Resource Library

As noted in a recent New York Times article, “there is a widespread belief that software and algorithms that rely on data are objective. But, software is not free of human influence. Algorithms are written and maintained by people, and machine-learning algorithms adjust what they do based on people’s behavior.” In an era where big data is used for decision-making purposes, the legal profession grapples with possible hidden bias and the need for greater transparency in the use of black-box algorithms. This session will explore data ethics and the need for its inclusion in information governance conversations within corporations as entities collect, use, and monetize client data. The session will explore C-suite transparency in connection with software used for insider threat monitoring and surveillance, making hiring decisions, and monitoring various forms of employee behavior.

Between legislation and major court decisions, the patent landscape has changed drastically over the last several years. In light of this, companies should look at their patent strategies holistically, from all angles, including prosecution, licensing, litigation, and post grant procedures and the interplay among them. For instance, patents must have claims with detectable infringement and be capable of withstanding validity challenges in different forums. To obtain patents like these, it is necessary to understand every step of patent prosecution, how patents are enforced in federal court, and how patents are defended at the US Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Likewise, companies facing litigation or post-grant challenges, such as inter partes reviews, need the technical knowledge of patent prosecution that attorneys who have prosecuted patents possess. This program will provide a view from the trenches with a number of war stories and perspectives from the US Patent and Trademark Office’s Silicon Valley office and in-house and outside counsel alike.

Because financial industry databases are goldmines for hackers, the financial sector faces greater threats and higher regulatory demands and consequences than other industries. This interactive session will equip in-house counsel with the practical guidance and tools they need to respond when the inevitable happens. Attendees will work through a breach scenario and walk away from the program with a step-by-step outline of what to do when the data breach occurs (i.e., who to notify, remedial steps to take, etc.). Discuss best practices for information sharing, notification protocols and responding to the media. Explore the questions that should be considered before notifying the board and notifying the appropriate government agencies.

Initiative Priority Setting Approach

As data breaches grow in size and complexity in almost every industry, corporate counsel’s need for greater sophistication in their analyses and responses grows with it. Offering the perspective of both in-house counsel and outside incident response experts, this session will focus on some of the discrete issues that truly matter, such as when does the notification clock start ticking, what if parts of the investigation are inconclusive, when and in what instances should a company engage the media, what critical details should go into the investigative report and what information is privileged. This session will also draw upon the panel’s practical hands-on experience to provide a check list of the top five actions in-house counsel can take to respond more effectively to a breach, or better yet, to increase the odds of preventing such an unfortunate incident in the first place.

There’s training, and then there’s effective training. This course will look at the three main characteristics of effective training: risk based, business based, and accommodating adult learning styles. Experienced faculty will address how to build an effective training plan based on these three components. The course will also look at the practical aspects of balancing e-learning with live training to make the best use of your budget and employee time; creating “mix and match” modules and facilitator guides to get the most use from your efforts; leveraging internal resources to deliver training that is meaningful to the audience; and measuring and acting on training effectiveness.

The increasing use of digital media outlets such as Netflix, Hulu and YouTube is on a crash course with the corporate world. Employees are engaged with digital technologies that play an ever-increasing role in their everyday lives, including in the workplace. How can you protect your organization from the impact of this new normal? What policies do others have in place? What ethical problems arise with the use of these outlets in the corporate space? This experienced panel representing the technology, financial services, and media industries will discuss the issues that impact compliance and IP in light of these developments. This interactive session will answer these important questions as well as provide the audience with real world examples aimed at helping in-house counsel address this important issue.

Experienced merger-and-acquisition practitioners will discuss critical terms in cross-border deals, including practical aspects of multijurisdictional deals and key differences between US and European law. The panel will discuss empirical data on selected deal terms, such as insurance solutions, indemnification caps, baskets, escrows, and survival periods; different structural approaches such as "lockbox" transactions; metrics of purchase price adjustments; and other terms. For example, many cross-border deals contain material adverse change clauses that have a clear meaning under Delaware law in the United States, but their application in Europe is less clear. The panel will discuss differences in various deal terms that are not always fully appreciated given the convergence in documenting cross-border deals as well as the increasing importance of insurance solutions in cross-border deals. The program is directed to those seeking a better understanding of such differences when advising executives or negotiating with foreign parties.

Business leaders in the C-suite are awakening to the fact that aligning business strategy with intellectual property assets is critical to success. IP asset alignment is central to any strategic plan or initiative. In this session, faculty will role-play typical scenarios in which four strategic initiatives are issued from the C-suite (i.e.., competing in a technologically hot area, recovery from genericide with a withering brand, entry into a heavily patented market, treading through copyright issues for a content critical business model). Faculty will discuss how IP assets are part of the issue at hand, what legal options are available in order to implement the initiatives, and how the IP assets need to be positioned to ensure success.

This panel of securities litigation and regulatory enforcement counsel will review recent insider trading trends in the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada. The panel will review how the courts and securities regulators have dealt with insider trading cases and provide practical tips on how in-house counsel can protect their corporation if proceedings begin against an employee for insider trading.