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Publications

Discover thought leadership and legal insights by our legal experts from across CMS. In our Expert Guides, written by CMS lawyers from across the jurisdictions where we operate, we provide you with in-depth legal research and insights that can be read both online and offline. You can also find Law-Now articles with focused legal analysis, commentary and insights to help you anticipate future challenges and much more.



Media type
Expertise
22/01/2024
Whistleblowing
This course has been prepared to help employees understand what whistleblowing is and how whistleblowers are protected.
28/11/2023
International Digital Regulation Hub
Following the EU Commission plan “A Europe fit for the digital age”, we have witnessed a lot of digital regulations in the EU including DMA and DSA, AI Act, Data Act and there is still more to come. Whilst presenting companies with a tumultuous landscape to navigate, the legal obligations imposed also present opportunities to develop their business in a new digital framework safeguarding responsible business practices, fair competition and personal data. The CMS Digital Regulation Hub is home to our Digital Regulation Tracker Tool, providing an overview of the key regulatory instruments for area of law, sectors and business activities which are critical for decision makers as they adapt to the increasingly digital landscape. In addition to this unique tool, we explore the impact this tsunami of regulation is having for businesses across a variety of industries and how GCs can ride the waves to stay ahead of the curve. Our latest re­port il­lus­trates the key findings across Platforms, Content providers, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Energy & Infrastructure, Banking & Finance and Automotive industries. To discuss how to cope with the challenges of Digital Regulations and to explore the opportunities for your business, please contact one of our International experts.
26/10/2023
Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Forum 2023 – recordings & presentations
We were delighted to bring you this year’s Forum, “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law”, from Amsterdam. The theme “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law” aimed to:Uncover the latest breakthroughs: Dive into the forefront of life sciences advances, including biotechnology, genetics, pharmaceuticals, and medical devicesAddress the regulatory gap: Engage in interactive workshops to bridge the divide between rapid innovation and the development of legal frame­work­sNav­ig­ate global challenges: Explore the impact of globalisation, ethical considerations, privacy concerns, and societal implications on the life sciences sectorFoster collaboration: Connect with legal and scientific minds, exchange ideas, and build valuable re­la­tion­shipsP­resent­a­tions were delivered by fantastic industry speakers, including Annemiek Verkamman (Managing Director, Hollandbio), Charida Dorder (Member of the Dutch AI Coalition), Wouter Boon (Associate Professor, Utrecht University) and Marc Kaptein (Medical Director, Pfizer), as they shared their expertise, thoughts and insights on how the sector is “Blurring Boundaries”. We were also joined by Simon Neill (Senior Legal Director) at Johnson & John­son and Joep Rijnierse (Senior Medical Director) at Amgen in our workshops. This webpage has been designed to keep you updated on the Forum, our speakers, as well as provide you with the useful resources complementing the theme “Blurring Boundaries - Exploring the convergence of life sciences and law”. You will also find on this page details on how to stay connected with CMS through our upcoming webinar series, On the Pulse Webinar Series 2023 - Autumn (cms. law); free eAlert service, Law-Now; and social media channels.
15/03/2023
Introduction to Trade Secrets
This course is designed to raise your employees' understanding of the importance and value of maintaining confidentiality over trade secrets.
12/03/2023
Silicon Valley Bank’s current position and what to do about it
Please refer to our latest publication Update to Silicon Valley Bank's current position and what it means for the most up-to-date guidance. The team here at CMS has been saddened by the collapse of the...
29/12/2022
AI Ethics
This course helps employees understand AI and machine learning and aims to enhance their knowledge on the ethical issues related to such techniques.
22/11/2022
Life Sciences are reaping the reward of digital advances but IP and contract...
Digital transformation in life sciences is creating opportunities to counter healthcare’s most intractable problems from treating rare diseases to accelerating diagnostics and reducing treatment backlogs. But technological advances are outstripping legislative and regulatory frameworks giving rise to a landscape strewn with issues over data, privacy and IP, the recent CMS Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Forum 2022 heard.“Tech­no­logy change obviously brings with it risks in implementation and new uses of technology and new regulation and legislation brings new risk,” Jeremy Mash, partner at CMS London, told delegates. AI is a potent force in life sciences with machine learning and patient data opening up new opportunities to revolutionise healthcare and relieve systems bogged down by laborious processes and shrinking budgets. The advances are welcomed across life sciences and digital has been enshrined in most nation’s health system planning but some fundamental principles such as who owns or is responsible for patient data, new routes to treatments and the consequences of mistakes have yet to be fully tested.“There are situations where you can see that evolving into risk and legal problems,” added Jeremy. “There is increasing use of legislation in the space and there is concern about where it is going to lead. There are a lot of data issues about quite what the ‘black box’ is doing and you can see people starting to raise concerns about how their data is being used.“There is also a lot talk about who is liable if that AI does not work. Is it the person who implemented it or the person designed it?”CMS examined the emerging issues in its Technology Transformation report, which surveyed 510 senior counsel and risk managers across sectors and discovered a range of preparedness and safeguards. It identified that IP issues represent 65% of expected future technology disputes, observed Jane Hollywood, partner at CMS London and patent attorney. She said the existing risk management systems for identifying, analysing, reviewing, mitigating and monitoring IP risk may need stiff­en­ing.“It's one thing to have contractual obligations and training for your people governing how you protect your IP and not misuse third party IP,” she told the Forum, in Brussels. “But it's quite another to ensure that your procedures remain adequate while you're operating in a world of machine learning algorithms and AI facilitated decision making.”She added: “The IP system does not evolve as quickly as technology advances and therefore we can have challenges obtaining protection for new technologies. We've seen this very much with AI and digital health technologies where patent protection can be difficult to get.”She said that identifying ownership and capturing developments in a fast-moving sector where collaboration and joint ventures are common can also generate disputes.“Big Pharma is increasingly partnering with digital health companies for drug discovery and patient engagement and clinical trial automation and, again, there's a lack of clarity about who owns the data that's generated from these partnerships so this is also likely to lead to disputes in the future,” said Jane. To read the full survey, visit Technology Transformation report.
22/11/2022
Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Forum 2022 – Recordings & Presentations
Uncertain times, an evolving legal framework: managing risks and ensuring social responsibility in the life sciences & healthcare sector The risks of AI in the future of life sciences came under the microscope at a landmark legal Forum in September. Healthcare is racing ahead in adopting new technologies across drug discovery, development, manufacturing and supply chain but experts predict a tail-whip of disputes and contract friction. Digital transformation has the potential to improve every aspect of healthcare and the pharma industry but it also impacts data protection, IT security, contract design, liability and regulation. The annual CMS Global Life Sciences and Healthcare Forum brought together high-level industry and legal experts to discuss sector intelligence and best practice as well as issues ranging from cyber breaches and cryptocurrency wrangles to fall-outs over trade secrets and intellectual property (IP).“AI offers amazing opportunities to advance life sciences and usher in transformative medicine such as cell and gene therapy, improved diagnostics and analytics but it also comes with concerns as legal and contractual risks are still being understood and evaluated,” says Nick Beckett, Global Co-Head of CMS Life Sciences & Healthcare Sector Group“Science and technology are moving forward very quickly but we are finding that the detail and strategy of what to do to mitigate risks or resolve them is lagging behind. These are critically important issues that companies need to address and the Forum examined the implications and solutions.”AI is booming and a recent report by analysts Grand View Research forecast that the global AI in healthcare market will grow from its current value of $10.4 billion at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.4% from 2022 to 2030. AI is fast becoming a significant element of every aspect of healthcare and legal departments and business units are being challenged to respond. The Forum, which was held in Brussels and online on Thursday, September 29, had a packed agenda covering technology transformation, Environmental, Sustainability and Governance, supply chain disruption, regulatory frameworks and the changing commercial landscape. The scale of challenge was evidenced in the recent CMS Technology Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Landscape report which revealed that 56% of corporate counsel and risk managers expect an increase in AI-related disputes, while 50% believe that the use of AI technologies will lead to risks and disputes that cannot currently be foreseen. Disputes will be driven by issues arising from IP and trade secrets, the use of AI, smart contracts, cryptocurrencies and cloud services, they be­lieve.“Or­gan­isa­tions are likely to see new types of risks and disputes emerge from the use of new technologies such as AI and crypto­cur­ren­cies. Many businesses are playing catch-up in understanding the risks associated with these new technologies,” says Lee Gluyas, Partner, CMS. “Whilst no business can eliminate risks completely, those that think ahead, plan early and actively manage risk will give themselves a substantial ad­vant­age.”Fea­tured keynote speakers from the United Nations Health and Development Team, general counsel from leading pharma companies, Boston Consulting Group, financial services multinational Aon and CMS sector specialists.
08/11/2022
Technology Transformation – Media
The media sector is known to be highly competitive, with that competition driving innovation. Older media businesses have had to grapple with disruptive new entrants. And those new entrants are constantly working to deliver better and more engaging content and user experiences to maintain their advantage. Digitisation has changed how media companies interact with their audience in ways we could not have imagined just a few years ago, but this comes with risk. This report is a deep dive into the data first produced for the report Technology Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Landscape. This saw over 500 corporate counsel and risk managers surveyed from multiple industries across the world. Here we look in detail at the 75 respondents from the media sector, and their perspectives on the risks associated with busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies, including emerging technologies. What did we find? Media is a dynamic sector and can be an early adopter of many novel technologies as companies push for competitive advantages to create and satisfy customer demand. As we look to the future, the sector does seem underprepared in some areas, which is a potential cause for concern. Download the Technology Transformation media sector report now to read aboutThe principal drivers in the adoption of busi­ness-crit­ic­al technology in the media sectorConfidence in managing tech-related risks among senior media executivesFuture threats from new technologies like AI and blockchainWhich plans and processes media companies are putting in place to protect tech in­fra­struc­ture­Cul­tur­al barriers to managing tech risks in the media sectorPreferred approaches to dispute resolution in the media sector
06/11/2022
Facing the opportunities and challenges of a vibrant life sciences sector
Digital advances and innovative therapies are pushing the boundaries of health and the legal world has to keep paceLife sciences are fizzing with ingenuity and innovation with revolutionary gene and cell drug discovery and digital advances pushing the frontiers of global healthcare. But the transformative promise is freighted with complex concerns over sustainability, affordability, digital security, contracts and IP ownership. The issues range from scientific technicalities to existential and ethical questions over Artificial Intelligence’s ability to generate approaches free from human hand. The changing landscape was brought into focus at the CMS Global Life Sciences and Healthcare Forum 2022 where experts highlighted the challenges and explored guiding principles. The panel, chaired by CMS London partner Louise Boswell, heard that current economic pressures and geo-political shockwaves are radiating across business performance and supply chains, which are crucial to commercial viability and the landscape is being further stressed by ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions. Laetitia Szaller, General Counsel & VP Business Development at AM Pharma, told delegates that a new pragmatism was needed when negotiating collaborations with partner companies and she emphasised the need to create contracts with suppliers that are flexible enough to weather storms and protect all parties from current and future pressures.“The reality is that you have to find a solution,” she said. “It will come down to how do we share the risk and how do we share burden? Having your partner bleed out is not going to be leading to a happy ending.”The pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine have caused unprecedented turbulence across supply chains and Szaller advocated for all stakeholders to be involved in early stage discussions to avoid the time and cost risk of changing supply chain partners because of inflexible agreements. The CMS Technology Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Land­scape re­port found that 56% of corporate counsel and risk managers surveyed were expecting a rise in disputes involving AI over the next few years. The panel session also got valuable insights into the complexities and difficulties of building AI systems in life sciences – the global sector is forecast to grow at 20% CAGR between 2022 and 2030 – from Anita Prinzie, Product Manager, Omnia Technologies Machine Learning.“We try to face the risks head on.” she commented. “We want to tap into the opportunities to build valuable digital health apps that will support much more personalised experiences, which we all actually want.“There is more health data – just like we have in the retail sector - but this data is very personal. It's your personal health data. So, when companies ask us to help personalise those health experiences, it is a yes but we have to look at the risks. We cannot jump for joy and just apply whatever algorithm from the shelf.“It is very difficult and is not only an AI problem but an AI risk management problem.”She added that regulations over privacy and data protection varied across countries so the company created core programmes that can be amended for different nations rather than construct new systems for each country. The panel, which included CMS partners Brian Sher and Tom De Cordier, discussed a range of issues such as licensing agreements in a changing environment, including the freshly-minted sector of collaborations based on early stage innovation and research, ‘killer acquisitions’, competition law, regulatory complexities and IP rights. Nick Beckett, Global Co-Head of CMS Life Sciences & Healthcare Sector Group, observed: “Advances are coming thick and fast in life sciences so we need to make sure the legal sector can respond positively to ensure that new technologies and therapies get to the people that need them most.“Sharing sector intelligence and experience is key to understand where friction points arise and allows us to find solutions that empower the sector.“The entire CMS Forum was full of insights and knowledge and we are committed to utilising best practice and innovative approaches to get the best for our life sciences and healthcare clients.”
03/11/2022
The legal sector has a key role to play in global sustainability says United...
The United Nations has pledged to use its purchasing firepower to accelerate sustainability along the healthcare supply channel and called on the legal sector to support its efforts. Lawyers are critical to establishing strong regulatory frameworks and providing contractual guidance that would allow greener and more equitable practices to flourish, said a senior UN executive. Ian Milimo, project manager for the United Nations Development Programme’s regional hub for 128 nations, told the CMS Global Life Sciences & Healthcare Forum 2022, that the organisation would use its $6 billion of purchasing power to leverage improvements in healthcare. He used his keynote address to highlight that, if the healthcare sector were a country it would be the fifth largest emitter of carbon, while also praising collaborations with legal experts that empowered countries, healthcare providers and suppliers to pursue carbon zero ambitions.“We need to strengthen our contracts for goods that we procure for services.  We don't have that expertise, you have that expertise, and this is an open call for you to join us in making sure that we are championing sustainable development,” he  told the Forum of invited guests from legal, financial and healthcare sectors.“We need lawyers to sensitise citizens on their rights and responsibilities with regards to climate. We need your support, we need your expertise, we need your technical ability to ensure that governments are supported to have a win-win situation in terms of sustainable de­vel­op­ment.”Leg­al acumen will be needed to enhance access to technology, ensure privacy and security, establish regulatory frameworks and empower contract design across the healthcare supply chain. This expertise will underpin the United Nations Sustainable Procurement in the Health Sector (SPS) programme which aims to encourage industry, manufacturers and suppliers to champion sustainability. The UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals include healthcare where a complex landscape of law and regulations demands legal skills across areas such as Intellectual Property, risk management, AI technology disputes and economic and social re­spons­ib­il­it­ies. Lawyers are increasingly being called upon to develop policies, regulations and laws to protect the environment and public health, and have a positive impact helping emerging nations to develop sustainable practices.“We need to make sure that we wake up to this crisis that we're facing and begin to address those things that are within our means and it's very good that we are speaking to lawyers because that partnership is very important,” added Mr Milimo.“We need leadership from our politicians. We need leadership from our church and healthcare to religious institutions.  We need leadership from business.  We need leadership from lawyers, we need leadership from all angles for us to achieve what we are trying to achieve.“A partnership with an institution like CMS can only help us to move forward and can only make us have sustainable development on our agenda and we will need your help to ensure that we are supporting countries come up with very strong laws.”Dr Roland Wiring, a life sciences partner and Head of Intellectual Property at CMS Hamburg, commented: “Governance, social responsibility and environmental protection risk is of course at the core of the ESG issues that pharma companies and tech companies face.  What the UN does in this context, is impressive, and can also inspire, from our point of view both our work and the work of the clients of the industry.”
08/09/2022
Technology Transformation - Consumer Products & Retail
Digitalisation has transformed how consumer products are manufactured, distributed and sold. The push to maintain a competitive advantage, drives increased investment in new technologies. This investment may reduce operational cost and ease the retention of legacy systems, but what challenges arise and how do businesses approach the changing risk profile?This report is a deep dive into data first produced for the re­port Tech­no­logy Transformation: Managing Risks in a Changing Landscape. In the original report we surveyed over 500 corporate counsel and risk managers from multiple industries across the world. Here, we look in detail at the 75 respondents surveyed in the consumer and retail sector, and their perspectives on the risks associated with busi­ness-crit­ic­al technologies, including emerging technologies. Our survey shows that businesses across the sector, whether retailers or manufacturers, have the same concerns but the influences on the adoption of technology, the resulting risks, and the approaches taken to mitigate or resolve those risks vary depending on whether or not the business involves a direct sales relationship with the consumer. Download the consumer and retail sector report now to read about: Drivers of technology adoption in the consumer and retail sectorNew risks emerging and traditional barriers to risk man­age­ment­Cur­rent technology risks in the consumer and retail sectorFuture risks and measures to deal with themPreferred approaches to technology dispute resolution for the consumer and retail sector