Best Practices Seminar 2025
Welcome to today’s Best Practices Seminar, where we will address new and evolving legal trends, as well as topics of general interest to In-House Counsel.
Today’s Programme
| 8:30 | Registration and Coffee |
| 9:00 | Opening Remarks
Ailish Finnerty, Partner and Chair, Arthur Cox Mairéad Duncan-Jones, Partner and Head of Knowledge, Learning and Development, Arthur Cox |
| 9:15 | Artificial Intelligence for the Legal Industry
Professor Dan Hunter, Executive Dean, The Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London CPD: 90 minutes, Professional Development & Solicitor Wellbeing |
| 10:45 | Coffee Break |
| 11:05 | AI Literacy and Meeting your Obligations Under the AI Act
Aoife Mac Ardle, Of Counsel, Technology and Innovation, Arthur Cox CPD: 30 minutes, Client Care and Professional Standards |
| 11:35 | GDPR Considerations for In-House Counsel in the Context of Using AI
Colin Rooney, Partner and Head of Technology and Innovation, Arthur Cox CPD: 45 minutes, Client Care and Professional Standards |
| 12:20 | Lunch |
| 13:30 | Cultural Intelligence: How Can We Use It To Build Effective Legal Teams?
Rikita Wadhwa, Founder, Prabhaav Global CPD: 90 minutes, Professional Development and Solicitor Wellbeing |
| 15:00 | Coffee Break |
| 15:15 | GC Panel: Challenges Facing In-House Counsel and How To Deal With Them
Stephen Ranalow, Partner and Head of Corporate and M&A, Arthur Cox CPD: 45 minutes, Professional Development and Solicitor Wellbeing |
| 16:00 | Closing Remarks
Mairéad Duncan-Jones, Partner and Head of Knowledge, Learning and Development, Arthur Cox |
Delegate Materials
Today’s Speakers
Ailish Finnerty, Partner and Chair, Arthur Cox
Ailish is a partner in our Tax Group, and is also Chair of the firm. She specialises in corporate tax with a particular focus on tax planning for international clients doing business in and through Ireland. Ailish acts for a broad range of international clients including financial institutions, multi-national corporations, private equity houses and hedge funds as well as growth and emerging companies, particularly in the life sciences and technology sectors.
CONTACT AILISH
Mairéad Duncan-Jones, Partner and Head of Knowledge, Learning and Development, Arthur Cox
Mairéad is responsible for the management of the firm’s Knowledge, Learning & Development (KL&D) function and the development and implementation of the firm’s Knowledge, Learning & Development strategy. The purpose of KL&D at Arthur Cox is to provide the best training and development opportunities for our people, to empower them to achieve standards of excellence with maximum efficiency, and to use our knowledge and resources to support our clients, guiding them through complex legal issues.
CONTACT MAIRÉAD
Professor Dan Hunter, Executive Dean, Dickson Poon School of Law, King’s College London
Dan is an international expert in internet and intellectual property law, AI & law, and legal tech and legal innovation. He holds a PhD from Cambridge on the cognitive science of legal reasoning, as well as computer science and law degrees from Monash University, and an LLM by research from the University of Melbourne.
He regularly publishes on the intersection of computers and law. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, the creator of the Future Law Podcast and the founder of four startups: in edtech (Quitch), legaltech (Settle Easy), and regulatory technology (Fourth Line and Gracenote).
Aoife Mac Ardle, Of Counsel, Technology and Innovation, Arthur Cox
Aoife advises on data privacy issues and commercial contracts for a range of domestic and international clients, including international technology companies, financial institutions and multinational corporates. Her data privacy work includes advising on all aspects of GDPR compliance and regulatory investigations. She has represented clients in their dealings with the Data Protection Commission, ranging from amicable resolution stage to formal domestic and cross border investigations.
CONTACT AOIFE
Colin Rooney, Partner and Head of Technology and Innovation, Arthur Cox
Colin has extensive experience advising domestic and international clients on information management issues, with his data protection and information technology practice covering all aspects of data processing across all industry sectors. His practice also has a strong emphasis on commercial IT agreements. Colin is a frequent speaker on data protection and freedom of information topics, including at the Data Protection Leadership Forum, which the Group launched in 2019. He is also a frequent contributor to various legal journals on the above-mentioned topics.
CONTACT COLIN
Ritika Wadhwa, Founder, Prabhaav Global Ritika
Ritika has over 30 years of experience working at Board level across 3 continents, with senior stakeholders – within the public and private sector. Ritika is on a mission to bring inclusion and innovation to the heart of organisations, and she believes that Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is a capability which can do that. Ritika is the Founder and CEO of Prabhaav Global. Prabhaav means impact in Hindi and organisation’s mission is to apply the transformational power of Cultural Intelligence for impactful leadership. Ritika is a CQ Certified Facilitator and a Fellow at the Society of Leadership Fellows, Windsor Castle. She sits on the Strategic Advisory Board member for British Transport Police and is a Trustee and Board Director at the 5% club. Ritika is also an Ambassador for Age Irrelevance and a sought-after Keynote speaker.
Stephen Ranalow, Partner and Head of Corporate and M&A, Arthur Cox
Stephen has advised on some of the largest corporate transactions in recent years, including takeovers, mergers, acquisitions, cross-border transactions, corporate migrations and inversions, IPOs, rights issues, public offerings, reorganisations and joint ventures and acts as relationship partner to some of Ireland’s leading companies.
CONTACT STEPHEN