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Handling law-firm and advisory-firm co-hosting boundaries
When a law firm and an advisory firm co-host, each has professional rules, a client base and a brand to protect, and those rarely line up by themselves.
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The short answer
Write a one-page co-hosting boundary note before any invitation goes out: who is the host of record, what each firm contributes, how names and logos appear, who controls content, who holds delegate data and who may follow up with attendees. Have each firm check the note with its own compliance or ethics contact.
Whether a firm's participation, wording or follow-up is permitted under its professional rules is for that firm and its regulator or professional body to say. The organiser collects the answers and keeps them with the plan.
Why co-hosting needs written boundaries
A joint event can look like a joint endorsement. Delegates may assume the two firms act together, share clients or recommend each other, which neither may want to imply.
Differences between the two firms in marketing rules, confidentiality duties and client conflicts are easier to settle before invitations than after a complaint.
Boundary decisions to settle
| Decision | Options to consider | Question to ask each firm |
|---|---|---|
| Host of record | One firm, a neutral association, or a jointly named host. | Which entity signs the venue and supplier contracts and carries the liability? |
| Names and logos | Equal prominence, alphabetical, or a neutral event brand with supporter credits. | Are there rules or approvals for how our name or logo appears on a promotional item? |
| Content control | A committee with seats for both, or an independent chair who approves topics and speakers. | Who approves our speakers and their slides, and in how many working days? |
| Delegate data | One controller with agreed sharing terms, or separate opt-ins for each firm. | What consent wording does our own team require before we receive delegate contact details? |
| Follow-up with attendees | No direct follow-up, a joint post-event summary, or opt-in only. | May we contact delegates after the event, and in what form? |
| Costs and risk | Equal split, split by role, or one firm carries cost and the other contributes speakers. | Who approves spending and who bears cancellation costs? |
Sequence for agreeing the boundary note
- Meet once with a named lead from each firm and the association or committee, and agree the event purpose in two sentences.
- Draft the one-page boundary note covering the six decisions above, in plain language.
- Send it to each firm's own compliance, ethics or risk contact and ask for written comments by a set date.
- Resolve differences with the committee, and record the final wording and who approved it in a decision log.
- Add the agreed credits and data wording to the registration page and speaker confirmations.
- Review the note again after the programme is set, since new speakers can change the picture.
Questions for the competent party
- To each firm's own compliance or ethics contact: does our participation, wording or follow-up raise any issue under our professional rules, and who may confirm that in writing?
- To the relevant professional body or regulator, where the firm advises: what is required before the firm is named as a host or supporter?
- To a data protection adviser: who is the data controller for registration data, what notice and consent wording is needed, and how are sharing terms recorded?
- To each firm's conflicts team: does any speaker, topic or other delegate create a client conflict that should be raised before publication?
Keeping the event useful to delegates
Delegates come for the content, not the firms. Put the programme committee's rules on the page so that sessions are not read as a sales pitch.
Give delegates a plain statement of what each co-host did and did not review or endorse, using wording approved by both firms.
Worked example · Fictional example
A fictional co-hosted seminar
Fictional organisation and figures, for illustration only.
A fictional law firm, Tetuan Contoh, and a fictional advisory firm, Penasihat Contoh, plan a half-day seminar for about 120 corporate delegates, together with a fictional business association that acts as host of record.
The association signs the venue contract. Names appear in alphabetical order with equal logo size. An independent chair from the association approves topics, and each firm gets two of six speaker slots. Registration data is collected by the association, with separate opt-in boxes for follow-up from each firm.
The boundary note is checked by each firm's compliance contact. Tetuan Contoh asks for a change to the promotional wording and the committee records the change, the approver and the date in the decision log.
Use this yourself
Co-hosting boundary checklist
Copy one row per decision and complete it with both firms and the host of record before invitations go out.
| Decision | Agreed approach | Who decides | Firm A comment (own contact) | Firm B comment (own contact) | Date confirmed in writing | Open question |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Handle it in-house, or bring in help?
Your team can usually handle this when
- A neutral association hosts and both firms are only speakers.
- Both firms have run joint events before and know each other's rules.
- There is no data sharing and no promotion beyond the event page.
Outside planning help earns its fee when
- Both firms are hosts, share delegate data and each has its own review route.
- Competing firms or conflicting clients may be involved.
- Nobody neutral holds the boundary note, the approvals and the calendar.
Need a neutral person to hold the boundary note?
A conference project lead can draft the boundary note and checklist with your committee, route it to each firm's own compliance contact, chase written comments, keep the decision log and brief the venue and suppliers on the agreed names and credits. Questions of professional rules and data protection remain with each firm's advisers. Send the host list and date to scope the work.
Questions organisers ask
Who should be host of record?
Often a neutral association or one agreed party. Choose the entity that signs contracts and holds registration data, and record that choice.
Can both firms market to delegates afterwards?
That depends on each firm's rules and the consent wording used at registration. Ask each firm's own contact and your data protection adviser, and record the answer.
Should logos be the same size?
Many organisers use equal size and alphabetical order to avoid disputes. Check each firm's own rules on how its name appears.
What if one firm wants to review the other's slides?
Avoid it unless both agree. Use an independent chair or committee as the content approver instead.
Related resources
Content record: Draft. Written from the cited sources and checked by automated rules; not yet independently reviewed.