GILS Community Podcast

This week we chat with KOSTYA LOBOV (Senior Associate at Harbottle & Lewis in London, 🇬🇧 UK) and JESSICA BOURNE (Legal Counsel at Ninja Theory in Cambridge, 🇬🇧 UK).

• in-house counsel as “the GP of the studio”

• why would you want to work at a law firm?

• why would you want to work in-house?

• how exactly does it help if you, as a lawyer, enjoy playing video games

• the benefits of working at an independent law firm

• the benefits of working within a “family” of studios supported by a global legal team

• international litigation as a jigsaw puzzle

• are UK lawyers being too conservative about suing people when given a chance?

You can find past episodes, and follow future episodes, by subscribing to the Summit's newsletter: HERE. This podcast is available on 7 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, et cetera.

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Games Industry Law Summit 2020 is presented by Beiten Burkhardt & MSK.

The event is sponsored by Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Fenwick & West, Insight Studio Legale, Miller Thomson, Osborne Clarke, Perkins Coie, Purewal & Partners, Taylor Wessing & Wiggin.

We're also thankful for the additional support provided by Chrysostomides, DLA Piper, DZP, Harbottle & Lewis, IHDE & Partner, Karamanolis, Ozdagistanli Ekici, Pillar Legal, Semenov & Pevzner & Wargaming.

In this episode, two veterans of the games industry join us for a chat: TOBIAS SCHELINSKI (Partner at Taylor Wessing in Hamburg, 🇩🇪 Germany) and JAN-PETER EWERT (Business Development / Legal at Valve in Hamburg, 🇩🇪 Germany). Here's what we spoke about –

• how do global games companies go about hiring local law firms for specific matters?

• why would a law firm fire a client?

• what makes a good in-house counsel?

• is there a way to gauge the performance of an in-house counsel?

• similarities between dealing with pandemic risks and dealing with legal risks

• should lawyers address ‘average expected’ risks, or ‘extreme among expected'?

• a few practical words of advice to people working in the games industry

• having “skin in the game” for in-house lawyers, and being able to convince colleagues

• why does it matter, when your lawyer actually understands and enjoys video games?

You can follow future episodes by subscribing to the Summit's newsletter: HERE.

–––

Games Industry Law Summit 2020 is presented by Beiten Burkhardt & MSK.

The event is sponsored by Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Fenwick & West, Insight Studio Legale, Miller Thomson, Osborne Clarke, Perkins Coie, Purewal & Partners, Taylor Wessing & Wiggin.

We're also very thankful for the additional support provided by Chrysostomides, DLA Piper, DZP, Go Vilnius, Harbottle & Lewis, IHDE & Partner, Invest Lithuania, Karamanolis, Ozdagistanli Ekici, Pillar Legal, Semenov & Pevzner, and Wargaming.

For the second episode, two very experience games industry lawyers join us: BRIAN TAEHYUN CHUNG (Partner at Kim & Chang in Seoul, 🇰🇷 Korea) and FELIX HILGERT (Partner at Osborne Clarke in Cologne, 🇩🇪 Germany). Here's what we spoke about –

* dealing with COVID-19 in different jurisdictions: privacy issues, force majeure clauses
* the structure of law firms in Korea, and whether people really stay at the same firm for life
* what are the typical issues that international games clients want to solve in Germany?
* different clients, different approaches to billing and scope of assignments
* conflict of interest at law firms: can the same firm work for both Google and Apple?
* should we move Summit 2020 to Korea, where everyone gets tested upon disembarking?

If you have any questions or suggestions, do feel free to drop us a line at the Summit's Discord server (open to attendees and their close contacts). You can also follow future episodes by subscribing to the Summit's newsletter: HERE.

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Games Industry Law Summit 2020 is presented by Beiten Burkhardt & MSK.

The event is sponsored by Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Fenwick & West, Insight Studio Legale, Miller Thomson, Osborne Clarke, Perkins Coie, Purewal & Partners, Taylor Wessing & Wiggin.

We're also very thankful for the additional support provided by Chrysostomides, DLA Piper, DZP, Go Vilnius, Harbottle & Lewis, IHDE & Partner, Invest Lithuania, Karamanolis, Ozdagistanli Ekici, Pillar Legal, Semenov & Pevzner and Wargaming.

In the first issue of this community podcast, we have two guests: ROMAN ZANIN (General Counsel at Wargaming in Nicosia, 🇨🇾 Cyprus) and RYAN BLACK (Partner at DLA Piper in Vancouver, 🇨🇦 Canada). Here's what we spoke about –

* does a particular law school that you graduated from, matter for building a career in the games industry?
* how do you know that the legal team at your global games company is "big enough" or "small enough"?
* what it's like to work at a global law firm VS working at a national law firm?
* how do games companies choose law firms for particular projects, and does "community reputation" count?
* what is responsible, to a large degree, for good or bad experience in working with a particular law firm/games company?
* do in-house counsels and law firm lawyers have to "love" video games, or that does not affect the work product?
* will the international games industry grow stronger through the COVID-19 pandemics experience, and what are the challenges?

If you have any questions or suggestions, do feel free to drop us a line at the Summit's Discord server (open to attendees and their close contacts). You can also follow future episodes by subscribing to the Summit's newsletter: HERE.

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Games Industry Law Summit 2020 is presented by: Beiten Burkhardt & MSK.

The event is sponsored by: Allen & Overy, Baker McKenzie, Fenwick & West, Insight Studio Legale, Miller Thomson, Osborne Clarke, Perkins Coie, Purewal & Partners, Taylor Wessing & Wiggin. 

We're also very thankful for the additional support provided by: Chrysostomides, DLA Piper, DZP, Go Vilnius, Harbottle & Lewis, IHDE & Partner, Invest Lithuania, Karamanolis, Ozdagistanli Ekici, Pillar Legal, Semenov & Pevzner and Wargaming.

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// The music in the background comes from Gremlins, Inc. – Original Soundtrack and is used with the kind permission of the game's dev team //