Global, national firms advise on Yarra Valley, T&F deals
Norton Rose Fulbright,
MinterEllison, Frenkel Partners and Emil Ford Lawyers have advised the parties in the acquisition of two Australian food businesses.
Yarra Valley Farms and T&F All States have been acquired by South African firm In2Food and the deals were coordinated so that both equity transactions and the acquisition finance closed in-sync.
Norton Rose Fulbright advised In2Food on all legal aspects of the deal including negotiations, transaction documents, legal due diligence and financing.
Its team was led by Sydney-based partner Ben Smits supported by members from the corporate, finance, employment and property teams in Sydney and Melbourne.
MinterEllison acted for the financiers, Frenkel Partners acted for Yarra Valley Farms; and Emil Ford Lawyers acted for T&F All States.
Law firms will shift view of cybersecurity in 2018
The view of law firm cybersecurity will change during the next year as firms are forced to make some important shifts to protect client data.
According to legal tech firm Acertus, firms will have no choice, but to segregate content, establish ethical walls and institute governance policies that allow access to information on a ‘need to know’ basis.
This is in response to high-profile data breaches in recent years and the forthcoming European data law GDPR.
The firm’s CEO Roy Russell says that law firms will have to demonstrate their robust cybersecurity and data protection measures as clients demand the strongest protection.
“The Panama Papers and other recent high profile cases have clearly highlighted the reputational damage a security breach can cause,” says Russell. “Come 25 May 2018, when the new GDPR comes into force, the business impact of a data breach of the like of Appleby will be debilitating for a law firm.”
Other tech trends ahead for law firms include the adoption of more ‘me too’ artificial intelligence solutions as firms find building bespoke in-house solutions is more time consuming than they had anticipated.
Share of low-paid trainees increases in UK
The share of trainee lawyers in the UK who are being paid at below the country’s minimum wage has increased.
A survey by legal recruiter Douglas Scott and reported by the Law Society Gazette shows that 38% of trainees are paid below recommended levels, a 8.5% surge since 2017. Outside London it’s worse with 41% paid less than minimum wage.
In addition, trainees are working harder with average hours of 43 per week, up from 40 a year ago; 19% are working 48 hours.
The UK’s minimum wage is the equivalent of AU$12-13 at the current exchange rate.
