, and human connection.    

Designed as an interactive discussion, senior leaders will share experiences of leading through shifting priorities and redefining “focus” for their firms. We also propose building on our 2025 global survey, repeating it with a renewed focus on how cultural factors influence collaboration, leadership, and performance in business services. This will provide valuable continuity while deepening insights into the role of culture in driving resilience and results.

This panel will examine how traditional legal concepts of fault, duty and causation apply to AI systems and will discuss the allocation of risk among developers, users and third parties. We will address ethical, regulatory and enforcement challenges in AI-related harms and review frameworks for responsible AI governance and compensation mechanisms.

The convergence of video gaming, live streaming, and social content platforms has given rise to a vibrant, but increasingly complex, ecosystem. Governments and regulators worldwide are now racing to define and enforce rules governing user safety, platform accountability, and digital rights in this evolving landscape.

This panel discusses the emerging legal frameworks and compliance practices shaping the future of online safety and content moderation on gaming and streaming platforms. Panellists will examine different regulatory approaches across jurisdictions, including the EU Digital Services Act, the UK Online Safety Act, and Australia’s online safety legislation, with a focus on their implications for platforms hosting live-streamed gameplay, esports tournaments, and influencer-driven gaming content.

It is a vexed question as to whether social media platforms are “fit for purpose” services that should be accessible to children.  Different jurisdictions have taken different approaches to this issue.  Some have restricted access by children but would the better approach be to impose a duty of care on platforms?
 

This session will focus on term sheet level structuring and negotiations related to 'talent deals', exploration of the 'mega acquire' trends used to navigate around regulatory scrutiny, competitive structures used by mega tech buyers, company side protections regarding retention and non-compete structures and other creative enticements used by today’s serial buyers in the tech space around the world. 

Global trends, challenges and opportunities for the advancement of equality in 2026 and beyond.

Liability management exercises (LMEs) are often used to avoid formal restructurings, but they do not always deliver the intended outcome. This panel will discuss the options available when an LME fails, including the shift to in-court processes, enforcement strategies and cross-border solutions. Panelists will explore key risks such as intercreditor tensions, litigation and value erosion, as well as practical considerations for stakeholders navigating the next phase of a distressed situation.

Is the enthusiasm for regulation of business waning in the EU? Will the current US administration effectively further deregulate sectors of its economy?

Law firms and in-house departments are rethinking the structure of their legal teams. With the rapid integration of AI tools, process automation and legal technology, many routine and repetitive tasks traditionally assigned to junior lawyers are being replaced by technology or delegated to alternative service providers. This has led to a declining demand for traditional junior roles and a growing need for professionals capable of combining legal reasoning with technological fluency, data literacy, project management and interdisciplinary collaboration. This panel will explore how, in rapidly changing legal environments, lawyers must combine legal expertise with business, policy and technical acumen to drive innovation and value creation. It will highlight emerging professional paths, new firm structures and education/training needed to support this transformation. 

Recent geopolitical developments have highlighted significant risks associated with dependence on the ‘Big 3' US hyperscale cloud providers. ‘Digital sovereignty’ is now the mantra, but is it feasible to build national or regional clouds that are secure from foreign government interference, while delivering an appropriate level of functionality and resilience? Meanwhile, there is an acute awareness, especially in Eastern Europe and the Nordic countries, that restricting critical data to in-country or even regional infrastructure may be a major vulnerability in the event of a remote attack or physical invasion. Contrary to the calls for data localisation, might it be better in terms of security and sovereignty to move, or at least replicate, essential processes and data outside a particular country or region? Can cloud providers and nation states establish data embassy arrangements that ensure legally robust sovereign cloud havens for critical national data? In the meantime, what should business customers be doing to manage their dependence on foreign providers of critical cloud services?

Bilateral investment treaties, exit taxes, is Denmark the answer, there is something rotten in the state of Denmark.

This session will examine how interactions between lawyers and judges in court can either support or undermine the delivery of justice. It will explore professional boundaries, ethical considerations and courtroom dynamics and their impact on fairness, perception and outcomes.

This panel will focus on the pressing issues facing international commercial arbitration practice, procedure, and practitioners.

As robots transition from controlled industrial settings into public spaces and private homes, their deployment raises significant legal and regulatory considerations. Service, caregiving, and security robots increasingly rely on continuous environmental sensing, producing vast amounts of personal and biometric data, which triggers complex questions under privacy, data protection and surveillance laws. At the same time, autonomous decision-making in safety-critical contexts – such as factory patrols or disaster response – touches on liability allocation, product safety standards and the boundaries of human oversight. These developments also intersect with labour law and workforce policy, as automation begins to reshape job functions and employment structures.

This session will explore the evolving legal frameworks needed to govern human–robot coexistence in a manner that is safe, rights-respecting and socially beneficial. Panellists will discuss emerging regulatory models across jurisdictions, including data governance rules, certification and safety assurance regimes, accountability frameworks for autonomous decision systems and policy tools to support fair workforce transitions. The conversation will consider how legislators, regulators, industry and civil society can collaborate to ensure that robotic technologies enhance human dignity, public trust and equitable societal outcomes.