P2P

63 I L T A N E T . O R G T he COVID-19 pandemic abruptly changed the way peopled worked and, therefore, made it imperative to adapt and find new ways to drive progress internally and for our clients. Our response was 'KM Now & Next', a firmwide initiative to develop and deliver knowledge projects. With the support and endorsement of our global managing partner we launched this initiative in April 2020. The initial purpose was to ensure that, due to the rapid shift in working patterns, any spare lawyer capacity was diverted to activities that made a valuable contribution to the business. The focus was on knowledge-related projects to help our clients navigate the pandemic but also projects that offered continued value after the pandemic. A project list was developed through a series of discussions with our practice and industry group leaders. With leadership from our senior management team we then selected key projects, which ranged from client tools to knowledge databanks, model forms and best practice guides. The projects spanned 14 of our industry and practice groups. To date over 300 hundred lawyers across 25 of our offices have contributed, making this initiative a huge success. Project Highlights There were over 20 projects in the initial part of this initiative, which included: E L E C T R O N I C S I G N A T U R E S Lawyers and business services representatives from 13 offices and various practice and industry groups created general guidance and training on how best to use DocuSign (the firm's chosen e-signature platform), guidance on the legal position for all regions in which the firm operates, and an automated 50-state survey providing information on US law and procedures for e-signatures and notarization. R E M O T E P R O C E E D I N G S This project combined our disputes lawyers' knowledge of remote proceedings in the English High Court, the U.S. courts, and in international arbitration. This included specific information about remote hearings, depositions, mediations and experience gleaned from one of the first remote jury trials in the U.S., and the first remote commercial court trial in England. Smart money is on the fact that, even when the pandemic is a distant memory, remote hearings will be here to stay, making them a core part of the dispute resolution landscape. M U L T I - J U R I S D I C T I O N A L G U I D E O N P R I C E G O U G I N G L A W S Our competition lawyers created an interactive multi- jurisdictional guide using a newly acquired piece of technology, and other advisory resources, to enable them to help clients navigate their global businesses amid the various competition rules and regulations. These gained a heightened importance last year due to the commercial environment which evolved due to the pandemic. L I B O R T R A N S I T I O N T R A I N I N G A N D P R E P A R A T I O N This project focused on advising clients about the transition away from the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). The team developed a structured, multifaceted training program (using webinars and podcasts) and compiled a knowledge collection containing precedents, checklists, playbooks and internal briefing notes. M O D E L F O R M S More than 160 lawyers across the firm drafted over 300 model forms and precedents to drive efficiency, quality and consistency in client advice.

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