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The Peter Principle, authored in 1969, is now out of print. But in this column, Bill Mordan re-examines the truths behind the theory which asserts that "in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence."

Columnist Bill Mordan uses some of Yogi Berra's famous quotes and applies them to in-house counsel.

Jeffrey W. Wheeler, Small Law columnist, discusses the importance of having soft skills being second-nature in case a work issue should arise.

ACC Board Chair John Page introduces the September Technology and IP Issue.

What can you, as a leader in your organization, do to change the perception amongst your more tech phobic lawyers?

There is a difference between encountering negative events and possessing a negative mindset. Here are a few ways that these negative events can benefit our lives, if we choose to let them.

In ACC Docket's inaugural Legal Ops Brief, Columnist Julie Richer explains the buzz behind legal operations and how it can help your department.

This is a sample internet usage policy.

An extensive network of professional contacts is one of the greatest career assets a corporate attorney can have. Most lawyers work hard to establish contacts, particularly in the early stages of their careers, but over time, many misuse their networks or forget about them altogether. To prevent this from happening, in-house lawyers need to be sure to avoid the most common mistakes even seasoned attorneys can make when it comes to the care and feeding of their networks.

The report, Technology’s Transformation of the Legal Field, is part of Robert Half Legal’s 12th annual Future Law Office project. Following are highlights from the research.

Important points to consider about your current position and how to keep your job safe.

Come to a discussion of best practices for managing commercial software licensing and acquisition of software as a service (SAAS) offerings for internal use and customer deployment. The session will address trends in software and SAAS contracting, cloud computing, and global contracts. A panel of experts will provide practical advice on key clauses and terms found in software licenses and SAAS contracts, including an analysis of the plain meaning and effect of common obligations and responsibilities found in these agreements.

This interactive session will explore the intersection of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and pro bono, with a particular focus on how legal department leaders can develop pro bono programs to complement their companies’ CSR efforts and increase impact.

This material discusses attorney-client privilege rules from around the world and how they apply in the compliance context. It also includes the pros and cons of non-lawyers assuming compliance roles.

The rules of civil procedure are once again being amended, this time to update them for document production in the digital age. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin talks about what the proposed changes will mean for in-house counsel. She also gives advice and her top ten tips on conducting e-discovery in the current murky shadow of Rule 26, to avoid garnering sanctions for inadvertently violating a discovery order, or worse yet charges of spoliation of evidence.

An informative primer on accessing foreign tax information networks under the OECD Model Convention.

Properly executing a legal hold need not be an overly complicated or intimidating process. What it does require, however, is thoughtful planning and preparation in order to protect the business. This article contains ten best practices for creating a systematic process for executing legal holds.

Non-compete agreements are almost an essential part of today’s business environment composed of a mobile workforce with easily accessible and transportable data. Multinational employers face the added challenge of ensuring that restrictive covenants (i.e., non-compete, non-solicitation and confidentiality agreements) will be enforceable in the United States, Asia and Europe. The legal standards governing the enforceability of non-compete agreements vary around the world, but nevertheless, common principles can help guide employers in drafting and enforcing global restrictive covenants. Authoritative in-house and outside employment attorneys from around the world will provide cutting edge suggestions for multinational employers to draft restrictive covenants that should greatly increase their effectiveness and enforceability in Asia and Europe. The panel will also compare and contrast the non-compete laws in Asian and European countries against US restrictive covenant laws.

This report presents results on a subset of respondents from the Association of Corporate Counsel’s Chief Legal Officer (CLO) 2013 Survey, published in January 2013. A total of 1,104 individuals from 36 countries participated in this survey to provide a global outlook of CLOs worldwide. This report provides results and analysis of respondents from Canada (n=50) as well as demographic information, such as staffing, budget changes, revenue and more, while also exploring intangibles such as CCLOs’ top legal and business concerns for the past 12 months and their anticipations for the future.

This article aims to explain the landscape across Europe’s main markets, and to highlight the key differences in each of those markets.

A selection of resources on US sanctions and export controls against Russia in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

The US Supreme Court held in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion, overruling long-standing precedent in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Since the Dobbs decision, trigger laws in 13 states have banned or will shortly ban abortions, and another 13 states are expected to follow suit. While trigger laws are being challenged in court, there is no question that many states will successfully ban, or severely curtail, abortions within their borders. Moreover, a number of those states would impose criminal penalties on abortion providers, pregnant people, and/or individuals or entities that “aid and abet” abortions. The Dobbs decision and states’ efforts to ban, curtail and/or criminalize abortions have created multiple legal issues that affect individuals and employers.

In the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) issued new guidance to address patient privacy under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for those seeking reproductive health care services. This article discusses the guidance, which states that HIPAA allows providers to disclose certain protected health information (PHI), which includes information relating to one’s abortion or other reproductive care, without patient authorization only in specific circumstances that are “narrowly tailored to
protect the individual’s privacy and support their access to health services.”

Ins & Outs — Legal Leaders Use the Matrix to Expand Time. Research shows time pressure and workload are significant pressures facing legal teams. Use of the Legal Matrix can help a legal team's effectiveness in all areas.

You don't have to have the newest gadget to be tech savvy, but you should avoid becoming a dinosaur. Here's how.

Law departments should seek to partner young or new in-house lawyers with experienced in-house counsel.

Many law departments now have preferred provider programs (PPPs) in place and many are working to establish them, but how can they take these PPPs to the next level? This session will discuss best practices in establishing and upgrading PPPs, including practical guidelines for changing the dynamic of your PPP from consolidation to practice area-driven needs. The panel’s discussion will cover PPPs for both outside counsel and vendors such as e-discovery providers.

Summarizes how to meet the deadline, study the response, get authorization to respond, and understand the ethical and regulatory rules regarding audit response letters.

Here are five guidelines to get you started on achieving your dream.

In his first article as the Career Path columnist, Mark Roellig relates the importance of not only learning from life's lessons, but also writing them down and tracking your progress throughout the years.