Facebook already knows our data No news there 1202 NAJ 1 EMULOV 50 EUSSI A futuristic preview prediction of IOT and Machine Learning applications beyond 2021
Editor s Note Rising from the Ashes the Phoenix must burn What defines us as a living species is the way how we rise after our fall This edition of the magazine and the cover story is the story of the recovery of the human species The Coronavirus Pandemic has in fact been a catastrophe of the unparalleled deluge to the entire human race It showed us how vulnerable we are to things we do not have control on The covid 19 virus took away almost equivalent to two and a half million human lives worldwide It shook and battered us in imaginable terms yet it has taught us how to fight back and gave us lessons that were nothing short of innovations through human ingenuity Like all business domains the pandemic has been an eye opener for the global legal industry too as it completely removed all our inhibitions and made us adopt those uncharacterized ways and means to reach out to our clients and transact business By all means the legal profession was always envisaged as a people to people business and it was a field that incorporated a lot of research involving human engagement and perseverance With the pandemic the concept of remote working using modern technology and virtual meetings has become a usual and extremely effective mode of working for lawyers across the globe In fact this Industry s peculiarity has been rather nonchalant towards adaptation to modern technology as both the domains were completely poles apart The pandemic has shown us that our thought process was incorrect Now you have different governments in the world framing different laws and regulations governing remote working and the procedures in connection to legal practice We have the marvels of communication technology tools like Zoom Microsoft Teams Google Meet etc which can connect you to your clients from any remote location and even organize and run virtual meetings with a group of people You have AI enabled tools that help you to transcribe legal documents read Artificial Intelligence and the Legal Profession An intelligent way ahead https www barandbench com columns artificial intelligence and legalprofession an intelligent way ahead While this has certainly helped the industry aficionados to scale up their modus operandi a lot of issues relating to data security have already surfaced leading to stricter rules by individual governments for the safety and security of global corporations government bodies and global citizens IP or Intellectual Property has suddenly occupied a key focus area and has gained tremendous importance Key legislations have been formulated which have somewhat extended a protectionist view of the application of IP licenses till now However where global cooperation related to the wellbeing of the global community is under question some countries have been amending their patent laws to expand their existing narrow compulsory licensing rules to provide maximum flexibility to the manufacture or import of COVID 19 vaccines and other patented treatments and technologies which we are in fact witnessing with our own eyes Salutations for this indomitable spirit of human endeavors to overcome all odds and rising again from the ashes after the Phoenix has burnt This is what separates us the human species from the rest in this universe It is in our chromosome and it will be there till the time life would exist on this planet 02 LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Table of Contents The changing business scenario in the Legal Industry Post Covid 19 LEXTALK WORLD M A G A Z I N E E d i tor i n C h i ef KAUSHIK KARMAKAR 08 Why Intellectual Property rights are extremely significant for societal growth in general and postCovid 19 situations G r o up C r e a t i v e E d i t o r VINAY K ATTRI LexTalk World Talk Show with Mr Faisal Sherwani S p e cia l P r o j e c t s a n d E v e n ts C h i ef of P r o du c t i o n PARDEEP TYAGI R e s ear c h A n a l y s t GAGAN K ATTRI Copy Desk Sr Editor PALLAVI SHARMA DIVYA BHARDWAJ 20 A remote working user guide for legal professionals C i r culat i o n Ma n a g e d B y MANOJ ARORA P u b lishi n g D ir e c t o r ABHISHEK GOURAV E d i toria l O f f i ce 504 THE SAPPHIRE MALL SECTOR 49 GURGAON HR INDIA 122018 34 A l l righ t s r e se r v e d a r o u n d the world P r o duc t i o n i n a n y m a n n e r is prohibited P r i nted a n d Pu b l i s h e d b y A bhishek G o u rav o n b e h a l f o f C l i c k Away Creators I n dia a n d C AC M e d i a Events C a nad a H e l pline 0124 4364040 c o n tac t c l i c k a w a y c r e a t o rs com LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 48 24 LexTalk World Talk Show with Mr Ernesto de la Puente T Role of the United Nations in Combating Cross Border Terrorism A d v ert i s i n g O f f i c e 3681 SOMERSET CR SURREY BC CANADA V3S 0H9 12 LexTalk World Talk Show with Mr Rodrigo Nu ez Vega A r t Ph o t o g ra p h y D i r e c t or PANKAJ SAGAR 04 40 Ownership vesting is the key element of the founders agreement in an organization 03
VE CO R OR ST Y COVID 19 has done what many thought would take eons forcing law firms to switch to remote work in what felt like an overnight transformation So far it appears to have gone reasonably well Prior to the pandemic if a firm staff member were to ask to work from home long term it was very likely they would feel like they were risking their position just by asking the question I ve been there Work didn t revolve around life life revolved around work This has now changed drastically Strategically it would be wise to not just consider this experience as a temporary pandemic related process diversion but rather to implement remote work within the structure of the business into the future Corporate culture has been itching for change and this is it 04 Despite disruptions caused by COVID 19 client expectations have not changed firms need to demonstrate that they can continue to meet client pressures without any dip in productivity despite operating in a remote virtual environment This means finding ways to do more with less and devoting time only to high value work Those firms that can effectively leverage their IP repurpose work and effectively and rapidly bring the right expertise and resources to the table will provide better outcomes at a lower cost The main challenges facing lawyers today lie in their relationship with new technologies These can not only hinder the expansion of a law firm but also serve the new form of competition that is LegalTech that is companies that offer legal services using new technologies LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
It is essential that law firms adapt their way of doing business to the restrictive measures brought on by COVID 19 This adaptation includes an increase in remote working using technology tools dependent on telephony and internet based client interface In addition to demanding greater innovation and process optimization clients are laser focused on data handling practices and security To remain competitive and retain client trust addressing data security will be one of the top priorities long after the pandemic recovery What role does technology play in successfully embracing the hurdles The pandemic is pushing lawyers to integrate new technologies into their way of working Some tools allow lawyers to continue their activity despite the quarantine such as electronic signature solutions or tools to generate virtual meeting rooms It also seems appropriate to highlight the importance for law firms to establish a relevant communication strategy through their website and their social networks to be able to develop a clientele whatever the circumstances The situation of returning to normalcy i e reverting back to the pre Covid 19 scenario where the entire fraternity goes back to their offices is not expected to happen overnight This is the trend that the legal industry is now facing and it should be considered that staff will potentially want or need due to childcare etc to work from home Getting back to work in general won t be as straightforward as flipping an open sign in the window and expecting staff to revert to pre pandemic times We don t know exactly how long it will be before we could have that kind of normalcy Although simple as a concept the forced shifting of gears towards working from home has very much been an eye opening experience Yet the sentiment toward remote work seems quite positive overall thanks to video conferencing tools such as Zoom team chat platforms and allin one communication platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Suite Depending on jurisdiction and various matters that may require in person appearances or say if a staff member needs to pick up a document or file from the office it is now becoming somewhat of a nuisance to not have the ability to complete whatever task is at hand remotely The shift to a work from home model has introduced new security concerns and exposed endpoints leaving many law firms extremely vulnerable to potential data breaches and ransomware attacks Clients are auditing their data security practices and systems at a much greater rate LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE In the meantime self care is one of our greatest priorities It also should be understood that others need this care for themselves as well as we are all forging through this together A golden opportunity also exists to build better communication and trust with staff and colleagues While we look toward the light at the end of this tunnel we must continue to be mindful of the necessary precautions of this time staying home and wearing a mask The impact of the Pandemic on the Legal Industry Despite the colossal impact of the Pandemic on the industry the world would still require lawyers and solutions As firms respond to clients in crisis mode they re redirecting their junior lawyers to litigation and bankruptcy practices There are certain areas that will see an acceleration of demand for legal services and the same areas 05
Bankruptcy Restructuring This practice has seen the biggest surge in work as vulnerable companies seek out lawyers to manage their liquidity and solvency recover financial losses and handle their bankruptcies There s been significant growth in bankruptcy staffing as firms reallocate from transactional areas Litigation When a recession hits law firms go into battle mode and shift their focus from transactional to contentious as clients concerns become less expansionist and more survivalist Firms are getting ready for an uptick in litigation six months to a year after the pandemic Inevitably people and companies will look for ways to pin responsibility on other companies for a variety of business risks and damage Government regulatory Firms will really need to bolster their regulatory and policy practices if they aren t strong already because the government has been critically involved in the financial and health related solutions to these current challenges Healthcare Firms are busy advising healthcare clients on how to navigate the uncertainties and unprecedented challenges connected to the outbreak Healthcare providers for example may have legal questions as and when they need to change how they usually operate as a direct result of the pandemic The healthcare industry will remain relatively hot despite the likelihood that we will see fewer transactions in the short term as everyone shakes off the effects of shutting down Insurance Health insurer clients will also be very busy as a surge in signups for health insurance is expected with rising unemployment leaving millions without employer health benefits Under the wider insurance market there is almost too much to say on the impact of Covid 19 In brief commercial and personal claims and reinsurance will be contentious topics for several years to come Globally certain states will underwrite part of the financial risk Expect a headcount increase in this sector while the world settles the financial losses from the pandemic 06 Technology Tech is one of the few transactional sectors that so far have not shown a reduction in headcount and this practice area to be more resilient during the recession Technology cybersecurity and privacy have moved beyond being just part of the discussion to being areas that are implicated in almost everything that lawyers do The tech transactional market remains a buoyant sector as we re relying on these products to solve all kinds of social distancing obstacles Companies such as Zoom are thriving privacy and security lawyers will also be in high demand to help companies navigate this new virtual and digital world we are experiencing Labour Employment Covid 19 has had a profound effect on this sector where we expect to see a significant increase in legal activities as businesses reduce staff costs to survive in a recession or adapt to new ways of working How we allow workforces to work differently so they can continue with their operations in a lawful and compliant way is the area of focus now Intellectual Property the most vital and pursued subject during the post Covid situation Starting in the early 1990s when IP was first integrated within the multilateral trade system through the World Trade Organization s Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights agreements the dominant policy discourse has been individualistic and maximalist IP laws and treaties exist to maximize the monopoly rights of IP rights holders This trade in IP approach has legitimated an individualistic winner take all narrative that has benefited major producers and exporters of IP countries and companies alike Under this competitive and predatory paradigm certain countries kinds of innovation and individuals and groups are favoured over others Indeed this maximalist ideology has led IP exporting nations to ramp up IP protections through regional and bilateral free trade agreements and investor state dispute mechanisms In the throes of the pandemic fear and concern have caused many countries to signal a retrenchment from global institutions toward a more protectionist future This move suggests that IP law and practices risk becoming even more individualistic and maximalist LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Innovation and creativity thrive in open and collaborative environments The pandemic has taught us that successful and timely medical solutions require knowledge sharing and global cooperation at unprecedented levels Further the possibility that IP rights could be used to limit or even deny access to COVID 19 treatments and technological solutions is simply unthinkable during a global emergency that has put all of humanity at risk Cooperation and collaboration will have to be the guiding principles if the world is ever going to recover from this unprecedented crisis Finally it is imperative to shift the discourse before new IP superpowers such as China take full advantage of a winner take all IP environment China is protecting IP especially patents at exponential rates It also has the advantage of being one of the few countries to control supply chains in the manufacture of equipment tools and treatments for COVID19 Bringing China into a new IP framework will be essential Prior to the pandemic new ways of thinking about IP were already in play These approaches advanced collective strategies that eschewed the winner take all model of IP ownership challenged the legitimacy of IP maximalist formulations and scrutinized the structural inequalities inherent in IP laws and practices Because of these efforts a new framework for national and international IP is emerging from this crisis one that is premised on greater collaboration balance and inclusion We are witnessing this shift in realtime during this global public health emergency Importance of collaborations in IP As scientists and researchers scramble to develop vaccines medical treatments and new technological solutions to combat the COVID 19 virus certain stakeholders have immediately taken a competitive stance They have staked their claims to exclusivity over the IP developed out of these global research efforts In contrast many others have approached the question of IP and the pandemic from an entirely different vantage point Multiple and diverse stakeholders including national governments international non governmental organizations and IP rights holders from the public and private sectors have called for collective collaborative and even free and open models for IP sharing These voices whether advocating for patent pools or pledges generous IP licensing terms and conditions or open science vaccine development have overtaken those who have positioned themselves along traditional individualistic lines LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE This spirit of international cooperation speaks to the gravity and enormity of the COVID 19 health crisis However had it not been for those who had already challenged the false binary of all or nothing IP the models of IP sharing currently being advanced would never have been as widely accepted In the post pandemic environment maximalist and individualist approaches to IP is giving way to more sophisticated and nuanced collaborative strategies that lie along the spectrum from maximum protection to no protection at all Whether achieved through voluntary agreements among IP rights holders or advanced through domestic and international policy IP sharing models will become the prevailing norm more This new norm will have the effect of tempering winner take all excesses A pragmatic approach in IP IP rights have never been nor should they be absolute IP laws have always placed limits on the scope of the exclusive monopoly whether in terms of duration the scope of protection or legislated carve outs for certain third party uses Over time however exceptions and limitations to IP rights have been increasingly regarded with suspicion by those who advocate for greater IP protection These IP maximalist approaches have constrained their scope with a view to eliminating them entirely A prime example relates to compulsory licensing provisions in domestic IP legislation A compulsory license permits governments to do certain things with third party IP when the IP rights holder fails to act Because their effect is to deprive IP rights holders of full control over their IP compulsory license provisions have been largely restricted in western industrialized countries However the pandemic has laid bare the fact that governments must have sufficient ambit to work around IP in times of emergency As a result some countries have been amending their patent laws to expand their existing narrow compulsory licensing rules to provide maximum flexibility to the manufacture or import of COVID 19 vaccines and other patented treatments and technologies A post pandemic IP future will recalibrate domestic and international laws and treaties to ensure greater checks and balances on the IP monopoly It will affirm the necessity of robust IP limitations and exceptions and reverse the maximalist trend that has to date encouraged their obsolescence 07
The war of brands has a direct relationship with Intellectual Property IP today is emerging as a key factor in establishing a business credential on the free market This has always been significant for the overall economic development and sustainable growth of countries around the globe In this article we try to unravel the dimension of IP establishing a clear cut role Intellectual property plays a crucial role that has been recognized for decades It is sufficient to think that alongside the agreement establishing the World Trade Organization which since 1995 has guaranteed an international trading system based on the free market economy the Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights TRIPs containing the minimum standard of IP rights protection in all signatory countries was signed because it was considered useful indeed necessary for the proper working of the market itself 08 The fundamental principles of intellectual property which include rules on unfair competition are always based on the dynamic between exclusivity and competition and thus force market operators to comply with certain principles e g ethical principles and prevent for example anticompetitive practices that lead to the creation of monopolies in which the incentive for innovation is minimized The protection of intellectual property thus becomes an asset that allows the market and specifically entrepreneurs to efficiently manage the available resources the positive and negative externalities of their economic activity and allow rapid and concrete responses in order to achieve sustainable development according to a pro competitive approach LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
In this context the intellectual property requires those parties that intend to adopt this approach to comply with the law and respect the rights of others while at the same time providing them with the means and incentives to do so In other words entrepreneurs but also public organizations and associations that want to invest in the widespread and commonly perceived need for a greener world should find support from IP rules Progression of technology and communication through innovation is dependent on IP The protection of technical innovation and therefore the incentive to implement new technical solutions compatible with the protection of the environment is one of many but certainly among the most important means to encourage sustainable development through intellectual property Undoubtedly the exclusive right to exploit new inventions but also software or databases protected under copyright and neighboring rights represents a fundamental incentive to innovation since the patent system guarantees on the one hand that only the patent holder can have the right to implement their invention giving them a right of exclusivity which moreover in many cases they should exploit through generalized licensing policies as typically happens for patents that become standards and on the other hand that the conceptual content of the patented invention becomes public domain from the first day of publication of the relevant application thus increasing competition and ensuring a fruitful diffusion of information for competitors and researchers both private and public LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE Therefore innovation must spread This happens above all through another fundamental if not constitutive the element of technical progress communication which in turn focuses on a further category of IP rights i e distinctive signs At present distinctive signs in particular trademarks represent a real communication vehicle as they transmit a message whose sender is the owner and whose recipients are those that interact with its distinctive signs In this way especially for innovations but also and more generally for all of the features of a product or service particularly its sustainability trademarks indicate the commercial origins of products or services and give the public the opportunity to appreciate and associate a particularly innovative wad to one company rather than another As such a wad can become an additional value on the market orienting the purchasing habits of consumers and encouraging companies to compete to provide said value e g environmental sustainability The communication between consumers and businesses via trademarks benefits both sides For example businesses are encouraged to invest in communicating the positive aspects of their products e g sustainability in response to evolving consumer needs Further such communication allows businesses to achieve a competitive advantage which is reflected in their growing competitiveness In a nutshell IP rights specifically distinctive signs provide companies that operate in a sustainable way the ability to obtain among other things recognition and therefore economic returns on their investment in sustainability which also encourages them to act in a more environmentally friendly way Moreover the balance between exclusivity and the protection of competition and consumers is ensured by the rules that penalize business communications that are likely to deceive the public e g revoking a trademark that has been attributed to deceptive meanings Ignoring this aspect is the basis of the fundamental error of so called plain packaging policies relating to for example smoking products any system that does not allow the exclusive origin of products to be sufficiently distinguished drastically reduces competition in the relevant sector and above all discourages manufacturers from optimizing their products e g by making cigarettes less toxic or carrying out stricter quality controls 09
As innovation and communication must go hand in hand companies must have appropriate strategies for the coordinated management of their trademarks patents and know how Why IP rights should be a matter of grave importance and sustain after the Covid 19 pandemic The COVID 19 crisis should be a lesson in how to better handle resources and force societies to reclassify their values and needs More concretely market operators will have to know how to anticipate demand in the sense of being able to grasp those signals that allow them as far as possible to anticipate and understand the trends of societies that are discovering the advantages of remote working reconciling production needs with personal and family needs and realizing the potential therein e g remote working and remote access to databases saves time and creates more opportunities for leisure activities which are crucial in an age when time is precious The difficult but dutiful task of companies is predicting the future and ensuring that their products and services meet the demands of consumers in the post COVID 19 economy Important considerations will include reduced travel and the resulting reduction in pollution and greater attention to safety and data protection particularly in the telecoms sector In the future IP rights will play a significant role in encouraging the study and adoption of effective solutions especially through combining innovation and communication and enhancing performance competition among market players The regulation of trade secrets will also be decisive in the post COVID 19 economy to ensure that information whose value lies in its naturally relative secrecy is protected and now substantially harmonized internationally If correctly understood in fact these rules which cover not only technical information but also commercial information starting with Big Data are not opposed to patent law but rather complementary thereto On the contrary the fact that without patents all innovations could be protected only as trade secrets to the extent that it is possible to keep them confidential both technically and contractually reinforces the importance of maintaining and developing the patent system The future patent system must not only circulate such innovations while protecting against their practical exploitation but also encourage 10 Use of an intellectual creation s heritage New innovation and knowledge Sustainable development that is open to criticism and The development of alternative environmentallyfriendly solutions When it comes to protecting trade secrets contractual clauses requiring that information be kept confidential until it becomes generally known or easily accessible are absolutely necessary Further confidentiality agreements have become even more important in the context of remote working in the latter case it is important to specify that it must be expressly authorized by the employer and provide that the person in charge must use only personal computers or other portable computer devices made available by the employer exclusively for professional purposes In any case such persons should be unable to host data or confidential company information on local disks as the relevant files must be saved exclusively on company servers to which the portable device allows access and home or other networks other than the company network to which the portable devices provided by the employer must connect in order to be operational and have the same security standards as the company network so as to avoid the risk of loss of personal data and or disclosure of confidential company information To summarize the entire article it is evident from every angle intellectual property is one of the great engines of the contemporary world which not only fosters and must continue to foster in the post COVID 19 economy progressive developments in relation to technology and quality of life but also carries the antibodies needed to protect the environment Intellectual property can not only incentivize companies from a moral standpoint it can also encourage innovative needs based solutions which when communicated and protected produce further innovation and reveal additional needs e g sustainability on the path of technological civil and human progress LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
AUTHOR MR FELIPE MART NEZ S NCHEZ ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY AT IBARRA ABOGADOS COLOMBIA A lot has been said about the new privacy policy released by WhatsApp That from now on Facebook will have our data some say or others more alarmist stated that the dominance of Facebook will be reinforced with this update as it would have more and more information from us Although the use of Facebook of the data collected through WhatsApp might indeed raise multiple concerns the point is that said issues are already here and the new privacy policy does not impact it a bit On January 4 2021 WhatsApp announced that its privacy policy had been updated and the new terms will be effective as of February 8 2021 Once the said day comes the users that do not accept the changes would not be allowed to use the famous messaging app Since then the news has been flooded with several articles and opinions as to the impact of the said terms changes in our lives and the necessity for switching to other less intrusive apps Even the tech guru Elon Musk seized the opportunity for suggesting to use Signal which not only caused a massive shift to the Brian Acton s app but an accidental raise in its namesake Signal Advance Inc s shares from 60 cents to USD 7 19 The fuss was high enough to cause the start of an investigation against WhatsApp and Facebook On January 11 the Turkish Competition Authority announced the launch of an ex officio investigation against the above mentioned companies to determine whether their conduct as regards the new policy constitutes a violation of Article 6 of Law No 4054 on the Protection of Competition related to the abuse of dominant position Also the entity ordered to cease the new terms LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE Despite the stir caused by the policy s update the truth is that not much has changed Even though neither the original nor the new terms allow WhatsApp or Facebook to see our chats they do have some data from us and that is not a 2021 surprise At this point it is important to recall that Facebook acquired WhatsApp in 2014 and in 2016 they reformed their policy That s when Facebook had access to our data not today And which data Among others our phone number and metrics regarding the time we spend using the app Therefore which was the change While the private messages regulation remained the same the business messaging suffered some variations consisting in the linkage of the shops that operate in the other Facebook s platforms with the business chat in WhatsApp Employing these modifications when a shop ad is popping up on Facebook and or Instagram you can now use a button to chat with them through WhatsApp with the purpose of enquiring and buying And of course Facebook will know about the click in said message by WhatsApp Given the above despite the lack of substantial reforms in the WhatsApp privacy policy this case is another example of the catastrophic effects of the combination of a poorly managed media strategy for releasing an update and a ceaseless news snowball But even more important it allows us to appreciate the growing acknowledgment of people as to the importance of our data Hopefully this will contribute to the entrenchment of a data protection s culture and prevent further abuses from the dominant agents when those effectively arise 11
LEXTALK WORLD T A L K S H O W with PARTNER AT L L PARTNERS LAW OFFICES ADVOCATE ON RECORD SUPREME COURT OF INDIA Lextalk World interviews Mr Faisal Sherwani He is an Advocate on Record Supreme Court of India and is currently a Partner in the Dispute Resolution practice at L L Partners Law Offices New Delhi With an experience of over a decade in the field of dispute resolution and dispute advisory services he has a deep understanding of procedural and substantive issues of law He regularly practices before the Hon ble Supreme Court of India as well as the Hon ble High Courts at Delhi Bombay Karnataka Telangana Allahabad and Madras as also the NCLT and NCLAT He has a host of reported Judgments to his credit He continuously advises and acts for clients on a range of subjects such as constitutional law aspects arbitration laws corporate commercial and insolvency laws labor legislations white collar crimes and penal laws Faisal graduated in 2009 from the Faculty of Law AMU as second in his class He went on to gain his master s degree i e LL M in the year 2010 from the George Washington University Law School Washington DC which he attended on a law school merit scholarship Faisal is also a sought after columnist and speaker His work runs the gamut from law history and satire His style is one that grapples with the realities and ideals of modern India He regularly engages on issues related to law polity and other socio economic subjects Faisal was recognized and has featured in Business World s BW Legal World s elite list of 40 under 40 India s top lawyers and legal influencers 2020 12 Questions 1 Please brief us about your personal and professional background Faisal Well I don t know if I would classify my time in the profession as being a journey A decade is just a baby step in a career But since you put it that way I would start with my education with a strong affinity and desire to know and study law My parents had the typical middle class aspirations for me i e that I should study medicine or engineering But I think I had a taste for law from a rather early age and my parents were astonishingly supportive which was clear from the fact that they ultimately granted me the respect and complete freedom to make my intellectual and career choices I recall after my basic schooling I had developed an instant fascination for political thought history and economics if not earlier I was drawn towards writings that advocated freedom of speech religion thought as also the life and liberty of the individual And before I knew it I was drawn towards law I attended law school in my hometown at the Faculty of Law at the Aligarh Muslim University at Aligarh I have very fond memories of my time there Thereafter I did my LL M from the George Washington University Law School GW Law Washington D C which I attended on a merit scholarship LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
In the profession I started as an apprentice to a very respectable Senior Advocate Mr Rakesh Dwivedi And really no mention of my career is truly complete without reference to his contributions Many aspects of the law apart more importantly I learned from him how one must conduct himself in the profession as also that sheer hard work and long hours is the lowest common denominator Thereafter I had a longish stint at Parekh Co i e a boutique law firm in the New Delhi area There were several opportunities to learn and I had many rich experiences during my time there I might mention that it was here that I had decided to prepare for and attempt the Advocate OnRecord exam held by the Supreme Court Ultimately I wound up at L L Partners Law Offices formerly Luthra Luthra and gradually worked my way up to partnership During this time I have had the good fortune of working with very many great individuals and for some splendid clients I have also been extremely fortunate to have had the chance to work on an indiscriminate variety of matters and legal issues So it has been a pleasant and enjoyable stint thus far but it is just the beginning I would characterize it as a mixed bag of experiences where I have learned about law and life about how to adapt and innovate how not to let the little successes go to your head and most importantly how to take failures in my stride 2 Tell us about your most memorable case and what are your key takeaways from there The very basic takeaways I think are that it is rewarding to remain focused that it is necessary to live with the matter you are involved in i e that you must breathe eat and live with it Also that there is no alternative to hard work and long hours and finally that it is important to look beyond the confines of the short sighted brief 3 How do you look at Dispute Resolution in 2021 and how it s going to change 5 years down the line Faizal Well if we are to talk about 2021 most instantly we are still reeling from the impact of the pandemic itself I suppose all the stakeholders that have a role to play in the resolution of disputes will be required to constantly adapt to the after effect of the pandemic The courts are likely to continue to adapt and utilize technology more Our courts have admiringly started using technology during this time Nonetheless we will continue to debate For now adapting has meant little more than investing if you hadn t already in a fast and stable internet connection Also while there has been the odd exception the important issue of public access to virtual proceedings has arisen as a concern which in turn has reignited the debate around the utopian notion of the open court As far as the client market is concerned it is no secret that the pandemic has impacted businesses The negative impact is more prominently noticeable in some sectors leisure hospitality and aviation while some have fared well pharmaceuticals logistics and technology Old models of business and the high demand that was conventionally enjoyed cannot be taken for granted anymore New revenue streams have to be explored Having a digital mindset will be critical for businesses in all sectors Faizal While I suppose it is too early in the day to stop and look back but what instantly comes to my mind is the constitutional challenge to the transport technology aggregator rules before the Karnataka High Court I had advanced lengthy arguments over multiple days where there was a battery of senior counsels opposing us Also the long term implications are likely to be severe and many sectors are going to witness a more enduring negative The experience was the first of its kind at that time for me impact even a lasting one Take for instance the aviation and I had found the whole process intellectually stimulating sector we have realized that we don t need to travel for all and professionally satisfying This had ended in the those face to face meetings A similar forecast may be made somewhat sincere appreciation I thought that I received for commercial real estate quite simply because we have from the bench of the Karnataka High Court What I cherish learned that we are capable of working from home most was that the bench had not merely suggested that I had done a good job representing my client but rather that In house legal teams have had to slash budgets and the inmy submissions had been of great assistance to the bench house capability has had to step up to deliver more and to in changing the initial view it had on the matter justify its existence In many a case these in house legal teams have turned around and demanded that external lawyers and firms do the same LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 13
As far as the law firm model is concerned I might say that we had long expected the biggest disrupter to be the entry of the foreign law firms In that sense the pandemic serves as a fine example of the limitations of the human mind i e an utter lack of imagination coupled with a very restricted ability to anticipate and prepare for the future or its disruptions But the short term impact of the pandemic on the average law firm has been less severe than what was originally anticipated Nonetheless I have no regrets at all and I find this to be an extremely apt exposition of how a well rounded lawyer should be While we are entitled to our preferences and inclinations our duties as general lit practitioners demand that we be equipped to speak and be able to advise on most issues rather than some And happily so as a dispute resolution specialist and a court room practitioner my responsibilities extend to advising and acting for clients on a range of issues and subjects such as constitutional law aspects arbitration laws corporate commercial and insolvency laws labor legislations technology and gaming laws white collar crimes and penal laws Coming to the last bit of your question i e how is it going to be 5 years down the line I suppose your guess is as good as mine but what I can say is that things will be far more complex With each passing year disputes as we understand them are likely to become more intricate This isn t a novel thought by any stretch of the imagination 5 What do you perceive as the major challenges in William Forsyth had long back predicted in Hortentius the ensuring a more robust mechanism for the Advocate 1879 As the relations of society continue to enforcement of law and punishment for white collar grow more varied and complex so will the lawyers crimes in India profession become correspondingly more essential in the adjustment of any differences that may arise Faizal Well if we talk about the practice of white collar crimes in India there is an increasing realization among And so our relationships professional engagements and professionals that the system lacks the mechanism to grant a work were always bound to get more complex with time and pardon or some form of leniency For instance if a the development of society Therefore some amount of responsible corporate were to conduct its internal audits disruption change shift from the usual may be taken as a and checks and consequently were to conclude that given at all times This is in fact not something to be certain irregularities may have been committed in a branch concerned about or frowned upon but rather something of its wide ranging operations the system must permit such that should be celebrated frank and honest disclosures to be made without fear of excessive prosecution I assume that competition will be far more profound as it already is Should business interests demand seeking This is only possible if the system can intrinsically counsel elsewhere the average client will no longer hesitate accommodate the possibility of a financial settlement while or think twice if we do not serve them well So as individual ruling out stringent prosecution and incarceration as a professionals we must constantly endeavor to be in a necessary and unavoidable consequence of such position to provide a complete view of most aspects disclosure In other words we must have a mechanism that encourages private enterprise high ranking officials and 4 You are already a coveted legal adviser in the start employees to come clean and admit corporate guilt up circles in India Would you please tell us more about the array of work that you handle The penal process can certainly involve the imposition of heavy penalties to ensure an element of future deterrence Faizal Array is certainly the right word I take constant Possibly in many a case deterrence even retribution may refuge in Lord Henry Brougham s famous quote a lawyer be accomplished by imposing a financial penalty which is a must know everything about something and something high multiple of the actual amount that is the subject matter about everything I am quite certain that he had a dispute of any supposed malfeasance or irregularity In such resolution lawyer in mind for the simple reason that despite scenarios where there is an admission of guilt in some form our tastes for a particular area of law more often or manner and a financial penalty has been imposed the circumstances deny us the luxury of solely concentrating on more stringent penalties such as incarceration ought not to one subject be pressed further 14 LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
It should come as no surprise that today several corporations have their robust internal checks and carry out regular audits to verify and correct any issues allegations or suspicions relating to fudging of accounts corruption and any other financial offenses or irregularities Such a culture of internal investigations is really something that should be celebrated and encouraged At the same time such entities must be afforded the safe harbor of arriving at a possible resolution with financial consequences penalties with the investigating agencies and the prosecution of course under the aegis of the State and the regulations that may be framed in this regard We can learn from the example of the United States where the US Department of Justice DoJ as well as the Securities Exchange Commission SEC permits a private party to enter into an Agreement for Non Prosecution i e subject to such a party arriving at a financial settlement The reality is the existing mechanism i e granting a pardon to an accused and plea bargaining under the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 are entirely incompatible with the scenario I have discussed At the end of the day we need to ensure that our penal laws are capable of effecting the right amount of deterrence without running to extremes and endangering liberties particularly for offenses such as these i e where no blood has been shed and amends can be made in numbers be it rather large sums Also there is some amount of legislative and judicial sympathy today towards the sentiment that there should be minimal judicial interference in the arbitral process Further there is an increasing realization that party autonomy should play a pivotal role Courts have exercised noticeable restraint while reviewing arbitral awards Take for instance the pronouncement of the Supreme Court in Vijay Karia v Prysmian Cavi E Sistemi SRL Ors earlier this year where the court reiterated the limited grounds on which enforcement of a foreign award could be resisted and allowed enforcement even at the cost of a supposed violation of the provisions of FEMA It also clarified that for a foreign award to be unenforceable as being in contravention of the fundamental policy of Indian law as stated in Renusagar Power v General Electric Co 1994 it must involve a breach of a legal principle or legislation that is so basic to Indian law that it is not susceptible to being compromised So we have come a long way from the time of Phulchand Exports 2011 when the court had bestowed a broader meaning to the expression public policy of India as used in Section 48 2 b of the Arbitration Act and had held that a foreign award could be set aside if it was patently illegal That apart also I think we can agree that the NY Convention and some other measures have brought a strong underlying uniformity to international arbitration law by providing a 6 How do you view the present scenario of arbitration broad rule of enforceability of arbitration agreements and by in India Does the regulatory landscape measure up standardizing the groundsfor refusing recognition or to other arbitration friendly destinations Also what enforcement of foreign arbitral awards is the future of ADR mechanisms in India Of course there is room for improvement and further Faizal It is promising and I think the regulatory landscape changes After all the convention did not provide an alldoes in many ways match up to that of the other coveted embracing regulation of international commercial destinations This does not mean that our system should be arbitration Instead it preserves a substantial role for diverse identical to the regulatory framework of X nation or Y national laws such as on issues as to how those grounds are nation After all we must realize our destiny in line with our to be defined aspirations and laws We must understand that issues such as forestalling I think the amendments in 2015 and 2019 to the Arbitration enforcement of an award on grounds that it is contrary to Conciliation Act 1996 in India demonstrate the conviction public policy of a nation are something that would of the legislature to make India an arbitration friendly necessarily have to be defined by the municipal laws in line jurisdiction Apart from that there has been a range of with the aspirations of the people of that nation So some pronouncements from various courts that mirror this theme amount of leg room in this regard is therefore possibly necessary LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 15
To begin with it would be good if nations and the policymakers within those nations be ad idem on the broad principles on which we can agree to refuse enforcement or recognition of an international award mind you there are countries that still disagree about this even today India in that sense is far more uniform and ad idem with the other nations that follow the UNCITRAL model If you think about it objectively the supposed reasons that are offered as justifications to opt for ADR often end up sounding like somewhat of a hidden apology for the state of our traditional judicial system i e that these mechanisms furnish faster more cost effective easily accessible and more receptive processes and also furnish brighter prospects for amicable resolution Thus to my mind if there is a consensus on the basic principles we can continue to learn from each other s experiences and precedents also And maybe on many a threshold concepts such as public policy can mean the same things to us But on the few fine points that we disagree with we can continue to respect those diversities and move forward After all any system of justice dispensation the traditional courts included should strive to inculcate the aforementioned virtues and attain such ideals There is something to reflect upon there as also to be a little concerned about On the issue of ADR there can be no doubt that ADR mechanisms have numerous benefits and must continue to play an important role in the times to come Reducing the burden of pending cases before the courts is certainly a welldocumented and widely acknowledged by product of the cultural acceptance and receptiveness to these mechanisms After all there can be nothing better if both parties to an adversarial process can leave satisfied as far as practically possible by reaching an amicable solution of sorts say by a process of mediation or the like The traditional process of court room litigation often does not afford such happy outcomes And therefore to such an extent we must continue to bestow unflinching faith and hope in ADR mechanisms But I might add that the adoption of ADR ought not to be on account of an inherent lack of faith and confidence of corporates businesses or even the common man in our traditional courts of justice If that be so I would suggest it is a troubling trend Our traditional justice delivery system must too continue to offer a robust and dependable mechanism and serve as the primary system of justice dispensation Indeed parties may continue to be at liberty to settle disputes that are private between themselves by ADR or for that matter by any other method that suits their fancy 16 UPCOMING EVENTS GLOBAL HYBRID CONFERENCES Dubai UAE 07 08 April 2021 Los Angeles USA 26 27 October 2021 www lextalk world LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
With the second wave of coronavirus the outlook for 2021 feels more like a leap into 2030 That is how radically the technological landscape and how we as humans deal with it has changed and will continue to change Who would have thought just one year ago that even financial service providers would introduce home office from one day to the next And this is not about providing incentives or comfort for employees but often simply about the very survival of the company People and society as well as the economy and the environment are therefore more than ever drivers of technology trends Rarely in our history has there been a year in which external circumstances have changed as radically as they have in the past year of the 2020 pandemic That s why the acceptance or rejection of certain technologies will change as dramatically as we would otherwise experience over a five to ten year period And so welcome to 2030 People Society 2021 is the new 2030 An emotional leap in time in society is something new For example many people over 60 feel and act more like the average person over 50 from just a few years ago These behavioral changes often become noticeable through the sudden use of new technologies such as the booming use of e bikes or smartphones LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE While these people often enjoy turning back the clock on their perceived age without giving up new technologies and even use them to circumvent handicaps that have arisen younger people don t necessarily see it the same For them the sudden increase in the use of technology feels like a leap into the future without thinking about their own age At the end of the day the effect is the same Many younger and older people are suddenly thinking more intensely about technology in 2021 than they had in previous years The radical transformation caused by the pandemic intensifies this effect which then feels like a leap in time to the year 2030 for most people in the core of their working life Accordingly we see the following trends for people society in the next 12 months 1 Technology acceptance is extremely polarized just as political opinions are becoming increasingly polarized the same will apply to the acceptance of digital innovation One part of society will significantly increase their use of digital services in everyday life while the other part will increasingly reject it The technology savvy part will weigh up and take risks while the other part will categorically and aggressively demonize many of these technologies or want to prevent the general public from using them This is where an increasing number of extreme worldviews develop and become intermingled with conspiracy theories 17
Compared to neighboring countries like the Netherlands Germany is continuously losing purchasing power for digital innovation from its own country In the past complete pilot versions of software MVPs were often used to promote user acceptance This will become more difficult in the upcoming decade if many potential users categorically refuse to even look at and try out these products Companies must therefore research not only business cases and requirements in their target group but also explicit social acceptance criteria before product development As a result there will be target groups for the first time that consciously don t purchase vehicles that exchange data online or who consciously avoid modern financial service providers that optimize their customers financial management through the use of AI 2 Data protection concerns and federalism obstruct digitization even if a healthy level of skepticism toward global providers is appropriate not every cloud provider is unlawful just because it comes from the USA or China One really must take a close look here understand contracts security measures and certifications and scrutinize the providers business models Many data protectionists don t do this and stop digitization by banning all global services Conversely this also means that Europe will have little chance of exporting its own digital services since by 2021 every state will consider its own data protection as the best Therefore even good concepts like Gaia X cannot achieve the necessary economies of scale to become Made InGermany export hits Economy and the environment Losers react winners drive innovation Without a doubt economic recovery from the corona crisis will be the dominant topic for the next year if not for the next ten years Both the losers and winners in the situation are accelerating technological development 3 Corona losers react with new business models as the pandemic will still be omnipresent in 2021 every company that has been existentially affected by corona must reinvent itself Restaurants will become delivery services with online orders while event organizers will become commercial streaming platforms The As a Service Economy replaces the former investments in order to manage the risk in the uncertain economic situation This not only calculates services for customers based on their consumption but also allows companies to scale all necessary resources linearly with the demand For example a delivery service would no longer purchase or lease its delivery vehicles as before but would pay the vehicle manufacturer per kilometer or delivery which is commonly referred to as Equipment as a service This of course also applies to IT The European economy however was still doing so well in the past crises that it would not have dared to make radical changes to its IT This will be different now Part of the European economy is being hit so hard by the pandemic and the hyperscalers have now fully implemented the EU privacy requirements As a result we initially expect the same effect in Europe in 2021 as was the case in the USA in 2013 2015 and 2018 4 Corona winners invest proactively in their technological lead one should not forget that many industries have benefited enormously from the pandemic This includes online retailers logistics companies delivery services and all those involved with protective clothing and hygiene articles The IT sector is also booming with video services network component providers and telecommunications companies All these companies will invest their profits massively in 2021 in business model and technological development in order to get ready for the new competitive situation after the corona 18 LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
The so called Circular Economy will play an important role in the business models and for example in B2B will yield new deposit and packaging solutions that bring added value with IoT Tracing Overall the corona winners will be able to invest in both sustainable and disruptive technology For example increasingly intelligent waste sorting systems will enable more upcycling of raw materials In less densely populated areas the first delivery drones are being deployed as prototypes which will then spread productively in 2022 Software landscape overall tough times for ERP systems Driven by the corona winners the software landscape in companies will continue to change 5 Consolidated market leaders write their own business software industry leaders such as Otto or Lidl have already started this trend in recent years which is traditionally known from the financial sector Next year more and more companies will question the costs of implementing and maintaining ERP software packages and will design alternative business software based on Open Source Platforms or Platform as a Service services offered by hyperscalers 6 Hardware software appliances break in many areas such as the automotive industry but also in consumer products software traditionally came from the manufacturer embedded within the hardware While hardware is developing continuously and more slowly the software will make the bigger leaps next year Many OEMs are therefore trying to develop the software themselves like Volkswagen with its CarOS or to obtain it from software partners like Daimler in its partnership with Google Waymo Nevertheless one still needs considerable experience to build computing power and control devices for the tough conditions in vehicles or industrial plants Suppliers like Bosch or Continental have a difficult decade ahead of them in which they have to prove themselves in a new ecosystem through their own software innovations Cloud Computing Adoption The crisis accelerates the consolidation Cloud computing will be the driver of the next Software Stack innovation again in 2021 7 Software Stack Eruption data is the new software we know the sudden shift in hardware technology which is constantly evolving according to Moore s Law Nevertheless technology is rapidly being replaced in certain applications In recent years for example data tapes have been replaced by large volume spinning disks for many archiving tasks in data centers while the SSD has overtaken these hard drives from servers and laptops Ultimately highperformance servers which initially used the first expensive SSDs for data storage now use large RAM volumes to store modern in memory databases The role of software with its quality and functionality will be replaced by data Here a whole class of data products data management platforms data development platforms data virtualization platforms or already completed training data for the common machine learning algorithms is being developed Die Open AI Initiative shows us that algorithms have to further develop with the appropriate amounts of data Simply collecting data does not result in a breakthrough However programming only with simulations without real data will clearly reach its limits in the upcoming decade The decisive factor is therefore the swift collection of sufficient good quality learning data or an appropriate business model in the new ecosystem of data on a modern Software Stack LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 19
LEXTALK WORLD T A L K S H O W with COUNSEL DELIVERY LEAD UNITEDLEX MEXICO Lextalk World interviews Rodrigo Nu ez Vega born and raised in M xico studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico dedicated to corporate law legal services and seeking ways to deliver legal services in the easiest and fastest ways for over 14 years Start as a paralegal in 2006 in this first job he had to manage over 14 companies the lack of control of the information leads him to develop software in the cloud to manage the lifecycle of contracts that also was a repository in 2010 In 2011 launched a website of legal services www tucontrato com mainly for the drafting negotiation and revision of all kinds of contracts to small companies With this project he received an investment from StartUp Factory of 10K USD During these years he dedicated himself to understand the client s needs developing growth strategies for the website and especially on how to make the delivery of legal services more efficient In 2019 he joined UnitedLex as a member of Mexico s delivery center where he started performing duties as a Transactional lawyer providing services for Mexico LatAm and the United States currently he is performing activities as the legal delivery lead for different accounts in UnitedLex Questions 1 Please brief us about your personal and professional background 20 Rodrigo I was born and raised in Mexico studied law at the National Autonomous University of Mexico My career involved corporate law legal services and seeking ways to deliver legal services in the easiest and fastest ways for over 14 years I started as a paralegal in 2006 in this first job I had to manage over 14 companies The lack of control of the information leads me to develop 2010 software in the cloud system to manage the lifecycle of contracts The software also was a repository 2010 Founder of LexDigital and creator of De Co a Contract Management software in the cloud system In 2011 I launched a website of legal services www tucontrato com mainly for the drafting negotiation and revision of all kinds of contracts for small companies With this project I received an investment from a Startup Factory of 20 000 During these years I dedicated myself to understanding the client needs developing growth strategies for the website and especially on how to make the delivery of legal services more efficient 2011 2018 Raised capital with investors for 20 000 as the founder and CEO of www tucontrato com mx I was the creator and principal promoter of a permanent campaign for Legal prevention for SMEs and entrepreneurs I implemented a remote customer service model Breaking paradigms of legal services LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
I oversaw more than 500 clients from all over the Mexican Republic and created digital marketing campaigns through platforms such as Google Ad Words Facebook Ads and other traditional media I made elaborate personalized agreements for more than 800 operations of different business lines with delivery in less than 48 hours at prices below the competition I started working with artificial intelligence for creating new contracts 2019 Currently I am the leader of digital transformation projects for clients in the USA I oversee legal delivery lead for US accounts with work teams from Mexico India and Europe I attend clients in Mexico Latham and the USA as counsel and transactional lawyers 2 Tell us a story when you were able to create an impact on one of your client s life with your expertise and knowledge Rodrigo A big problem with small businesses is that they grant a lot of credit to customers without having control over it believing that this will make them grow Granting credits without control or warranties can create a very large pastdue portfolio Financial factoring is not an option for small companies and their clients so this situation leads companies to get critical financial matters Templates and playbooks were developed for these companies that would allow them to have greater control over the loans granted and forcing the debtors to restructure These changes generated a 25 reduction in the past due portfolio in the first year The biggest challenge for my business was always looking for a way to make things work for the customer when you work with SMEs and startups you come across new and innovative business models every day which makes you always think outside the box to find the legal way to protect the new business model 3 What are the 3 core values you truly believe in Rodrigo Respect and Commitment the commitment that one acquires as a lawyer when a client places his trust for advising him on any subject is something we most value and respect LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE Part of my job commitment is to respect the client s business and what my job represents for him within his strategy so one must be aware of and respond to the client s business level As lawyers we must act responsibly in the face of any strategy or advice that we give to any client a mistake can put an entire business at risk The legal risk analysis in any business goes hand in hand with financial delivery and other areas of the business as lawyers we are responsible for comprehensive advice regarding each business in which we participate Our job is to deliver justice to everyone on what is due for him or her A good business will always be a win win situation as a lawyer when negotiating a contract we must seek the middle point in which both parties are protected and can grow as companies 4 What are your thoughts about the future of the industry Rodrigo Since the beginning of my career my focus and dedication has been on the use of technology for the provision of legal services to find ways to deliver personalized and specialized contracts quickly easily and efficiently For more than 10 years digital solutions have been sought for the provision of legal services but for a long time it was for isolated services Today I am still looking for a way to make the delivery of legal services more efficient using technology and strategies in conjunction with each type of business The laws are something that should advance at the same speed as technology and business legal departments must move at the same speed as their businesses and the only way to do it is by using technology For many years it has been believed that legal departments are the ones who delay business and that they are a unnecessary cost to companies People who still think like this do not know the value of the information that the legal department can provide to the business and are not aware of the benefits and savings that can be had with a digitized legal department that measures and analyzes each operation with the use of appropriate tech 21
About the LexTalk World Hybrid Conference International Legal Industry platform facilitating one to one business networking and domain knowledge gathering and dissemination through events and media gears up for their global hybrid event to be held in Dubai UAE on the 7th and 8th of April 2021 followed by Los Angeles USA in October 2021 The Hybrid event would be a trendsetting experience for the global industry fraternity and it would really bolster the cohesiveness of the international legal industry through open and frank discussions sharing of views opinions ideas and of course knowledge The global legal industry is on the threshold of major sweeping changes which are taking place and the biggest icing on the cake is the merging of cutting edge technology with legal practice The legal industry would not only require people who are simply lawyers and who can articulate a discussion and set precedence using legal jurisprudence but also the industry would have high involvement of the quintessential software engineer applying his or her technical wizardry thereby transforming the industry completely LexTalk World comes from ClickAway Creators a company that is registered in Canada and has offices in India Germany and Canada ClickAway Creators is a 360 degrees combination of online media events and knowledge based platforms connecting domain experts from the fields of international legal retail fashion industries from across the world connecting people building business relationships and also gathering and disseminating news information and domain knowledge all for the sake of connecting likeminded people in the globe and gearing up for an exciting future 22 LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Dr Lalit Bhasin Alizeh Iqbal Hydar Dinchu Oommen President Society of Indian Law Firms India 58 years in Law Practice Chief Legal and Compliance Officer at Fine Hygenic Holding UAE Senior Legal Counsel at Johnson Controls UAE Tarek Nakkach Christina De Dona Nadim El Haj Regional Legal Counsel at Hewlett Packard UKIMESA UAE Chief Counsel International at the Hershey Company UAE General Consel Head of Legal at Abu Dhabi National Hotels UAE LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 23
Remote working from home as a lawyer is an unorthodox choice of lifestyle especially for the legal profession which is a bit difficult considering the fact that this is an industry that has always required people to people interface and work But when one looks more closely at how to work remotely as a lawyer how many lawyers are already doing so and what s really possible remote legal work doesn t seem like such an implausible idea after all In fact in light of rapidly changing situations such as that of COVID 19 lawyers and legal professionals may be looking at remote work not as a once in awhile perk but as an option with the potential to protect their families their clients and their communities Before you start setting yourself up to work remotely you might be asking yourself is this really possible Can lawyers work remotely While the answer depends on your practice area and what a typical day looks like for you the short answer is yes It should be possible to complete some or all of your legal work remotely and even provides an excellent client experience while not in the office Of course if you need to go to court it s difficult to get around that but certain circumstances may render that point moot as well For example as the situation surrounding COVID 19 evolves many courts are enacting partial closures or modified operations such as teleconference or videoconference hearings Keep an eye out for alerts from any relevant courts and make sure you know whether trials are still moving ahead in your area 24 With modern technology lawyers can draft and review legal documents get them signed electronically in most cases and keep clients up to date all while ensuring client and firm data is kept secure and confidential This is simpler than many would expect If you use any sort of computer program currently you should be able to set yourself up to work remotely Follow the steps below for a successful remote work experience 1 Communicate changes with clients staff and colleagues If you re opening a remote first practice from the start this point isn t as relevant But if you re shifting from a more traditional law firm model to remote work permanently or temporarily it s absolutely critical that you clearly communicate any changes and new policies Send an email making it clear that you re shifting to remote work and set expectations for which communication channels to use how meetings will take place and how often you ll be contacting clients If you re canceling all inperson meetings let everyone know far in advance so they can adjust their plans Make the switch to video conferences easy by adding links to video invites within the notes section of any calendar events This will make the transition as smooth as possible for you your staff and your clients Also if you re clear about why you re working remotely this may help clients understand and help them see the changes in a positive light LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Speak to any staff you normally work with about how you ll work together while you re remote and send an email to staff making it clear whether they re meant to work remotely as well If you think some staff needs to come to the office to use equipment like printers or scanners or to answer the phones we d recommend that you seriously explore different options that would negate this need such as a portable scanner and printer e filing to negate the need to print lengthy court documents and a VOIP phone service so that phones can be answered remotely If you re closing your offices put a notice on the homepage of your website and a sign on the door that includes information on how to reach you so those who come knocking don t feel like they ve hit a dead end Even if you re a partner at the firm and you re electing to work from home independent of what the rest of the firm is doing speak to your staff before you begin working remotely 2 Get a strong internet connection Working remotely means a lot more time in front of your computer and as a lawyer you can t have the internet dropping off in the middle of an important video conference meeting Furthermore if you need to collaborate with clients staff and colleagues on important legal documents they ll need to be stored in the cloud rather than locally on your computer and a strong internet connection will ensure fast and easy access to your work How can you tell if your internet connection is good enough If you have a broadband internet connection you should be fine Also this post from developer Martino Fornasa covers how to ensure the stability of your connection another important factor If you re working from home talk to your internet provider about the level of speed and stability you re getting with your current package and upgrade if needed If you re working abroad consider investing in a portable Wi Fi hotspot or use your iPhone or Android smartphone as a hotspot to avoid troubles with spotty hotel Wi Fi just make sure you re paying for plenty of data to cover your working needs Do you need a remote access VPN to work remotely A remote access virtual private network more often referred to as a VPN is exactly what it sounds like LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE It allows users e g lawyers to securely connect to a private network e g one at a law firm from a remote location If your firm uses on premise case management software or if your files are stored locally on your firm s network you ll need to set up a VPN in order to get access to key case details and documents Follow these steps to set up a remote access VPN If you use a cloud based practice management system like Clio Manage you don t need to worry about a VPN Simply log in via your web browser for safe and secure access to all of your files 3 Set up remote access to cases and documents You can t take a filing cabinet with you everywhere Also mailing paper documents between you staff clients and colleagues when not in the office will quickly become costprohibitive Therefore it makes sense to ensure you have access to as many documents and case details as possible online if you re planning to work remotely Scan paper documents First digitize anything you might need that s paper only and not already scanned into your computer or the cloud You can do this yourself put a staff member in charge of scanning documents or use a service or ask if a Clio Certified Consultant can digitize existing documents for you You ll also need a scanner to take with you wherever you re working from if you don t have one already more on that later Store documents in the cloud You can t take your law firm s server home with you If you re planning to work remotely for a while and others at your firm are as well you ll need to take special precautions to ensure your server is protected from potential fires floods power outages or other potential problems and depending on the situation taking these precautions may be extremely difficult If you re planning to work remotely full time you may not need a law firm server at all For these reasons we recommend cloud based document storage Cloud based document storage solutions allow you to securely access your files from anywhere in the world as long as you have an internet connection You can also collaborate easily with staff colleagues and clients 25
Clio Manage offers unlimited document storage Other cloud storage solutions include OneDrive Box Drop box and Google Drive 4 Prepare a positive remote experience for clients Clients will be looking for you and your services whether you re working remotely or not Provide clear information on your website create a streamlined onboarding process and be upfront about the fact that you re working remotely and the experience clients can expect and you ll soon have a thriving remote legal practice Even if you re only working remotely temporarily your ability to be flexible and show that you re still available to clients could very well lead you to connect with clients who d otherwise have a difficult time getting the legal help they need Furthermore your clients may want a remote experience Consider offering consultations over the phone or via video to create peace of mind for potential clients and send newly signed clients a welcome letter with how best to contact you how often to expect communications and times you ll be available if you re working unconventional hours or in a different time zone Send a modified version of the letter to existing clients as well If you use a different solution for client intake make sure you re able to access any information about potential new clients remotely 5 Communicate with clients securely If you re working remotely you likely won t be meeting client s in person Of course this depends on the type of law you practice but at the very least you ll need to prepare to provide case updates and ongoing communications online via text or over the phone Luckily there are plenty of options available And as a bonus your clients may even appreciate the convenience of different communication methods The main thing is to make sure any channels you re using are encrypted and secure As a lawyer you need to uphold your duty to keep client information confidential and if communication channels aren t encrypted it s all too easy for others to gain access to client conversations Tools like Skype are fine for short video chats where you won t be discussing anything substantial but when you ll be discussing sensitive information with a colleague or client we recommend tools like Legaler or Jive which use encryption to keep your video calls secure 26 For text messages we recommend Signa Other business texting services include Zipwhip Heymarket and Kenect For longer messages document sharing and invoice sharing email can work However lawyers must ensure they are using an encrypted email service We recommend a secure client portal like Clio Connect for secure communications and document sharing 6 Set up mail forwarding Depending on how you re running your practice currently and depending on the type of law you practice you may not be able to go completely paperless overnight If you re working remotely temporarily contact your local postal service to set up a temporary mail forward from your office to the address you ll be working at If you work remotely full time and need to handle mail consider using Casemail to mail documents directly from your computer You can also minimize mail and its associated costs by opting to receive bills for any business expenses online and by sharing client invoices online as well For example with practice management solutions like Clio Manage you can easily share invoices via email or a secure client portal and include a link so clients can easily pay online via credit card 7 Make yourself always reachable by phone You may not be at the office but your clients will still phone you Even if you don t have an office it s likely you ll have at least some clients who want to get in contact via phone For example clients with limited access to technology might have an easier time phoning you than texting emailing or video chatting For temporary remote work make sure all calls are forwarded from your number at your law firm to your cell phone or another number you can easily access while away from the office For permanent remote work consider switching to a Voice over Internet Protocol VOIP phone service Such services allow you to make phone calls from your computer There are several options such as Vonage Corvum Nextiva and Jive It s also worth investing in a headset for the top notch sound quality on any calls Finally you may want to consider using a virtual receptionist service like Ruby or Smith ai This way you ll make sure no calls get missed ensuring an excellent client experience and guarding against potential new clients slipping through the cracks LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
This can be helpful if working remotely means you ll need to handle more calls than you re used to if you ll be working in a different time zone or if you ll be working irregular hours 8 Use e filing if available If you need to file documents with the courts look into efiling as an option Not all courts offer the ability to e file but many do and it can be a real time saver 9 Plan for professional video meetings When working remotely you may find video meetings replacing face to face ones with clients co counsel opposing counsel and a variety of other people With the power of technology and a strong internet connection you can meet anyone anywhere anytime It s a given that you ll need to look professional for video meetings but with only a little bit of effort and planning you ll look extra sharp and create a strong positive impression on clients and other legal professionals Keep your background tidy What s the view behind your computer Tidy any shelves keep the kitchen or laundry baskets out of view and if all else fails sit in front of a blank wall If you have a home office try to take video meetings there It s important to meet professional contacts from a professional space Prevent distractions Lock the dog out of the room give a heads up that your kids are home and turn down the volume of other devices or turn them off If you re not at home find a quiet place to meet It s easier than you think to get distracted when meeting remotely Choose strong lighting Harsh or dim lighting can make it appear as if something is off when you re on video If you can sit in a room with stronger than you think youneed incandescent light or LED energy saving lights that imitate incandescent light Keep your video on Best video meeting etiquette is to always appear on the video It shows you re present and engaged in the conversation and gives your clients and colleagues visual cues about how you re reacting Of course if you re under the weather and toughing it out to get work done it s fine to turn off your video just explain the situation to the person on the other end Use a headset Today s laptop mics are strong but a headset will ensure crisp professional sound quality on your calls a critical consideration if someone on the call has low hearing Consider muting yourself when it s not your turn to talk Whether there s construction going on down LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE the street or whether your family member is also working remotely and conducting a loud meeting in the next room or whether you re typing during the meeting background noise is louder than you think on the other end of the video Take stock of your surroundings and mute yourself if needed just be sure to give your full attention to the video camera and maybe disregard this rule for 1 1 meetings 10 Take care of your mental health No matter why you re doing it or where you re doing it from remote work can be isolating If you re used to interacting with others directly on a daily basis suddenly sitting alone all day can be a tough change for your mental health To combat the downside of remote work create a routine and create some distance between your work and personal life Here are some tips Dress formally A common trope of remote work is the worker who sits in pajamas all day However this isn t a great look for conference calls and won t make you feel great either Instead dress as you normally would Set clear work hours Without a commute and a separate space for work and home it s easy for your work and your personal life to blend together It takes a tremendous amount of self control to only work during certain hours and separate work and life One tip that might work for you is taking a short walk at the start and end of your day to create a mental boundary between your work and personal time Work in the same area Another way to create a routine is to work in the same space every day preferably from a home office or a setup resembling one If you re sharing limited space with someone else who s also working remotely set a clear schedule for video meetings in the most appropriate locations and or stake out your own clear workspaces Call a friend or coworker Depending on where you are or why you re remote you may not regularly be in contact with others In this case prioritize calling or video chatting with one person each day whether a friend or colleague Even if it s only for five minutes This is a small promise to keep and can help combat the effects of isolation Unplug As a lawyer or legal professional there will always be more work to do If you love your job it s easy to sit in front of a laptop for hours and hours in the name of productivity but that s a recipe for burnout You need to take care of yourself in order to take care of your clients so unless there s an emergency stick to your work hours and unplug outside of that time 27
The legal industry has been slow to digitalize Filip Corveleyn the co founder of Legal Studio was a lawyer with a great interest in technology He saw lawyers spending a great amount of valuable time on tasks that did not necessarily require a law degree and that could easily be automated The legal industry has been extremely traditional in its approach towards acceptance and utilization of digitization and application of cutting edge technology in the practice Lawyers would spend a great amount of their time on mundane and routine tasks that could be automated thereby focusing on the jobs which require legal expertise The old theory is changing rapidly with Mendix Mendix is a Siemens business and global leader in low code application development for the legal enterprise They announced that Belgian legal tech scale up Legal Studio has used the Mendix low code platform to create its new Klea Knowledgeable Legal Entity Automation platform Klea helps legal companies and departments digitalize workflows and repetitive legal work The platform is currently being used in more than 50 countries worldwide at companies such as Levi Strauss Imerys and Carrier Klea has helped legal departments realize savings of 60 in time and 40 in operational costs For complex legal matters it makes sense to pay a lawyer a considerable hourly rate but for repetitive legal work this didn t seem logical or necessary Also the processes for drafting and validating standard shareholder or board resolutions were inefficient and took up a lot of resources 28 Further investigations on the potential of digitizing these processes are on the cards At fashion brand Levi Strauss it was discovered that the paperwork even around the basics such as formally appointing a new director or calling a shareholders meeting was a time consuming and expensive challenge Simply replacing directors in different countries approving annual accounts and granting powers of attorney could be managed more efficiently Efficiently manage documents and processes the issue in the legal industry is that there is no process based thinking for repetitive processes involving different people There s no uniform way to efficiently manage documents and processes It was also discovered that there wasn t proper insight into the legal costs within companies Large companies have their own legal team but also work with external lawyers This means that the total costs involved in repetitive legal tasks are not always clear With this knowledge and insights in mind the promoter connected with Netherlands based Mendix partner Appronto and asked them to help build the proposed solution to automate and streamline these processes In just two weeks Appronto came back with the first prototype of Klea built with the Mendix low code platform Low code is a visual development approach to application development that allows developers with different skill levels to create multi experience applications using drag and drop components and model driven logic through a graphical user interface LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Taking the platform to the next level without an army of developers With the Klea platform Corveleyn had a product but no company He quickly realized the potential of Klea and together with former Allen Overy colleague Anthony Verhaegen he founded Legal Studio CTO Bart Reyserhove came on board and with new insights and valuable feedback from customers they worked on the next version of Klea Corveleyn said With the Mendix low code platform we could move fast leverage workflow functionality and take Klea to the next level in just three months without the need for an army of developers Without Mendix and Appronto this would have taken us a year Together Legal Studio and Appronto developed a secure user friendly cloud platform connecting corporate data to automated workflows These workflows can handle officer changes annual meetings powers of attorney and many more tasks With an ISO certified backbone and end to end encryption data security is assured as well Bas van der Horst managing director at Appronto says Klea has radically changed and sped up administrative processes for the legal industry It automatically connects the right person to the right workflows and documents This means users can immediately see whether all directors have approved a resolution or dividend Also if the appointment of a director needs to be ratified in several countries Klea ensures the required passport information is available on time without lawyers manual work Customers reported 60 in time savings and were able to decrease their operational costs by over 40 This makes Klea a true success story Accelerate time to market with innovation and trust Corveleyn adds Thanks to the innovative nature of Mendix backed by Siemens as a strong trusted parent company we have been able to accelerate the time to market for Klea not only in terms of the development of the platform but also to gain trust in sales cycles When working with a startup it s reassuring for multinational companies to know our platform is based on the proven and certified Mendix technology Joelle de Prez CSM at Mendix said The legal industry has a clear need for digital solutions that connect people documents and workflows in order to streamline its administrative procedures By leveraging the Mendix platform to develop Klea Legal Studio powerfully answers this need and also provides valuable insights that improve the decision making process With one million euros in annual revenue already and a customer portfolio of local Benelux organizations and worldwide companies Legal Studio has a bright future ahead in digitalizing the legal world Background The global pandemic has accelerated and exacerbated what was already a software and business crisis Enter low code software development Low code from Mendix is a powerful enterprise grade visual development approach empowering citizen and professional developers to make cloud native applications more than 10X faster for web and mobile using drag and drop components and model driven logic all through an intuitive graphical user interface In a pandemic disrupted world software is the new lifeblood of our daily lives and the connective tissue holding together the global economy However traditional software development takes far too long and very often fails to deliver the results business needs and users love Even prior to COVID 19 there were simply not enough professional software developers in the world to build all the software currently required Abridged from https www prnewswire com news releases legalprofession digitalizing with low code from mendix Advertise With Us Reach the Global Legal Industry Call Us North America 1 778 325 1904 ASIA 91 99997 85302 Email Us contact clickawaycreators com
A blockchain is a type of database To be able to understand blockchain it helps to first understand what a database actually is A database is a collection of information that is stored electronically on a computer system Information or data in databases is typically structured in table format to allow for easier searching and filtering for specific information What is the difference between someone using a spreadsheet to store information rather than a database Spreadsheets are designed for one person or a small group of people to store and access limited amounts of information In contrast a database is designed to house significantly larger amounts of information that can be accessed filtered and manipulated quickly and easily by any number of users at once Large databases achieve this by housing data on servers that are made of powerful computers These servers can sometimes be built using hundreds or thousands of computers in order to have the computational power and storage capacity necessary for many users to access the database simultaneously While a spreadsheet or database may be accessible to any number of people it is often owned by a business and managed by an appointed individual that has complete control over how it works and the data within it 30 So how does a blockchain differ from a database Storage Structure One key difference between a typical database and a blockchain is the way the data is structured A blockchain collects information together in groups also known as blocks that hold sets of information Blocks have certain storage capacities and when filled are chained onto the previously filled block forming a chain of data known as the blockchain All new information that follows that freshly added block is compiled into a newly formed block that will then also be added to the chain once filled A database structures its data into tables whereas a blockchain like its name implies structures its data into chunks blocks that are chained together This makes it so that all blockchains are databases but not all databases are blockchains This system also inherently makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature When a block is filled it is set in stone and becomes a part of this timeline Each block in the chain is given an exact timestamp when it is added to the chain Decentralization For the purpose of understanding blockchain it is instructive to view it in the context of how it has been implemented by Bitcoin LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Like a database Bitcoin needs a collection of computers to store its blockchain For Bitcoin this blockchain is just a specific type of database that stores every Bitcoin transaction ever made In Bit coin s case and unlike most databases these computers are not all under one roof and each computer or group of computers is operated by a unique individual or group of individuals Imagine that a company owns a server comprised of 10 000 computers with a database holding all of its client s account information This company has a warehouse containing all of these computers under one roof and has full control of each of these computers and all the information contained within them Similarly Bitcoin consists of thousands of computers but each computer or group of computers that hold its blockchain is in a different geographic location and they are all operated by separate individuals or groups of people These computers that makeup Bit coin s network is called nodes In a blockchain each node has a full record of the data that has been stored on the blockchain since its inception For Bitcoin the data is the entire history of all Bitcoin transactions If one node has an error in its data it can use the thousands of other nodes as a reference point to correct itself This way no one node within the network can alter information held within it Because of this the history of transactions in each block that make up Bit coin s blockchain is irreversible If one user tampers with Bit coin s record of transactions all other nodes would cross reference each other and easily pinpoint the node with the incorrect information This system helps to establish an exact and transparent order of events For Bitcoin this information is a list of transactions but it also is possible for a blockchain to hold a variety of information like legal contracts state identifications or a company s product inventory In order to change how that system works or the information stored within it a majority of the decentralized network s computing power would need to agree on said changes This ensures that whatever changes do occur are in the best interests of the majority Transparency Because of the decentralized nature of Bit coin s blockchain all transactions can be transparently viewed by either having a personal node or by using blockchain explorers that allow anyone to see transactions occurring live Each node has its own copy of the chain that gets updated as fresh blocks are confirmed and added This means that if you wanted to you could track Bitcoin wherever it goes LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE For example exchanges have been hacked in the past where those who held Bitcoin on the exchange lost everything While the hacker may be entirely anonymous the Bitcoins that they extracted are easily traceable If the Bitcoins that were stolen in some of these hacks were to be moved or spent somewhere it would be known Is Blockchain Secure Blockchain technology accounts for the issues of security and trust in several ways First new blocks are always stored linearly and chronologically That is they are always added to the end of the blockchain If you take a look at Bit coin s blockchain you ll see that each block has a position on the chain called a height As of November 2020 the block s height had reached 656 197 blocks so far After a block has been added to the end of the blockchain it is very difficult to go back and alter the contents of the block unless the majority reached a consensus to do so That s because each block contains its own hash along with the hash of the block before it as well as the previously mentioned time stamp Hash codes are created by a math function that turns digital information into a string of numbers and letters If that information is edited in any way the hash code changes as well Here s why that s important to security Let s say a hacker wants to alter the blockchain and steal Bitcoin from everyone else If they were to alter their own single copy it would no longer align with everyone else s copy When everyone else cross references their copies against each other they would see this one copy stand out and that hacker s version of the chain would be cast away as illegitimate Succeeding with such a hack would require that the hacker simultaneously control and alter 51 of the copies of the blockchain so that their new copy becomes the majority copy and thus the agreed upon chain Such an attack would also require an immense amount of money and resources as they would need to redo all of the blocks because they would now have different timestamps and hash codes Due to the size of Bit coin s network and how fast it is growing the cost to pull off such a feat would probably be insurmountable Not only would this be extremely expensive but it would also likely be fruitless Doing such a thing would not go unnoticed as network members would see such drastic alterations to the block chain The network members would then fork off to a new version of the chain that has not been affected 31
This would cause the attacked version of Bitcoin to plummet in value making the attack ultimately pointless as the bad actor has control of a worthless asset The same would occur if the bad actor were to attack the new fork of Bitcoin It is built this way so that taking part in the network is far more economically incentivized than attacking it Bitcoin vs Blockchain The goal of blockchain is to allow digital information to be recorded and distributed but not edited Blockchain technology was first outlined in 1991 by Stuart Haber and W Scott Stornetta two researchers who wanted to implement a system where document timestamps could not be tampered with But it wasn t until almost two decades later with the launch of Bitcoin in January 2009 that blockchain had its first real world application The key thing to understand here is that Bitcoin merely uses blockchain as a means to transparently record a ledger of payments but blockchain can in theory be used to immutably record any number of data points As discussed above this could be in the form of transactions votes in an election product inventories state identifications deeds to homes and much more Currently there is a vast variety of blockchain based projects looking to implement blockchain in ways to help society other than just recording transactions One good example is that of blockchain being used as a way to vote in democratic elections The nature of block chain s immutability means that fraudulent voting would become far more difficult to occur For example a voting system could work such that each citizen of a country would be issued a single cryptocurrency or token Each candidate would then be given a specific wallet address and the voters would send their token or crypto to whichever candidate s address they wish to vote for The transparent and traceable nature of blockchain would eliminate the need for human vote counting as well as the ability of bad actors to tamper with physical ballots What are the Benefits of Blockchain in the Legal Industry Accessibility Transparency Cost savings Automation Data Integrity 32 How will blockchain technology make the legal sector more accessible Lawyers can leverage blockchain technology to streamline and simplify their transactional work digitally sign and immutably store legal agreements Using scripted text smart contracts and automated contract management reduces excessive time spent preparing personalizing and maintaining standard law documents These cost savings are passed on to the customer Additionally blockchain democratizes access to the justice system by cutting down on consumer complexity and lowering hefty legal fees How will blockchain technology make the legal sector more transparent Distributed ledger technology creates a shared ledger accessible by all parties to an agreement Block chain based contracts have baked in compliance no surprises and no room for misinterpretation Additionally non technologists can better understand the transactions they enter into and what the smart contract represents How will blockchain technology reduce costs in the legal industry Many of the manual tasks can be carried out automatically which significantly decreases the hours allocated to drafting and amending legal documents This cost is generally passed down to clients which pushes hourly lawyer fees to astronomical rates The introduction of smart contracts will accelerate and lower the cost of transactions between parties A cost efficient algorithm can automatically and transparently manage escrow accounts at a fraction of the cost of manual labor Lower costs will increase the overall demand and accessibility for legal services How is blockchain technology bringing automation to the legal industry Lawyers spend up to 48 of their time on administrative tasks including transferring information between software and updating client trust ledgers Clio s Legal Trends Report 2018 Utilizing a legal agreement repository and prefabricated smart contracts lawyers can automate nonbillable administrative tasks and transactional work Cutting down on excessive manual labor will also accelerate legal proceedings which decreases costs to customers LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
How is blockchain technology making the legal industry more efficient Blockchain technology can streamline re engineer automate disintermediate and secure many processes in the legal industry without losing any of the judicial authority Optimizing various industry features will make the legal and financial sectors more efficient and productive while lowering friction and costs How is blockchain technology bringing data integrity and transparency to the legal industry Legal documents act as a honey pot for ill intentioned hackers who seek to profit from the valuable confidential information created and maintained by lawyers Instead of emailing sensitive data back and forth lawyers can choose to store legal information on a decentralized distributed ledger for append only feeds which increases data integrity If evidence is tampered with or changed the associated hash value will not match making it clear that a change has occurred What is the Blockchain Use Cases in the Legal Industry There are several possible blockchain applications across the legal industry Electronic Signatures Intellectual Property Property Rights Chain of Custody Tokenization Decentralized Autonomous Organizations DAO Limited Liability Autonomous Organizations LAO Automated Regulatory Compliance Machine to Machine Payments Blockchain Based Arbitration System How is blockchain technology impacting electronic signatures Electronic signatures bring speed efficiency and cost savings to the authentication process Signing on blockchain costs the signer a fraction of the cost compared to e signature platforms like DocuSign How will blockchain technology impact intellectual property A critical blockchain based innovation impacting intellectual property is non fungible tokens or NFTs LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE NFT standards allow for robust property rights schemes in the digital realm With blockchain creators of a product or piece of content can upload register and time stamp their original work on a public ledger to create an undeniable proof of ownership From there a blockchain based IP enforcement system could help creators monitor exactly how and by whom their creations are being used How will blockchain technology impact property rights The distribution of property rights and the existence of transaction costs impact a society s economic activities yet property rights and transaction cost structures are primarily based on the pre digital era Utilizing blockchain architecture property owners can subvert costly central intermediaries and elect to register and sell their properties on the blockchain in a transparent and immutable way Block chain based public ledgers offer a new form of property rights management which allows for a measurable reduction in transaction costs How will blockchain technology impact the chain of custody Chain of custody is the process of handling evidence from the time it is collected until the time it is presented as evidence in a court of law Evidence exchanges hands numerous times interested parties log evidence in and out of storage physically sign forms that create a paper trail to record its movements Unfortunately this process creates several opportunities for nefarious actors to taint the evidence It also opens the door for defense attorneys to claim the evidence has been tampered with Utilizing blockchain technology one could generate and track a unique evidence token for every item of data collected and received stored and auditable in a public private blockchain How will blockchain technology impact tokenization Tokenization is a method that converts rights to an asset into a digital token Interested parties can issue tokens on a platform that supports smart contracts which will enable the purchase and vending of this token on exchanges Coupled with IP rights and microtransactions this opens up a world where creators can tokenize and legally sell fractions of their assets 33
From an employment perspective and according to official statistics Mexico lost during the hardest part of the quarantine March April and May of 2020 more than 12 million job positions LEXTALK WORLD T A L K S H O W with 3 5 million were lost in the formal sector meaning the one that respects labor rights and grants social security and 8 5 million positions in the informal sector which talks a lot about how does the labor market operates in Mexico As of October 2020 6 5 million jobs have been regained but only 25 in the formal sector and this tendency will slow down as people are going back to their homes to face the new outbreak of Covid 19 That is the context so what is the impact and possible solutions that I foresee are explained below in 4 steps Permanent loss of jobs and the consequent precariousness of work employment flexibility Since the formal sector is not regaining jobs and will not until we have full access to the vaccine and get the entire population vaccinated which could take years people will continue to lose jobs and become part of the informal sector to survive through informal sales and food services in public markets private cleaning services private transportation and food services such as Uber Uber Eats Cabify Rappi etc where they will not have access to minimum labor rights and social security SENIOR ASSOCIATE SANTAMARINA Y STETA MEXICO LexTalk World interviews Mr Carlos Ernesto de la Puente T llez He is Senior Associate in Santamarina y Steta Mexico Ernesto has more than 10 years of professional experience focused on labor and employment law Questions 1 How does your legal sector Employment Law Social Security Law in Mexico is impacted due to COVID 19 and what solutions do you foresee from a Legal perspective Ernesto The entire world of work has been profoundly affected by the Covid 19 pandemic and of course Mexico has been hit too I believe that due to certain Governmental decisions but mainly for the carelessness of our entire population Mexico has been affected more than many countries 34 So the key for a possible solution could be that companies review how they do business to reduce costs but maintain job positions That is by considering structures with part time and temporary work home office scaling up and scaling down industrial activities change work shifts and even replace certain secondary activities through outsourcing companies Not the bad ones that elude labor and tax burdens but real outsourcing companies that specialize in a certain part of the chain of production The operation of some of these changes of course has to be agreed upon between employers and employees and that is part of the second problem and possible solution How do companies sustain the same salary and benefits and the same structure with half the production Social Dialogue LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Due to the lack of support from the Government and the ongoing campaign against workforce reductions employers and employees have to achieve agreements to face the economic situation together That is through collective agreements in case there is a Trade Union or through individual agreements with all employees employers can achieve temporary reductions of certain labor related benefits such as Bonuses extraordinary allowances expenses reimbursement policies etc and even of the main employment rights under Mexican Law such as vacations vacation premium Christmas Bonus etc but always respecting the minimum rights described in the Federal Labor Law and the constitution This was unthinkable and often criticized by the Mexican society as it was thought that any reduction would imply a waiver of rights which could be qualified as null and void by Mexican Authorities However under this extraordinary pandemic situation it has been the only tool for Mexican employers and employees to save their job positions and jointly work to face an adverse economic situation Prohibition to physically attend to work centers Home Office As employees cannot leave their homes to attend to work in the big conglomerates and cities that our societies built we have been thrown into the future into what we expected to happen within the next 5 to 10 years at least in Mexico where people will work through the exclusive use of technology in administrative activities and where the working spaces will be modified in manufacturing and production activities not only to achieve automatization but now also to prevent the Covid 19 contagion Mexico was not ready mainly because the applicable section in the Federal Labor Law related to Home Office referred to manufacturing work that was done by workers in their homes and then delivered into a factory as in the 19th century So what is the solution First a new regulation that can encompass all challenges for operating a Home Office system which has been already enacted on January 12th 2021 and contemplates Employee s right for digital disconnection payment of related expenses such as internet and light power provision of working tools such as computers and ergonomic chairs And secondly a change of perspective from corporations to allow employees to have full time home office structures or a mixed system where employees can attend to work when they have to or work from their homes whenever they want to which may considerably reduce lease costs of huge offices LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE Prohibition to attend to public spaces Digitalization and online dispute resolutions This has been a huge problem for us lawyers because we cannot physically attend to Tribunals and other administrative authorities So there has to be a change into Digitalization and online dispute resolutions as the way it has been done for Administrative Tribunals in Mexico City This would prevent unnecessary contact between people and the inclusion of new tools such as Artificial Intelligence to solve non contentious proceedings as the designation of beneficiaries in case of an employee s death and the cancelation of strike notices for the signing of a Collective Bargaining Agreement when there is already one in place etc and this will shorten trials and our physical presence before Labor Authorities Of course this last idea is going to be very problematic and even resembles a dream in Mexico because although we have embarked since 2019 in a historical possibility to change the Mexican labor justice system by changing the administration of justice The same is imparted by Conciliation and Arbitrations Boards dependent from the Executive Branch to Labor Tribunals dependent from the Judicial Branch We had done it during the middle of the pandemic where we had no money to implement new systems This problem has increased by other related problems as the on going automatization of work and the entry into force of the new United States Mexican Canadian Agreement USMCA or TMEC for its acronym in Spanish It had stronger collective labor obligations for Mexico 2 What are the 3 core values you truly believe in Ernesto I do not know if they can be qualified as values but I have always lived my life through 3 main guidelines Commitment or Willpower That is the ability to resist short term challenges and temptations to meet longterm goals Discipline The ability to behave and work in a controlled way which involves obeying particular rules or standards Teamwork The combined action of an effective and efficient group of people Those three guidelines can make a person achieve anything since he or she will have the inner force to take action the perseverance to fulfill all necessary activities and the support of teammates to achieve what an individual cannot 35
But before finishing let me add another one Social responsibility It does not matter if you have the power money intelligence or friends to achieve a specific goal because if you do not do it for the improvement of the entire society then it is an empty effort 3 We understand there has been a major reform to the way collective labor relationships will be addressed in Mexico could you please share more information about this topic Ernesto As addressed in a different question this feature was part of a major reform to the Federal Labor Law main regulation in Mexico regarding employment relationships of the private sector in 2019 along with the restructuring of the way labor justice was imparted since we changed from Conciliation and Arbitration Boards dependent from the Executive Branch to Labor Tribunals dependent from the Judicial Branch The Collective Labor Law aspect was mainly focused on obliging Trade Unions to prove representativeness whenever they intend to file strike notice They needed to sign a Collective Bargaining Agreement CBA with an employer that did not have already one in place in a specific work center This would seem logical but in the past Trade Unions did not have to prove representativeness and they could start a strike that would stop all production without having the support of a single employee because only when the business was closed the employer could controvert this action in a trial To avoid this employers in Mexico entered into CBA s with friendly Unions by paying an annual fee to protect the company from strike notices from alien Unions intending to sign a CBA but the real purpose was to blackmail companies to obtain a financial gain for desisting on the strike action 36 Fortunately for employers and employees this practice will stop with this new obligation to prove representativeness and Mexico could then fulfill the commitments made with our commercial partners The United States of America and Canada in the USMCA which had a specific Chapter in which these problems were addressed so we are in a tight revision of the implementation of this reform that will be fully applicable in all the country in October 2023 4 What changes related to LegalTech do you foresee in your field Ernesto The full digitalization of files and online dispute resolution at least in some stages of a legal process and the possibility to execute hearings via virtual conferences The use of Artificial Intelligence as a way to support Courts in non contentious proceedings where machines can apply the Law in specific cases where parties would only provide information e g the labor proceeding for designation of beneficiaries in case of employee s death or the administrative closure of a strike notice process for the signing of a Collective Bargaining Agreement if there was already one in place etc And also to support Law Firms with precedent searching creation and revision of standard contracts etc 5 How do you think regional Law firms can compete with Global Firms as the Big Four that are initiating in the legal services market in your country Ernesto The key is specialization and more direct and personal contact with clients that the big firms cannot provide since they will be focusing on huge accounts with a lot of trials For example if a small or medium Law Firm specializes in the interpretation and dispute resolution of the USMCA it is likely they will be consulted over other larger Firms and since they will be dealing with specific requests and clients they can achieve a more personal relationship with them LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Planet Data Solutions Inc will sell its assets to Veristar Planet Data Solutions Inc was acquired by Veristar a premier legal services delivery firm After the acquisition the company s offerings and solutions to the law firms and the corporate legal departments would gain high momentum Planet Data s Exego software division will operate under a separate Exego LLC Since its launch in November 2019 by veteran litigation support professionals Veristar has emerged as a premier provider of best of breed solutions for complex forensic data collection Relativity hosting and document review services along with specialized legal staffing support Acquiring the deep bench of litigation support professionals at Planet Data greatly enhances our current capabilities and positions Veristar for continued growth It would be exciting to leverage the powerful Exego platform and its proven track record of reducing client costs With the acquisition of Planet Data Veristar continues its strategic growth trajectory and expansion plans to meet the evolving needs of corporate and law firm clients As corporate clients continue to navigate the increased complexity of litigation government investigations and M A activities the acquisition positions Veristar to continue helping clients meet today s challenges The Planet Data team will operate under the leadership of Rick Avers Dave Cochran COO at Planet Data will become president of Exego Terms of the deal will not be disclosed LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE About Veristar With more than 250 years of combined experience among our leadership project managers data processing team and review managers Veristar understands the needs of legal teams navigating complex data matters Veristar s approach to forensic data collection eDiscovery processing and hosting and document review services is based on the extensive knowledge and skills they have honed throughout decades of supporting corporate legal departments and their outside counsel That experience also means that they understand the need of a customized solution which is why clients trust Veristar for creativity and flexibility in handling the most complex projects Visit their website at https veristar tech About Planet Data Solutions Inc Planet Data addresses today s eDiscovery and contract management challenges with a combination of cutting edge technology forward thinking and a team of subject matter experts Our world class developers highly skilled project managers and the dedicated hosting team have decades of combined experience Together they bring a passion for proactive problem solving to every client engagement Learn more by visiting their website at https www planetdata com Abridged from news published in https www globenewswire com newsrelease 2021 02 09 2172295 0 en Veristar LLC AcquireseDiscovery Services and Technology Company PlanetData Solutions 37
There has been a major influx of funds and investments in the legal technology companies in the world as the funding has been to boost new product developments expansion sales and of course penetration of different market segments Taken that into consideration New Jersey based growth capital firm Edison Partners Princeton invested 10 million in Bodhala a data intelligence and legal technology company Companies spend nearly 500 billion annually on outside counsel with hourly billing rates tracking at almost four times the rate of inflation Bodhala applies data science machine learning The legal industry is a non functioning market where law firms have had full control leaving in house counsel at the AI DRIVEN LEGAL TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY WOULD BE A 37 BILLION BY 2026 AND THE PLATFORM OF BODHALA SAAS SHALL OFFER VALUABLE INSIGHTS THAT GENERAL COUNSEL AND CLAIMS OFFICERS SHALL REQUIRE TO MAKE WORTHWHILE DECISIONS ON PROCUREMENT BUDGETS IN ORDER TO ADDRESS EQUIVALENT OR BETTER LEGAL OUTCOMES and AI driven insights to help companies analyze interpret and optimize legal spend The company experienced 300 growth in both revenue and headcount in 2019 and is on pace to do the same in 2020 Bodhala also saw significant 38 client growth in the last 12 months across each of its key verticals including financial services healthcare services insurance energy and private equity mercy of everincreasing fees from their counsel without the leverage the buyside deserves to have said Raj Goyle co founder and CEO of Bodhala Our mission is to bring a market driven economy to the legal industry one where visibility and fair competition lead to the selection of the right lawyer at the right law firm at the right price The groundbreaking platform we have built is uniquely positioned to address this issue and through our partnership with Dan Herscovici and the Edison Partners team we will be able to continue to drive real and meaningful change in this market LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
With Bodhala internal legal departments are able to direct work to the right outside lawyers consistent with but not exclusively based on relationships and then guide the work more appropriately to manage legal risk outcome and cost During the COVID 19 pandemic this has become even more important as clients consume Bodhala data to hedge the risk of being overly reliant on too few relationship law firms or partners said Ketan Jhaveri co founder and President of Bodhala Bodhala data shows the top 15 by revenue firm street rates went from under 700 in 2000 to more than 1 650 per hour today Average equity partner profits at the top U S 100 firms have doubled since 2004 to 1 88 million in 2018 according to American Lawyer with eight firms averaging more than 4 million General Counsel and procurement leaders are looking for more transparency into their legal costs and performance and a method to shift spending towards their optimal panel firms Bodhala co founders Raj and Ketan developed the first modern platform to bring data intelligence let alone realworld economics to the legal services spend of large and enterprise firms said Daniel Herscovici Partner Edison Partners who led the investment Analysts estimate AIdriven legal technology will be a 37 billion business by 2026 and the Bodhala SaaS platform delivers the insights general counsel and claims officers need to make meaningful decisions about their budgets while still producing equal or better legal outcomes Herscovici will join Bodhala s Board of Directors Bodhala is at the center of a rapidly changing legal system marked by the emergence of legal operations as a profession the changing economic models of law firms and the rise of new technologies Relationships are no longer the sole proxy for evaluating the value that a law firm brings to its clients We re creating a clear win for everyone involved in our modern legal system from corporate legal departments to law firms to alternative service providers added Jhaveri Both Goyle and Jhaveri met at Harvard Law School and pursued careers in politics and law respectively They came together in 2014 and went to market with their legal spend management solution two years later LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE To learn more read the Letter from our CEO Indian born Goyle was a member of the Kansas House of Representatives and ran for U S Congress in 2010 Jhaveri worked spent 10 years practicing antitrust law at Simpson Thacher Bartlett LLP and for the U S Department of Justice About Edison Partners The firm s investment team brings extensive investing and operating experience to each investment A team of experts in financial technology healthcare IT and enterprise solution sectors Edison targets high growth companies with 5 to 25 million in revenue investments also include buyouts recapitalizations spinouts and secondary stock purchases For more than 30 years Edison Partners has been helping CEOs and their executive teams grow and scale successful companies Through a unique combination of growth capital and the Edison Edge platform consisting of operating centers of excellence the Edison Director Network and executive education programs Edison employs a truly integrated approach to accelerating growth and creating value for businesses Edison s active portfolio has created an aggregated market value exceeding 10 billion Edison Partners is based in Princeton NJ and manages more than 1 4 billion in assets throughout the eastern United States About Bodhala Bodhala is the groundbreaking legal technology platform created by lawyers to transform the half a trillion dollar global legal industry Our platform refines organizational processes by empowering your legal team with deeper insights that allow you to better analyze interpret and optimize outside counsel spend trailblazing a new era of legal market intelligence For Bodhala it was all about data the USP was their thorough understanding of their clients and the benefits which they get by using them This really sets them in a different league of their own Their proprietary benchmarking metrics and rate review algorithms generate detailed insights into every aspect of legal spend Their intuitive dashboard puts the information you need to make more cost effective decisions about legal service providers at your fingertips effectively boosting efficiency and improving your bottom line Source https www businesswire com news home 202004220052 74 en Bodhala Raises 10 Million Growth Investment Ledby Edison Partners 39
Terrorism is a menace that can plague a society The effect of it may vary from country to country but seeing the facts no country is fully immune to this predicament It hampers peace creates conflict and fear among people Terrorism should not be confused with murder or any other similar use of threat The basic difference can be that it has a higher objective which is to target government or military etc in a country It creates damage to the larger chunk of the society through its actions Cross border terrorism in its very simple terms means an illicit or illegal activity that crosses from one soil to another thereby creating terror in that country 40 Resolution No 1566 2004 passed by the United Nations UN defines terrorist acts as criminal acts including against civilians committed with the intent to cause death or serious bodily injury or taking of hostages with the purpose to provoke a state of terror in the general public or a group of persons or particular persons intimidate a population or compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act which constitutes offenses within the scope of and as defined in the international conventions and protocols relating to terrorism are under no circumstances justifiable by considerations of a political LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
philosophical ideological racial ethnic religious or other similar nature and calls upon all States to prevent such acts and if not prevented to ensure that such acts are punished by penalties consistent with their grave nature There are various examples of cross border terrorism such as The Munich Massacre which dates back to the 1972 Summer Olympics wherein the Israeli Olympic team were taken hostage and were brutally killed by a militant group known as Black September Other examples include The Moscow theatre hostage crisis also known as the 2002 Nord Ost siege was the seizure of a crowded Moscow theatre on October 23 2002 by about 40 50 armed Chechen rebel fighters who claimed allegiance to the separatist movement in Chechnya India has also witnessed several instances of cross border terrorism like the terrorist intrusions in Kashmir and the Mumbai terror attack of 26th November 2008 which claimed thousands of innocent lives was orchestrated by 10 men who belonged to a terror group called Lashkar e Tayyiba LeT UN Conventions and Treaties Against Terrorism Some of the major conventions are as follows 1 The Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft adopted in Tokyo in 1963 is considered to be the first international treaty against terrorism It was adopted on 14 September 1963 and was enforced from 4th December 1969 This convention focuses on acts that affect safety in flights 2 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft which came into force on 14th October 1971 mandates the member nations to make hijacking punishable by penalties and they are also required to either extradite the offender or submit that particular case for the prosecution 3 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Civil Aviation which came into force on 26th January 1973 is also related to offenses on aircraft and looks to curb hijacking 4 Convention on Physical Protection of Nuclear Material adopted on 26th October 1979 and entered into force on 8th February 1987 This convention very well criminalizes the illegal possession use transfer or theft of nuclear material and threats to use nuclear material to cause death serious injury or substantial property damage LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 5 Protocol for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts of Violence at Airports Serving International Civil Aviation came into force on 6 August 1989 It is a multilateral treaty in which member states agree to prohibit and punish severely which threatens the safety of civil aviation through terrorist acts 6 Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation came into force on 1st March 1992 This convention applies to acts that threaten the safety of International Maritime Navigation 7 Convention on the Marking of Plastic Explosives for Detection came into force on 21st June 1998 It is a multilateral treaty that aims to prohibit or limit the manufacture or usage of unmarked plastic explosives 8 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings adopted on 15th December 1997 and entered into force on 23 May 2001 This Convention aims to expand its jurisdiction over the illicit and intentional use of explosives and other lethal objects in into or against public places with the actual intention to kill or cause serious bodily injury or cause destruction of public space 9 International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism adopted on 9 December 1999 and entered into force on 10 April 2002 This Convention requires state parties to take appropriate steps to prevent and to act on the direct and indirect financing of terrorists Role of UN in combating Terrorism Combating terrorism requires a multilevel approach The UN cannot alone make the conventions successful but it is the states whose cooperation in curbing terrorism is necessary The UN has been very vocal about the issues of terrorism as compared to the cold war times For example In 1992 the Security Council imposed sanctions against Libya over Tripoli s non cooperation with the investigation of two incidents of airline bombing it also imposed sanctions against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 1999 for harboring the leadership of Al Qaida etc The International Criminal Court ICC plays a vital role as the only permanent court which has the power concerning holding accountability in terms of international crime Even though ICC is the court to reach out for international criminal cases but the reality is that very few cases reach the ICC as very few member states have ratified the Rome Statute It should be the responsibility of states to cooperate when it comes to cross border crimes 41
There are several cases where municipal courts have done very well and prosecuted the criminals responsible for acts of terrorism In the case of Regina v TarikHassane et al Mr Hassane the son of a Saudi Arabian ambassador pleaded guilty to charges o9754321 576 f conspiracy to murder and preparation of terrorism He was sentenced to prison for planning to kill policemen soldiers and even civilians Another example is the case of Salah Abdeslam the main perpetrator behind the Paris attacks he was caught in Brussels as a suspect for planning and taking part in the terror attack There is a need for the UN to become more proactive in combatting terrorism Its high time now that the Rome Statute should incorporate the offenses related to terrorism which shall in my opinion send a strong signal to the world In 2005 the former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan came up with a blueprint for a global counter terrorism strategy that was meant to place greater emphasis on recognizing the root cause and respect for human rights 42 The stand of the UN has always been clear on this issue it has time and again said that the struggle against terrorism cannot be served by compromising human rights and a successful counter terrorism strategy can only be made by upholding human rights under any circumstances Conclusion Terrorism in any way poses a major threat to the entire civilization States must take major steps to contain this threat One such step could be by not financing any terrorist organizations whether directly or indirectly and ratifying international conventions relating to the suppression or prevention of any kind of terrorism Cooperation and mutual trust among states would be an effective way to proceed in the right direction Instead of blaming each other there is an urgent need for states to come up with more defined laws on this very subject LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
It is of extreme importance to safeguard our data through maintaining a thorough online privacy as we have already moved into a digital society and thus data is the most valued product Why we should put it into the category of a product is because it is the sole nonphysical form of information based on which business and life would continue to function Data is the sole commodity that can move and shake mountains thus allowing commercial enterprises as well as governments to track our information and design commercial transactions Hence it is but very important to safeguard our online privacy which is almost equivalent to our fundamental rights Security VS Privacy It s worth defining the difference between data security and data privacy Though similar these concepts are different Data Security is the protection of data from criminal activity and deliberate hacks Data Privacy covers how data is legally gathered stored and used It s easy to focus on security since the dangers involved seem more pressing From phishing to password cracking to IP spoofing there are a lot of strategies that hackers can use to steal your data When it comes to corporations and legitimate online services however people feel less certain about how to maintain their autonomy and privacy Data privacy laws The extent to which your data is legally protected varies depending on where you are Even within one country the US for example your right to privacy may change depending on the region in which you operate LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE The European Union has enacted legislation across all its member states although individual countries have developed their own standards on top of this The General Data Protection Regulation law GDPR is at the heart of the EU s privacy controls Here are some simple methods for protecting your data and improving online security and privacy Monitor your settings on social media Facebook Twitter Instagram and other social media sites will usually have a privacy section in their settings These platforms are made to siphon off your data but you can still try to reduce what they take as much as possible Use different login information for separate online accounts If your data is the treasure inside a series of vaults the keys to those vaults are your passwords Most internet users have multiple accounts on different platforms email streaming online banking and social media to name a few If you use the same password for all your accounts a hacker only needs one key to access every vault Use different passwords on every account and change them regularly Here s how to make a password that s easy to remember Use a VPN whenever you connect online For genuine all around data protection encryption is the best option The simplest way to do this is with a VPN This service establishes an encrypted tunnel between your device and a secure server hiding passwords personal data and all online traffic Even if someone hacks the connection all they ll have access to be an indecipherable encrypted code Better yet your internet service provider won t be able to sell information about your browsing habits to advertisers This is probably the safest way to ensure that your data is under your control Understanding data privacy allows you to take control of your online presence It empowers you to push back against the massive tech giants that have hitherto been able to harvest data without restrictions 43
With the continuous application of AI and Machine Learning Legal Chatbots have gained quicker adoption Although the concept of using Chatbots is still in its very nascent stage in the global Legal Industry yet as time progresses the deployment of chatbots will gain tremendous momentum in the days to come Chatbots and the Legal Industry Chatbots did find their place in the legal industry The world s first legal bot DoNotPay was created by Joshua Browder an English programmer DoNotPay was built to fight the unfair issuance of parking tickets in the United Kingdom and New York However before we start talking about Chatbots in detail we really need to understand what is Chatbots and how do they are beneficial in the process of application of AI Though this serves as a small yet powerful example proving the efficacy of AI bots in the legal industry there are numerous ways through which AI bots can help lawyers and legal firms provide better insights into cases and case studies What Are Chatbots In nonprofessional terms a Chatbot can be defined as a computer software program that can converse with a human through textual and auditory methods to assist him her in performing different tasks A Chatbot works using natural language processing NLP which is an artificial intelligence field concerned with interactions between human languages and computers The text or audio provided by the user is analyzed and processed by the bot and responds appropriately Continuous research development in AI and Machine Learning is fostering the creation of smarter bots with natural accurate and intelligent responses Having realized the importance of having a smart way of engagement and communication with users employees or customers enterprises across the world are considering Chatbots as their initial step towards a complete digital transformation 44 5 Ways AI Chatbots Can Help the Legal Industry 1 Easy to use and apply Lawyers and paralegals go through mountains of information daily This information is usually in the form of Case studies Laws policies of different departments states and countries Relevant contact information of various people etc A Chatbot can be a perfect solution for saving time and hassle and analyze documents The Q A interface of a bot assists users to quickly get the information they require 2 It can be an efficient first step administrator in the employee management system LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
A Chatbot can be of significant help in carrying out various administrative and HR related tasks in any legal organization Employees don t have to hover around the HR department for trivial issues Employees can use a Chatbot for Leave application management Smooth onboarding process Setting up notifications and reminders etc 3 Integrate with the intranets of an organization If your legal department uses intranet for internal communications then here s a quick tip integrate a Chatbot into it This integration not only boosts the adoption rate of the intranet but helps users find all necessary caserelated information in the intranet superfast as well 4 It will give you an amazing experience as a user As mentioned earlier lawyers and paralegals go through a ton of information daily In a traditional environment they need to go through various sources of information past case studies choose several options before getting the required gist of data The Q A interface of a Chatbot helps lawyers in cutting down all the clunky text and overwhelmingly irrelevant data By asking one question at a time a Chatbot narrows down the exact data a lawyer is seeking in the shortest time possible Example Consider litigation is filed after a public company announced a third party merger A Chatbot can go through the knowledge base of the legal firm and provide information regarding similar mergers and contacts of lawyers who handled the cases 5 The legal professional s role Advancements in NLP have boosted the potential of Chatbots Chatbots now understand the natural language of humans better and as a result can detect longer phrases wider terminology and more synonyms This understanding of language paves way for more accurate precise responses To conclude Chatbots can be a legal firm s first and the most significant step towards AI and digital transformation They can Increase work productivity and decrease documentation report generation work for lawyers Offer a certain amount of free legal advice to potential clients customers Save a lot of money and boost ROI for legal firms Global Hybrid Conference Crowne Plaza Dubai UAE 7 8 April 2021 Conference Exhibition Awards Email contact clickawaycreators com Contact US 1 778 325 1904 IN 91 88514 84760
LEXTALK WORLD T A L K S H O W with LexTalk World Interviews Mr Anshul Bharadwaj Anshul is one of the early members of the Expandopedia Project of the Elements Global Services Company Practicing advocate in the High Court of Delhi He completed his bachelor s in Law Business Administration from Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University Delhi Further have a diploma in International Criminal Law from Case Western Reserve University Diploma in Environmental Law from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill NC Questions Started his career as a Legal Associate Recruitment Coordinator with a law firm in Delhi Gained vast exposure in Criminal Law Employment Labour Law Arbitration Law IPR Consumer Protection FEMA FERA and Real Estate Law He also happens to have experience in handling corporate and civil litigation of real estate firms and has also advised the company in their legal affairs While working in the corporate sector Anshul had the opportunity to deal with registration drafting and vetting of contracts agreements MOUs joint ventures among others He also happens to have drafted writ petitions applications replies etc I took up the 5 year law course from IP University in Delhi Within 2 months of law school I won my first Intra College Moot Court Competition which boosted up my morale as a law student and it made me sure that unlike some people I will not be leaving the course in between Surely many eyeballs were raised when people got to know that I am pursuing Law After graduation I continued working in the same office in which I was interning I always wanted to go for criminal and real estate litigation and luckily I have the patience and perseverance that one needs to litigate here Having said that I left that organization and started practicing in Delhi I took up matters relating to criminal real estate litigation Anshul comes with a wide experience in dealing with litigation and corporate advisory work which inter alia includes Contract law Employment laws Real Estate laws European laws Intellectual Property Laws among others He holds good knowledge of European Employment Law The African Countries Law Data Protection Privacy Laws like the GDPR 46 1 Please brief us about your journey as a Legal professional so far Anshul I was quite an average student and never thought about becoming a lawyer Anyone who is from a commerce background is expected to be a CA or become a finance expert of any sort I never wanted to join that gang As of now I am working as a legal researcher in a firm and my non legal law background friends often say that wow you are a lawyer in the corporate sector so your job must be so cool and my response to them is how do you even know and they say it is obvious we have seen Suits LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
One should not be shy to accept the fact that the reality is far from what one sees in Suits and having said that I do love my job and my company very much But yes obviously the reality of the legal profession is far from what one sees in TV shows or movies 2 What are the core values legal professionals should have Anshul Honesty trustworthiness Irrespective of the fact the lawyer is in criminal law practice or any corporate lawyer My friends here say oh you re a lawyer so you lie a lot It is not the case it s about being honest with your client your opposite counsel and of course towards the profession The clients should feel that they can trust you since they are paying you to fight for them 3 How do you look at GDPR in 2020 and how it s going to change 5 years down the line Anshul The GDPR The toughest privacy security law in the world As I said the toughest law recently Ireland s Data Protection Commission fined Twitter USD 547 000 for violation of not reporting a data breach in accordance to the GRPR The European Union published the GDPR in May 2018 no doubt and we have seen many guidelines like the territorial scope of the GDPR processing personal data in the context of the provision of online services processing of personal data through video devices etc In the long term we can expect the GDPR to much more focus on issues like biometric data AI its compatibility like how much can you depend on AI Apart from GDPR if I say as of now only 10 12 of nations have one or other data privacy protection law and nowadays people all over the globe getting aware are asking for privacy protection You now statistically 65 70 of the world jurisdiction will have a data protection law by 2023 Countries like India Brazil Argentina etc have started drafting enacting data protection laws post GDPR 4 Tell us about your most memorable case and what are your key takeaways from there Anshul It was a labor compensation case where the person used to work in a hazardous factory and due to some technical glitch he lost his life and his family was denied compensation stating the fact that he lost his life due to his own mistake and many invalid reasons That man was the sole bread earner for a family of 5 and his son told me that they argued some family dispute that day the day when he lost his life Luckily I was able to help them to get the desired compensation and my biggest takeaway is life is too short for any grudges and forgive everyone whatever they did UPCOMING EVENTS The EDPB European Data Protection Board has published many guidelines over the 2 year time No doubt they have kept themselves busy EDPB has also published guidelines on data protection concerning COVID 19 like the use of location data processing and tracing tools and processing of medical data for purposes of scientific research during the COVID 19 which I believe is a great step Back in February 2020 the Information Commissioner Office ICO of the UK published guidance on AI auditing Framework for public consultation ICO no doubt has already identified AI as one of the strategic priorities so it was only a matter of time that they would come up with something like this LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE GLOBAL HYBRID CONFERENCES Crowne Plaza Dubai UAE 07 08 April 2021 Los Angeles USA 26 27 October 2021 www lextalk world 47
When founders start a company often their main focus is on product development customer acquisition and maintaining a growth trajectory However founders should also use this beginning period of the company to make management decisions such as clarifying roles and responsibilities One question that each startup that has been founded by more than one founder is often faced with how to allocate equity amongst the founders Questions such as who gets what percentage of the company or what will each contribute to the firm etc is important Therefore allocating stock as the company grows and the shares increase in value will be more difficult down the line Thus it is mandatory that founders of the organization should sign a founder s agreement that defines the allocation of shares Allocating or distribution of stock refers to how much stock should go to the founders of the company relative to the total amount of stock outstanding There is no perfect allocation however when a company has several founders it s best to split the stock equally If apart from the founders there are no other investors then in such a scenario 80 of the stock should be allocated to founders with the remaining as outstanding shares reserved 48 Depending on the specifications of the company i e number of founders investors etc the allocation may be accordingly done There s no right or wrong answer only a solution that each of the founders can agree with However allocating too much equity to a founder whose ultimate contributions will not be equal to other founders or who is looking to work on the startup only part time may seem unfair The rationale is that cofounders almost always bring different contributions to the table If the founders find themselves in a situation where an equal split is not just then usually they tend to consider the following factors while deciding on how to allocate stock a Formulation and execution of the Business idea b Expertise in the industry including any connections to venture capitalists or other investors c Contribution to technology if the company involves patented technology d Level of responsibility that the founder will be taking i e allocation based on actual work done e Time allocated by the founder towards the start up i e whether the founder will be working full time or parttime When discussing the relative contributions of cofounders aspects such as effort in prior research involvement in ideation or intellectual property past financial and time investments domain expertise career risks and entrepreneurial track record should be considered LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
The factor that has been left out is the capital contribution The capital contribution should not be taken into consideration while deciding the distribution of stock It s better to allocate stock based upon each founder s actual level of work contribution called sweat equity and treat financial contributions from a founder the same way that a startup would from an investor No matter what the allocation is the founder must be subjected to a vesting schedule When a company issues stock it can do so either subject to certain conditions or outright When the stock is issued subject to vesting the holder of the stock owns only some stock and other shares are subject to forfeiture or repurchase if certain conditions are not met So what is vesting and why should a founder agree to vest Vesting of founder s shares is often one of the most perceptive topics Founders often argue as to why they should wait to receive benefits of shares of their own company They have earned their shares What is vesting Startups can either issue stock outright or subject to vesting A stock that is subject to vesting means that shares issued are exercisable over a while with certain conditions for the option to meet The stock option becoming exercisable is referred to as vesting Let s say for example you have been issued 10 000 shares of common stock However initially not all of your stock is exercisable Your stock becomes exercisable with 1000 shares every 4 months That stock option is said to vest concerning 1000 shares every 4 months FOUNDER SHARES VESTING When starting a company founders often believe that they should receive the shares without any vesting because they own the company or are the ones working on the company However in most situations having a vesting schedule in place for founder shares is in the best interests of founders for the following reasons a When a company has more than one founder there is a possibility of founders developing conflicts over some time LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE By having shares subject to vesting if the other founder leaves before his her shares have vested then the unvested shares can be purchased back by the company If the shares are not subject to vesting then the other founder will still own the shares he was issued b Most VCs or other investors would want to see founders be involved in the start up giving their 100 percent Therefore the VCs usually will not permit a situation where a founder can simply resign at any time and still retain all of the shares issued Having vesting terms in place depicts to VC s that the founders have a long term vision for the company c If the founders wait to add vesting to their stock until they are in discussions with investors the investors are more likely to dictate the vesting terms e g longer vesting fewer acceleration triggers What Vesting Schedule should be followed The length of vesting scheduled as discussed is the period over which the shares will be subject to vesting So for example if you choose a two year vesting schedule then your shares will vest over 2 years However the most common vesting schedule seen is a 4 year vesting schedule The frequency of your vesting is often expressed in terms of either a percentage or a fraction of total shares granted So for example it can be that in your four year vesting schedule with quarterly vesting i e 6 25 of your shares vest each quarter over 4 years Another important thing to remember is that vesting schedules can have vesting over a cliff or a straight line Often your shares are subject to vesting schedules with a one year cliff What this means is that the person must be at the company for at least a year before the shares vest Whereas in a straight line the shares will vest at regular intervals from the vesting date itself For example 100 000 shares are being granted to a founder on December 1 2019 with a vesting commencement date of January 1 2020 In a four year vesting schedule monthly vesting with one year cliff your shares will not start vesting until January 1 2021 On January 1 2021 25 of shares will vest immediately and thereafter the remaining shares will vest in monthly installments until January 1 2024 49
LEXTALK WORLD T A L K S H O W with ASSOCIATE ATTORNEY IBARRA ABOGADOS COLOMBIA LexTalk World Interviews Mr Felipe Mart nez S nchez An attorney from the Universidad del Rosario with a deepening in Commercial Law from the same university Felipe Mart nez S nchez also holds a Specialization Degree in Competition Law from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana He has more than seven years of experience and focuses his practice in Intellectual Property matters mainly trademarks unfair competition restrictive practices of competition protection of consumer rights and litigation in all of the aforementioned areas He has worked at multiple Colombian Law Firms advising and representing the interests of important national and international companies primarily in Intellectual Property and Competition Law matters Since September 2018 he has worked as Associate Attorney at the Competition Law Department of IBARRA ABOGADOS and currently leads the Intellectual Property Department Felipe Mart nez S nchez also has written important articles that analyses significant decisions issued in the Colombian legal system and have been published in a highly renowned specialized newspaper in Colombia Also he has been selected as a panelist in academic events that tend to analyze the vital relation between advertising IP and unfair competition and in training for companies as regards Antitrust Law and compliance programs 50 Questions 1 Please brief us about professional background your personal and Felipe I am a passionate Lawyer for the IP and Competition matters with multiple years of professional experience at the Top Colombian Firms in such areas From the very beginning of my studies when I was completing the Bachelor of Laws program at Universidad del Rosario I felt most fascinated by the Private Law issues and that is why I decided to emphasize my practice in such matters As a result I received recognition from my University for completing the optional deepening program in Commercial Law Furthermore my interest in commercial and economic matters never ceased since once I completed my Bachelor of Laws program I did a Specialization in Competition Law at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana which has enabled me to gain a lot of knowledge on national and worldwide regulations and precedents on affairs related to free competition such as commercial restrictive practices mergers and unfair competition Concerning my professional experience I ve had the opportunity to work and learn from the very best and most recognized Law practitioners in IP and Competition Law in Colombia LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Currently I work as an Associate Attorney at the Competition Law Department of IBARRA ABOGADOS and I lead the IP Department which is growing day by day As regards the academic stage I have written articles such as the impact of tax reform in Industrial Property and competition and football two old acquaintances which analyses significant decisions issued in the Colombian legal system and have been published in a highly renowned specialized newspaper in Colombia Also I have been selected as a panelist in academic events that tend to analyze and present the vital relation between advertising IP and unfair competition and in training for companies as regards Competition Law and compliance programs 2 How legal sector especially in Intellectual Property Competition Antitrust Law Consumer Protection Law and litigation in the Colombia region is impacted due to COVID 19 and what solutions do you foresee from a Legal perspective Felipe COVID 19 has dramatically changed the legal sector in Colombia Although before this pandemic we already had some regulation as to a digital operation of the judicial system the truth is that it wasn t until COVID 19 that the Government started to implement the measures to apply said laws regarding digital justice and issuing a few more to set in motion this system Colombia has traditionally had an overloaded judicial system that has lacked the use of technology and COVID 19 has been the best example of said problems as since its arrival most of the judicial system collapsed and stopped This was critical as it meant that all of the litigious processes except some criminal matters were completely motionless However the Government issued new regulations that allowed the resumption of the judicial system and even though multiple aspects require tremendous development it is a start and it is a start that all of the practicing attorneys have been waiting for for over a decade Therefore although COVID 19 brought problems such as delays in processes I think that the overall effect in the Colombian legal system has been good as if we would not have faced a problem as big as this we would not have a digital system yet LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE Also and particularly as regards to Consumer Protection Law and Competition Law we have experienced some changes too Given the quarantine restrictions ordered by the Government the companies put all their efforts into potentiating e commerce According to a recent study ecommerce in Colombia has grown in three months which was expected for the following four years This of course has been good yet it also had brought some issues related to the asymmetry of the information and the fulfillment of the obligations that the product providers have with the consumers Our authority has sanctioned multiple companies for breaching their duties for providing clear information and meeting the delivery times In other cases companies have been sanctioned for establishing prices that exploit the consumers especially regarding highly demanded goods in these times such as masks Thus although COVID 19 is and has been a really difficult situation for the world and our country it has also played a starring role in the development of the digital judicial system and e commerce in Colombia To the point that if back in February you would have asked me about digital justice I would have said that it is still a dream in Colombia Now it is a reality 3 What are the 3 core values you truly believe in Felipe No doubts on this point it is passion responsibility and a winning mentality I do not know anyone good at something without being passionate about it When there was late and everyone was sleeping John Coltrane used to practice for hours in his saxophone fingering techniques just by moving his fingers without blowing Thus he became one the greatest musicians ever Passion is what drives us to be better and accomplish our goals and this is especially important when you are representing someone else interests which is exactly what lawyers do Providing an efficient solution to clients means to understand and care for their business at least as much as they do since just offering legal strategies for overcoming a problem is a duty that has been in trend since multiple centuries ago Our job as lawyers is to be an important if not the most important a partner in the expansion of the clients business Thus you would be required to also follow very closely the news in their respective markets 51
When you are committed to this level you can start providing clients with efficient and crucial advice Secondly you must be very very responsible Once again you are representing someone else s interest and they and or their company are in your hands so you must be as prepared as a human being can be This means taking very seriously any situation or problem that your client might have regardless of how big it is you must be as concerned as it was your problem For this purpose you will have to carefully analyze every single detail as it is well known that the devil is the details and study any possible point of view and outcome and being prepared for it This will also imply anticipating your counterparty s moves and know their claim better than them Now if you add on top of that a winning mentality there is no way you can lose Of course this a hyperbole and you can never guarantee to a client that you are going to win but what you can guarantee is that you will put your best efforts will prepare as much as it is necessary and that you are so convinced of the rightfulness of their case that hopefully you will obtain a favorable result for their interests It does not matter whether your case is backed by 50 years of judicial decisions or if it s the first of its kind you must trust in your work and trust so deeply that you certainly believe that you are going to win this one too 4 What do you think will be the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States on the petition for a writ of certiorari submitted by Jack Daniel s Properties Inc within the case of VIP Products LLC v Jack Daniel s Properties Inc Felipe This has been one the most interesting cases in the last few years and soon could have a radical turn given the writ of certiorari submitted by Jack Daniel s Properties Inc As the majority of the readers surely know VIP Products LLC released a dog toy that is similar to a bottle of the wellknown Jack Daniel s bottle Instead of Jack Daniel s old No 7 it is called Bad Spaniels the old No 2 This case disrupted not only the market but the topic of conversation of every IP and Competition attorney 52 At first the District Court determined that there was a likelihood of confusion between the dog toy and the trademarks and trade dress of Jack Daniels and a potential dilution by tarnishment Yet the Ninth Circuit diverged from a said decision and determined that the likelihood of confusion test does not apply as the dog toy is expressive Recently Jack Daniel s Properties Inc submitted a writ for certiorari and if granted the Supreme Court of the United States would determine whether the use of humor in this notorious dog toy indeed implies that the likelihood of confusion test does not apply Regardless of how amusing I find the Bad Spaniels for me it is quite simple If this toy didn t evoke the Jack Daniel s bottle and its well known trade dress it would not be this famous or successful and that is precisely one of the protections that a trademark grants you When you register your trademark and especially when you become wellknown you can exclusively use it and prevent others from copying you and or exploiting your reputation for their benefit In other words when you are buying a Bad Spaniels dog toy for your pet your consumer decision is biased Additional to its quality and price the reason why you are buying it is that said toy reproduces the distinctive elements of Jack Daniels and reminds you of said liquor and that is a right that only has the one who designed such original bottle invested a lot of money in promoting it to the point it is in the top of mind and protected it through trademark registration Therefore it is true that Bad Spaniels is certainly funny but it is also true that it is this funny and famous thanks to the reproduction of distinctive signs and recognition of Jack Daniel s For me this fits into a parasitic use of their trademarks and trade dress 5 Have there been cases like this in Colombia Felipe In Colombia would be very difficult to find a case just like this since our legislation does not contemplate humor or satire as an exception for using a trademark without its owner authorization Only until 2018 our legal system included the transformation of literary or artistic works for parody purposes as an exception Yet this does not apply to registered trademarks and in any case it would also be necessary that said transformation does not generate a likelihood of confusion with the original work LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE
Nevertheless we ve had some experience in cases of unfair competition in which the reputation of one company was exploited by a third party For instance back in 2012 some entrepreneurs started selling the beer of Homer Simpson the Duff beer This case was quite remarkable since their company became really important and relatively easy you could find a Duff beer in Bogot Also this case was well known because this company was able to obtain trademark registration for their product by filing the nominative element of the trademark as duh instead of duff Yet the graphic design was the same as the famous beer Despite having a trademark registration and insisting on their beer being called duh beer the Colombian Competition Authority granted the claim of TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM CORPORATION and determined that said beer was used a name protected by copyright and Industrial Property rights and its use exploited the reputation of the plaintiff Another exploitation of others reputation occurred when a local liquor company promoted their product aguardiente by using the expressions go blues and celebrate the blue goal The Competition Authority considered that said expressions were allusive to Millonarios F C which is the greatest football club in Colombia and is highly recognized for using the color blue in its uniforms According to the Authority said use without a sponsorship agreement allowed the liquor company to strengthen their impact in the market and promote their sales and hence it implied the exploitation of said football club s reputation These kind of cases are really interesting so I am eager to see what will happen with Jack Daniel s case as regardless of the result I am sure it will leave great lessons for the ones like me who are excited about the relationship between humor advertising Intellectual Property and Competition 500 Attendees 50 Speakers Global Hybrid Conference Crowne Plaza Dubai UAE 7 8 April 2021 30 Sessions 100 Awardees Email contact clickawaycreators com Website https www lextalk world dubai 2021 Contact US 1 778 325 1904 IN 91 999 978 5302 91 88514 84760 LEXTALK WORLD MAGAZINE 53
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