The Freshfields Podcast

With Tariq Fancy, former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock and Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group

Welcome to our first Big Conversation podcast, where we bring together leading thinkers from business, politics and academia to explore the forces shaping the world around us.

In this episode, Tim Wilkins, Freshfields’ global partner for client sustainability, and Oliver Dudok van Heel, our head of client sustainability and environment, sit down with Tariq Fancy, former chief investment officer for sustainable investing at BlackRock, and Helen Clarkson, CEO of The Climate Group, to discuss the transition to net zero. Together they look at the impact on business of the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, forthcoming climate-related regulatory changes, the challenges of measuring ESG performance – and the future of capitalism itself.

As part of our ESG x Fintech focus, the Freshfields fintech team take a look at the “G” in ESG: governance – what is governance, why is it important and what are some of the practical steps fintechs can take.

In this podcast, Claire Harrop, Thomas Clark, Pamela Marcogliese and Kenneth Hui use their perspectives from a range of sectors and jurisdictions to discuss the key governance matters fintechs face today.

In the second of our new quarterly series, partner Alastair Mordaunt is joined by US CFIUS expert and partner Aimen Mir and China partner Hazel Yin to discuss developments in foreign investment.

Together they look at recent foreign investment screening activity levels across the key jurisdictions, discuss the latest policy changes and what they mean for regional attitudes to foreign investment generally, and make some predictions for activity levels and developments in 2022.

Following the recent OECD/G20 agreement on the two pillars, the US has agreed with various countries to terminate its trade actions against them in return for the withdrawal of their digital services taxes (DSTs).

In this latest episode of our Tax Matters podcast Joshua Critchlow interviews Lorand Bartels, Katharina Kubik and Brin Rajathurai about the implications of these recent agreements and what trade law challenges may remain in relation to DSTs. The team also discuss tax developments on the horizon that will need to be monitored from a trade perspective and explore challenges around getting the OECD agreement implemented in the US. 

This episode features Alastair Mordaunt, partner and co-head of our Asia competition practice and Elizabeth Avery, a senior partner at Australian law firm Gilbert + Tobin and leader of its competition and regulation group.

Merger control and antitrust regulation are on the rise across the region and Australia is high on the list of jurisdictions to watch out for in terms of competition enforcement.

In this episode, our experts will discuss:

•  An overview of the Australian merger regime as it currently operates today

The EU has proposed a sweeping set of measures designed to combat corporate tax avoidance, address the challenges of the digital economy and create a more sustainable and greener EU economy. Here, our transatlantic team – Claude Stansbury in Washington, Leza Bieber in New York, Georg Roderburg in Dusseldorf, Bob van Kasteren in Amsterdam and Léa Bareil in Brussels – discuss what the proposals mean for US corporates.

From IPOs to direct listings and SPAC mergers, there are more ways than ever for tech founders to take their businesses to the next level. In the latest Freshfields TQ podcast, partners Sarah Solum, Mark Austin and Stephan Pachinger give a global perspective on the capital markets and discuss what founders and investors need to know at this critical phase of the corporate cycle.

Merger control assessments are becoming less predictable. The European Commission has changed its policy towards Member State referrals. The CMA has been flexing its broad jurisdictional thresholds to call in transactions for review. Driven by a desire not to let any transactions fall through the net, there is a key focus on innovative sectors such as tech and life sciences but the uncertainty extends across industries. Parties must be prepared to deal with the difficulties of navigating this increasingly complex environment.

In this episode, podcast host Jenn Mellott speaks with Alan Ryan, Bertrand Guerin and Megan Yeates to discuss these developments and how merging parties can deal with this increasing uncertainty.  

Venture investments are an important way for companies to access technology and innovation - and generate financial returns. In the latest episode of the Freshfields TQ podcast, New York Partner Andrea Merediz Basham is joined by senior associates Marcus Wolter (Tokyo) and Saloua Ouchan (Amsterdam) to explore the secrets to successful corporate venture investing – from where the deal team should sit in the business to the structures and processes that are most attractive to founders.

No single party has yet been able to claim leadership of the Bundestag – although negotiations have begun between the Social Democrats, the Greens and the Liberals which could result in the so-called “traffic light” coalition.

In our latest podcast, senior knowledge lawyer Alison Dickie speaks to David Issmer, Freshfields’ Head of Public Affairs in Germany, and German tax partners David Beutel, Philipp Redeker and Georg Roderburg to discuss the German election results and what the “traffic light” coalition might mean for both global tax policy and the domestic German tax landscape as well as the potential implications for businesses with presence in Germany.