2026 Cross-Border Disputes and Compliance Seminar

Dine-Arounds

Join colleagues and friends at selected restaurants for dinner (on your own).

Registration

Breakfast

Welcome and Introductions

Peter Bredin, Dillon Eustace LLP, Dublin, Ireland
Holger Bielesz, Cerha Hempel, Vienna, Austria

Evolving Risks: Navigating the New Era of Product Liability in Tech

The landscape for product liability in the tech sector is undergoing significant transformation. Companies need to prepare for:

• Expanded Liability Scope: Broader coverage of digital products, AI systems and related services.
• Enhanced Consumer Rights: Easier paths for consumers to establish liability claims.
• Regulatory Complexity: Navigating multiple overlapping regulatory frameworks.
• International Divergence: Managing different approaches between EU and UK,

This evolving legal landscape requires proactive engagement from tech companies, legal practitioners, and policymakers to ensure that liability frameworks do not stifle innovation while ensuring adequate consumer protection.

Our panel will consider these important developments in the context of a hypothetical case study based on AI autonomous vehicle software liability and potential legal challenges across the EU and UK. The case study will demonstrate the complex interplay between technology, law and regulation in the modern product liability landscape, highlighting the challenges facing tech companies operating across multiple jurisdictions. We will examine the key legal issues such as evidence and discovery, legal privilege, regulatory compliance, defense strategies and causation challenges. We will also consider how tech companies should prepare for the new legal frameworks as well as how the UK might diverge from the EU and other specific cross-border issues arising.

Break

Environmental Disputes: Trends, Tools and Cross-Border Lessons

This panel brings together leading practitioners from the United States and European jurisdictions to discuss current developments and practical challenges in environmental dispute resolution. The session will explore how regulatory pressures, community engagement, and evolving litigation strategies are shaping environmental conflicts across jurisdictions.

Speakers will compare recent trends in administrative and judicial proceedings, including climate-related claims, environmental impact assessment disputes, and conflicts arising from large-scale infrastructure or energy projects. The panel will consider how differing legal frameworks influence case strategy, evidence gathering, expert involvement, and risk management. Particular attention will be given to patterns emerging in the U.S. (including mass-tort style environmental claims) and the rapidly developing environmental enforcement landscape in various European jurisdictions including the UK, Switzerland and Austria.

The discussion will also address cross-border disputes, ESG-driven litigation risks, greenwashing litigation and practical guidance for companies facing multi-jurisdictional scrutiny. The session aims to deliver concrete, practice-oriented takeaways for lawyers, compliance officers, and corporate decision-makers.

Arbitration at a Crossroads: Sport, Investment, and Recent ECJ Rulings

Recent rulings from the European Court of Justice have sparked debate about the resilience of arbitration in Europe in sectors such as sport and investment. These decisions raise fundamental questions: are we witnessing the beginning of a broader challenge to arbitration as a dispute resolution mechanism, or are these concerns limited to specific contexts? This panel will explore the implications of these judgments, assess whether they signal a shift in judicial attitudes, and consider what they mean for parties relying on arbitration in highly regulated industries.

Moderator
Marco Stacher, Walder Wyss, Zürich, Switzerland

Anna Masser, Manner Masser, Frankfurt, Germany

From Disruption to Resolution: Navigating Supply Chain Risk and Disputes

Global supply chains are under unprecedented pressure from geopolitical shifts, regulatory changes, and market volatility. This panel will explore how businesses can anticipate and manage these risks, and what happens when disruption leads to disputes. Drawing on the expertise of international lawyers and in-house counsel, we will examine practical strategies for mitigating exposure, navigating cross-border complexities, and achieving effective resolution when conflicts arise.

Moderator
Peter Bredin, Dillon Eustace LLP, Dublin, Ireland

Christelle Coslin, Hogan Lovells, Paris, France
Juan Nascimbene, Cooley, London, England

Break

Lost in Translation: Communicating Across Borders to Meet Client Expectations

The goal of the panel is to discuss effective communication strategies (including to adapt it to various jurisdictions) between outside and in-house counsel, with a view to delivering the most outstanding and tailored results for clients.

Moderator
Yassin Gagnon-Djalo, McMillan LLP, Montreal, Canada

Anthony Lyons, Jr., Akerman LLP, Dallas, TX, United States
Ifedayo A. Jegede, Flock Safety, New York, NY, United States
Tyrra Walker, U-Haul, Phoenix, AZ, United States
Clara Gross, Taylor Wessing, Hamburg, Germany

Dinner

Registration

Welcome and Announcements

Peter Bredin, Dillon Eustace LLP, Dublin, Ireland
Holger Bielesz, Cerha Hempel, Vienna, Austria

Collective Actions: Recent Developments and Challenges for Dispute Lawyers

This panel explores the rapidly evolving landscape of collective actions and the practical challenges they pose for dispute lawyers. The discussion brings together perspectives from experienced practitioners from Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. A central focus will be a comparative analysis between Canada as a jurisdiction with a long-standing, sophisticated class action regime and extensive practical experience, and Europe, where collective redress mechanisms have overall been fragmented and less developed – with notable exceptions though. Against this backdrop, the panel will also assess whether and to what extent the implementation of the EU Collective Redress Directive is beginning to close this gap, and what this means in practice for litigators.

Topics include structural differences between opt-in and opt-out models, access to justice versus litigation risk, forum dynamics, and the strategic implications for claimants and defendants alike. Particular attention will be paid to the growing role of litigation finance in collective actions, its regulatory environment, and its impact on case selection, settlement dynamics and procedural strategy. The panel aims to provide dispute lawyers with practical insights into current trends, cross-border considerations and future developments in collective actions, drawing on comparative experience from both sides of the Atlantic.

Moderator
Dr. Philipp Behrendt, Taylor Wessing LLP, Hamburg

Anna Cook, Bristows LLP, London, England
Nikita Yahouedeou, Signature Litigation, Paris, France
Lindsay Lorimer, McMillan LLP, Toronto, Canada

Practice Makes Perfect: Presenting Corporate Witnesses and Evidence

Experienced litigators from the EU and North America will provide their insights into the practical side of representing and defending corporate clients across borders. Discussion will include how to prepare corporate representatives in advance of giving testimony, variances in proof as to potential corporate liability, managing publicity, the use of alternative dispute resolution in corporate settings, and approaches to presentation/proof about the corporate defendant.

Moderator
Marta Schnabel, O’Bryon & Schnabel PLC, New Orleans