Inside Tech

Grab a coffee (or a peppermint tea) and listen to us discuss some of the latest trends in influencer marketing, the legal risks of using influencer marketing and our top tips for brands operating in this area.Speaker Info: Hayley Brady, head of media and digital, assists clients on global strategic and innovative arrangements within the media and entertainment and digital sector with a focus on consumer facing brands. Hayley is listed in Legal 500 as a Rising Star lawyer in the fields of (i) film and TV; (ii) computer games; (iii) digital media; and (iv) advertising, and also won the Lawyer Monthly Women in Law 2018 Award for expertise in Tech law. Hayley is referred to in legal directories as ‘extremely personable and bucks the trend of the average senior corporate city lawyer. She is also hugely knowledgeable and has really strong relationships in the media and entertainment industry'.Jeremy Purton is a senior associate in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP. He specialises in commercial technology matters, covering the development and implementation of new technologies, complex commercial contracting, strategic sourcing projects and technology-driven business transformations. Described by Legal 500 as "highly regarded", Jeremy has worked for a wide range of customer and supply-side clients and is a regular contributor on matters at the intersection between law and technology. James Balfour is an associate in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, focusing primarily on media, entertainment and communications law. He advises on a wide range of media and entertainment matters, including advertising and marketing arrangements (including influencer marketing), content acquisition and distribution, production agreements, sports rights and sponsorship deals and gambling and gaming arrangements. He also co-authors the PLC notes "Overview of Broadcast Content Regulation" and “TV (Broadcasting and Internet) Industry Overview”. James has spent time on secondment at British American Tobacco, Wayra and Sky.

In this episode Rich Woods, Mike Carter and Marsha Williamson discuss what is in store for the Fintech sector in 2021. They cover the ongoing impact of the Covid crisis, the availability of VC funding, and the potential for further consolidation.Rich Woods is a senior associate in the corporate team at Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, specialising in Fintech. Mike Carter is Executive Chairman of The Money Platform and leads the Article 36H Group at Innovate Finance. Marsha Williamson is Head of Legal at 11:FS.

Digitalisation Challenges in SingaporeIn part 3 of this podcast series on digital transformation, Kenneth Lo and Harry Evans from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Singapore office (members of HSF's Digital Law Group) discuss the digitalisation challenges in Singapore.Tune in to find out what digitalisation challenges to look out for and also learn about how to make your company's digital journey smoother.

Singapore's Public & Private Sector push for Digital Transformation and Impact of Digitalisation in Singapore. In part 2 of this podcast series on digital transformation, Kenneth Lo and Harry Evans from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Singapore office (members of HSF's Digital Law Group) discuss Singapore's public and private sector push for digital transformation. They further discuss whether the take up or impact of digitalisation has been particularly positive.Tune in to learn about how your company can benefit from digitalisation.

Part 1 - The key considerations and common issues that arise. In Part 1 of this podcast series on Digital Transformation, Yosuke Homma from Herbert Smith Freehills (HSF) Tokyo office (a member of HSF's Digital Law Group) hosts Natasha Blycha (Global Head of Digital Law) and Susannah Wilkinson (Digital Law Lead APAC) to discuss the common issues that arise in the digital transformation journey for our client organisations – for the business as well as for their internal legal functions.

In episode 3 of our Tech Disputes podcast series Revolution or evolution?, we take a look at software audit disputes and data licensing disputes. Compliance with software and data licences, which can be at times vague and/or onerous, has long been a problem for legal and compliance departments, and as more and more companies engage in digital transformation, the reliance on third party software and data services is growing across all sectors. This is leading to substantial risk of non-compliance for customers, which will come to light when the vendor exercises its contractual rights to audit licence compliance. Remediating shortfalls can often attract multimillion £ fees and the negotiations between vendors and customers can become fraught and potentially litigious in their own right. This episode explores the way in which these disputes can unfold, and the different approaches and levers each side can look to employ in a contentious audit situation. It also looks at the practical steps customers can take in order to avoid over deployment risks in the first place, both at the contracting stage, and during the contract life cycle. Speakers: Andrew Moir, Heather Newton and Peter Dalton

In episode 2 of our Tech Disputes podcast series Revolution or evolution?  we take a look at trade secrets Disputes – protecting your key business information.Innovation needs to happen at a rapid pace. IP rights are key to locking in the investment made in innovation but in the short term, trade secrets can play a very significant role.The increasing number of questions we have been getting from clients over the past few years on trade secrets has been really noticeable. This has been driven by the need to protect tech innovation and key business information, data and business methods that a company wishes to keep exclusively for themselves. Trade secret theft is becoming an increasing issue, whether mediated by cyber-attacks or employees (or ex-employees).The key questions we will cover in this podcast, with practical examples:Why are trade secrets an important remedy to be able to rely on? How do you go about protecting trade secrets adequately? How do you enforce your trade secrets?

Fences and ambulances: Ambulances at the bottom – dealing with when it goes wrong.The first episode in our latest podcast series "Revolution or evolution? Technology and the changing dispute resolution landscape" takes a look into disputes involving IT contracts (whether relating to major transformational or sourcing programmes or managed services) in three bitesize chunks.In part 3, we look at legal routes and practical considerations once parties are in dispute.Speakers: Rachel Lidgate (Partner) Martin Hevey (Senior Associate) Jeremy Purton (Senior Associate)

Fences and ambulances: Fences at the top – mitigating risk early and often.The first episode in our latest podcast series "Revolution or evolution? Technology and the changing dispute resolution landscape" takes a look into disputes involving IT contracts (whether relating to major transformational or sourcing programmes or managed services) in three bitesize chunks.In part two we consider what can be done when contracting to reduce the risk of disputes further down the line and what strategies can assist parties when contentious issues emerge during a project.Speakers: Rachel Lidgate (Partner) Martin Hevey (Senior Associate) Jeremy Purton (Senior Associate)

Fences and ambulances: Disputes between IT customers and suppliers.The first episode in our latest podcast series "Revolution or evolution? Technology and the changing dispute resolution landscape" takes a look into disputes involving IT contracts (whether relating to major transformational or sourcing programmes or managed services) in three bitesize chunks.In part 1, we discuss the types of disputes we see arising between tech suppliers and customers.Speakers: Rachel Lidgate (Partner) Martin Hevey (Senior Associate) Jeremy Purton (Senior Associate)

This month, Dana Kim has invited Kum Sun Kim, corporate attorney at Microsoft Korea who shares her views on diversity in the technology industry and how women can utilize the power of technology to progress in their career.Watch the video version here: https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/latest-thinking/women-in-tech.

This month Yana Ivanova has invited one of the prominent figures in the Russian technology sector – Anna Serebryanikova President of the Russian Big Data Association to discuss her opinions on what challenges women face, the opportunities provided, and how women manage complexity in the tech industry today especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Listen to the inaugural podcast launching our Women in Tech series.In this monthly interview series we host a virtual fireside chat with a leading female figure in the technology sector to discuss their personal experience of working in the industry and their take on current opportunities and potential challenges. This month Alexandra Neri has had the pleasure of speaking with Google's Maria Gomri who shares her views on steps taken to support the growth of women within the industry and how one can flourish in today's environment.Watch the video version here.Speakers: Alexandra Neri, Partner, Head of IP/IT, Herbert Smith Freehills and Maria Gomri, Head of Legal France, Middle East and North Africa, Google

In this episode, Alex Cravero, Digital Law Lead – UK/US & EMEA is joined by partner Caroline Rae and senior associates Terence Lau, Wendy Saunders and Rich Woods to explore the various strategies that financial institutions may use to source technology capability and accelerate their digital transformation.

This episode is chaired by Alex Cravero UK/US & EMEA Lead for our Digital Law Group [https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/our-expertise/services/digital-law-group], who is joined by Nick Pantlin, David Coulling, Miriam Everett and Rachel Lidgate all of whom are leading practitioners from across the firm's Technology, Digital & Data and Disputes practices.Note: This is an audio recording of a live webinar in our Catalyst series of webinars. As markets move from response to recovery, our focus is shifting too. We understand that navigating the pace of change, and defining your new normal can be overwhelming, so we are continuing to develop insights to help you recover, rebuild and reform. To watch the webinar on demand and access the resource materials, please visit our dedicated Catalyst // Webinar Series page.https://www.herbertsmithfreehills.com/latest-thinking/catalyst-webinar-seriesDigital transformation was high on the board agenda before Covid-19, but the pandemic has placed even greater emphasis on the benefits that technology can bring. Optimising existing business models, generating new sources of revenue and building operational resilience are now, more than ever, imperatives for all businesses.This has driven many to rethink and accelerate their digital strategies. However, to succeed with their digital transformation, businesses need to successfully navigate a range of legal, regulatory and ethical challenges relating to both the technologies that businesses are looking to adopt and the broader business transformation that must take place – to people, processes and property – to embed that technological change.

Dorothy Livingston, Andrew Moir and Charlie Morgan discuss the UKJT legal statement on cryptoassets and smart contracts and a recent decision from the English court, which builds upon the conclusions of the legal statement. They comment on some of the possible impacts of cryptoassets and smart contracts for businesses and what these new technologies mean for the evolving skillsets that lawyers will need in the future. Speakers: Dorothy Livingston, Consultant, Andrew Moir, Partner and Charlie Morgan, Digital Law Lead (UK).

Susannah Wilkinson, Ariane Garside, Anna Jaffe and Holli Sargeant discuss the challenges presented by the velocity, complexity and convergence of emerging digital technologies and consider the potential individual and societal benefits.

Annalisa Heger and Amalia Stone discuss some concerns raised by the ACCC in relation to how algorithms are likely to impact on Australian competition and consumer law, and suggest some areas for business to think about in relation to use of algorithms, given the ACCC’s approach.

Amalia Stone and Michael Coutts discuss some potential competition implications that arise in the context of pricing algorithms, and use of big data, and suggest some areas to think about both for business using algorithms, and consumers shopping online.