Clients want more from their lawyers than just a knowledge of the law. Clients want their lawyers to understand the commercial, regulatory and technical constraints and opportunities in the Sectors in which the Client operates. This is why Sector focus is such an important part of the Gowling WLG approach.
Andrew Newbery has is the firm's first Head of Sectors, a role which he combines with fee-earning across several of the firm's Sectors. Andrew is responsible for deepening the ‘sector focus’ element of Gowling WLG's vision and supporting "Sector Leaders" and wider Sector teams in delivering on their growth ambitions.
The firm has a number of Sectors in which our early talent can become involved. If you join Gowling WLG as a trainee, in addition to your Practice Group seat rotation during your training contract, you will – unlike other firms - be formally rotated through two Sectors before you qualify. We also encourage our trainees to contribute to any other Sectors in which they already have some knowledge or a particular interest.
A typical Gowling WLG lawyer has active involvement in several Sectors during their career giving them the opportunity to better understand the commercial, regulatory and technical constraints and opportunities faced by their clients. Simply put, we speak the client's language.
Andrew will briefly explain more about Gowling WLG's Sector programme and the opportunities for our trainees and lawyers within it before introducing “Saving lives and killer robots: law at the leading edge of science and technology”.
The life sciences sector has boomed in recent years. The Covid pandemic created a seismic shift - taking the sector into homes and conversations up and down the country. The Gowling WLG life sciences team have been at the heart of that legal work.
We have one of the first and largest AI law teams in the world and advise leading companies, industry groups and government departments on some of the most technically complex and fastest evolving areas of the law.
Sharmela Kalmer will explain how she, with no scientific background, discovered the fascinating world of life sciences "from molecule to market". She will give an insight into the kind of work that comes across her desk and the great opportunities in this Sector for you in the coming years.
Jenny Davies will talk about turning a Biochemistry degree into leading cutting-edge pharmaceutical patent litigation and running experiments live in court!
Matt Hervey, a humanities graduate, will explain how his love of technology attracted him to patent law and artificial intelligence. He heads Gowling WLG's Artificial Intelligence law team and is General Editor of the foundational practitioner's textbook, The Law of Artificial Intelligence (Sweet & Maxwell).