Aussie firm launches AI joint venture
Australian law firm
Corrs Chambers Westgarth has teamed up with Canadian tech firm Beagle for a joint venture in artificial intelligence.
The firms are 50:50 partners in Beagle Asia Pacific Pty. Ltd which aims to revolutionize the way businesses in Australia and New Zealand are using AI and to make the technology more affordable.
The solution is not purely focused on legal departments with uses including procurement, contract administration and management, risk, insurance, IT and IP.
The system is being piloted with select Corrs clients before a roll-out to both clients and non-clients.
KWM joins Hong Kong’s IFFO
King & Wood Mallesons has become a partner of the Hong Kong Infrastructure Financing Facilitation Office, the platform established by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority in July to facilitate infrastructure investments and their financings. KWM becomes one of the first law firms invited to join the IFFO.
Tech M&A set to rise in next 6 months says law firm survey
Deals activity in the technology sector are set to increase in the next six months according to a survey by law firm Morrison Foerster.
It found that 47 per cent of industry leaders in the US and the other most active countries in the sector, expect an increase in the sector’s M&A activity in the next six months, while 20 per cent are forecasting a decrease.
The firm’s survey is biannual and six months ago there were 38 per cent expecting an increase and 33 per cent expecting a decline.
“An increasing number of companies have stepped up their blockbuster deal activity as 2016 has progressed. As a result, tech M&A spending is on track for the second-highest annual total since the most recent recession falling only short of the high bar that was set last year,” Robert Townsend, co-chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Global M&A Practice Group.
The survey also reveals that 82 per cent of leaders report that acquirers are keen to ensure that cybersecurity policies and practices are included in due diligence.
Are law students becoming less honest?
A study conducted in the US and UK reveals that some law students fall short of the ethical standards expected from the legal profession.
The poll, published in the International Journal of the Legal Profession, shows that more than 1 in 5 law students would falsify time sheets to gain either professionally or personally.
Female students were revealed to be more ethical than male counterparts.
