The Agenda

This week on Work and Class, we're going behind the scenes of our school mentoring scheme. We look at why it can make a lasting difference for young people from less advantaged backgrounds, and how your organisation can build one of its own.

Discrimination law on the island of Ireland is adapting to an evolving society, and Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have taken strikingly different routes, especially on harassment. In this episode, Jacqueline, Paul and Aisling compare the two regimes, from Ireland’s new ban on NDAs to uncapped compensation in NI. For cross-border employers, a policy on paper is no longer enough. Missed Part 1? Catch up on our episode on cross-border working, and look out for Part 3 on family rights and leave across NI and ROI.

Geraint Lloyd-Taylor and Brinsley Dresden are back with a packed update. The new DMCCA subscription rules have been pulled forward to January 2027, so who is caught and what should you do now? Plus, what the ASA’s first wave of less healthy food rulings (including M&M’s, On the Beach and McCain) tells advertisers, and why the EU’s Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition directive reaches UK brands too. 

In this episode, Sally and David discuss what we’ve learnt from the Next EAT equal pay appeal decision and the preparation needed for new Employment Tribunal time limits from 1 October 2026.  

Cross-border working on the island of Ireland is full of hidden pitfalls for employers. In this episode, Ciara and Síobhra explore the compliance traps that catch businesses out, from criminal liability for failing to meet NI’s fair employment monitoring obligations, to the EU Pay Transparency Directive and costly tax and payroll mistakes when staff work from home across the border. With remote and hybrid working on the rise, employers need to understand these risks now more than ever. 

In this episode, George Hannah is joined at the (virtual) fireplace by Abigail Wise, Partner at Lewis Silkin, for an honest chat about what it really takes to build a career in law when you don't come from a traditional background, and don’t take a traditional route into law. Abigail shares her personal journey, from her beginnings as a secretary, to early career hurdles, and ultimately to partnership. She reflects on the key life moments that shaped her path, the barriers she encountered along the way, and what the profession still needs to change. It’s a candid conversation about resilience, grit and belonging, and why representation at the top matters.

This discussion called Check Your Privilege was recorded live at our 2026 Managing and International Workforce Conference. In this session, Carla Watling's joined by Rebecca McAlees, Senior Global Employment Counsel at Unilever, and Jill Bagler from Epstein, Becker and Green to explore legal professional privilege across borders.They unpack how privilege rules differ between the UK, the US and civil law jurisdictions, share practical tips for preserving privilege in a multi jurisdictional communication, and discuss the emerging risks that AI poses to confidentiality and privilege.

This Inside APAC session was recorded live at the 2026 Managing and International Workforce Conference. In this session, Caterine Leung, Matthew Durham, and Desmond Wee take us on a rapid-fire tour of employment law developments across the Asia-Pacific region. From AI governance and sweeping labour reforms from India, Indonesia, and Japan, to tightening discrimination laws, evolving data privacy regimes.and shifting approaches to pay and social security. This session covers the key changes employers with an APAC footprint need to know about.

This Employment Law Across the Globe session, recorded live at our 2026 Managing and International Workforce Conference. In this session, Sean Dempsey, Colin Leckey, Hannah Price, and Sophie Maes deliver their annual roundup of global employment law developments. They cover an enormous range of topics from the EU Pay Transparency Directive and diverging approaches to DEI, to workplace AI regulation.platform workers, working hours reforms, trade union rights, leave entitlements, ESG and more. If you want a snapshot of the key employment law trends shaping workplaces around the world, this is the session for you.

This is from our Should AI Stay or Should AI Go session, recorded live at our 2026 Managing and International Workforce Conference. In this session, David Regan, Joe DeFonseca from our very own privacy team, Sam Howarth from Slalom and Marco Sederi from Toffoletto in Italy dug into the legal and practical challenges of AI in the workplace.