General Counsel must ensure processes exist to discover and deter anti-competitive behaviour

The increasingly high profile of competition regulation and regulators, and headlines detailing the dramatic success of anti-cartel and leniency investigations and applications, are prompting in-house lawyers to encourage greater emphasis on compliance and training within their business, participants stated at a recent In-House Club General Counsel Breakfast.

In-house lawyers questioning who leads the arbitation process, the General Counsel, external law firm or arbitrators?

Portuguese in-house lawyers discussed the challenges of managing the arbitration process, at a recent meeting hosted by Iberian Lawyer's In-House Club in Lisbon.

Speaking at the first Iberian Lawyer In-House Club meeting of 2009, Gonzalo Fernández, Chief Administrative Officer at RBC Dexia Investor Services in Spain, sparked a hot debate by asking whether the economic crisis is likely to further increase the pressure on law firms to abandon billing by the hour.

As the economic outlook for 2009 turns increasingly negative, senior in-house counsel are reporting that they are under pressure to cut costs.