The Legal Brief - 8th December 2021

For further details on this Webinar, keep reading The Legal Brief

The disjointed approach into the Child Protection system has created an alert to many areas of the United Kingdom. In recent reports created by Watchdog warns that different teams are responsible for assessing children depending on location and level of risk, and yet, instances where?certain children go missing from their homes, it was described as not being recorded properly as missing nor looked for by police. Furthermore, the movement towards reducing child vulnerability has been let down by the assessment process which uses the exploitation risk assessment which is not always effective, the disappointing?reality that this is known to the right level authorities, we are yet faced with the same questions, what is going to take in order to improve our system? There are surrounding discussions in relation to the funding available and resources to address the various concerns on the intake of evidence-based which identifies the wellbeing of the child and the relationship with the parent(s).?

The ChildFIRST voluntary program is offered on community-based support and it was described as ``inadequate to meet the complexity of issues identified", where it was also described as a 'referral roundabout'. Most children currently under unfair treatment from their own parent(s) or carer(s) are facing a systematic issue of being ignored by our resources that has no way of fixing. In addition, the case-by-case approach has been described as an expensive effort to prevent maltreatment, which is not ideal and not the approach we should be taking. Furthermore, the way it is described as 'outdated ' appears to be because of child neglect and the abuse is a social problem, especially in terms of neglect, emotional abuse, and exposure to domestic violence and can be harmful to children/young children.?

The constant struggle with the lack of affordable childcare and housing instability is the biggest concern of many families, unfortunately, the socioeconomic disadvantage and the invisible feeling that certain children have that they no longer trust the system. A revision of child protection is overdue and children/young people should be protected by the system, the big push to develop the infrastructure to support both children and families is calling for a big reform.?

Written by Isadora Carvalho

Topping the commercial headlines in recent days has been the announced sale of the luxury department store Selfridges after being put up for auction in July 2021. The family owned store is within the final stages of talks to sell to a Thai multi-industry company for an estimated ￡4 billion. Reportedly, this sale includes Selfridges’ four UK stores – including the flagship department store located in Oxford Street, London, as well as Brown Thomas and Arnotts in Ireland and De Bijenkorf located within the Netherlands.

Sources have revealed that after being owned by the Weston family for 18 years, the decision to sell has followed the death of Galen Weston, who saw the privatisation and purchase of Selfridges for ￡628 million back in 2003. Although the actual reasoning for the sale is unclear, there is speculation that the negative impact of Covid-19 that has caused the reduced presence of ‘high-end’ tourists on the high streets is a likely contributor to this decision. Despite respectable 7% rise in sales to ￡1.97 billion in the year of February 2020, profits had reportedly fallen by 10% to ￡88 million. It is predicted that this figure will significantly fall when new statistics are released.

The impacts of Covid-19 upon the highstreets has not only impacted Selfridges, but with companies such as Debenhams collapsing and department stores John Lewis and House of Frazer being forced to close many of its stores, it is clear to see how much even these large companies rely on international tourists to upkeep their sale statistics. Selfridges - as of yet - have declined to comment on the matter.?

Written by Hebe Shepherd

In a (potentially) precedent setting move, the UK's competition regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has ordered the unwinding of a Big Tech acquisition in the last week. The news came last Wednesday, after a couple of days or murmuring, following a provisional ruling in August that Facebook's parent company, Meta, would have to sell

Meta have, unsurprisingly, said all along that they would challenge this decision if, and when, it was made.

This decision has come following CMA concerns that Meta's market share in a few keys areas could be seen as anti-competitive. This is particularly true in the display advertising marketplace, where Facebook already has a market share in the 40%-50% range. Adding the share of the market owned by Giphy could significantly increase this percentage in the eyes of the CMA, and therefore Meta should not be allowed to acquire Giphy.

It could be argued that having to sell Giphy isn't a life or death, company defining, issue for Meta, however they are likely to fight this with the full force of Legal team that they can afford, due to the precedent it could set. Never before has such resistance been put up to a Big Tech deal and, with all the future plans Meta have regarding VR, the Meta-verse and other similar ventures, it is quite conceivable that they will fight hard, purely on principle.

This will be an interesting story to follow, as historically these legal battles have been won by the Big Tech companies. Whichever way this one falls, it has the potential to set an industry-defining precedent – either that the CMA will have a greater say in Big Tech deals going forwards, potentially limiting ideas like the Meta-verse, or Big Tech companies will feel that they can do whatever deals they like, without the potential of their behaviour being deemed anti-competitive. Often, these battles come down to whichever side can pay for the best legal team, for the longest. You have to feel that the CMA may be more keen than ever to win this one, and therefore could upset this usual pattern.

Written by Duncan Balcon

How-To Guides for Junior Lawyers…????

This week on our?Legally Speaking Podcast ?? ?powered by?Clio - Cloud-Based Legal Technology , host Robert Hanna welcomed?Jason Feng ?to the show!

Jason is a front-end construction lawyer at?Pinsent Masons ?in Sydney where he works closely with contractors and principals to de-risk and deliver successful projects.

Outside of his day job Jason creates a wealth of content to help both junior and aspiring lawyers tackle the job and overcome the struggles that are commonly faced.

Jason also runs free monthly webinars where he gives practical advice to current and aspiring lawyers!

In this episode, Jason & Rob discuss the following:

? Why he pursue a career in construction and law and what does a construction lawyer does

? His?LinkedIn ?resources for both junior and aspiring lawyers and how this platform address the problems in the current training process

? The importance of junior lawyers becoming an authority in their teams

? The immense and tangible value of being ‘the nice lawyer’

?? Out now on the Legally Speaking Podcast website and all major audio platforms!

Associate for Banking/ABL/Receivables/Structured Finance?- International Law Firm - 2-6 PQE (London/Regions)

Capital Markets Associate?- Top US Law Firm - 0 - 5 PQE (London)

Commercial Contracts Lawyer -?2-4 PQE (London)

Commercial Litigation Solicitor?- International Law Firm - 1-3 PQE (London)

Corporate M&A / VC Associate?- Boutique Law Firm - 2-5 PQE (London)

Insurance Lawyer?- International Law Firm - 0 PQE (London)

Legal Counsel?-?International Law Firm - 0-5 PQE (Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Manchester or Leeds)

NQ Lawyer?- International Law Firm - 0 PQE (Scotland)

Product Liability Managing Associate -?International Law Firms - 5 PQE (London)

TMT Associate?-?International Law Firm - 1-4 PQE (Dublin)

TMT Associate (maternity cover)?-?International Law Firm - 1-4 PQE (Dublin)

For further information, or to get your questions answered, please send a message to?Robert Hanna ?or?Hannah Foley .

If you cannot see a job suitable for you, but are interested to hear about more jobs at KC Partners, please send your CV to?[email protected] ?to be considered.

Webinar Details:

A legal tech disruptor, or disrupted. Which one will you be in 2022?

You struggle with the increasing gap between demands and resources. Complete lots of negotiations. Work on weekends and waste far too much time on non-billable work. And still NOT ENOUGH.

Forget the hustle culture of legal. Efficiency is a matter of knowing WHAT to do and HOW to do with fewer resources. Register for a webinar of the year to learn how to work SMART, not hard, in 2022.

• Which trends will help you work less and earn much more?
• How to make sure that chosen trends meet your underlying needs?
• What will help you to stay ahead of legal peers?

Well… that's exactly what this webinar, with three (!!!) charismatic speakers is for! Buckle up and register for the webinar of a year to uncover what will be happening behind the scene of legal tech in 2022.

Date: December, 16

Time: 09:00 PDT

Speakers:

Vito DeLuca - Attorney, Owner of DeLuca Law

Scott Smedresman - Partner at McCarter & English, LLP

Seth Polansky - Partner at Foundry General Counsel

Moderator:

Richard Harrington - CEO of RHED Pixel, an Internationally Published Author

Registration link: https://bit.ly/3387vPL ??

At KC Partners we are committed to promoting diversity and equality of opportunities across organisations and we welcome applications from suitable candidates regardless of race or racial group, religion or belief, age, disability, sexual orientation, sex, gender re-assignment and gender identity, marriage and civil partnership, and pregnancy, maternity and paternity.

- JOIN THE LEGALLY SPEAKING CLUB ON CLUBHOUSE?-

The KC Partners team always aim to inspire, educate and entertain, providing the ultimate way of learning more about the exciting world of law. To that end, we are actively taking advantage of new opportunities, such as Clubhouse - the audio chat platform.

Join us every week on 'The Legally Speaking Club' where we talk to new and exciting guests:

https://www.joinclubhouse.com/club/legally-speaking-club

You don’t have to be on the app or have an invite to join!

Whether you're an aspiring solicitor, practicing lawyer, industry leader or just curious to know more about law, we hope to provide you with unique insights from a variety of individuals through our club.

Produced by Isadora Carvalho , Hebe Shepherd ,?and?Duncan Balcon