Our ThinkHouse seminars are tailored specifically to meet the needs of senior in-house counsel and offer a forum to network with those in similar roles, whilst keeping up to date with the latest legal developments, and gaining practical insight into how the latest issues could impact your business.

This seminar will cover four topics:

Getting your contractual governing law and dispute resolution clauses right

Tom Price and Tom Cox will guide you through why, when negotiating your cross border contracts, the governing law clause is so important and what considerations are at play when negotiating that clause. The session will then move on to the dispute resolution clause, and will consider whether you should opt for an arbitration clause or a court jurisdiction clause and the relevant factors to consider. If a court clause, which court do you opt for, should the forum choice be exclusive or non-exclusive and how does the post Brexit jurisdiction and enforcement regime impact those choices? If you choose arbitration, what institution should you consider to administer the process or should you go ad hoc? What other particular features of arbitration should you consider such as the seat, and number and appointment of arbitrators. Are there joinder issues? Or a likely need for interim relief? In considering these and a host of other points, you will come away with a clearer understanding of why these so-called boilerplate clauses are anything but.

Failure to prevent fraud: practical steps to take right now

The new offence of failure to prevent fraud comes into force on 1 September 2025. With the risk of unlimited fines and reputational damage, organisations need to be preparing now. Emma Carr (Birmingham) / Catherine Naylor (London) will explain why all organisations (not just large corporates) need to be ready and will provide practical guidance on reasonable prevention measures to mitigate the risk of falling foul of the new offence.

'Whose side are you on?' – a discussion on the recent SRA guidance for in-house lawyers

This session will be run as a 'fireside chat' between Gowling WLG's own UK General Counsel, Michael Luckman, and our Head of Compliance, Helen Carr, formerly an adviser at the SRA and independent consultant on Professional Ethics. It will provide a brief overview of the recent consultation by and guidance from the SRA on in-house solicitors and consider the sometimes difficult juxtaposition between professional and business interests and obligations. It will also reflect on how the guidance impacts on the strategic and day-to-day roles of in-house counsel. To the extent consistent with timing and structure, we will hope to tap into some of the audience's own deep experiences.

Commercial contract law update

This is our annual contract law review, picking out the cases and changes in law that impact the drafting and interpretation of contracts. David Lowe and Andrew Smith will bring both a non-contentious and contentious perspective to the cases discussed, ensuring they are relevant for all lawyers who deal with B2B contracts, whether drafting them or dealing with disputes.

We hope you can join us for one of these half-day in-person seminars.