LegalPost.eu

By  ADAM Global Τ he power of technology has always been incredible to all of us by simplifying our everyday lives. In order to stay in track and ahead in today’s fast paced competitive world, an increase in productivity has become a vital necessity. This, of course, must be aligned with rapid advancement in technology as traditional businesses are getting more and more familiarized with adapting digitization. But who would have thought a decade ago, that we will have a wonderful opportunity to have “virtual law firms”? YES, that’s right virtual law firms are the highlight trend of 2019. Legal cases can be a very hectic journey for both client and attorney. Hassle of time spent travelling, overhead costs and nerve-racking traditional environment can take a toll on the client. The virtual law firm is the solution to all these problems. Connecting to the desired lawyer, documentation transfer and other legal procedures are available online in the comfort of clients home or even rem

By  ADAM Global  * Current Trends Affecting the Legal Industry The legal profession lacks qualified providers, the amount of legal work that is not reserved to qualified lawyers and that forms a big part of their income. This is where, “Legal technology” (legal tech or ‘lawtech’) is playing its huge role. The new provider competes on equal or more favorable terms than the law firm. Lawyers are now able to provide reserved activities and black letter law better, which is known to be more efficient and cheaper. Legal tech has excited the imagination of lawyers and non-lawyers alike as to its possibilities. In the legal sector the potential to do the same thing at a cheaper cost and more effectively is extremely appealing. In this blog we are going to the analyze the trends affecting the legal industry, and how the future of law firms will look like with the progress in legal technology.  AI and Technology: “Digital disruption all over the place” According to the most recent

The European Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly, has drawn up a list of good practices after reviewing the anti-harassment policies in 26 EU institutions and agencies. The practices cover awareness raising, workplace risk assessment, regular policy monitoring, mandatory training, swift procedures, and rehabilitation measures. “While the EU institutions generally have good anti-harassment policies, my report shows that more can and must be done to bring them into line with the legitimate expectations of a post #MeToo society.” “The aim of this mapping exercise is to assist in the standardising of these identified practices across all EU institutions,”  said Ms O’Reilly. Other important measures include allowing trainees to make formal complaints about harassment; regular training for confidential counsellors and the setting up of a pool of independent investigators, which institutions can draw upon during formal harassment investigations. The Ombudsman notes harassment cases c

By George Kazoleas, Lawyer LL.M. The EU Court of Justice has issued important decisions in recent years on the issue of bank foreign currency loans, essentially in Swiss francs, which has created significant case law useful for defending the interests of borrowers who have been “trapped” by credit institutions in contracts with abusive currency risk clauses resulting in undue overchargings. In summing up this case-law, the European Court of Justice has reached the following main conclusions: 1.The loan agreement must set out in a transparent manner the exact functioning of the foreign currency conversion mechanism and the exchange rate clause so that the consumer can assess the financial consequences of this mechanism. 2.The borrower must be clearly informed by the bank that, by concluding a loan agreement in a foreign currency, he / she is exposed to a certain foreign exchange risk that he / she may find it difficult to cope with in the event of a devaluation of the currency a

By Paris Hadjipanayis , Lawyer  The  EU Trademark Regulation  grants no express benefit to any trademark registered outside the European Union. Effectively, in the post Brexit era, UK national trademarks shall no longer enjoy protection from third-party counterfeiting, passing-off, unauthorized use, and distribution as well as licensing vis a vis exploitation by similarly confusing goods, services and intra-trades within the Union. This is partly because the European Union Intellectual Property Office [EUIPO] holds a database (art.112) via its online platform ( eSearch plus ) with all filed and registered EU marks for effectuating its checks and controls on a preliminary stage to either grant registration of a mark for the corresponding class of goods and services (as per the Nice Classification) or file an objection and/or reject the application. What is the tort of passing-off and why registration of a Trademark through EUIPO will become essential to UK holders who deal in

By Soulla Dionysiou, Lawyer * Transactions in Bitcoin do not constitute a bank transaction and certainly such transactions are not a criminal offence. This was ruled by the Berlin Court of Appeals in its recent decision which criticized the authority of the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority of Germany (BaFin). Αccording to a report published in the website of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (www.faz.net), the case concerned a 16-year old who created a digital platform in cryptocurrency, without being licensed by the Central Bank. BaFin, found a violation of the Banking Act and the Berlin Court then imposed a fine. The decision, however, was overturned by the Berlin Court of Appeals, which ruled that Bitcoin is neither a financial instrument nor a unit of account, and it is not an alternative currency or considered as electronic-money. In this very important decision, BaFin’s authority and competence for this type of transactions becomes questionable, as according to the

By Ioanna Michalopoulou, Lawyer LLM* The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is not explicitly a global law, but it might be on the way to becoming a  de facto  law beyond the boundaries of Europe, at least for a number of businesses. GDPR, which was enforced on the 25 th  of May 2018, affects all businesses based in EU territory acting as data controllers or data processors of personal data of data subjects who are located within the Union, similar to the previous European data protection law (Directive 95/46/EC). An important question, then, arises as to  whether businesses that are based outside the European Union and process personal data, fall under the GDPR’s scope. The European legislature, in an effort to protect data subjects from the arbitrary processing of their personal information by non-EU businesses, expanded the territorial scope of the Regulation. Article 3 GDPR states that the “GDPR applies to the processing of personal data of data subjects who ar