Charles Russell Speechlys Podcast Channel

Employment Podcast: Sexual harassment in the workplace

Nick Hawkins and Sophie Rothwell, from the employment team, take a look at what steps employers can take to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace and discuss the proposed changes to the legislation, the impact it would have and whether it is likely to become law.

Client Conversations Podcast: Neil Hedges

Managing Partner, Simon Ridpath, and Senior Partner, Bart Peerless, are joined by Neil Hedges. In this episode, Neil Hedges discusses how he co-founded two successful award-winning communications agencies, Fishburn Hedges and Headland.

Property Patter: Proving redevelopment under the 1954 Act

In this episode of Property Patter, Emma Humphreys and Georgina Muskett are joined by Chris Sullivan, who is responsible for Dispute Resolution at Hollis, to discuss terminating a business tenancy on redevelopment grounds.  There are various hurdles for landlords to address in their evidence if they are to satisfy “ground (f)” of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 – so what do parties need to watch out for and how has the decision in S Franses affected these cases?

Client Conversations Podcast: Sir Martin Smith

Managing Partner, Simon Ridpath, and Senior Partner, Bart Peerless, are joined by Sir Martin Smith. In this second episode, Sir Martin Smith discusses his lessons and successes from his forty years in the world of finance and his life as a philanthropist. 

Property Patter: Spring Budget 2023

Samuel Lear, Senior Associate from our Real Estate Disputes team, Helen Coward, Partner from our Tax team, and Mark White, Partner from our Real Estate team discuss what the Spring Budget means for Property-focused businesses.

Property Patter: Upcoming Trends in Real Estate

In this episode, Fiona Edmond, Construction Partner, Lee Medlock, Head of Real Estate and Robin Grove, Divisional Managing Partner for Construction, Real Estate and Disputes discuss upcoming trends in the UK Real Estate market.

They discuss what’s coming up for different asset classes such as logistics, life sciences, hotels, and investments in the living sector. They take a closer look at how commercial office investments and developments are changing and how can businesses future-proof their properties in terms of ESG. They also focus on how energy and the cost of energy affect businesses in the UK.

Client Conversations Podcast: Dame Stephanie Shirley CH

Managing Partner, Simon Ridpath, and Senior Partner, Bart Peerless, are joined by tech entrepreneur and philanthropist, Dame Stephanie Shirley CH. In this first episode, Dame Stephanie discusses her lessons from the world of business and her life as a philanthropist, having founded two significant autism charities: Prior's Court School for young people with complex autism and Autistica, the UK's national autism research charity.

About Dame Stephanie Shirley CH

Dame Stephanie is a businesswoman and philanthropist, having pioneered a career in the information technology sector. She started her own business in the early 1960s, Freelance Programmers, staffed by women working from home, which was ultimately valued at $3 billion, making millionaires of 70 of her team members. Given the status quo in the sixties, this all-female business was trailblazing and flourished over the following decades.

Since then, Dame Stephanie has established The Shirley Foundation, which is one of the top fifty grant-giving foundations in the UK. She has also founded two significant autism charities: Prior's Court School for young people with complex autism and Autistica, the UK's national autism research charity. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in 2017, a membership limited to only 65 individuals globally, for her services to the IT industry and philanthropy.

During the podcast Simon and Bart ask Dame Stephanie thought provoking questions about her life and lessons that she wishes to share with listeners.

As well as talking about her journey in the world of technology and her successes, Dame Stephanie talks about her struggles with growing an international organisation.

"I started off in a very entrepreneurial way and have tried to remain innovative as an organisation so that some of the things I have done have been shock horror types of things, trying to take the whole company, which is quite sizable and profitable, into co-ownership, that took 11 years, and what I have learnt that most of the things that you do in business take that sort of time. My first charity took 17 years to set up. These things are slow and take a lot out of you."

Bart comments: "You are the most significant private donor in the field of autism in the country, possibly in the world." He touches on how Dame Stephanie's changing relationship with her business led to moving towards into the world of philanthropy and how one moves into making a difference in the world.

Dame Stephanie replies: "I don't like to be bored, I like to do new things, I like to make things happen, so it's worked out quite well for me. Some of the projects that you have helped me with, such as house purchasing and house selling, which is the normal domestic thing, but also, I started to buy houses on behalf of Charities, including one that I bought for £15 million. These are significant changes of scale as far as I am concerned - as well as growing another business with the school I set up, which is the largest charitable project I did, for £30 million, which took five years."

Simon asks Dame Stephanie how she stays with her projects and what role she takes in these causes: "The key thing that I do is set the culture, so it’s pretty firm. Even when I've left, I am told that the trustees think, and say "What would Steve do in this situation? And although it's a nice to hear, it's not always a good thing, as things then won't change."  

If you would like a personally signed copy of either So To Speak or Let It Go. Please email pa@steveshirley.com – all proceeds go to Autistica.

Property Patter: What can the property world expect from Parliament and the courts in 2023?

Emma Humphreys and Laura Bushaway are joined by Guy Fetherstonhaugh KC and Taylor Briggs of Falcon Chambers to look at what lies ahead for property law during 2023 – including decisions on service charges, the implications of the Building Safety Act 2022 and changes to the Electronic Communications Code. We also debate whether the government should stay away from property law and discuss the types of dispute we expect to see crossing our desks this year…

The cases and new legislation referred to in this episode of Property Patter are:

• Sara & Hossein Asset Holdings v. Blacks Outdoor Retail [2023] UKSC 2 – read our blog here
• 89 Holland Park v. Dell [2022] UKUT 169
• Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Limited v. Compton Beauchamp Estates Ltd; Cornerstone Telecommunications Infrastructure Ltd v. Ashloch Ltd and AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd; On Tower UK Ltd v. AP Wireless II (UK) Ltd [2022] UKSC 18
• Building Safety Act 2022
• Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022
• Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill 2022/2023
• Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Act 2022 (amending the Electronic Communications Code and the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954)
• Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property) (England and Wales) Regulations 2015

Sustainability Leaders: Guy Battle, Social Value Portal and Liam Ronan-Chlond, Socius Development

How can property developers create and measure social value?

In 2021 we were proud to promote Kerry Stares as our Responsible Business Partner, reflecting how critical responsible business and environmental, social and governance (or ESG) issues are for the success and sustainability of our firm and how critical they are for our clients.

Kerry works with stakeholders across our business to understand and improve our own environmental and social impact as a business. She works with our clients to understand their ESG priorities and to ensure that we are providing them with the right advice and support, both in our traditional role as advisors and as business partners. She also works with our intermediaries and wider networks to explore opportunities for thought leadership and collaboration in the complex and fast moving world of ESG.

Kerry’s conversations are so rich in insights from our clients and intermediaries - many of whom are true sustainability leaders - that we decided to record and share them as a podcast series.

We hope that you enjoy and find them useful – please share your feedback.

In this episode Kerry talks to Guy Battle, CEO of the Social Value Portal and Liam Ronan-Chlond, Head of Engagement at Socius Development about what creating social value means for property developers and how they can measure and manage it. They discuss what developers are already doing well, where the sector needs to make progress and unpack the different commercial incentives that combine to make a strong business case for developers investing in creating social value.

What’s new in employment law podcast: The year ahead in 2023

In this episode of our ‘What’s new in employment law’ podcast, Employment Partner Nick Hurley and Senior Associate Emily Chalkley look at what we can expect in 2023 in the wake of legislative changes and the impact of hybrid working.