As the world becomes increasingly interconnected through the adoption of smart tech, offline ways of working, supply chains, traditional revenue streams, and brick-and-mortar delivery models have been thrown into disarray by the pandemic. Many organizations across sectors are urgently looking for ways to implement digital transformation solutions and stay relevant.
Companies are looking for ways to heighten efficiency, improve agility, increase competitiveness and offer a greater customer experience. Recognizing the convergence of technology across multiple industries, we offer a fully integrated legal solution to digital transformation through our SMART framework:
Smart Technologies
Businesses are at different stages of the digital transformation life cycle. Technological barriers are disintegrating, while connectivity between AI, robotics, Internet of Things, blockchain machine learning, big data, virtual and augmented reality is accelerating. Organizations look to us to bridge the gap between the reality of legacy processes/systems and digital aspirations.
Modern Workforce
Whether it’s crowd working, employee sharing, fixed-term staffing or other such arrangements, creating a fit-for-purpose workforce while protecting business interests requires a solution that incorporates often multijurisdictional advice across many areas, including employment, tax, compliance and protection of confidential information/trade secrets.
Aggregated Data
Data is the currency of the digital economy and increasingly a key asset driving strategy. Data-driven business models give rise to a variety of novel legal issues that cut across compliance, data privacy, and cybersecurity to antitrust, transfer pricing, VAT, tax planning, blockchain and more.
Regulation and Regulator Relationships
Laws and regulations lag behind technological progress. Given the evolving regulatory landscape, being at the forefront of changes is critical. Companies increasingly engage us to help them look around corners and predict the future course of regulation to help them manage existing and emerging risks.
Transactions
Digitalization and the rate of technological change is driving cross-sector consolidation as businesses strive to acquire technologies, build in-house capabilities, diversify beyond their core businesses and build economies of scale. Business transformation, whether through investments, partnerships, new business models or entering new markets, may require a sophisticated approach to managing risk and M&A that we can evaluate.
The transition to a carbon-neutral economy is a global seismic shift that will impact every sector. The urgent strategic, operational, and reputational challenges are significant, but so are the growth opportunities.
Our multidisciplinary team assists energy producers, investors, and users in charting their energy transition path in an increasingly complex regulatory environment, allowing them to transform powerfully.
We provide holistic advice across the transitions value chain:
Climate Risk Advisory
- Climate law policy and regulations, including climate risk disclosure obligations
- Cross-border risk and materiality assessments
- Development of climate policies
- Governance and compliance to aid in the transition to net zero
Carbon Markets Transactions
- Development of carbon projects and carbon credits trading across key markets
- Emission trading schemes
- Changes to global carbon market rules follow ing COP26
Renewable Technologies
- Developing and established technologies – battery storage, solar and offshore wind
- Delivering complex cross-border projects
- Accessing and implementing multiple sources of funding, including private capital and state support
- Assisting all types of investors understanding unique issues specific to these asset classes
M&A
- Private & Public M&A, including deal structuring, due diligence, merger and foreign investment controls and regulations
- Joint ventures and strategic alliances
- Corporate reorganizations, including supply chain restructuring and project carveouts
Tax
General Tax planning arising from strategic planning, operations and transactions including:
- Accessing dedicated tax incentives
- National and local tax issues, tax controversy and litigation
- M&A and corporate restructuring tax planning
- Divestitures
Dispute Resolution
- Legal evaluation of claims:
- Prepare defenses
- Collect evidence for merit hearings
- Conduct hearings and negotiations
- Arbitration or multijurisdictional litigation
- Investigations
Strategic transactions maximize value while reducing risk. In an increasingly complex and rapidly changing landscape, success is dependent on the right combination of global expertise and local in-depth knowledge, allowing dealmakers to address legal and commercial issues before they arise.
M&A transactions can be highly strategic and even transformative for a company. To maximize deal value, transactional experience and efficiency are required. Our seasoned M&A lawyers provide seamless advice through local expertise, deep sector knowledge, commercial acumen, and refined transactional techniques to facilitate deal certainty and achieve the desired value and synergies of our clients’ transactions.
Our corporate lawyers collaborate with tax, competition, employment, intellectual property, data privacy, foreign investment, and commercial specialists to address all legal and regulatory implications of a transaction, minimize legal and business risks, and provide an end-to-end, high-value service.
We guide our clients through all stages of their transactions, from deal structuring, due diligence, transaction documentation, closing, and post-transaction restructuring and integration, leveraging Baker McKenzie’s dedicated global reorganizations practice.
By placing industry specialization at the heart of our business, we can stay ahead of industry trends, better understand our clients’ commercial goals, and provide integrated, practical, and tailored legal advice to address deal complexities.
How we can help:
- Corporate Governance
- Corporate Reorganizations
- Digital Transformation
- Joint Ventures & Strategic Alliances
- Multinational Divestitures/Carve-outs
- Post-Acquisition Integration
- Private M&A
- Public Company M&A
- Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (SPACs)
- Supply Chains
Global geopolitical uncertainty has strategic and regulatory implications for cross-border M&A and large-scale investments. In an environment where restrictions and alliances are shifting, we assist our clients in determining how political turbulence may impact their ability to reshape or grow their business.
We help:
- Identify and mitigate foreign investment control risks
- Integrate foreign investment aspects in deal structure and strategy
- Make notifications to the regulatory authorities
- Achieve clearance or negotiate solutions
Market disruption caused by geopolitical volatility and COVID-19 has demonstrated that a company’s success is inextricably linked to the performance of its supply chain. Diversifying from single-source suppliers without sacrificing efficiency, utilizing low-cost labor while adhering to new ESG standards, strategically investing or divesting in an ever-more complex M&A environment, and adopting innovative technologies while ensuring cybersecurity are all top priorities.
In this environment, strengthening and transforming supply chains for the future necessitates navigating unprecedented complexity caused by commercial and legal interdependencies, which are frequently based on incomplete or changing information. It is about striking a balance and taking a different, less restrictive path to achieve the company’s most important goals.
We bring together our extensive expertise and industry knowledge in a fully integrated supply chain service and assist our clients in achieving their commercial objectives.
Managing supply chain disruptions
Respond to disruption and manage legal obligations to customers, employees and suppliers.
- Manage contract obligations
- Workforce strategy
- Government interventions/trade policy
- Tax impact
Rebuilding and strengthening
Address supply chain vulnerabilities, build stronger networks, and prepare for new demand.
- Strategic risk assessment, supplier selection and contract negotiations
- Restructuring and insolvency
- Distressed investments and divestments
- Accelerated digitalization
Outperforming by transforming
Leverage supply chain as a commercial driver, reimagining supply chain infrastructure and capability.
- Large-scale supply chain diversification
- Sustainability strategy
- Digital transformation
Sustainability is widely acknowledged as a driver of corporate success and long-term value by organizations that wish to stay resilient and competitive in the new economy. Sustainability is no longer restricted to eco-credentials, but now embraces all facets of business. Supply chain, taxation, human rights, inclusion and diversity, values, corporate governance, and other topics are all explored.
In this changing environment, clients seek guidance to set direction and navigate legal risk in the journey ahead, whether they are just starting out as a sustainable enterprise or are already market leaders.
The STEPS Framework
The STEPS Framework provides service solutions across critical milestones to help you move forward, sustainably. Because sustainability is a non-linear journey, the framework is designed to flex to your priorities — from setting strategy to executing transactions, collaborations and investments that will deliver on sustainability objectives and reporting on your progress.
Scope: Establish sustainable governance structures, values and strategy in pursuit of long-term value.
Target: Set meaningful and measurable sustainability goals that drive performance.
Execute: Integrate sustainability into business models, operations, finance and controls to make sustainability a reality.
Progress: Benchmark performance and report on sustainability targets to demonstrate accountability and transparency.
Strengthen: Anticipate change and evolve sustainability strategy to meet new regulations and standards, expectations and needs.
Traditional employment models are changing, with many global organizations shifting away from the typical 9-5 office work existence in order to create a hybrid, fit-for-purpose workforce while protecting sustainable business interests.
Clients benefit from our distinct approach to future proofing the workforce:
Remote working support
We help clients design the right program for remote working, whether temporary, permanent, in full or in part, as they continue to adjust to the impact of the pandemic. We advise clients on the numerous legal considerations, including employment, benefits, immigration, corporate tax, data privacy and trade secrets. We work with clients to develop policies and practices to support working arrangements, and advise on how best to manage risks and remain compliant.
Compliance support
We can advise clients on the regulatory frameworks governing non-traditional workforce engagement and on the likely developments globally.
Audits and risk management
We can conduct global compliance audits to assess modern workforce risks in a client’s business. We can advise and provide support to address the risks arising across multiple areas, such as employment, remuneration and benefits, mobility, data privacy, tax and protection of confidential information/trade secrets. Our auditing service also enables us to provide practical advice to mitigate risk before a joint/related employer claim is brought.
Litigation and crisis support
Our experienced litigators can provide rapid counsel, support and resource planning for misclassification claims, class actions, taxation authority challenges, joint/related employer threats, regulatory investigations, criminal allegations, dawn raids and information security breaches.