Practical LawConferences

• What can the Company Secretary do to prepare better for the role?
• Leadership, influencing, bridge between executive and board
• Skills and attributes
• Dealing with boardroom issues
• Stakeholder management

• What should boards and companies consider in relation to the new requirements?
• Putting in place the correct processes to support the viability statement
• Assessing risk appetite and ensuring the correct risk management processes are in place

• Role of the Remuneration committees and how they work in practice
• Directors’ remuneration report

Audit committees should consider a wide range of questions relating to regulatory and risk management issues as they prepare for 2015 reporting. This session will cover:  

• Audit reform
• New style audit committee report

This session will examine the role of the nomination committee in identifying and making recommendations to the Board. It will also cover:

• Overcoming the challenges of expanding the role into Governance
• Getting to grips with terms of reference for other Board committee members

• Embracing stewardship from an investor perspective across your organisation
• Voting, engagement and the role of proxy advisors
• Hot topics for institutional investors

• How to identify and mitigate the risks of cybercrime
• Potential strategies for reporting on cybercrime
• What are the risks of cyber crime that your board should know about?

This session will offer practical ramifications of the UK Bribery Act as well as tips on what to do and not to do.

• Examining trends  – has there been an increase or decrease in investigations?
• Strategies deployed to ensure procedures are put into practice
• Deploying effective compliance and training systems
• How do you manage a bribery issue with the Board?

• Managing your reputation in times of crisis
• Examining a range of issues including:
  • Tax, fraud, bribery, cyber attacks, working conditions, short-term issues
• Impact of social media

• The goals of activist shareholders and the tactics they are currently using to pursue an activist agenda.
• Practical strategies to prepare your company today for a meeting requisition request or other challenges from activist shareholders.
• How to respond to an identified challenge from an activist shareholder
• Effectively engaging with all shareholders during and outside an activist shareholder campaign and how to avoid the activist shareholder

The session examines the steps that a company should take to plan and implement an effective bid defence strategy.

More than three years after the first draft was published, the proposed EU Data Protection Regulation now looks set to come into force within the next 2 – 3 years. The reforms will significantly impact how all companies operating in the EU collect, manage and exploit personal data as well as increase exponentially the maximum financial penalties for non-compliance. This session aims to assist the company secretary in understanding the implications of the EU data protection reforms for business and the practical steps that will need to be taken before the Regulation comes into effect.

• Understanding the importance of investing in privacy and making regulation work for you
• Dealing with the differences in legislation across the organisation by consolidating multiple policies
• What practical measures do you need to put in place for the EU Data Protection Regulation?

• The roadmap to dematerialisation
• What dematerialisation will mean in practice?
• How is the model for dematerialisation progressing?
• How communication to shareholders should be managed and from when
• Other opportunities for change related to dematerialisation

This interactive session will give participants the chance to hear from Company Secretaries on how to get ahead of the game. Hear from a Company Secretary and their first 100 days at the top as well as:

• Making the move from Deputy to Company Secretary
• What are the non-legal and leadership skills needed to progress internally?
• What additional skills do you need as a Company Secretary from Deputy Company Secretary after a takeover and the previous Company Secretary and General Counsel have left?
• What training and support is required to move upwards?
• How can the Assistant or Deputy Company Secretary support Company Secretaries?

This session will offer delegates an overview of the new requirements for corporate reporting that companies will need to tackle in the coming year,  the best practice that is evolving for annual reports and how companies are tackling issues in practice.

• Trends and best practice in annual reporting.
• How to tackle the annual report in practice
• What developments do you need to be aware of for the coming year?
• Developments outside the annual report, including the reporting requirements in the Modern Slavery Act
• Developing a checklist  for corporate reporting and best practice

An effective board is pivotal to a company’s long-term success and sustainability.  A key role for the board includes establishing the culture, values and ethics of the company. It is important that the board sets the correct tone from the top.

• Board roles and Non Executive Directors (NEDs)
• Diversity
• Succession planning
• Board evaluations
• Information flow
• Role of investors in board effectiveness
• Culture on a global level: assessing and tackling it

Hear from Company Secretaries and their biggest successes and learning’s during their career. Find out in hindsight what they wished they had done differently.