From a horizon development to a client update
Regulatory change usually reaches a firm as a forwarded email from whoever reads the most. Horizon Scanning turns it into a register with materiality bands, deadlines and owners, and one action moves a development straight into a client letter.
Regulatory and compliance · Regulatory and compliance team, partner, knowledge lead
- Agents
- Drafting, Horizon Scanning
- First draft
- A client update drafted from a horizon row in one action, unattended; the partner signs it off the same day.
The problem
Step 01 of 06
Set up the watch
Jurisdictions and source packs are chosen once; picking a practice area during onboarding can pre-install the matching pack.
Development Materiality Published Deadline Scanning… Step 02 of 06
Read the register
Each development row carries the source, the date, a materiality band, a deadline, an owner and any linked matters. Quiet scans still appear in the register.
Development Materiality Published Deadline Scanning… Step 03 of 06
Pick the one that matters
A high-materiality development with an effective date four weeks out is linked to two live matters through matching practice area and counterparties.
Development Materiality Published Deadline Scanning… Step 04 of 06
Draft the client update
One action on the row dispatches a drafting run with the Client Update preset and the development already attached.
Agent
Jurisdiction
Prepare for
Deliver as
Instruction
What should the agent look for?Documents
Drop a contract, or pick one from the matter
Also on the matter
- Offer_letter_v3.pdf2 pages
- Staff_handbook_2025.docx61 pages
- Board_minute_14_Aug.pdf3 pages
Platform model · zero data retention · audit register onStep 05 of 06
Read the letter
Plain English, no section numbers in the body, a clear statement of what changed, who it affects and what to do next.
6 items need your confirmation14 authorities · Where we lookedSenior Associate Employment Contract: English Law Review
Summary
- 1.
Clause 9(c), non-competeHigh
The 12-month prohibition on working for any law firm anywhere in the UK, Ireland or EU, in any capacity, is almost certainly wider than reasonably necessary and therefore unlikely to be enforceable.
Tillman v Egon Zehnder Ltd [2019] UKSC 32 - 2.
Clause 11, data and monitoringHigh
Blanket contractual consent is not an adequate basis for general employment processing, special-category data or unrestricted monitoring.
UK GDPR, Arts 6 and 9 - 3.
Clause 4, holiday carry-overHigh
The unconditional five-day cap conflicts with mandatory carry-over rights where sickness, statutory leave or employer failure prevents leave being taken.
Working Time Regulations 1998, regs 13 to 13A
- 1.
Step 06 of 06
Sign off and send
The partner ticks the action items, clicks Verify all, and either downloads a PDF or shares a passcode link with the view logged.
What travels
Protection
Six-digit passcode4 8 2 · 9 1 7Expires inshare.legalaispace.com/s/k7Qm…View log · also written to the audit register
- Today 09:14
Opened
client@halcyon-bidco.example - Today 09:15
Downloaded memo.docx
client@halcyon-bidco.example - Yesterday 17:40
Failed passcode attempt
unknown - Yesterday 16:02
Link created · expires in 7 days
E. Vance
The reader sees your firm's name, the sections you chose, and nothing else. No sign-in, no account, no way back into the workspace.
A document, not a transcript.
- A plain-English client update explaining what changed, who it affects and what to do next.
- The linked matters a development touches, identified by matching practice area, jurisdiction or counterparties.
- Authorities behind the letter, each with a verdict, resolving to the regulator's own published guidance.
- A reusable draft that can be re-run against a second client's matter with a client-specific instruction added.
What it does not do
- It does not decide which developments count as material for the firm; the materiality band is the triage, a person still reads the row.
- It does not send the letter without a sign-off; the partner ticks the action items first.
- A quiet scan is shown as a quiet scan rather than hidden, so a watch that has stopped covering anything is visible as a coverage gap.