O'Connors

We're excited to announce our inaugural Fireside Chat. Bringing together senior leaders for an honest, engaging conversation on what really drives high performance. In this first session Gemma Ellison will unpack the leadership method behind Jurgen Klopp's transformation of Liverpool FC - how culture, relationships, and clarity can outpace even the biggest budgets. Expect practical insights on everyrhing from redefining data and building psychological safety to creating truly inclusive high performing teams. This session will spark ideas and thinking you can apply in your business immediately. Join us Wednesday 24th June from 8.30 to 10am at O'Connors Liverpool office. Please email josephholmes@oconnors.law to save you space or use the link in the comments. Joe Holmes

Meet Rebeccah.   As a Legal Secretary, Becky is dedicated to streamlining internal workflows, assisting our legal team with daily tasks, and providing top-tier hospitality to our clients.   Beyond her core legal duties, she brings her diverse skill set to our marketing team, where she helps drive our digital outreach. Her responsibilities include managing and scheduling social media content, implementing updates and amendments to our website as well as crafting and preparing our firm's email newsletters.   She also makes a lovely cup of tea. #OConnors #Legal #LegalSecretary #Marketing

It wouldn't be Friday without us celebrating being out and about catching up with clients, professional friends and potential new friends of the firm. Our colleague, Nigel Wallis, attended this year’s BIBA Conference fun and engaging conversations with clients, professional friends. With nearly 10,000 delegates attending, the BIBA Conference is officially the world’s biggest gathering of insurance brokers and hopefully kept Nigel out of trouble for a few hours at least. It's been great connecting over coffees over the last week and hearing different perspectives about what's happening in different sectors. If you have space in your diary and are keen to share what's happening in your world reach out to the coffee loving team here at O'Connors.

AI is rapidly becoming a cornerstone of modern business strategy and a clear trend is now emerging in which organisations are turning to AI-generated outputs to inform decisions, often without engaging qualified advisers or subjecting those outputs to appropriate professional review. This gives rise to the bigger question: not simply whether AI can replicate the judgement, contextual sensitivity, and accountability inherent in professional advice but whether its increasing use in these contexts is introducing a new category of risk. In our latest thought piece Michael McKenna explores the risk of over-reliance on AI and the value of professional judgment. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eRYTqYSU #OConnors #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

Meet Laurence. Laurence advises clients on competition law, including merger control and the control of anti-competitive agreements and practices. He has successfully handled many high profile investigations and inquiries by the European Commission and the Competition and Markets Authority in relation to a wide range of sectors as well as appearing before the specialist competition law court, the Competition Appeal Tribunal, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court on competition law matters. Laurence regularly prepares competition law compliance procedures and provides competition law training to clients operating in a wide range of sectors. He also advises on the National Security & Investment Act regime and its impact on different types of transaction, obtaining clearances where appropriate from the UK Government Investment Security Unit. Laurence also advises on intellectual property matters and commercial agreements, including distribution, supply, agency and manufacturing agreements. Laurence is ranked by the Legal 500 and Chambers directories as a very experienced competition lawyer. Q: What is the one thing clients need to consider about competition law? A: Individuals involved in breaches of competition law can be sent to prison or disqualified from acting as company directors. Find out more about Laurence and his work here: https://lnkd.in/gaqZfTZZ

It's been another busy and varied week for the team. On Wednesday Joe Holmes and Michael McKenna attended the inaugural After Work Club networking event in Liverpool - it's always good to connect with new faces. Michael McKenna delivered an interesting lunchtime training session to the team on Wednesday around AI developments in the legal sector and the impact this will have on businesses, with 75% of the largest commercial law firms already using AI. No matter how specific the prompt AI can produce misleading results, highlighting the need for professional judgment in its use. On Thursday Luke Poulston attended the Professional Liverpool Next Gen Speed Mentoring Event. It was lovely to connect with the group and also very interesting spending time talking to the mentors who attended. Jenna Bond, Mollie Williams, Megan Crone and Molly Davies took a trip to the Nespresso store on Thursday to sample some different coffees before heading back to the office ready to tackle the afternoon. #OConnors #FridayRoundUp #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #Networking

AI is everywhere. With the global AI market now estimated to be worth hundreds of billions business leaders face a critical choice around the adoption of AI. However the real competitive advantage may not be the technology itself, but how intelligently it's combined with human judgment. In this thought piece Michael McKenna looks at how human and artificial intelligence combined is the winning formula. #OConnors #AI #ArtificialIntelligence #HumanIntelligence #LegalInnovation https://lnkd.in/e9TVDSgb

Another busy week for the team being out and about. As a team we love being out listening to what is happening in our clients’ and professional friends’ businesses. This diverse pool of thinking allows the us to identify trends and to match clients and other professional service firms. Some of the highlights of this week have been Barclays Professional Breakfast hearing about the importance of UX with Insight 6. Attending the Waterfront Breakfast Event co-hosted by NatWest and Hill Dickinson to understand how the developments in Liverpool’s retail, leisure and tourism sectors are transforming the city into a global destination. Some of the team even managed some down time as a team – alfresco dining! 

Great snippet from Luke Poulston about an event he and Phil Bowers attended last week. Clubs in both the Premier League, Football League and the National League need to start thinking and engaging with experts now.

Meet Joe. Joe Holmes is a relationship driven marketing and business development professional focused on building strategic partnerships that drive sustainable growth. With a strong emphasis on connecting people, ideas and opportunities, Joe works closely with colleagues to develop our marketing and business development approach that goes beyond transactions and delivers real long-term value. His approach centres on aligning the right people, messaging, and strategy to create meaningful business outcomes. Whether expanding networks, strengthening partnerships, or unlocking new opportunities Joe is passionate about creating growth through relationship marketing. If you're interested in connecting or exploring how O’Connors can support your growth, feel free to reach out for a conversation (preferably over a good coffee). #OConnors #Law #BusinessDevelopment #Networking