The Agenda

Hosted by Lewis Silkin

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Episodes

141

Latest episode

Aug 2026

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EN-GB

About the show

The Agenda brings together all our audio content into a single place. Our lawyers and special guests help you navigate the challenges facing businesses today, looking from a big picture perspective as well as a legal one. Listen, subscribe and leave us a comment. More on us and what we do at www.lewissilkin.com .

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60 recent

September 8, 202621 min

Work and Class episode 4: A fireside chat with Abigail Wise about her non-traditional legal career

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.

September 1, 202648 min

Managing an International Workforce 2026: Episode 04 - Check Your Privilege

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.

September 1, 202654 min

Managing an International Workforce 2026: Episode 03 - Inside APAC: The latest employment law changes and workforce trends

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.

September 1, 202653 min

Managing an International Workforce 2026: Episode 02 - Employment Law Across the Globe

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.

August 27, 20261 hr 10 min

Managing an International Workforce 2026: Episode 01 - Should AI stay or should AI go?

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.

August 6, 202623 min

The UK Consumer Law Revolution Podcast: Deep dive: High Court hands down judgment in long awaited Emma Sleep case

In this episode, Geraint Lloyd-Taylor and Jen Dinmore discuss the High Court's judgment CMA’s case against Emma Sleep, in an important ruling dealing with discount claims (so called ‘reference pricing’). The case centers on the CMA's attempt to impose a strict 1:2 ratio requirement, under which a retailer could only sell two mattresses at a discounted price for every one sold at the higher "reference" price, before that higher price could no longer be used in a "was/now" pricing claim. This episode explores why the judge declined to endorse the CMA's proposed ratio, instead sending the parties away to negotiate a more nuanced approach that focuses less on a rigid, quantifiable, blanket approach.

August 6, 202633 min

Work and Class episode 3: Speaking up about accent bias

This week on Work and Class , we're talking about accent bias - the subtle form of prejudice that shapes how people are perceived at work, often without anyone consciously admitting it. Accent bias is everywhere. It affects recruitment, career progression, confidence, and even the roles people feel they can aspire to. Yet it rarely gets the attention it deserves. In this episode, we are joined by Dr Kevin Latham, Research and Policy Manager at the Sutton Trust, and Holly Wilcock, an employment associate at Lewis Silkin. Tom Heys explores what the research actually tells us, including a striking statistic that 76% of interviewers admit to being swayed by a candidate's accent. Kevin also unpacks the persistent ranking of accents by prestige and why Northern and Midlands accents consistently come out worst, while Holly shares her own experience of being told her West Country accentwould make it "really difficult to get a job" as a lawyer. Together, they discuss why accent bias gets stronger as people age, why university is often the moment it hits hardest, and what employers can do about it - including one simple, zero-cost intervention that has been shown to make a real difference.

July 29, 202620 min

Pay Attention - Episode 22: Greece’s 33 day pay transparency directive sprint

How did Greece implement the EU Pay Transparency Directive in just 33 days? In this episode of Pay Attention , Tom Heys and David Lorimer and joined by Katerina Papastergiou from Kremalis to explore one of the fastest transpositions of the Directive anywhere in Europe. They unpack the journey from consultation to final law, examine the key changes made along the way, and explain what employers need to know. The discussion covers employee information rights (including a trailblazing(?) right for employers to refuse requests), the role of worker representatives, enforcement and sanctions, and one of the Greek law's most distinctive features: the central role of the Greek Ombudsman, who has been placed at the heart of every PTD process.

July 13, 202618 min

Pay Attention - Episode 21: Northern Ireland? It’s complicated

This week, Pay Attention heads to Northern Ireland. Although the UK left the EU, Northern Ireland occupies a unique legal and constitutional position, raising an unexpectedly tricky question: does the Pay Transparency Directive apply there? Northern Ireland presents perhaps the biggest legal puzzle of the Pay Transparency Directive. Employment law is devolved. The UK has left the EU. But Article 2 means the story doesn’t end there. Joined by Leeanne Armstrong from Lewis Silkin’s Belfast office, Tom Heys and David Lorimer explore what Article 2 actually says, why lawyers disagree about what it means, how Northern Ireland’s own gender pay gap proposals fit into the picture, and, most importantly, what employers should be doing while the lawyers continue to disagree. It’s an episode about constitutional law, equality law, Brexit and pay transparency. Surprisingly, it all makes sense. Mostly.

July 7, 202632 min

The AdLaw Insights Podcast with Brinsley & Geraint: Mid-year review - Agentic AI, social media bans, pricing enforcement and Cannes Lions 2026

Geraint Lloyd-Taylor and Brinsley Dresden are back with a bumper mid-year-round-up of the biggest advertising and marketing law developments of 2026 so far. Fresh from Cannes Lions, they dive into the CMA’s new guidance on agentic AI, the incoming social media ban for under-16s, ASA procedural shake-ups, cosmetics “clinically proven” claims crackdowns, and the CMA’s muscular new enforcement of pricing rules under the DMCC Act, including the Emma Sleep trial, AA driving school’s £4.2m fine, and StubHub’s penalty.