Legal and HR Issues When Doing Business in the UK (An Employment Law Update & Review of Key Corporate & Commercial Issues)

If you are a US-based HR professional or in-house lawyer responsible for handling employment or commercial/corporate issues that arise in your company's UK operations, this workshop is for you!

Henry Clinton-Davis, Head of the UK/EU Employment Law team at international law firm Arnold & Porter LLP, will explain some critical, recent developments in employment law that your business needs to be prepared for. Jeremy Willcocks, Head of UK/EU Corporate at Arnold & Porter and Ben Kieft, Senior Associate, will discuss key corporate and commercial issues facing companies that are new to the UK as well as those with an established UK presence. The goal is to provide you with an essential overview so that you are able to recognize and preempt problems and avoid the traps encountered by many US companies doing business in the UK.

Employment Topics include:

New rules on flexible working
◦ Who can apply to vary their working patterns?
◦ What's changed?
◦ Grounds for refusing
◦ The impact of sex discrimination rules

New rules on shared parental leave - a revolution in family leave

The vacation pay nightmare - big claims on the horizon

Dealing with whistle-blowers
◦ Who counts as a whistle-blower
◦ Rights of whistle-blowers
◦ Problems with US reporting systems
◦ What to do with the wrongdoers

Corporate/Commercial Overview

Why the UK is still the perfect home for your European business
◦ Establishment: a quick, low-cost process
◦ Structuring for flexibility and efficiency
◦ What tax incentives are currently available?

M&A in Europe - Tips and Traps
◦ How to structure the deal - assets versus shares
◦ Comparing US and UK approaches to acquisitions
◦ Approaching post-acquisition integration