COVID crisis management, lessons learned; Guidance for in-house counsel to sail their companies through the pandemic

The ACC, ECLA and the UK Law Societies Brussels Office held a webinar that aims to address what in-house counsels need to do in order to manage their companies’ legal challenges in the light of the emergency legislation that was being adopted in the wake of COVID 19. The panellists discussed what are the challenges and possible solutions adopted that the inhouse counsels can use to help to navigate the situation. The recording of the webinar is available here.

The panellists were:

• Silvia Hess, Global Head of Legal, Red Bull Media House 
• Pieter de Waal, General Counsel, The Law Society of England and Wales
• Katerina Galanopoulou, Legal and Compliance Counsel, SAP Greece Cyprus & Malta 
• Marcus Schmitt, Managing Director, European Company Lawyers’ Association (Moderator)

The key topics covered were:

• Lessons learned: What have been now the main challenges in short term and where to find solutions, e.g. with keeping staff safe and healthy, risk and rewards of working from home into keeping business going.
• What about long-term - what do you need to bear in mind now in order to do later? For example, how to document or record plans, establishing protocols and communicating them to employees.
• The wider picture and challenges on applying emergency measures against broader legal framework, for example, employment, contracts, privacy and data collection, application of the state aid regime, and
• What do we expect from the policymakers and what do we need to ask now/what would make our lives easier – especially from the EU level as to when we return to the office.