We are often told that a defined strategy is needed to achieve success in business. But is an articulated strategy enough? I would argue it is not. There must be shared understanding and alignment across the organization on the desired outcomes for that strategy while also ensuring that resources are enabled and inspired to succeed. This is where an empowered Legal Operations function comes into play.

This Wisdom of the Crowd (ACC member discussion) discusses, in a US context, whether to ask a terminated employee to sign a separation letter ahead of termination and another agreement for severance and release at the end of the transition period, or to combine both items in one document. This resource was compiled from questions and responses posted on the forum of the Employment & Labor Law ACC Network.

This Wisdom of the Crowd, compiled from questions and responses posted on the Employment & Labor Law Forum, addresses companies that permit advanced vacation and retrieving negative vacation balances from employees that leave the company.

The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) teamed with John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware, one of the longest-standing corporate governance centers in academia and globally recognized thought leader in the corporate governance field, interviewed Kenneth C. Frazier, president and CEO of Merck & Co., Inc., on leadership, corporate culture, and the evolving role of the general counsel.

During the interview with ACC President and CEO Veta T. Richardson and Ann C. Mulé, associate director of the Weinberg Center, Frazier discussed his views on the role of the general counsel as an invaluable asset to corporate leadership. He touched upon how to build leadership credibility with the C-suite, board of directors, and within the wider legal community, as well as offered his thoughts on key governance issues.

This Quick Counsel discusses the concept behind regulatory takings related to permit conditions, summarizes two key prior cases on regulatory takings and permit conditions, and discusses how they were expanded by the recent Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District.

Courts are increasingly recognizing the manageability issues inherent in class-wide treatment of alleged misclassification claims, which may curtail class certification of unwieldy misclassification cases. However, independent contractor lawsuits are on the rise as employers attempt to rely on non-employee workers to fall outside US Fair Labor Standards ACt ("FLSA") regulations.

This is a sample lease agreement for the states of California and Delaware.

A sample conditional sale and purchase agreement between a company incorporate under the laws of the British Virgin Islands, a company incorporated under the laws of Hong Kong, and a company incorporated under the laws of the People's Republic of China. Includes interpretation, condition precedents, pre-completion undertakings, post-completion undertakings, purchaser's rights to rescission, withholding tax and grossing up, further assurance, etc. provisions.

This Wisdom of the Crowd (ACC member discussion) addresses whether it is permissible to deduct additional hours of pay to employees that resulted from a payroll system glitch. This resource was compiled from questions and responses posted on the forum of the Employment & Labor Law ACC Network.