In-house legal experts from major companies like Coca-Cola, AIA, Juno Legal and Vodafone NZ will take the stage
Registration for this year’s NZ In-house Legal Summit, which brings together leading experts to share their knowledge on the current environment for in-house legal teams, is now open.
Taking into consideration the strong impact the COVID-19 pandemic has had on both businesses and the legal profession in 2020, esteemed speakers will discuss topics like the evolving role of in-house lawyers, change management, digitalisation, business risk management and the relationship between corporate boards and the legal department.
“Life between a rock and a hard place – that is where in-house counsel spend their day, constantly pulled between pillar and post, having to juggle numerous and at times conflicting interests,” says barrister Paul Sills, who is an international arbitrator and mediator. “In-house counsel often wear a number of hats: lawyer, SLT member, commercial manager, governance gatekeeper. Not all of these roles are perfectly aligned and they create a number of challenges for those brave enough to take on the role.”
Sills, who speaks on the ethical considerations for in-house counsel at the event, says that some of these challenges “are ethical in nature and can place in-house counsel in conflict between the interests of their employer and the legal and ethical obligations they must satisfy as a member of the Law Society and all that goes with it.”
Thus, key issues Sills will be discussing in his talk include the ethical pitfalls in-house counsel need to look out for, how to avoid them and what to do in cases where they cannot.
The whole-day event will also feature lawyers and general counsel from the following:
The full list of speakers may be found here.
The NZ In-house Legal Summit takes place on December 1 at the Hilton Auckland.
