High tech law firm launches online knowledge solution for asset managers

LONDON, FRANKFURT, DUBLIN — Zeidler Legal Services, a technology-driven law firm, today announced its launch of Global Knowledge Hub, a new high-tech service for asset managers to keep up-to-date with legal and regulatory requirements for registering and marketing funds across borders.

Arne Zeidler, Managing Director and Founder of Zeidler Legal Services said, “We see this as an entirely new way to provide legal services to our clients. The Global Knowledge Hub distils all the relevant questions, which we have received from our clients over the past years and makes the answers available in an easy to understand and practically usable way.

“The traditional model of writing e-mails back and forth and charging hourly rates to provide answers for repeating questions are over. Our content is provided in a modern layout and design and can be viewed on any mobile device.”

Global Knowledge Hub content has been drafted from scratch, it is available in a clearly defined scope and qualifies as structured data, which means it is a perfect use case for an AI-based chat bot. Clients are able to chat with the bot to retrieve answers and can seamlessly switch to a lawyer from the dedicated Global Knowledge Hub team, all from the same dialogue box. The bot and lawyer support are part of the subscription fee and are not charged separately.

The Global Knowledge Hub content is backed by Zeidler Legal Services in its capacity as a law firm and it assumes full liability for the content provided online, via the bot or its lawyers.

Zeidler continued, “We felt that we had to provide an alternative solution for smaller and medium-sized asset managers, who simply do not want to pay for the highly priced tools currently on the market.”

Zeidler is uniquely positioned to develop a tool like this as it has focussed on the legal side of international marketing of investment funds for many years. It is one of the very few firms who possess such detailed global legal knowledge within one team. One quarter of its staff are software developers, allowing it to provide legal and technology-based solutions out of one hand.

The content for each country is structured in the exact same way. The topics covered include (but are not limited to):

· The process of registering a UCITS, including timelines and fees;

· Local agency requirements;

· Continuing obligations and disclosure requirements;

· Requirements for marketing materials (e.g. factsheets, marketing presentations);

· Information on the required marketing permissions; and

· Definition of marketing and reverse solicitation rules.

The jurisdictions include: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom.

Further jurisdictions for the Global Knowledge Hub will be released in batches over the next few months and will include South Africa, Australia, Singapore and Switzerland. Zeidler’s goal is to cover 45 jurisdictions for UCITS and AIFs.

For more information contact:

Kathryn Adamson, kathryn@legalcomms.com, mobile: +44 (0) 771 713 3595.

Kunal Grover, Business Development Manager, +44 (0) 203 314 8202

https://zeidlerlegalservices.com/


Will the new KiwiBuild visa cut the mustard for migrant workers?

immigration law

Aaron Martin*

Yesterday the Government announced it is revising the KiwiBuild visa scheme and changing immigration settings to try to address New Zealand’s shortage in construction workers. But will these changes go far enough to address the issues?

New Zealand as a destination is a difficult sell even for large construction companies. It takes a lot to get a builder from the UK to move to New Zealand, where the cost of living is high but the wages are not.

It’s even harder if you can’t offer that person the certainty of residence. If the potential talent that might be recruited using these schemes can’t get a residence visa, the ability of employers to attract that talent will be compromised.

The new schemes need to dovetail into the residence visa policies. It’s crucial we prioritise this to ensure there is not a cohort of disappointed tradespeople here on work visas with nowhere to go.

The proposed changes announced yesterday will involve:

  • modification of the existing accreditation status regime and the approval in principle scheme for employers
  • modification of the existing labour hire accreditation regime
  • development of a skill shortage list for the building and construction sector.

These proposals are really just another variation on a theme, or a tweaking of existing policies. So why is it going to take six months to get operational? We can only hope it’s an indication there will be significant industry consultation to ensure the bars to entry on these new rules will be set at realistic levels.

The existing accreditation status model is tailored to larger business operations that have sophisticated HR departments devoted to recruitment and retention. The model includes a plethora of supporting polices that direct HR operations.

I’m concerned that MBIE officials will set the entry to this accreditation regime again for the large industry players. This will make it difficult for small- to medium-sized developers who specialise in residential construction to enter the scheme.

If this happens, the larger institutional home builders will have an unfair competitive advantage. But perhaps that’s what the Government would like: it’s much easier to control and police an industry sector when it’s made up of a few larger players.

The construction sector has had some bad press lately around compliance with immigration requirements for good employment practices. There is a strong incentive for the Government to take control of the situation.

As with the current scheme, the proposed new accreditation status programme will no doubt allow MBIE (and the labour inspectorate) to audit the participating companies. This gives MBIE access not only to information about employment relations/labour law compliance but also to the financial data of the participating companies.

This gives central Government serious levers to control an industry that is crucial to delivering on a key election promise.

It is also essential that the proposed shortage list is developed very carefully. The current skill shortage lists suffer from two problems:

  1. The qualification criteria require overseas qualifications to be comparable to current qualifications available on the New Zealand qualification framework
  2. The shortage lists are fixated on a visa applicant having a formal qualification.

For example, for an employer/employee to apply for a visa for a carpenter, the applicant/employee must have:

  • A certificate at NZQF Level 4, or a higher qualification, which includes the credit and knowledge requirements of the New Zealand Certificate in Carpentry (Level 4).

These rules make it hard for those who have undertaken building qualifications in their home country perhaps many years ago but have substantial industry experience. An applicant in this situation would struggle to gain a visa using the shortage list because their qualification may not be comparable to the current New Zealand qualification listed.

MBIE needs to realise that practical experience in the trades can often be a more sought after ‘qualification’ than academic qualifications. It is crucial that we give employers access to people qualified by their experience.

Most importantly, there needs to be a pathway to residence for this international talent. Most workers in this sector don’t move here just for “the work”. They come to stay. But the current residence rules don’t make that easy if you are qualified by experience. Which means these new changes have a long way to go to make it an attractive option for sought after skilled migrant workers.

Further information:

*Aaron Martin – Principal Immigration Lawyer at New Zealand Immigration Law

Aaron Martin is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded and experienced immigration law practitioners. He has extensive experience assisting individuals, SMEs, and large multi-national corporate clients.

He has experience in general legal practice with over 19 years of experience and a thorough working knowledge of relevant tax law and commercial issues facing investor category applicants and migrants wishing to establish businesses in New Zealand.

Contact Aaron on 021 335 265

Email aaron@nzil.co.nz

NZIL – New Zealand Immigration Law

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