Publications

In recent years, construction and engineering businesses have faced a whole storm of headwinds. CMS, in partnership with YouGov, asked in-house lawyers about the biggest challenges of managing disputes in this environment - and how those challenges can be met.   Sixty-second summaryThe evolving nature of construction risk will see changes to standard contracts and negotiation positions. It may also bring more disputes, particularly where those changes lag behind project realities. Fewer than half the businesses we surveyed reported that the in-house legal or contract management team is always consulted at the start of a project to identify areas of risk and to establish appropriate risk management strategies. Most in-house lawyers believe their businesses could improve the way in which risk is managed during projects - often in a number of important ways. Despite the potential benefits, only 17% of the in-house lawyers we surveyed are using AI in disputes or contract management. Some say they will never use it. Most in-house lawyers believe their businesses have a lot of scope to improve the way that project risks are managed. AI has the potential to be a game-changer in this area by optimising processes, planning, scheduling and other elements of case management and by revolutionising the way a business handles its portfolio of contracts. 

Protest on the streets, protest online, even litigation used as a vehicle for protest. Protestors targeting a business may be standing in a crowd, holding a placard or shouting slogans. But they may also be behind a computer screen or pursuing a claim against the business through the courts. They may even be working inside the business, preparing to compromise its systems or leak confidential information. Whether they are activists, employees or customers, all these protestors may present a substantial challenge and a real threat to businesses, in areas including its security, reputation and bottom line. 

The ICCA 2022 Congress, the largest arbitration conference in the world will take place in Edinburgh on 18-21 September 2022. CMS Scotland is delighted to support the conference as platinum sponsors...

New podcast series exploring the evolving challenges and innovations of international arbitration by the members of the CMS International Arbitration Group

Privilege is an important, and complex, issue that arises in contexts ranging from investigations and expert reports, to multi-party litigation and settlement negotiations, as well as day-to-day com­mu­nic­a­tions...

René Descartes’ treatise “Discourse on the Method” (1637) was unusual for its time, being written in French (rather than Latin) so that it could be read by a wider audience than academics and fellow...

“God is not on the side of the big battalions but on the side of those who shoot best”  Voltaire - Notebooks (c.1735-c.1750)Voltaire was – amongst other things – a law student who over his lifetime...

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was a Swiss philosopher, writer and composer born in 1712, whose political philosophy influenced the progress of the Enlightenment throughout Europe as well as aspects of the French...

We are now less than 6 months away from when the ICCA 2020 Congress, the largest arbitration conference in the world and for which CMS is the platinum sponsor, comes to Edinburgh. As we count down to...

“Innovation and technological progress [is] more important to growth than capital ac­cu­mu­la­tion”.  - Adam Ferguson Is innovation and technological progress as important to International Arbitration...

The name of the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith is inseparably linked to his manifesto on free-market capitalism and the division of labor - An Inquiry Into The Nature And Causes Of The Wealth Of Nations...

“I love man as my fellow; but his scepter, real, or usurped, extends not to me, unless the reason of an individual demands my homage; and even then the submission is to reason, and not to man.” ...