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Articles by Tom Proverbs-Garbett
A buddy and ‘digital twin’
Law, Reinvented: Leading AI Transformation in Legal Practice Adam Curphey, Oz Benamram, Rebecca Pasternak £18.99, London Publishing Partnership ★★★★✩ Delegates at a conference were told that at least one session would be ‘an AI-free zone’, a commitment that lasted for about 10 minutes. This is the conundrum for the layperson: AI is a wonderful tool, but its impact is the subject of every interaction. Is it a game-changer or just a lazy way of generating social media posts?
Do good buildings make good law?
International Law and Architecture Editors: Renske Vos, Sofia Stolk, Miriam Bak McKenna £135, Edward Elgar Publishing ★★★★★ This is a fantastic work of intellectual curiosity, absorbing in its efforts to link the tenements of international law to its tenets.
The right to know and the public interest
The Crimes of Others: Criminal Records, Publicity, and Crimes of Abuse Katerina Hadjimatheou £105, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ This intriguing work considers the intersection of criminality and the rights of others: does the wider public have a right to know about an individual’s criminal history?
Asking the right questions
The Future of Legal Knowledge Management: Harnessing Artificial Intelligence Editor: Francesca Ramadan £99, Globe Law and Business ★★★★✩ It is trite to say that generative AI has the potential to transform the practice of law. Nevertheless, there remains speculation about what that transformation will look like, so this is a timely publication.
Book review: Furmston and Tolhurst on Privity of Contract (2nd edition)
Furmston and Tolhurst on Privity of Contract (2nd edition) GJ Tolhurst and JW Carter (consultant editor) £175, Oxford University Press ★ ★ ★ ★✩ Privity of contract, in the famous words of Viscount Haldane LC in the Dunlop Pneumatic Tyre case, is the principle that ‘only a person who is a party to a contract can sue on it’.
Book review: Practicing Legal Design by Marco Imperial
Practicing Legal Design Marco Imperiale £159, Globe Law and Business ★★★✩✩ Back in 2014, Mitu Gulati and Robert E. Scott published The Three and a Half Minute Transaction: Boilerplate and the Limits of Contract Design (University of Chicago Press). The book examined the fallout – or lack thereof – from a challenge to a pari passu clause in cross-border financial contracts. Having been in relevant precedents for over a century, it quickly emerged that the intended meaning had long been lost.
Book review: Handbook on Governance and Data Science
Handbook on Governance and Data Science Sarah Giest, Bram Klievink, Alex Ingrams, Matthew M Young £215, Edward Elgar Publishing ★★★✩✩ This is a loosely grouped collection of articles looking at governance in the sense of the activities of government – and its relationship with data.
Book review: Wetlands and International Environmental Law
Wetlands and International Environmental Law Royal C. Gardner, Richard Caddell and Erin Okuno (editors) £140, Edward Elgar Publishing ★★★★✩ Many years ago, I carried out my GCSE geography fieldwork at Slimbridge Wetland Centre just outside Gloucester. The raucous squawking of visiting white-fronted geese stuck in my mind.
Book review: Lean Six Sigma For Law (second edition)
Lean Six Sigma For Law (second edition) Catherine Alman MacDonagh £159, Globe Law and Business ★★★✩✩ The terminology of Six Sigma and associated project management techniques, particularly the martial ‘belts’, suggests a greater concern with style than substance. MacDonagh makes a spirited argument that there is more to it. The book certainly succeeds in making its central point: project and process management is a critical function for law firms to come to grips with.
ESG debate rages on: shareholder value versus accountability
Corporate Purpose, CSR, and ESG Edited by Jens-Hinrich Binder, Klaus J. Hopt and Thilo Kuntz £145, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ Binder, Hopt and Kuntz provide a detailed examination of the evolving concepts of corporate purpose, corporate social responsibility (CSR), and environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. This is timely, given the breakneck speed of developments in both Europe and the United States, albeit seemingly divergent in approach and appetite.
Book review: The Supreme Guide to Writing by Jill Barton
The Supreme Guide to Writing Jill Barton £64, Oxford University Press ★★★✩✩ ‘You are now a professional wordsmith,’ said the senior partner in their keynote welcome speech when I joined the profession. This was the central message, along with the need to avoid – as the old joke has it – TLAs (three-letter acronyms, for the lone reader who has not heard that one before).
Book review: National Security, Journalism, and Law in an Age of Information Warfare
National Security, Journalism, and Law in an Age of Information Warfare Editors: Marc Ambinder, Jennifer R. Henrichsen and Connie Rosati £71, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ This is an important collection of essays on a topic of fundamental importance to the future of public knowledge – the ability of journalists to report on issues that the state deems to be secret. Yet, in the ‘post-truth’ Trumpian era, how easy is it to identify a journalist? How do you identify a legitimate source?
Book review: Universals of Legal Reasoning by Judges: A Plea for Candour in Decision-Making
Universals of Legal Reasoning by Judges: A Plea for Candour in Decision-Making Thomas Lundmark £90, Oxford University Press ★★★✩✩ Approaches to judicial decision-making (including the content, possibilities, and even validity of judge-made law) are the subject of numerous academic texts. This treatise makes a novel contribution to the line of enquiry by attempting to look beyond the ostensible reasons for decisions.
The Many Paths of Change in International Law
Actors on a global stage The Many Paths of Change in International Law Edited by Nico Krisch & Ezgi Yildiz £110, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ International law appears to be ‘having a moment’. The news is filled with refugee crises, the war in Ukraine, the UK Rwanda Safety Bill and the decision of the International Court of Justice on the actions of Israel in Gaza.
The King’s Felons: Church, State and Criminal Confinement in Early Tudor England
Crime and punishment in Tudor England The King’s Felons: Church, State and Criminal Confinement in Early Tudor England Margaret McGlynn £110, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ This is a fascinating study of an early use of imprisonment as a regularised alternative to execution – a precursor to modern forms of justice, stemming from the concepts of sanctuary and privilege of the clergy.
Taxation at the European Court of Human Rights
Taxation at the European Court of Human Rights Robert Attard, Paulo Pinto de Albuquerque £88, Kluwer Law International ★★✩✩✩ The opening note of this exploration of the treatment of tax and tax-related issues by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) sets the scene. The subject of taxation barely features in the text of the European Convention on Human Rights, resulting in a close reading of case law.
Next Generation Compliance: Environmental Regulation for the Modern Era
Next Generation Compliance: Environmental Regulation for the Modern Era Cynthia Giles £19.99, Oxford University Press ★★★✩✩ There is beauty in simplicity. As authorities try to find appropriate ways to regulate climate emissions and linked corporate reporting there is – one might argue – a perfect storm of complexity: the shifting sands of environmental standard-setting and the incoherence of methodologies. The crisis of climate change meeting the bureaucracy of regulation.
Armed Robbers: Identity and Cultural Mythscapes in the Lucky Country
Armed Robbers: Identity and Cultural Mythscapes in the Lucky Country Emmeline Taylor £80, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ In an academic text that reads like a novel (offered as a compliment), the whys and wherefores behind armed robberies in Australia are explored.
Moving the dial on corporate accountability
Economic Actors and the Limits of Transitional Justice: Truth and Justice for Business Complicity in Human Rights Violations Edited by Leigh A. Payne, Laura Bernal-Bermúdez and Gabriel Pereira £75, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ Corporations, at least in the geographical north, face a watershed moment. A new generation is entering the workplace expecting more of employers.
UK law supports BlackRock climate-related shareholder proposals pushback
Tom Proverbs-Garbett of Pinsent Masons, who specialises in corporate governance, was commenting after the asset management company recently said that it is “likely to support proportionately fewer” climate-related shareholder proposals during this shareholder meeting season than in 2021. A growing number of major corporations are facing shareholder-tabled proposals designed to influence the way those corporations respond to the climate crisis.
Call for evidence to support update to UK’s green finance strategy
The strategy (43 pages / 12.3 MB PDF), first published in 2019, was designed to formalise the role of the financial sector in delivering global and domestic climate and environmental objectives. It set out proposals for green finance that are central to the UK’s clean growth strategy and the 25-year environment plan.
Getting personal - starting a significant debate
Personalized Law: Different Rules for Different People Omri Ben-Shaher, Ariel Porat £22.99, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ What if the law was different for each of us? Asymmetry of knowledge, resources, resilience, culpability exists in any situation: why should one size fit all? An unprecedented amount of individual data is now recorded.
FRC highlights UK modern slavery reporting requirements compliance failures
Tom Proverbs-Garbett, corporate governance expert at Pinsent Masons, said the FRC’s report (28 pages / 3.99MB PDF) was “alarming to read given the critical importance of stamping out modern slavery.” The research looked at a sample of 100 companies listed on the London Stock Exchange’s Main Market, concluding that one in ten of those companies did not provide a modern slavery statement - despite it being a legal requirement.
FCA finalises ‘comply or explain’ diversity rules for listed companies
The specific targets set by the FCA require at least 40% of board members to be women. A woman should hold at least one of the senior board positions – the chair, chief executive, senior independent director, or chief financial officer. At least one member of the board should come from a minority ethnic background.
UK government drops use of ‘BAME’
The UK government will no longer use the term ‘BAME’ to refer to different ethnic minority groups within society, it has confirmed. The government said it was acting on a recommendation from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities as it strives to “report responsibly on race”. ‘BAME’ is an acronym that has been used to collectively classify people of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds.
Climate risk disclosures guidance issued for UK companies and LLPs
UK companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) will be expected to disclose how changes in technology or policy, consumer demand and issues affecting rivals will alter the climate-related risks and opportunities they face, according to new guidance.
Insolvency Service gains powers to investigate directors of dissolved companies
Out-Law / Your Daily Need-To-Know The UK government has extended the Insolvency Service’s powers to investigate and disqualify company directors who abuse the company dissolution process.
FRC warns against ‘neglect’ of Corporate Governance Code
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has warned that a “number of areas” of the corporate governance code are being “neglected” by companies. In its annual review (54-page/ 6.23MB PDF), the industry watchdog said that too many organisations still failed to make substantive disclosures on key areas, including board appointments, succession planning and diversity.
UK progresses with climate-related financial disclosures for companies
Large UK companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) will have to make climate-related financial disclosures after a consultation showed strong support for the move.
International tax probed
Taxing Profit in a Global Economy Michael P. Devereux, Alan J. Auerbach, Michael Keen, Paul Oosterhuis, Wolfgang Schön, John Vella £24.99, Oxford University Press ★★★★✩ ‘This is not intended to be a detailed description – if it were, it would take up many books,’ say the authors – leading tax specialists across law and economics – of this impressively succinct treatment as they begin to address trends in the international tax regime.
Decisions, decisions
Theories of Choice: The Social Science and the Law of Decision Making Stefan Grundmann, Philipp Hacker £80, OUP ★★★★✩ For Foucault, choice is illusory for a society conditioned to self-regulation, developed metaphorically through Bentham’s panopticon, the prison where you may or may not be watched. How do we know what choice is and when it is being exercised?
How the corporate governance and audits landscape is changing for directors and auditors
The UK government has unveiled plans to make it easier to hold the auditors and directors of the UK largest corporations to account for failings in corporate reporting and audit. The proposed reforms follow the high-profile collapse of a number of businesses coupled with long-standing concerns about a lack of competition and resilience in the statutory audit market covering the UK’s largest companies, and a perceived failure of the audit product to meet the growing expectations of its users.
Missing: and a Collection of Other Thought Provoking Short Stories
Missing: and a Collection of Other Thought Provoking Short Stories Chris Boult £10.99, New Generation Publishing ★★✩✩✩ Stephen King famously likened the short story to ‘a quick kiss in the dark from a stranger’ – brief, mysterious, almost everything left unsaid. Like poetry, successful short stories – those that linger, anyway – give space for the story to percolate, the reader making connections from limited signage.
Corporate director rules to be tightened in the UK
Businesses will only be able to operate as corporate directors on the boards of other companies in the UK if all of their directors are real people whose identity has been verified by Companies House, under new plans outlined by the UK government. Currently, companies can appoint any number of corporate directors – i.e. other companies or legal entities – onto their board providing they have appointed at least one real person onto the board too.
Paradoxes in sustainability reporting highlighted by ESMA chair
The need for international standards that still cater for domestic differences, rules that are robust while allowing reporting entities some flexibility, and the need for completeness without imposing an impossible burden on smaller companies, are the "three main apparent paradoxes in the area of sustainability reporting", a senior EU regulator has said.
Audit firms correctly applying ‘going concern’ assessments, says FRC
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has found that audit firms have largely applied additional policies and procedures designed to enhance their evaluation of companies’ going concern assessments during the Covid-19 crisis.
Courtroom drama and life on the wrong side of the law
Bad Debt William McIntyre £7.99, Sandstone Press ★★★✩✩ I must confess to a fondness for legal terms of art made book titles. If memory serves, although perhaps I dreamt this one summer night, a series some years ago used the transactional world as a naming convention, giving us ‘Due Diligence’, ‘Data Room’ and so on. William McIntyre takes a similar tack, Bad Debt being one of a series of novels which includes Last Will and Present Tense.
UK’s Companies House sets out digital transformation journey in five year plan
The UK’s company registrar, Companies House, has said in its strategic plan that it wants to become a digital organisation focused on the use of data to inspire confidence and combat economic crime. The strategic plan sets out six goals for the future, focusing on registers, services and people.
How Turkey can break free of the middle-democracy trap
Turkey’s Middle-Democracy Issues and How to Solve Them: Judiciary, Accountability and Fair Representation Mehmet Gün £29.99, 2QT Limited ★★★✩✩ Turkey, to the outside observer, continues to tread a fine political line between alternative futures. The power concentrated in its president and institutions is ascendant following 2016’s failed coup.
Investors should focus on transparency and evidence in stewardship reporting, says FRC
The UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has said investors need to be more thorough and evidence-based in producing reports on new stewardship responsibilities, in its first review into the obligations The revised UK Stewardship Code came into effect on 1 January 2020. It requires signatories to report annually against the Code’s principles and the stewardship activities they are undertaking, with a focus on environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors.
Could an active judiciary end Washington deadlock?
Restoring The Global Judiciary: Why The Supreme Court Should Rule In US Foreign Affairs Martin S Flaherty £30, Princeton University Press ★★★★✩ Given the UK’s executive machinery seems intent on tabloid-fuelled confrontation with the judiciary, Martin Flaherty’s call for courts in the US to defer less to political branches of federal power, particularly in the realm of foreign policy, may resonate.
Questions of morality
The Right To Do Wrong: Morality and the Limits of Law Mark Osiel £36.95, Harvard University Press ★★★★✩ In Legally Blonde: The Musical, Elle distinguishes malum prohibitum – an act prohibited by law – from malum in se – ‘an action that’s evil in itself! Assault, murder, white shoes after Labor Day’. Wearing white shoes after Labor Day is, of course, not prevented by any law, but nevertheless something frowned upon by society types in the Hamptons.
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