Your QM Law For All Society Newsletter
Welcome to the ninth issue of our newsletter, Unorthodox
We're approaching the end of term and with that, the end of our LFAS journey for this academic year. Our final edition is around the corner but until then, sit back and relax with another issue of 'Unorthodox'! Your favourite way to catch up on the news, brought to you by yours truly, the LFAS Newsletter Team.
What's going on in the world?
1) China sanctioned over treatment of Uyghur Muslisms
The European Union, Canada, US and UK have come together to impose sanctions against China in response to the ongoing human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims. It is estimated that over a million Uyghurs have reportedly been put into camps in recent years (but is very likely that many more have been taken), with footage of forced labour being captured and circulated worldwide. Economic and travel restrictions were enforced against four of China’s officials by the EU in the most recent attempts to condemn the Chinese state.
What does this mean?
The sanctions have been made against officials that have key involvement in the detention of Uyghurs and the maintenance of the camps. Wang Mingshan and Zhu Haliun are two of the officials names as being heavily involved in organising how the camps are operated. Other officials condemned include Chen Mingguo, director of the local police force in Xinjiang, and Wang Junzheng, secretary of a state-owned paramilitary and economic organisation called the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps.
Why is this important?
Calls for action against China over the treatment of Uyghur Muslims have been ongoing for years, but other countries have been reluctant to confront China due to its economic influence on global trade, amongst other geopolitical reasons. Hopefully these sanctions are the start of a much needed tougher opposition to the treatment of Uyghur Muslims, and forces China to stop their horrific detention and abuse of Uyghurs.
Furthermore, from a foreign relations standpoint, China has responded by stating it would impose its own sanctions against officials and four major entities in Europe. China still insists that these sanctions have been made purely on the basis of ‘lies and disinformation’. As well as announcing retaliatory sanctions, its important to consider how tensions over these sanctions will impact on past and ongoing negotiations about trade deals between China and Western powers. The EU parliament has been warned by Beijing that their market-access deal was no longer secure as a result of the EU’s recent actions, but the EU trade policy chief has equally voiced these concerns more recently over the future of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment.
A final thing to note is the recent news about China's retaliation to statements and boycotts from fashion brands such as H&M that have denounced the unethical labour used to source cotton for clothing. China's e-commerce platforms have responded by taking down renowned international labels from their sites.2) Microsoft is attempting to buy Discord
Rumour has is that Microsoft is in talks to acquire Discord, a popular gaming instant messaging platform that has over 100 million active users every month. Discord allows users to message, video call and livestream with other gaming apps and streaming services such as Spotify. Currently reports from the likes of Bloomberg and Venturebeat say the sale is set at $10 billion.
What does this mean?
Microsoft has been trying to expand its social gaming reach for a while, with ventures such as Mixer, which was meant to compete with Twitch. Mixer didn’t garner the interest Microsoft had hoped for, and so acquiring Discord would be a great move for Microsoft, with Discord really taking off during the lockdown period. The release of the game Among Us in particular caused a surge in users using Discord to coordinate groups through voice calls and livestreaming.
In terms of the changes that would occur on Discord if the purchase was to go ahead, realistically users won’t witness any changes on the platform for a while. The deal is still not guaranteed, and even when it is settled there will be a lot of paperwork to sort out confirming all the details.
Why is this important?
If Microsoft seals the deal with Discord, this would help to bring Microsoft up to speed with the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook on growing their consumer-based community reach. With Amazon obtaining a strong influence on streaming through its acquisition of Twitch, Google acquiring Youtube and become the number one video platform, and Whatsapp and Instagram both being acquired by Facebook, Microsoft would greatly benefit from owning Discord and integrating it with its Xbox Live services and potentially combining Discord’s Nitro paid service with Xbox’s paid gaming subscription.
The pandemic has really accelerated the adoption of technology into our daily lives and pushed people towards taking on virtual hobbies such as online gaming, and it will be interesting to see if this lasts post-pandemic.
3) White & Case advises lenders on refinancing Odeon Cinemas group.
On Monday 22nd February, White and Case announced that it had advised a series of lenders on the refinancing and upsizing of the Odeon CinemasGroups' credit facilities.
What does this mean?
The transaction will pump £400million into the cinema giant, helping the company meet its debt. Shammer Shah, a partner in White & Case's debt finance team, commented that the deal was an "important finance transaction" for the entertainment industry. It is especially important considering cinema chains were severely impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic when they were forced to shut down.
Why is this important?
Attendance levels for the cinema had sunk 90% since cinemas were forced to switch off their screens following the Lockdown beginning March 2020. The Chief Executive of AMC Entertainment (Odeon's parent company) predicted that bankruptcy would now be "off the table". However, this statement can be considered bold and very idealistic by many critics. While Odeon's funding has saved the cinema chain in the short term, many believe that the long-term financial health of the chain will continue to suffer as a result of lockdown closures.
Opportunities
Legal Cheek Virtual Spring Vacation SchemeuLaw Easter Half Term Booster Law Sessions in conjunction with Flipped Law - Two days looking at Criminal Law and Tort LawuLaw Law Conversion Courses & the SQE: your questions answered?uLaw Solicitor Series: The Highlights - Postgraduate CoursesBPP University Law School law conversion (PGDL) taster workshopHow to land a pupillage, hosted by BPP Law School
Deadline reminders
Check out these upcoming deadlines for first-year insight schemes, vacation schemes and open day deadlines.
Make sure to double-check if the firm recruits on a rolling basis as due to Covid-19, some firms have changed their recruitment policies.
Fieldfisher Manchester Virtual Insight Day 8th April
Slaughter and May Innovation Competition 16th April
Shearman and Sterling Head Start 2021 25th April
Serjeants' Inn Chambers Mini-Pupillage 1st May
Shearman & Sterling Campus Ambassadors 25th May
Our top podcasts to tune in to:
1) LawCareers.Net podcasts - covers a variety of topics within law through discussions with trainees, recruiters, students etc. The most recent podcasts covered how to demonstrate key skills in legal applications, and commercial awareness as a frame of mind.
2) Law360's Pro Say - Pro Say is the legal podcast by Law360 that gives summaries of the biggest stories and smaller stories you may have missed.
3) Get Legally Speaking with Hatti Suvari - a monthly podcast breaking down topical issues with the best legal minds, and looking closely at the law. The most recent podcasts cover The Sarah Everard Murder and Modern Slavery in the Corporate World.
Our partnership with TCLA
The Corporate Law Academy (TCLA) is an educational platform founded in 2018. It is designed to turn good candidates into great candidates at all levels of the process. They detail how to write the top 1% of applications. They break down how to excel in case studies and partner interviews. They teach the fundamentals of commercial awareness. They have put hundreds and hundreds of hours into their training platform which equips aspiring solicitors with the knowledge and skills they need to break into the legal profession. As a member, you can benefit from a 20% discount on all TCLA premium subscriptions. This can be accessed through the coupon code: SOCPARTNER12
A premium subscription would include:
Access to TCLA’s private premium forum with over 75 past successful applications and cover letters
Access to TCLA’s past webinars
Detailed commercial breakdown for over 30 law firms
Access to all their courses including the most advanced course, TCLA’s Mastering the City Course, Understanding Private Equity, The Interviewees’ Guide to M&A, Becoming an Exceptional Candidate, Legal Tech Crash Course, Managing your Training Contract.
Silver and Gold members also receive additional resources, including additional reviews and access to Video Interview Simulator inState Another partnership of ours, inState, has recently posted about their upcoming programmes and offerings for 2021.
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