Kent and Medway Business Summit – Leverets’ 3 key takeaways
Last month the Leverets team headed to Canterbury for the Kent and Medway Business Summit.
As the headline sponsor, we brought a strong presence to the event, including our newest team member Kenneth Quilltail KC. Our goal being to collaborate with peers from across business, government, and academia in tackling the unique range of challenges business in Kent face. And importantly explore the region’s future in areas such as economic resilience, skills development, technological innovation, and sustainability.
If we missed you, or if you didn’t make it this year, here are our reflections and key takeaways from the event so you can still tap into the all the action.
1. AI: beyond the hype
A notable session from the day tackled practical adoption of AI by businesses, highlighting its growing legal implications for IP, liability, and data governance.
The key message was “get beyond the hype and lean into AI”. We’re still in the early stages of innovation, but the question of widespread adoption of AI is no longer a matter of “if” but rather “how”.
It’s the how that matters. Your business needs to adopt it wisely. Work out how you can harness it in a way that makes most sense to your business and how it can make your people better at what they do, not replace them. Remember, you’re in charge of AI, it’s not in charge of you.
Trust and authenticity are also key to success when it comes to AI, and especially use of tools such as ChatGPT. Likewise, the legal implications are potentially huge – IP rights, data protection, sustainability, reputational risks and ethical responsibility all need to be considered, if AI is to become a truly transformational tool in your business’s future success.
Talking of future success…
2. Workforce development and skills for the future
What will Kent’s future workforce look like? How can businesses across the region attract talent and equip both young people and career changers for modern employment demands?
According to joint event host the Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce, 79% of firms attempting to hire report challenges in finding suitable candidates, with sectors like construction, manufacturing, and transport being particularly affected. Meanwhile, labour costs are exerting significant pressure on businesses, in the region, with 75% indicating they’re facing pressure to increase prices due to these costs.Concurrently, 19% of firms have reduced investment in staff training, potentially exacerbating skill shortages.
How to turn the tide? Over the course of the day, we had many conversations about how business can enhance employee skills, the pros and cons of hybrid working and the importance of supporting a good work-life balance, and strategies for attracting and retaining local talent. By positively addressing these issues in a collaborative way, through events like this, businesses in Kent can secure their future workforce and sustain growth and competitiveness, both for themselves and the region as a whole.
3. The Future of Kent
There were plenty of discussions around topics such as infrastructure, transport, net-zero policies, and the case for devolved powers to support tailored regional solutions.
Perhaps the most interesting was how can Kent adopt a similar procurement model to those seen in places such as Preston.
The Preston Model is a local economic development strategy aimed at boosting local economies by keeping wealth within the community. It focusses on procuring goods and services from local suppliers, supporting local businesses and social enterprises first, and keeping spending within the local economy.
Again, this requires greater collaboration. Events such as the summit are certainly a great opportunity to bring local business and local government together to explore how together we can embed community wealth-building into local economic strategy.
How can Leverets assist local businesses?
As legal advisers to growing and established businesses, our involvement in the summit reaffirmed several key insights:
- Risk awareness is rising: Business leaders are increasingly seeking legal foresight around emerging risks – AI use, data regulation, commercial contracts, and ESG accountability.
- Access to justice and guidance is key: Smaller firms often lack in-house counsel. Our participation reinforced our mission to make legal advice more accessible, timely, and strategic.
- Collaboration builds strength: By engaging with academic, public, and commercial sectors, we saw firsthand the benefits of cross-sector dialogue in shaping policy and practice.
- Regulation must evolve with innovation: Many business innovations outpace the law. Our role is to bridge that gap, helping clients adapt while staying compliant.
This summit deepened our belief that the legal profession has a proactive role in driving economic development – not just through dispute resolution, but through advisory support that empowers growth.
The Kent and Medway Business Summit 2025 successfully created a collaborative space for addressing the challenges and opportunities shaping the region’s economy. Let’s keep the conversation going.
For Leverets, the event reaffirmed our dedication to guiding clients through change, complexity, and commercial opportunity. We are proud to contribute not only as legal experts but as engaged partners in the wider business community.
