As Christmas swiftly approaches, we send you a subliminal reminder to do that last-minute shopping by sharing an interesting decision of the General Court (GC) of the CJEU in Shopify Inc. v EUIPO (T-222/21).

Businesses are under more pressure than ever to show integrity in how they operate and keep purpose and sustainability front of mind.

No, Napoleon didn’t ask for “lucky generals”. (It was probably Mazarin.) But it seems a lot of CEOs lucked into their leadership roles. Maybe we should embrace that fact.

The ability and willingness to ask probing questions are among the most important characteristics for a board director. Corporate history shows a lack of curiosity can have disastrous consequences.

Paul McCullagh, Company Secretary at Dublin-based Barclays Europe has been named Company Secretary of the Year by ICSA: The Chartered Governance Institute at the Institute’s 2020 Awards. Paul was recognised for his drive and commitment to ensure Barclays Europe is at the forefront of best practice corporate governance, something which has earned him the respect and confidence of the Board.

We are really pleased that the government listened to the case ProShare has been making consistently over the last few years and that the Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, included a full Call for Evidence on SIP and SAYE in his first Spring Budget.

While it may seem that we have been talking about the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) since the beginning of time, DORA’s application date finally arrived on Friday, 17 January 2025.

The Company Law Review Group is an expert advisory body charged with advising the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment on the review and development of company law in Ireland. It was accorded statutory advisory status by the Company Law Enforcement Act 2001, which was continued under Section 958 of the Companies Act 2014. The CLRG operates on a two-year work programme which is determined by the Minister in consultation with the CLRG.

Charlie Brown took up his role as CGIUKI President on 1 August 2023. He kindly took time out of his busy schedule to speak to me about his career to date and the experience that he’ll bring to the role.