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Our Future of Disputes UK Virtual Programme brought speakers from leading in-house institutions – including AON, Gilead, GPW Group, HSBC, JP Morgan, Rio Tinto, Salesforce and Siemens – together with Baker McKenzie dispute resolution specialists to discuss key challenges in litigation, arbitration and investigations likely to arise over the next year.

We tackled the practicalities around contract disputes and termination, engaging with government and regulators, strategies to manage litigation risk arising from internal investigations, and provided an overview of how case lifecycles are likely to unfold following recent reforms of litigation and arbitration mechanisms. Our speakers share insights garnered from managing complex, multijurisdictional disputes and offer strategies to help you shape your organisation’s business resilience and readiness for litigation in the medium and long term.

Disputes 101: How to Effectively Manage Complex Cases

This session is designed for in-house counsel who are developing their expertise in contentious matters, or whose remit is not solely focused on such matters and so come across contentious issues less often. We will sharpen your readiness for when a litigation or arbitration claim lands on your desk. We run through the typical lifecycle of a case and share some top tips on managing common issues faced by in-house counsel surrounding disclosure, privilege, and evidence, with an eye on the future of how these areas are likely to develop in the coming years.

Guest speaker:

  • Matt Totman, VP & Assistant General Counsel, J.P. Morgan

Resources

Disputes 101: How to effectively manage complex cases

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An Analysis of Post-M&A Disputes: Insights From Prior Cases to Inform Future Transactions

What can we learn from previous post-M&A disputes to mitigate risk on future transactions? We present our findings from examining 100+ arbitration awards and English court judgments on post-M&A disputes. With a transactional perspective from M&A partner Ash Tiwari, we explore what provisions of the underlying contracts are most likely to raise disputes. We also explore the outcomes of these disputes, with analysis from our Disputes practitioners who specialise in such cases. We focus on providing insights grounded in the quantitative data, rather than on technical legal issues. This session will be of interest to individuals working in contentious and non-contentious roles alike.

Guest speakers:

  • Helen Chapman, Head of Coverage, Transaction and Cyber Solutions, Aon
  • Dagmar Mundani, General Counsel, Siemens Healthineers

Resources

An analysis of post M&A disputes

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Managing the Commercial Litigation Risk Arising From Internal Investigations

This session focused on the practical steps businesses can take to mitigate the commercial litigation risk arising from internal investigations, including best practice for managing internal reporting and communications with third parties (including auditors, investors, employees, insurers, contractual counterparties and others). We also look ahead to explore how commercial litigation risk arising from investigations may evolve in the future and consider how businesses should adapt their practices accordingly.

Guest speakers:

  • Richard Davies, Senior Director, International Litigation & Investigations, Gilead
  • Darren Dunn , Senior Corporate Counsel Global Ethics and Integrity, Salesforce
  • Sarah Ganslein, Associate General Counsel, Global Investigations & Regulatory Enforcement, HSBC

Resources

Managing the commercial litigation risk arising from internal investigations

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Government Intervention, Economic Nationalism and Investment Protection

Government intervention and economic nationalism has increased significantly in the last two years, and is likely to do so even more with the unexpected unfolding of recent events. National security is likely to encompass energy supply and utilities more generally, as well as the healthcare and food industries. Private investors and institutional ones are targeted; and, with a dramatic increase in sovereign wealth funds supplying the much-needed cash injections, controls over incoming investments tighten and expropriatory measures are rife.

This session focused on identifying the key risk areas and how international protections can be leveraged and enforced directly against states and state entities – whether it is at the investment stage through treaty planning, or, once the issue can be foreseen through ISDS.

Guest speakers:

  • Geoffrey David, Group Head, Litigation & Investigations, Rio Tinto
  • Philip Worman, Managing Director, GPW Group

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Government Intervention, Economic Nationalism and Investment Protection

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Author

Steve Abraham is a partner in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team based in London and serves as the firm's Dispute Resolution chair for the EMEA region. Steve has a particular focus on international arbitration and ADR in the energy, mining and infrastructure projects, often involving projects in Africa, the Middle East and CIS countries.
In addition to acting in commercial disputes Steve advises in relation to investment treaty issues and in relation to risk and project management issues during the course of projects.
The current edition of Chambers & Partners describes Steve as "an impressive lawyer" who is "nice to deal with". Previous editions have described him as "superb", "very knowledgeable in construction" and "really strong on large-scale infrastructure and mining work", and commented that "his teamwork is great". He is also included in Legal 500's newly published International Arbitration Powerlist and as a leading practitioner in Euromoney's Expert Guide to Commercial Arbitration.
Steve writes and speaks regularly on international arbitration and construction law issues.

Author

Yindi is a partner in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team based in London, and a member of the Compliance and Investigations group. Yindi’s practice includes a broad spectrum of complex and high-value international and domestic commercial litigation for multinational clients, with specialist expertise in anti-bribery and corruption investigations, compliance and trust disputes.

Author

Ed Poulton is Managing Partner in Baker McKenzie’s London office and a member of the Dispute Resolution team. A key name in the arbitration community, Ed sits as an arbitrator in ICC and LCIA arbitrations, and is the consulting editor of a seminal text on the arbitration of M&A disputes. He also sits on the steering committee for the Firm’s Global International Arbitration Practice Group. Ed is recognised in the fields of international arbitration and public international law by Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners.

Author

Ash is a partner in the Corporate M&A team in Baker McKenzie's London office. She joined the Firm in 2022, having spent over a decade at a Magic Circle firm. She advises on a wide range of corporate transactions including domestic and cross-border private M&A, joint ventures, restructurings, reorganisations, listed company advice and corporate governance.

Ash was recognised in the 2022 and 2024 Legal 500 rankings (M&A Upper Mid-Market and Premium Deals, over GBP 500 million) which reported that "Ash is among the best lawyers I have ever worked with anywhere – truly world class. Sharp, commercial, attentive, super committed and, on a personal level, an absolute joy to deal with. Trusted advisor for sure”, “Ash Tiwari is a phenomenal lawyer. We recommend Ash to everyone looking for a sophisticated global corporate lawyer” and "Ash Tiwari is an excellent lawyer. She is proactive, clear, straightforward and pragmatic in her advice."

In addition to client work, Ash is co-chair of the Firm's London race and ethnicity committee, BakerEthnicity. She is also a central member of the Firm's Global India Practice Group.

Author

Dr. Markus Altenkirch, a senior associate, joined Baker McKenzie’s Dispute Resolution Practice Group in 2012. Markus holds a doctorate degree in international arbitration and obtained a master’s degree in law with a special focus on international arbitration at King’s College, London. He teaches at the University of Mainz and regularly publishes in the field of international arbitration. He is the editor of Global Arbitration News, Baker McKenzie's blog on international arbitration, and served as a Co-Chair of DIS 40, an initiative by the German Arbitration Institute (DIS) for young arbitration practitioners in Germany from 2018-2021. In 2019, Markus developed together with a team of lawyers the Disputes Clause Finder, an online tool to create a fit-for-purpose dispute resolution clause. In 2021, Markus has started his own podcast series: #zukunft. Markus, and his colleague Lisa Reiser, interview leading arbitration practitioners and in-house lawyers on the future of international arbitration. Markus is described by peers as an "outstanding professional who is definitely one of the future leading arbitration lawyers" and by clients as "a quick-witted, extremely bright and reliable lawyer and an expert on arbitration with a deep understanding of the in-house world". Markus is ranked as Future Leader in International Arbitration by Who is Who Legal and was awarded the Lexology Client Choice Award 2021 for Arbitration in Germany.

Author

Mark is a Senior Associate in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team based in London. Mark is also a member of the Firm's Compliance & Investigations Practice Group.

Author

Katia is a senior associate in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution team, based in London. She advises clients on global dispute resolution strategy and settlement negotiation and acts on their behalf in commercial and investment disputes under LCIA, ICC, ICSID and UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules. She acts on behalf of governments and private parties in energy, large construction projects and post M&A disputes, where she has extensive experience. Her practice mainly involves multijurisdictional issues and she regularly advises clients on investment structuring and restructuring. Katia completed a nine-month secondment in Shell’s EMENA Litigation Group, working on a number of high-stake disputes. She taught international commercial and investment arbitration at King’s College London for several years and regularly publishes in the field of international arbitration.

Author

Carinne is a senior associate in Baker McKenzie's Dispute Resolution Group based in London. She is a member of the Firm's TMT, International Arbitration, Business Crime and Regulatory, Public and Media Law Groups.

Author

Ben is a solicitor-advocate with Higher Rights of Audience in Civil Proceedings. His practice focusses on complex commercial litigation and arbitration, particularly cases involving allegations of civil fraud. Ben joined Baker McKenzie as a Trainee Solicitor in March 2010 and qualified into the Dispute Resolution department in March 2012. From December 2019 to February 2021, Ben was based in Baker McKenzie’s Hong Kong office.

Author

Ben Levitt is an associate in London office's Dispute Resolution Department. Ben qualified in March 2016, and focuses on multijurisdictional commercial litigation and arbitration.

Author

Richard is a Senior Associate in the Baker McKenzie Dispute Resolution Department based in London. He is a member of the firm's Arbitration Practice Group.