Conference programme

With the significant advancements in renewable energy and other new energy, disputes are inevitable. Such disputes are generally complex and large in value. This session will review how we resolve such disputes in a way that minimises disruption to the generation of power and global development.

In this session we will debate the topic of platform v sovereign states, and dissecting who is in control in relation to communications infrastructure.

Curious about making more impact in strategic processes? This panel will provide insight into the design and execution of auction and strategic review processes in M&A transactions.

Although often partnered with financial advisors, these processes require close legal oversight to manage risk, preserve optionality, optimise for outcome and public support, as well as ensure compliance with fiduciary duties and applicable regulations.

The session will explore the interface between legal strategy and commercial objectives, particularly in cross-border transactions where regulatory, antitrust, and foreign investment review risks are heightened. 
It will cover legal structuring of competitive processes and how to partner with clients and deal teams, including: the use of process letters and staged bidding, confidentiality management, diligence protocols, exclusivity arrangements, and the allocation of liability through preliminary documentation.

With insights from senior M&A counsel from multiple jurisdictions, this session will provide practical guidance on how legal teams can proactively shape auction dynamics, mitigate execution risk, and deliver value to clients throughout the process.

In May 2024, social media around the world lit up with the man vs bear debate, a viral trend where women were asked if they would rather be stuck in the forest with a man or a bear. While the debate angered many men, it also resonated with many women. The analogy brought gendered violence to the fore at a time when 30% of women worldwide have been subject to either physical and/or sexual violence in their lifetime. Violence against women is preventable, and employers have an important role to play as agents for change. This session reviews the role employers can play in driving powerful societal change in relation to gendered violence and harassment.

Since the legalisation of adult-use cannabis, Canada has set a successful example of legal framework, including improvements on federal and provincial regulations for the coordination of production, warehousing, transportation and retail. Effective supply chain management is a key market differentiator in this industry. We aim to compare what Canada achieved so far with other jurisdictions that recently legalised adult-use of cannabis in this session. 

Acquiring a gambling business involves unique legal, regulatory, and compliance challenges that require specialised knowledge. This panel will explore the critical issues we face when advising clients on the acquisition of gambling operators or that of suppliers of key gambling products. Panelists will provide insights on due diligence, with a particular focus on navigating complex licensing requirements, anti-money laundering (AML) obligations, understanding jurisdictional variations in gambling laws, and assessing regulatory compliance risks.

The session will also examine the structuring of transactions, the impact of the acquiring entity’s group structure on regulatory change of control approval, and the negotiation or re-negotiation of key contracts in the context of a highly regulated industry. Special attention will be given to how changes in local and international gambling regulations may impact acquisition strategies. The session will offer a roadmap for those involved in the acquisition of gambling businesses to ensuring that deals are not only contractually sound but also compliant with the ever-evolving regulatory landscape.

The rapid emergence of a multipolar world and surging geopolitical conflict are challenging established international laws, norms, and principles; entrenching global impunity; and raising existential questions about the future of international law and multilateral institution in world affairs. As 19th century-style great power competition makes a comeback, and the United States retreats from historic commitments to alliances and multilateralism, tensions escalate in Europe, the Middle East, and the Indo-Pacific. Meanwhile, as frustration grows globally with perceived double standards and hypocrisy in foreign policy decisions, some actors engage in “whataboutism” tactics and weaponize such debates for geopolitical and ideological purposes. In combination, such trends threaten to undermine the validity and universality of established laws, norms, and principles that have anchored the global order and guided multilateral cooperation for decades. Against this background, our expert panel will discuss what the future might yield for international law, international institutions, and multilateral cooperation.

This session will explore how we can use artificial intelligence in our practice to become better lawyers, as well as how this technology is reshaping the profession.

Like many jurisdictions around the world, shareholder activism in Canada has been on a rapid rise over the last decade.

This session will focus on the latest trends in Canadian activism, legal features that make the Canadian activism landscape unique, and on the similarities and differences – in rules, practices, tactics and trends – between activism in Canada compared to the rest of the world.
  
Panellists will discuss topics including:
• the Canadian legal framework that enables robust shareholder activism;
• tactics of Canadian activists;
• the increasing divide on ESG and DEI, and its impact on shareholder activism in Canada and elsewhere; 
• recent trends in shareholder activism from around the world.

The modern era of smart phones and social media has coincided with a coarsening of discourse, political polarization, and campus radicalization. Social isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and continued work-from-home practices have eroded the bonds between people from diverse backgrounds that further contribute to these trends. The legal profession is not immune from these trends, with charges of “lawfare” and “existential threat” to the rule of law from across the political spectrum. On the other hand, the profession also has the potential to help fix what is broken, given opportunities for international dialogue, reconciliation, fairness, and objectivity inherent in legal practice. Join our panel who will offer their views regarding how the current environment is fuelling societal conflict, what steps have and can be taken to ameliorate the situation, and how lawyers and regulation can help (and hurt) those efforts.

With the proliferation of international conflicts waged through economic – in addition to conventional – means, sanctions has emerged as an area of legal practice which has changed frequently in recent years and continues to do so. Please join our panel of eminent speakers with diverse interests in the field as they canvass the role of sanctions as non-judicial means of international law enforcement, as well as issues of concern, including the implications of sanctions on access to justice, access to legal representation, and the role of lawyers, business, and the administration of justice during times of conflict.  Panellists will speak on their experience and observations, then engage in a discussion amongst themselves, and the floor will then be open for Q&A.