Hey guys, how would you answe the following question - whats a recent legal devellopment you've been keeping up to date with and why does it interest you (500 words.) I mainly just listen to the FT news briefing for commercial awareness and i don't really think theres a story im folloiwng.
What example scenarios can i use here and how can i find topics to follow so that i have things to answer this question with?
I think a good example of a recent legal development which is also relevant for commercial law firms is
the FCA's new Listing Rules. Essentially, they have been implemented to help revitalize the City's equity capital markets: in the last few years, not only has the LSE seen a consistent decrease in listing activity, but a number of huge UK companies (such as Arm) have actually either delisted or have transferred their primary listings to the US (which normally enables them to access a wider pool of capital). In this context, the FCA has sought to make the listing regime more business-friendly by reducing compliance costs and simplifying regulations. Among the significant changes, the new Listing Rules introduced:
- Less onerous disclosure requirements for listings, which should make the IPO process less costly and administratively burdensome; and
- Changed to a disclosure-based regime, removing the requirement to obtain prior shareholder approval and to publish an FCA-approved circular prior to entering into a 'significant transaction' (high-value transactions, as measured in reference to the size of the business). This should make many important business decisions easier to implement, from financing of important projects to strategic M&A - thus, showing London as a more attractive place to do business in.
If you want to read a more detailed explanation of the changes under the new regime, Akin Gump published an in depth legal update on it (which you can access
here). If you decide to write on this topic, it may be worthwhile to also search the Web more widely about updates as to capital markets activity in London, to assess whether the changes have actually had the desired effect.
As for your question as to how you can find legal topics to follow, I do not think there is only one source you should rely on. Rather, I would try to check several from time to time:
- The legal press: see The Lawyer, Legal Business, Law.com, Bloomberg Law etc
- Newsletters with legal updates: offered by the legal press, but also services like TCLA (I think @Jaysen has actually written an update some time ago on the topic of the new listing regime)
- LinkedIn: particularly if you follow law firms and legal press pages, just by scrolling you will learn about many important news in the industry
- General web searches on your own: if you cannot find a topic, or if you did but you want to follow up and keep up to date on it, you can make use of more pinpointed searches and look through multiple sources.
