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Aaron MacGregor wins the Lewis Silkin student essay competition 2023
Press Release
07 November 2023We are excited to announce that Aaron Macgregor, a student from Blackburn College, is the winner of our annual student essay competition.
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Commitment and Collaboration - key takeaways from the Smart Building Show 2023
07 November 2023Smart tech and smart buildings are now becoming a priority for business leaders and owners, but the current climate challenges require commitment and collaboration. At the recent Smart Buildings show we learnt more on how smart buildings are part of a solution to a complex problem:
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5 Tips to Help De-Risk Your AI Service Contracts
06 November 2023The pace of recent technological advances is forcing tech giants and other software providers (from Zoom to OpenAI) to regularly update their terms of service. This underscores the importance of ensuring that existing contractual frameworks remain fit for purpose in the age of artificial intelligence. If you are procuring AI services, we have compiled a list of five things that you can do right now to help de-risk your contracts with suppliers of AI solutions.
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£3.3 billion of unused apprenticeship levy funds have been returned to the Treasury – should you be thinking about apprenticeships?
06 November 2023We’re now almost two months into the new academic year and what would have been the start date for many new apprentices. Whilst the next academic year may feel a long way off, with over £3.3 billion of unused apprenticeship levy funds returned to the Treasury, now is a good time to consider your apprenticeship recruitment strategy for 2024 and how you can make the best use of apprenticeship funding.
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Lewis Silkin has advised the shareholders of The Storytellers on their sale to Accenture
Deal
03 November 2023Lewis Silkin has advised the shareholders of creative management consultancy The Storytellers on their sale to Accenture, a leading global professional services company.
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Is there a future for crypto marketing in the UK?
Press
03 November 2023Following the coming into force of the Financial Conduct Authority’s new crypto marketing regime, Wendy Saunders provides a breakdown of what it all means in practice.
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Lewis Silkin has advised Banijay UK on the acquisition of leading scripted producer The Forge
Deal
02 November 2023Lewis Silkin has advised Banijay UK on its acquisition of leading independent scripted producer, The Forge.
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Criminal Records Checks in Employment
02 November 2023Criminal record checks can be a useful and sometimes necessary way of checking the suitability of an employee for a particular role. However, employers must be careful that they are not exceeding the boundaries of what they are permitted to request and are complying with their data protection obligations. This Inbrief covers how employers can carry out criminal record checks on prospective or existing employees, and the limitations on what they can do.
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Ads & Brands Law Digest: October 2023
02 November 2023Welcome to the October 2023 edition of our Digest, covering legal and regulatory developments from the last few weeks relevant to advertising, marketing and brand-owning businesses. As usual, for each item we provide a succinct summary accompanied by a link to the full text of the relevant official source or our own report.
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Is an opposition to ‘woke’ politics a protected philosophical belief?
02 November 2023In the latest decision on workplace ‘culture war’ clashes, a tribunal has found that an opposition to critical race theory amounts to a protected philosophical belief. It’s a further example of how employers have a heightened risk of claims in the context of increasingly polarised public discourse, as employees with strongly conflicting beliefs all have a right not to suffer discrimination.
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Key takeaways for employers from recent DPC guidance on SARs – Linda Hynes comments for PDP
Press
02 November 2023Linda Hynes looks at the recent guidance issued by the DPC on managing subject access requests and considers the key takeaways for employers when dealing with such requests.
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Lewis Silkin enters Top 15 on Social Mobility Employer Index
Press Release
01 November 2023Lewis Silkin has improved its ranking in the Social Mobility Employer Index for the fourth consecutive year, rising to 14th place - up from 18th last year.
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UK immigration options for competitive esports players
01 November 2023The esports industry is rapidly evolving. As a popular host of international competitive events, the UK needs to continue to attract and retain competitive esports players. An esports visa may be in the pipeline, but for now, esports players should be aware of UK’s available immigration routes.
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AI, recruitment and the law: how do equality and data protection laws regulate this process?
31 October 2023The regulation of AI is front and centre of the minds of policymakers around the World. Central to concerns raised about the rapidly increasing use of AI are the risks of bias and discrimination, particularly in the employment context. We look at how existing equality and data protection laws apply to these kinds of automated decisions.
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Discrimination and bias in AI recruitment: a case study
31 October 2023Barely a day goes by without the media reporting the potential benefits of or threats from AI. AI is being used more and more in workplace decisions: to make remuneration and promotion decisions; to allocate work; award bonuses; manage performance and make dismissal decisions. One of the common concerns is the propensity of AI systems to return biased or discriminatory outcomes. By working through a case study about the use of AI in recruitment, we examine the risks of unlawful discrimination and how that might be challenged in the employment tribunal.
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Equal Pay for all – Síobhra Rush comments for InBusiness magazine
Press
31 October 2023Síobhra Rush comments on the EU’s new Pay Transparency Directive and why now’s the time for employers to get their ducks in a row.
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Will the future world of work feature too few jobs or too few workers?
Press
31 October 2023The scale of AI change means that we cannot look at the past to predict the future. Niamh Crotty and Síobhra Rush discuss what shifts are predicted in the workforce by 2050.
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The new law on sexual harassment has been passed
27 October 2023The new law on prevention of sexual harassment has received Royal Assent. What do employers need to know, and what should they be doing now?
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Rory Campbell and Conal Scullion report on the proposed EU Packaging Laws for Retail News
Press
26 October 2023The EU published its Revision of the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive at the end of 2022. In this article, Rory Campbell and Conal Scullion report on the proposed EU laws fighting back against waste packaging and what they mean for Irish retail businesses.
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Cap on bankers’ bonuses to be lifted: what does it mean for firms?
26 October 2023It’s official. The cap on bankers’ bonuses is being lifted. There are some opportunities for firms here, but it doesn’t mark the return of excessive risk taking.