We are pleased to share with you the recording from our recent Professional Practices Alliance (PPA) expert discussion, ‘Personal Risk Management for Partners’. Partners of professional practices spend their entire careers focused on the protecting interests of their clients. This can sometimes be at the expense of their own planning. In this podcast recording, you can hear Chair, Corinne Staves (Partner and Head of Professional Practices, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP) and panel speakers, Rachel O’Donoghue (Partner and Head of Financial Planning, Buzzacott LLP), James Currie (Senior Tax Manager, Buzzacott LLP), David Shufflebotham (Founder, PEPUP.consulting), Fiona Poole (Partner, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP) and Beth Hale (Partner, CM Murray LLP) explore the actions that all partners should be considering and the extent to which firms should be involved in personal risk management. In particular, this panel address the following: • the key personal risks for professional partners; • financial planning and legal protections that partners should put in place; • the extent to which firms should implement measures to protect partners, for example, death in service and/or life insurance benefits; • whether insurances could benefit of the firm (i.e., to manage cashflow) or the partners/their families, for example, life insurance and income protection; • how a firm can manage the risks of partner death/incapacity; and • how a firm’s agreement and policies can support this process including the protections which should be included in LLP deeds as well as powers to remove and suspend.

UK employment law information and advice

Personal Risk Management for Partners: Professional Practices Alliance Webinar Recording

We are delighted to bring you the second episode of our mini podcast series on board diversity and how it has progressed over recent years. In this episode, Teresa L. Johnson, Partner at Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP in San Francisco, joins Partner Emma Bartlett look at best practice examples showing how board diversity is being achieved. Key takeaways include: In the UK, it is entirely voluntary and business-led. This has resulted in a strong supply of experienced women leaders and has opened up new career path and opportunities for senior women. We now have valuable insight into workplace barriers and how to fix them – from experience, while you can guess what those barriers are, unless there is some sort of audit some of these assumptions might be wrong; Increasing the representation of women in key functional roles such as GC, GC and Co Sec, Finance Director, HR Director and Chief Information Officer, will drive progress; Certain FTSE 100 companies have led the way, demonstrating commitment to diversity in a modern company. For example, the Chief Executive for Diageo plc expressed first hand experience of benefits of diversity at board leave in terms of “quality of decision making”, the “varied perspective to debates” and “the performance it drives”. Diageo set goals for 50% of leadership roles to be held by women, as well as increasing representation of leaders from ethnically diverse backgrounds to 45% by 2030. As a result, Diageo now has 60% women on the board; Wider stakeholder groups have provided vital support. Certain executive search firms doing the very most to support gender equality on boards have been recognised within the accreditation process under the Enhanced Code of Conduct. California started with gentle encouragement for board diversity, but it didn’t move the needle. Setting a quota seems to be making real change – most of the public companies subject to the California board diversity laws have added women and members of underrepresented communities to their boards; In most of the US, there are no laws requiring diversity on boards, and the push for diversity comes from the market – particularly institutional investors and investment banks, of late. A recent study from the Alliance for Board Diversity shows that there was a 4X increase in the number of Fortune 500 companies with over 40% diversity on their boards. The pace is different for women and minorities. Not until 2074 will 40% of board seats on Fortune 500 companies be held by minorities. The biggest jump has been in white women joining boards, who have gained 209 board seats between 2018 and 2020. California’s quotas are working, but the effect of the quotas isn’t the only reason – public opinion and importantly the investment community has gotten on board. In an ideal world, the quotas will get more diversity on boards, and that will help perpetuate itself. It will become the norm, but part of the reason this has taken so long is that boards change slowly – board members tend to serve for long periods of time and boards tend to rely on a closed circle of networks to find new candidates Looking at larger vs smaller companies, the Fortune 100 has made more progress than the Fortune 500. In Fortune 100 companies, the representation of women and minorities on boards exceeds 42%. The pace has been slower in the Fortune 500 – diversity has been growing at a 2% pace, and alarmingly the number of board seats held by African American men actually went down. For more information on the topics covered in this recording, please contact our Partner Emma Bartlett, who specialises in employment and partnership issues for multinational employers, senior executives, partnerships and partners.

Board Diversity: Episode 2 - How is Diversity on Boards Being Achieved?

We are delighted to bring you this recording of an expert discussion between members of leading international employment law alliance Innangard, exploring and offering insight into key issues concerning workers and employers in the current climate in the UK, Spain and Sweden. The platform economy continues to raise new employment law queries, which legislation and case law are now catching up with. This discussion takes a close look at some of the more common issues being faced by platform companies and their workers and examines the protections and remedies potentially available to both. The discussion is hosted by Merrill April (CM Murray LLP, UK), with contributions from María José Sánchez (Augusta Abogados, Spain) and Carl-Fredrik Hedenström (Morris Law, Sweden).   The key questions addressed by the panel include: 1. How has the status of platform workers developed in the UK, Spain and Sweden? Has the development been linked to the different employment statuses recognised by each jurisdiction?  2. How did the courts reach their decision in the Uber case in the UK and what have been the impacts of the decision?  3. What has been the reaction from riders, platform companies and unions to new legislation covering digital platform workers in Spain?  4. What has been most influential in developing the rights of platform workers – case law, legislation or collective agreements?  5. Has the widespread use of collective agreements in Sweden resulted in differing treatment for platform workers? Listen out for Part 2 of the recording where the speakers continue their discussion on the topics of AI and algorithmic management, taxation and social security as they relate to platform workers. Innangard is a non-exclusive alliance whose members are leading independent law firms located across Europe and Asia-Pacific, with specialist employment law experience and reputation in advising Employers. Each firm is individually recognised in their own country and jurisdiction for their expertise in labour and employment law issues. For more information about Innangard Executives and to contact any member firm, go to: Innangard.Global. Follow Innangard on Twitter: @Innangardglobal

What Questions has the Platform Economy thrown up? A Cross-Border Perspective - Expert Discussion

We are pleased to share with you the recording from our recent Professional Practices Alliance (PPA) expert discussion, ‘Neurodiversity in Professional Services Firm Leadership’. Individuals who may be described as “neurodivergent” bring a plethora of skills and different perspectives to an organisation, offering firms a sustainable, competitive advantage that will be particularly beneficial in the current economic climate. Harnessing and embracing the cognitive divergence of a workforce will enable professional services firms to home in on an untapped pool of innovators and high performers to inform its decision making and wider strategies, and promote an inclusive workplace culture. It is important for firms to raise awareness about neurodiversity related issues, whether through the day-to-day advocacy of senior management or the delivery of firmwide training, to help managers and colleagues to better understand neurocognitive differences and the needs of their neurodivergent colleagues. In this webinar, you can hear session Chair, Emma Bartlett, CM Murray LLP, and speakers Daniel Aherne, Adjust Services, Caroline Ramsay, TLT LLP and Rob Millard, Cambridge Strategy Group, discuss a range of issues relating to neurodiversity for professional services firms to carefully consider, including the following: • the importance of harnessing cognitive diversity in leadership and the various ways in which firms can boost decision-making, creativity and innovation through neurodiversity; • how professional services firms can encourage a culture that is more understanding of neurodiversity, including implementing policies and procedures promoting and generating awareness about neurodiversity; encouraging senior individuals to lead from the top; and offering training to managers and colleagues to help them to better understand these issues; and • potential statutory protection under the Equality Act 2010 for those who may be described as “neurodivergent”; in particular, focusing on an employer’s duty to make reasonable adjustments, and offering some practical suggestions as to what might constitute a reasonable adjustment in this context. For more information on any of the topics covered in this recording, please email Emma Bartlett: emma.bartlett@cm-murray.com. The Professional Practices Alliance is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between leading UK independent legal, accounting and law firm management specialist advisers, CM Murray LLP, Buzzacott LLP, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, Pep Up Consulting and Cambridge Strategy Group.

Neurodiversity in Professional Services Firm Leadership - Professional Practices Alliance Webinar

We are delighted to introduce our mini podcast series discussing the topic of board diversity and how it has changed in recent years, , including a comparison of the regulation of board diversity between California and the UK. While it has come a long way, there is plenty more to be done. Listen to the first episode here.

Board Diversity – A Global Approach Podcast: Episode 1

Transitioning from Founder-Led to Perpetual Governance Models: The Most Difficult Challenge that Many Professional Service Firms ever face The transition that any firm must undergo if it is to survive and thrive after its founders retire affects every aspect of the organisation. It is at the same time both strategic and intensely personal. For founding partners, it involves giving up control of an organisation that in many cases defines who they are and trusting the next generation to lead and manage it into a successful future. For that next generation, it means stepping up to a whole new level of responsibilities. It almost always involves difficult discussions, including about money, power and influence. For the firm’s employees, the outcome determines no less than their future livelihoods. For clients, such transitions can significantly impact the quality of service that they receive in both the long term and while the transition is underway. This issue is deeply relevant in 2021; the (then) young entrepreneurs who founded a disproportionately large number of professional service firms in the early 1990s are fast approaching retirement. Many have been immensely successful, building firms that stand proudly pre-eminent in their markets. The role that those founders will play in their twilight professional years, and indeed whether or not these firms will even survive without their founders, depends on how well the transition is planned and executed. In this panel discussion recording, you can hear Session Chair, Rob Millard (Founder, Cambridge Strategy Group – Law Firm Management Consultant) and esteemed panellists, Fernando Peláez-Pier (Founding Partner, Hoet Peláez Castillo & Duque- a former president of the International Bar Association and the Lex Mundi network), David Shufflebotham (Founder, PEP Up Consulting – Partner Remuneration Specialist), Claire Watkins (Partner, Buzzacott LLP – Head of Professional Practices Group) and Zulon Begum (Partner, CM Murray LLP – Partnership and M&A Law specialist), discuss and provide expert insights on the major challenges and considerations for such transitioning firms, including: The relative merits of potential exit models to balance founders’ and next generation partners’ interests, including a straight return of capital and profit share (or “naked in, naked out”); post-retirement annuities; consultancy arrangements; sale on exit based on agreed value (and typical valuation approaches and expectations); and returns based on a future capital event. Developing a governance transition strategy and adequate succession planning, including understanding the firm’s current position and future requirements as well as managing timing and communications. Issues involved in transitioning family-owned firms, including challenges caused by not having clear, institutionalised governance, processes and opportunities for all partners, the need to have open early conversations about the exiting partners’ interests and to build consensus on the firm’s future. The legal and operational issues and how to approach key provisions in the firm’s constitutional documents, including weighting of founder and next generation voter rights, profit sharing arrangements, anti-embarrassment clauses, annuity provisions, post termination restrictive covenants, admission of new partners, partner “lock-in” provisions, mandatory retirement age and change to firm name clauses (amongst others).

Transitioning from Founder-Led to Perpetual Governance Models

If England’s COVID roadmap progresses as planned, stringent COVID restrictions should be lifting or lifted during summer 2021. The office and future working arrangements are dominating discussions at all levels within professional services firms. This peer-to-peer discussion aims to provide an understanding of market practices and trends, addressing topics affecting your people, your business and your clients. In this discussion, you can hear Session Chair Corinne Staves, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, Beth Hale, CM Murray LLP, Robert Millard, Cambridge Strategy Group, and guest speaker Oliver Richards, Orms, discuss the following: • What the ease of adaption to such significant working changes has proven about the resilience of the professions • How the past year of home working has already altered everyone’s horizons and how Firms will need to reflect this in their long-term strategy • What the key components of a successful workplace will be, allowing people to balance companionship and communication, without compromising privacy needs • The challenges of effectively supporting the new hybrid of office-based and remote working, including through investment in office technology and considered office reconfiguration • The legal and non-legal considerations of firms imposing changes on team members and the potential impact of same on firm culture • What firms need to consider in managing their partner body, including where tensions may emerge if there has been a disparity in contribution during COVID.

We (Still) Need To Talk About The Office

We are pleased to share with you the recording of this Professional Practices Alliance expert interactive panel discussion on what the medium-term holds for law firms emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic and how they can prepare for changes to the economy, office life, and the tax landscape. The panel addressed issues including: - The impact of the pandemic on law firms and how to emerge stronger on the other side. - How office workspaces can be adapted to meet the requirements of a workforce that wants greater flexibility. - The key points of the UK’s first 2021 Budget and the measures that will most affect law firms and their clients. - The employment law challenges that arise out of new ways of working. The panel: James Campbell - International Partner, Cushman & Wakefield (Guest Speaker) Andrew Hosking - Managing Director, Restructuring & Insolvency, Quantuma (Guest Speaker) Beth Hale - Partnership and Employment Law Partner, CM Murray LLP Alastair McQuater - Tax Partner, Buzzacott LLP Claire Watkins - Partner & Head of Professional Practices Group, Buzzacott LLP (Chair) For more information on the issues covered in this recording, please contact Partner Beth Hale, who specialises in employment and partnership law and advises businesses and individuals on equality and discrimination issues. The Professional Practices Alliance is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between leading UK independent legal, accounting and law firm management specialist advisers, CM Murray LLP, Buzzacott LLP, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, Pep Up Consulting and Cambridge Strategy Group. Join the Conversation We are delighted to launch the Professional Practices Alliance LinkedIn group, a collaborative networking and information sharing space for professional services firms. Join our LinkedIn group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13930936/ Follow us on Twitter: @PartnershipAlln

How Law Firms can Prepare for Changes to the Economy, Office Life and the Tax Landscape

We are are pleased to share with you the recording of our recent Professional Practices Alliance expert panel discussion on 'Measuring and Driving Diversity and Inclusion in Professional Services Firms'. Over the last year, the issue of workplace inequalities and under-representation of minority groups has been reignited, or come to the fore, on the agenda of many businesses, including professional services firms. Such firms may now be looking afresh at how to drive and measure diversity and inclusion within their partnerships and wider staff constituency. In this panel discussion, you can hear Chair Sarah Chilton (CM Murray LLP, Partner), Emma Bartlett (CM Murray LLP, Partner), David Shufflebotham (Founder of PEP Up Consulting), Corinne Staves (Partner & Head of Professional Practices, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP) and excellent Guest Speakers, Mouhssin Ismail (Principal of Newham Collegiate Sixth Form) and Ray Berg (UK Managing Partner of Osborne Clarke LLP) explore some of the vital diversity and inclusion issues with which firms will need to engage, including: - The moral, economic and regulatory importance of partnerships driving and embedding a sustainable culture of diversity and inclusion. - The impact on business innovation and people strategy and how to get partnership ‘buy in’, wider engagement and accountability. - Broadening the firm’s approach to diversity to include social mobility, cultural diversity and neurodiversity and addressing the intersection with legally protected characteristics like age, gender and race. - Measuring diversity and inclusion through quantitative and qualitative data tools as “what gets valued, gets measured and what gets measured gets done”. - The critical need for firms to assess inclusion distinct from diversity and the approaches firms can take to tackling homogeneous replica cultures at all levels. As one speaker put it “you can get asked to the party but if no one asks you to dance, what’s the point of going to the party”, so it is necessary for firms to not only have diversity in the staff and partners, but to also cultivate supportive environments for them to flourish at all levels. - Key challenges to creating a more diverse and inclusive environment in professional practices. - Recruiting a diverse equity partnership and senior leadership, nurturing the pipeline and addressing the challenges of diversity attrition, including through collaboration with educational establishments, effective communication, role models and coaches, implementing proper systems and process and equipping staff with diversity and equality skills and training. - The benefits, limitations and practical tips for using equality legislation and constitutional partnership documents to address under-representation and inclusion in professional services partnerships. For more information on the issues covered in this recording, please contact Partners Sarah Chilton and Emma Bartlett, who specialise in employment and partnership law and advise businesses and individuals on equality and discrimination issues. The Professional Practices Alliance is a multi-disciplinary collaboration between leading UK independent legal, accounting and law firm management specialist advisers, CM Murray LLP, Buzzacott LLP, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP, Pep Up Consulting and Cambridge Strategy Group. Join the Conversation We are delighted to launch the Professional Practices Alliance LinkedIn group, a collaborative networking and information sharing space for professional services firms. Join our LinkedIn group here: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13930936/ Follow us on Twitter: @PartnershipAlln

Measuring and Driving Diversity and Inclusion in Professional Services Firms

The endurance of the partnership model as the structure of choice for professional practices is frequently credited to the idea that partnerships engender and promote a collegiate and collaborative culture, with all partners acting as owners who are responsible for driving the success of the firm. On the flip side, partnerships are often criticised for being slow to implement change (changes forced by a global pandemic notwithstanding!) as significant decisions regarding a firm’s strategy, structure, partner remuneration model, governance and constitution frequently require the support of a critical mass of partners; not only to satisfy constitutional approval requirements, but also because unless there is broad partner support for any proposed changes, attempts to push through such decisions (even if it is ultimately unsuccessful) can cause partner disaffection and have a destabilising effect on the firm. As a result, ‘difficult’ (but often necessary) proposals are sometimes diluted or kicked down the road by management. In this discussion, our panel of partnership law and strategy /management experts, Robert Millard (Founder, Cambridge Strategy Group Limited), Zulon Begum (Partner, CM Murray LLP) and Session Chair, Sarah Chilton (Partner, CM Murray LLP), are joined by Peter Duff, the Chairman of Shoosmiths LLP, a firm that has recently implemented significant changes to its partnership and constitution. The panel share their commercial, legal and practical advice and experience on managing and implementing changes in strategy, remuneration and governance in professional practices, addressing issues such as: • What motivates change in professional services partnerships? Does there always need to be a “burning platform”? • What are the practical challenges of leading a firm through transformational change and how can these be navigated? • What are the common issues and gaps in constitutional documents that may require change? • How to secure and sustain partner buy-in and approval, and avoid unlawful discrimination. • How to manage dissenting partners.

Leading Partnerships through Significant Strategic, Remuneration and Constitutional Change

The EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), concluded in late December 2020, addresses a range of topics of interest to professional practices, but a glaring omission is a framework for trade in services between the EU and the UK. This has significant strategic implications for professional practices that are based in the UK but service the needs of clients in the EU (and vice versa), or who have offices in both the UK and EU. While much remains to be agreed, over time frames that might extend to several years or more, there is a lot that such practices need to do now. In this discussion, you can hear Session Chair, Robert Millard, Cambridge Strategy Group, Zulon Begum, CM Murray LLP, and guest speakers Mickaël Laurans, The Law Society of England and Wales, Ceris Gardener, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP and Markus Hartung, Kanzlei Chevalier discuss the following: • What steps professional practices need to take in the short term in order to align with the new realities • What impact the TCA will have on market access compared with EU single market access • What the potential regulatory impacts may be in the absence of mutual recognition • What services UK LLPs may provide in EU countries • How firms should prepare for further changes as they unfold, including with respect to mobility and immigration issues • How firms can seek out and take advantage of the opportunities that may result from Brexit.

Brexit - Impact and Opportunities for Professional Services Firms

Following the Prime Minister’s recent comment that the government hopes to soon be able to run the Coronavirus vaccination programme 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, many employers will be considering the implications of the roll-out for their staff, their business and a potential return to the physical workplace. A novel question that many employers may be battling with is whether they can legally require their staff to get the Covid-19 vaccine (particularly if the vaccine becomes available to the private sector in the future). In this CM Murray podcast, Elizabeth McEneny, Sarah Chilton and Wonu Sanda discuss this and more, including: - the historical legal background to mandatory vaccinations in the UK; - the impact of the employer’s Health and Safety obligations on mandating a compulsory vaccination policy; - whether an employer can require vaccination as a reasonable instruction or introduce it as a contractual requirement; - the discrimination risks that an employer may need to consider; - the human rights and data protection considerations; and - the possibility of potential personal injury claims. If you would like any further information about the issues discussed in this podcast, please contact Elizabeth McEnemy, Sarah Chilton or Wonu Sanda.

Can an Employer Legally Require their Staff to get the COVID-19 Vaccine?

CM Murray LLP, in association with Littleton Chambers and Fisher Phillips LLP, invite you to listen to an hour long podcast recording on “Atypical Worker Restraints and Beyond: Protecting Confidential Information and other Business Interests in Atypical Worker, Independent Contractor, Shareholder and Franchise Relationships.” In this podcast, which was recorded on 2 December 2020, David Reade QC (Littleton Chambers, London, UK), David Fisher (Partner, CM Murray LLP, London, UK), Mike Avila (Partner, Fisher Phillips LLP, Philadelphia & Washington D.C. Metro, USA) and guest speaker Myriane Le François (Partner, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, Montréal, Canada) discuss, from their differing experiences and perspectives: • Confidentiality and post-termination restrictions for partners, LLP members, contractors and agents • Restrictive covenants in share sale and business transfer agreements, including a discussion on restraint of trade • Choice of law issues • Enforcement in a foreign jurisdiction

Atypical Worker Restraints and Beyond

We are pleased to share with you the recording of our recent Professional Practices Alliance (PPA) live panel discussion on “Life and Partnerships without The Billable Hour: Business Model Transformation Post-COVID-19". The increasing use of technology to deliver professional services in new and more efficient ways means the billable hour is under pressure. Our expert panel consider the potential impact on business models in the professional services sector if it became impossible or irrelevant to measure billable hours. In this discussion, you can hear Session Chair Zulon Begum (CM Murray LLP), Corinne Staves (Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP), David Shufflebotham (PEP Up Consulting), Robert Millard (Cambridge Strategy Group) and guest speaker Philip Goodstone (UK&I Head of Law at EY) discuss the following: - Why do business models in law firms and other professional services firms need to evolve?   - How has the increased use of technology in the professional services sector driven changes in business models?   - Would the way that performance and profitability is measured by firms need to change?   - How would a firm’s governance systems need to develop?   - Would a change in business model impact the metrics and process that a firm uses for assessing partner contribution and compensation?

Life And Partnerships Without The Billable Hour: Business Model Transformation Post-COVID-19

We are pleased to share with you the recording of our recent Professional Practices Alliance (PPA) live panel discussion on “We Need to Talk About the Office". The Government’s announcement on 22 September that office workers who can work effectively from home should do so over the winter has resulted in many professional services firms halting their plans to bring staff back to the office and instead gearing up for a further phase of remote working. In this discussion, you can hear Session Chair, Corinne Staves, Maurice Turnor Gardner LLP and speakers Beth Hale, CM Murray LLP, Claire Watkins, Buzzacott LLP and Robert Millard, Cambridge Strategy Group discuss the following: • What positive lessons can firms learn from the previous experience of long-term remote working. How can we build on these? • What will firms do differently this time? • What is the long-term future of the office? Is it too early/uncertain to be making long-term decisions? • To what extent can evolved working practices be used as a positive opportunity to enhance culture and support strategic aims? For more information on the topics covered in this recording, please contact Partner Beth Hale (beth.hale@cm-murray.com), who specialises in partnership and employment law.