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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kitk" data-source="post: 5356" data-attributes="member: 157">Hi, everyone! Welcome to this week's commercial awareness update. Do share with us any feedback/ questions/ comments which you may have!Commercial Awareness Update: 28/11/181. Google’s Absorption of DeepMind (By: Kit)The story: Alphabet, Google’s parent company, would be absorbing DeepMind Health, the medical unit of DeepMind, which is a UK Artificial Intelligence (AI) company owned by Alphabet, into the newly formed, US-based Google Health.As part of its current work with certain NHS hospitals, DeepMind Health has access to the medical records of 1.6 million NHS patients. DeepMind has stated that, post-business consolidation, the data remains under the control of its NHS partners and that “its processing remains subject to both [DeepMind’s] contracts and data protection legislation”. Still, this planned absorption has raised privacy concerns that Google can incorporate the data in such records into Google’s products or services without the patients’ consent.Impact on businesses and law firms:As data is becoming an increasingly valuable asset, there will be greater awareness and hence, scrutiny of commercial entities’ potential non-compliance with data protection rules. This is especially so given the rise of stringent regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as the recent high-profile data breaches such as the one involving British Airways.Even if businesses are not directly collecting or using data in fairly innocuous and common commercial dealings, they need to be alert to the wider data protection implications that can arise from such dealings. Law firms are more likely to have to handle matters like helping their clients to structure their operations, negotiate their deals and draft their agreements with prospective clients and business partners more tightly, with a view to pre-empting possible data protection-related problems. 2. Impact of a no-deal Brexit on businesses and law firms (By: Angel)1. An optimistic future Without a deal with the EU, Brexiteers would hope for the UK to prosper outside the EU and that this would be a way of avoiding paying the divorce settlement to Brussels.If a no-deal Brexit kicks in, it is likely that the UK would trade with the EU on standard terms used by members of the World Trade Organisation. These terms will not be as favourable to the UK as an outsider than they would be to the EU’s members simply because the UK’s exports to the EU would now be subjected to tariffs. However, the optimism is that the UK will eventually get used to this. While it will be a painful process, the hope is that the opportunity for the UK to trade independently with the rest of the world balances out the losses.2. The realistically less optimistic futureHowever, the more realistic result is that a no-deal Brexit risks a very bad deal. With 45 years of arrangements intertwined between the EU and the UK, the UK’s relationship with the EU goes way beyond a trade deal. The UK’s membership of the EU’s single market (a customs union that many businesses benefit from) would cease. Without a deal, there will be grave uncertainty as to the costs that businesses will have to face once the privilege to trade freely is taken away.A no-deal Brexit would leave the UK without rules to govern crucial matters such as immigration control, aviation, medicines regulation and financial transactions. Again, this would be a time when many businesses would seek legal advice for contingency plans.It is true that the Remainers’ forecast for the UK to go into a recession post-Brexit did not come true. However, the performance of the UK’s economy has not been the best either. It has declined compared to other advanced economies. From being the fastest growing member of the G7, the UK is now one of the slowest. While this may be attributed to external economic factors, such as a slower global economy, one cannot deny that the uncertainty of the UK politics in recent years has hampered investors’ confidence. A no-deal Brexit may have even more profound effects.Finally, a situation that businesses and law firms may want to prepare for is the possibility for a major political change in the future, including a potential change of government. Since the agreement took place, not only have a number of high-profile ministers resigned from office but an ever-growing number of MPs have submitted letters of no confidence on Mrs May as well. As a matter of background, a vote of no confidence is a vote by the PM’s own MPs against her to be deemed as no longer fit to hold her office. For the vote to succeed, a total of 48 Tory MP’s vote is required. To date, approximately 25 votes has been obtained. If Mrs May wins the confidence vote, she will remain in office and awarded immunity for a year. If she loses the vote, she will have to resign.</blockquote>

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