Search

Just as a doctor would recommend vaccination and inoculation based on their analysis of past symptoms of a disease, the in-house lawyer often uses past disputes, regulatory actions and controversies to predict future risks. Here is where precedent plays such an important part of what in-house counsel rely on in performing their jobs.

Participating on panels of fellow legal professionals is another superb way to share what you’ve learned, exchange experiences with your peers, and increase your visibility among your professional contacts. Before seeking to become a serial panelist, however, you should consider taking a number of steps to ensure that you are successful in this effort.

It was a comfortable spring day on March 23, 2017, when Yibing Mao, Marriott's chief legal counsel for Asia Pacific, walked into the retro-chic China Club.

Given the magnitude of the recent jurisdictional changes, all in-house business and litigation counsel — in corporations large and small, foreign and domestic — can benefit from learning about the new jurisdictional world the Court has created, why it is important, and what future developments might be in store.

Eleanor Lacey looks to impact her company in more ways than just legal. She considers herself a strong advocate for family friendly policies. After working in-house for over 30 years, she reflected on why she loves being a general counsel.

Today, Allison Despard is the general counsel of labor and employment in the Asia Pacific region for Honeywell International, Inc., an American conglomerate that produces all kinds of products — from home thermostats to fluorine chemicals to turbo engines — and sells them to individuals, governments, and large corporations.

As more companies look to expand overseas, more global GCs confront tougher decisions for how to manage expansion while mitigating risk.

Given the significant financial benefits tempting whistleblowers, and the knowledge that a whistleblower could thwart the benefits of cooperation, companies are increasingly incentivized to self-report violations of the law.

Not having a government investigation end in a tragedy is largely contingent on planning, preparing, and executing a plan of action. In-house and outside counsel must have a cohesive objective and should work together to set the stage well before the investigators appear on the scene.

In-house counsel can greatly improve the arbitration process by providing a broader scope of review than allowed domestically by the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) (and many similar state statutes), or internationally by the New York Convention on Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards.

The solutions to cross-border legal problems do not always lie with seeking legal relief. Rather, one needs to think multidimensionally about the legal challenges that global organizations face, and also holistically about potential solutions — which may not be legally driven at all.

The gray areas, and navigating through them, are what Patrick Kong finds most interesting about his job. As general counsel and head of compliance for Chubb, the world’s largest publicly traded insurer, he is constantly looking for gray areas and figuring out the best way forward.

When an organization is blind to where its data resides and what is in it, it becomes impossible both to meet preservation obligations and comply with GDPR’s guidelines to protect and delete sensitive data. By understanding the full scope of the data, counsel can begin to assess the legal requirements involved with it.

When Ellis joined CP in 2015, he was told that the world he was about enter was fast-paced, exciting, and, most importantly, efficient. Under Harrison’s leadership, the company’s corporate culture prioritized answering to its shareholders, cutting extraneous clutter, and paving a clear pathway to success.

Now the vice president for legal and corporate affairs of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) Middle Americas — also known as Grupo Modelo in Mexico — Jimenez-Zorrilla fondly looks back on his professional career, and believes that every decision served as a crucial step that would ultimately lead him toward his dream of overseeing a global legal department.

Basketball played a role for Brent Irvin, vice president, and general counsel at Tencent Holdings Limited, giving him an opportunity to get his first glimpse of China.

This article includes some of Dr. Obama’s words of wisdom that can help you begin your company’s CSR program.

Our team observes that general counsel struggle to manage outside lawyers while still preserving value and responsiveness alongside cost-effective results. While there are no “silver bullets,” we have listed five techniques for selecting and managing outside counsel without upsetting the applecart.

This year’s six keynote speakers covered topics that were both timely and personal: leadership, crisis management, and mental health. In this article, I provide a recap of this year’s keynotes and give my thoughts on the messages imparted by the panelists.

Opening up again is critical — when done safely. Our economies were never built for this. The pandemic kills people to be sure, but so do hunger and the crushing weight of collapsing finances. There is a balance to be found between opening up and avoiding the spread of the virus.

The practice of law is changing rapidly. Lawyers are going in-house faster, in-house legal departments are impacting the business more than ever, and lawyers are constantly adapting to shifts in the way companies conduct business. Here are the five trends we believe are going to disrupt the practice of law, and what we can do to embrace them.

Canadian tax rules, though often similar, are in some respects significantly different from equivalent US rules. Canadian tax advice should always be sought by US residents wishing to expand their business into the Canadian market, even where the Canadian activity appears limited in scope, in order to prevent potentially costly missteps.

Performing a legal spend assessment provided a low-cost solution that required minimal effort and helped us accelerate conversion of our existing spend data into relevant metrics that we could leverage in order to inform future direction — including how the legal team could operate and better leverage outside counsel.

These days, to streamline and speed up cross-border internal communications, multinationals increasingly communicate workplace messages and documents internationally in the original English version only. There are advantages and disadvantages to issuing untranslated English-language HR communications to staff around the world.

With Rubin’s guidance, Aon’s legal department deployed the Law Department Strategic Improvement Project — a multi-faceted program that earned a 2016 ACC Value Champion Award for Aon.

As we are coming to understand, big data is essential in moving legal departments forward. It can arm in-house lawyers and their outside counsel with strategic insights that enable them to craft effective IP litigation and portfolio management strategies. Patent analytics can help in-house law departments achieve material gains for better patent quality while reducing overall costs.

#ACCTop30s awardee Jonathon Wright built the in-house legal department at Hurco Companies, Inc. and founded a nonprofit to help people experiencing homelessness. But that’s not all. Read more about his accomplishments. #ACCDocket #inhousecounsel

#ACCTop30s awardee Olesja Cormney took a unique path to managing counsel at Toyota Motor North America. Learn about her journey and what she’s accomplishing in her career. #inhousecounsel #ACCDocket

Glowforge and its GC Megan Lutes aren’t afraid to stand up for their employees. Read about how the #ACCTop30s awardee is protecting employee healthcare, advocating for DEI, and exploring NFTs. #ACCDocket #inhousecounsel #generalcounsel

Google Data Center Counsel Benita Lee is in the front seat of a rapidly evolving industry. Read about the innovations that earned her #ACCTop30s award. #inhousecounsel #ACCDocket