Luxury law leaders are gathering in London for the Luxury Law Summit to talk about industry dynamics, managing risk, the safeguarding of brand equity and tips on relationship building. Representing some of luxury's top companies, executives from companies such as Lamborghini, Farfetch, Fendi, Gucci, Net A Porter, Sony, Vivienne Westwood, Luxottica, Ralph Lauren, Tapestry and Coty will join leading law firms to navigate the changing face of the luxury marketplace. 

Gender on the agenda

With workplace sexual harassment and gender inequality high on the agenda for organisations, Lewis Silkin employment partner Richard Miskella and Emma Richardson, director of Worksphere, tackle the subject of workplace sexual harassment and gender inequality across senior levels - focusing on translating the impetus created by 2017’s media scrutiny on the need for long-lasting improvement on women’s experience of work. Acknowledging that the pace of change must be accelerated and the approach must become multi-disciplinary in order to achieve a real shift, the session will explore the issues affecting organisations and their female employees, to see how lasting change can be achieved. 

Cosmetics in the digital age

‘Being Beautiful Online’ analyses the new age of shopping for cosmetics in the digital age. Carole Osborne of law firm Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner will lead a panel exploring how global beauty companies are using technology to allow customers to experiment with looks and products before purchase, the impact that advances in technology is having on the online sales of cosmetics, acquisition opportunities for beauty companies that might turn tech, and the legal implications of data storage and the development of virtual makeover applications.

Design rights

Meanwhile Simon Baggs, CEO at INCOPRO and partner and head of the IP Team at Wiggin will discuss the key issue of design rights and why it is essential for luxury businesses to know how they can use them to protect their rights. The discussion will look at how UK unregistered design rights interweave with European-derived design rights and how these rights will be affected by Brexit. It will also look at how design rights have been used to ensure that online platforms remove the sale of knock off items and why some platforms accept these rights whilst others do not.

Branding & brand loyalty in the evolving world of luxury 

The issue of branding and brand loyalty in luxury is key to an industry which values longevity and customer relationships. Emi Maia Nam of Barack Ferrazzano Kirschbaum & Nagelberg leads a talk on key challenges and opportunities - from selecting brand ambassadors and dealing with reputational issues to how legal and marketing should interact. Francesca Portincasa, in-house counsel at Automobili Lamborghini and Jenny Galimberti of Louis Vuitton will shed light on how this is achieved in the top luxury companies as well as what it takes to maintain and protect a brand in the current political and social atmosphere.