8:00 – 8:30 – Registration and breakfast 

8:30 – 9:30 – Session 1: How to navigate cross-border criminal investigations

Whether it is allegations of fraud, bribery, corruption, money laundering, or non-financial misconduct by individual employees, when criminal law intersects with the workplace, companies must balance cooperating with law enforcement against respecting employee rights under local law. But complexity grows when investigations span borders, with regulators in different jurisdictions pursuing simultaneous inquiries and imposing conflicting obligations on employers. This session brings together leading practitioners in employment, white-collar crime, and compliance to explore how employers should respond to domestic and cross-border criminal probes. Panellists will discuss how to protect the business while safeguarding employee rights, manage privilege and confidentiality, and build robust internal frameworks to navigate crises.

9:30 – 10:30 – Session 2: Protecting innovation: Who owns the IP anyway?

Whether designing new products, writing code, creating branding, or developing business processes, employees are at the heart of a company’s innovation. But when the line blurs between personal creativity and company resources, who owns the intellectual property? In the new world of remote and cross-border working, knowledge-based industries face increasing risks of disputes over ownership. This session brings together leading experts in intellectual property, employment, and corporate compliance to explore the key legal issues at the intersection of employment and IP law, including how to draft employment contracts that clearly establish ownership, how to manage employee-created works, and how to protect trade secrets when staff move on. Panellists will also examine recent cases where IP ownership was contested and share strategies for ensuring that the fruits of employee innovation remain with the business.

10:30 – 11:00 – Coffee break 

11:00 – 12:00 – Session 3: Competition law: The new frontier for employment lawyers

Practices once seemed like routine HR or recruitment decisions are now attracting greater scrutiny for potentially anti-competitive effects. Enforcement authorities in the US, EU, and UK have made clear that employers can face significant fines, reputational damage, and even criminal liability for anti-competitive employment practices. This session brings together leading experts in competition, employment, and corporate compliance to unpack how regulators are reframing employer behaviour through an antitrust lens. Panellists will explore what constitutes anti-competitive conduct in the labour market, how enforcement is evolving across jurisdictions, and what proactive steps employers should take to reduce risk.

12:00 – 13:00 – Session 4: Data protection: Balancing privacy, compliance, and workplace realities

In an increasingly data-driven workplace, employers collect, process, and store vast amounts of personal information about employees. At the same time, employees are more aware of their privacy rights, and regulators worldwide are stepping up enforcement of data protection rules, from GDPR in Europe to emerging frameworks in the US and beyond. This session brings together leading experts in data protection, employment, and corporate compliance session to examine the complex challenges that arise at the intersection of employment law and data protection regulations. Panellists will explore how to navigate employee privacy rights alongside legitimate business interests, what employers can and cannot do in monitoring staff, and how cross-border data transfers and AI-driven HR tools are reshaping risk.

13:00 – 14:30 – Networking lunch