Speaking recently on The Lawyers Weekly Show about his reflections on the capital markets space in the past year, Mr Rumboll (pictured) said that while lawyers’ practices “didn’t really take a hit” in the same way that those in other areas of law did in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the challenges were still significant.

“The Global Financial Crisis of 2008 was very informative from a capital markets perspective because it gave us a sense of what we could expect. But this past year has raised and thrown up many more challenges which have not been comparable to anything we’ve seen before,” he outlined.

What the novel professional hurdles that lawyers have had to grapple with in 2020 have shown Mr Rumboll, he noted, is the inextricable importance of being and remaining close to one’s clients so as to better recognise and appreciate their idiosyncratic business needs.

“Our clients have all been dealing with unprecedented circumstances, and as lawyers, we have been advising clients on matters that we never, based on reasonable expectations, would have expected to be advising on. There was a very upfront need [at the onset of the pandemic] to advise clients on bespoke matters which were direct impacts of COVID-19, such as the application of force majeure clauses,” he said.

“As such, my mantra as a commercial lawyer – and it just rings true and has been reinforced this past year – is that you stay close to your clients. You understand your client’s business so that, as they are looking for someone to help them through what is unprecedented for them as well as for you, you have this trust between you and them so that you can bring your experience and foresight to try and deal with issues as they come up.”

Considering such an approach from a capital markets perspective, Mr Rumboll continued, the temporary regime that was put in place last year came to an end in November, and thus companies will be back to “business as usual”, “but I don’t think it will ever be truly business as usual” post-pandemic.

“So, we need to try to be proactive given some of the issues that have come to the fore this past year, for example, around shareholder equity, and try to advise clients based on their own needs, including what they need to look for and how they should be thinking about the markets into 2021,” he noted.

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“We’ve all been in the dark, and operating in the dark, for quite a bit this past year.”

Moreover, Mr Rumboll added, increased use of technology will result in new-age thinking for lawyers in this space.

“This past year has been really interesting not just in terms of how we work with our clients but how companies have used technology to interact with their clients. That piece, I think, will be here to stay,” he submitted.

“I’ve attended a number of virtual AGMs this past year, which has been really fascinating. The days of a paper prospectus, which weighs the best part of a kilogram that gets sent through the post, may be a thing of the past.

“What’s also been really interesting this past year is that companies have had to focus on the disclosure that they make to their shareholders. There’s always been this need and push for disclosure to be effective and concise and clear, but that’s been tempered this past year, of course, because of the uncertainty that everyone’s been grappling with around COVID-19.

“How do you forecast into the future in a scenario where you really don’t know what’s going to happen around lockdowns and pandemics? That piece is going to be quite interesting in 2021. In my mind, I think there’s going to be a shift about that. But what will be fascinating is how companies grapple with that disclosure question in a scenario where shareholders will probably not receive big documents, so we may see shorter documents with more focused disclosure.” 

To listen to the full conversation with Antony Rumboll, click below: