Overview of legal developments as of 1999. Includes examination of relevant case law, investigative template for anti-trust factfinding, and an article analyzing the changing legal trends.
These materials discuss what a employer can do to ensure it retains its intellectual capital. From ACCA's European Chapter Annual meeting 2000. This article is in PDF Format, you will need the <A HREF="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html">Adobe Reader</A> to view it."
ACC Value Challenge: Chapter Initiatives
General Counsel and other lawyers in corporations possess a variety of skills and have a wide knowledge base of corporate finance, governance, and compliance. This experience often reflects many hours in the board room as well. But what does it take to get to the other side of the board table—to be a member of the board itself? In this presentation, board members explained how they made that leap, what the experience was like, and the pros and cons. It could be the next stop on your career path!
So many employment laws and regulations to comply with; so little time. You don’t want to make a misstep. But how can you make sure your client meets them all and gets the rest of the work of the company done as well? Triage. Triage. Triage. Address those problems that are the most significant sources of risk by taking steps to make sure they don’t arise. This learned panel shared what those areas of concern are and how you can implements solutions to reduce the legal risk associated with them.
OSHA: The very acronym strikes fear in the hearts of in-house counsel — indecipherable standards, surprise inspections, byzantine enforcement processes. But help is on the way! ACC’s panel of OSHA experts — with four decades of cumulative experience, and a former OSHA chief — present a host of practical do’s and don’ts for avoiding the biggest compliance traps, surviving an inspection, appealing a citation, interpreting standards, and staying abreast of OSHA’s latest targeting strategies, regulatory actions and recordkeeping & training requirements.
Presented at ACCA’s Annual Meeting 2000; Program - Chair’s Choice II: The Evolution of the In-house Practice
Presented at ACCA’s Annual Meeting 2000; Program - Approaches to Counseling the E-Volving Organization’s Workforce
Guide to selecting foreign counsel and managing the relationship. Includes guidance on constructing an engagement letter and other sources on the issues of foreign counsel.
The Law of Inside Counsel (ACCA New York Chapter Program October 28, 1999)
Too frequently insufficient attention is paid to the myriad of special employment law issues affecting the hiring, firing and management of executives.
"In-house counsel are often asked to perform business functions in addition to their legal duties. Frequently, in-house counsel are also officers or directors of the company. Often they perform legal functions for a family of affiliated companies, some of which may be bought or sold over time. While this blending may result in a streamlining of positions and decision-making, it poses risks for both in-house counsel and the corporation."
Liability and Insurance for In-house Lawyers (ACCA New Jersey Chapter Program). In-house corporate counsel are increasingly exposed to legal malpractice claims. As corporations bring more work in-house, the exposure to legal malpractice claims expands.
When it comes to winning a case, what does inside counsel know that outside counsel doesn’t? Some cases call for early settlement, some for complex strategy leading to ADR, and in others the priority may be to stay out of the spotlight. Learn from experienced and seasoned in-house counsel about practical and creative tools for using litigation procedures to your strategic advantage, such as: the timely advantages of strategic pre-trial motions; when and how “front-end loading” case preparation can be worthwhile; optimizing “strategic leverage points” in the litigation process; creating settlement opportunities; finding creative ways to educate opposing counsel on the weakness of their case; and narrowing the issues by use of tactics such as an Agreed Statements of Fact.
There are subtle and not-so-subtle issues in dealing with another party’s confidential information and in-house counsel need to understand and address them both. This was a how-to course to train employees and set up processes and procedures to minimize the risks associated with obtaining and using confidential information of third parties. It is crucial when competitive technologies from two or more third parties are being evaluated or developed, or where your company is working on potentially competitive technology to that of one of your current or potential vendors or customers. This program was suitable for in-house lawyers with or without an IP background at both a basic and intermediate level.
Simplified agreements and the elimination of unneeded contracts results in a huge increase in productivity and business partner satisfaction. How can you achieve this same result without increasing risk? The task encompasses a variety of activities from simplifying language and shortening documents, to smarter risk allocation (to avoid unnecessary negotiations), to implementing contracting mechanisms that reduce the number of provisions that must be repeatedly drafted, reviewed, understood, and negotiated. Hear how these panelists did it and take these lessons home with you.
Internal development of ("Intrapreneurship") and/or external minority investment in new entrepreneurial ventures has become a strategy of choice for businesses looking to stay ahead of the innovation curve. But there are a number of potential pitfalls that in-house counsel need to avoid in creating, structuring, negotiating, and implementing such a transaction. A panelist of in house and outside counsel will discuss a marketplace orientation, share their proven strategies for successfully spinning-off or investing in a new business, and point out the benefits and risks of home-grown enterprises.
You have a matter management system. Now what do you do with it? One of the toughest challenges of in-house counsel is to use the available technology to obtain a complete picture of the legal landscape, both within the law department and with its outside counsel. The panelists discussed the latest technologies that provide flexible, sophisticated matter management capabilities. The panel also shared their experiences in using technology to make more fully informed decisions regarding budgeting, forecasting, resource allocation, effective use of outside counsel, spotting legal trends, effective enterprise collaboration, and marketing your in-house services to your clients.
Assuring advertising, external communications, and marketing programs meet applicable regulations, laws, industry standards and internal corporate policies, presents a continuing challenge to corporate counsel. Involvement of the legal department, early and often, is critical. Panelists described how to move beyond the role of Columbo (deducing what your marketing department is really up to) or Wyatt Earp (shooting down marketing’s plans). In-house counsel shared lessons learned and best practices to create robust processes and review of marketing programs and advertising claims, including process and elements necessary for advertising claims substantiation, and to lessen the risk of legal, regulatory, and competitive challenges.
Who is at the door? It could be the EEOC, OSHA, Customs, NRC, the SEC or a myriad of other possibilities. First, a deep breath. But then what do I do? This session provided a road map for those first 24 hours and beyond. It allowed you to plan ahead for this scenario, implement guidelines, and train your people in advance for when a government investigator comes calling. Once the investigators are at the door, understand what these agencies can and cannot do during an inspection or investigation. Know what your first response and first steps should be.
The two countries experiencing the greatest economic growth are India and China. Each possesses unique resources and opportunities for US-based companies. China has concentrated on contract manufacturing, while India is more focused on attracting service industries. In 2007, the Indian economy grew almost nine percent, which closely parallels China’s growth. This course focused on why you must adopt a different approach and mindset when dealing with China and India and what you cannot afford to ignore about doing business with these emerging giants. It covered both legal and cultural barriers that all foreign direct investors encounter.
The means by which your company can monitor and track employees and customers has become easier than ever. In addition to monitoring telephone calls, emails, and internet usage, the technology exists through Radio Frequency ID (RFID) tags, phone records, and global positioning systems to passively collect data on and track the movements and habits of employees and customers. We can watch our employees enter and exit our buildings, and we can pull their telephone and computer records to review usage. However, the use of this technology and how the information learned about your employees and customers is used is not without legal pitfalls. This program looked at the laws governing employee and customer monitoring and suggested best practices in connection with company policies and practices.
It is an increasingly global age where more companies are doing business overseas, and a greater number of foreign companies are SEC registrants. As a result, in-house counsel must face the challenge of addressing Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance responsibilities. This program addressed the issues of setting up a practical and effective program, recognizing and addressing relevant issues, and current activities and determinations in the FCPA arena.
You lived through it all — now tell your story. As practicing in-house counsel, we face subtle and not-so subtle ethical issues as part of our everyday work responsibilities. This interactive session will focus on the questions that arise in the daily tasks that in-house counsel perform: business person vs. attorney? Ex-employee relationships? Disclosure rules vs. confidentiality? But rather than hypotheticals, we want you to tell your story and make our audience laugh, cry or simply shake their head. With an expert in the field of ethics guiding our session, we will look at how ethical issues arise in our everyday work life and become educated in how to recognize and avoid ethical traps.
Join this session and learn the key intellectual property decisions from the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit that have affected the manner in which intellectual property rights are procured, licensed and enforced. An understanding of the implications of recent significant decisions — involving copyright, trademark and patent law — is essential to creating an effective IP acquisition and enforcement strategy.
What exactly is intellectual property and what does it mean? Corporate counsel must often discuss intellectual property issues with company employees who lack a basic understanding of IP law. This session will use lectures and role-playing to demonstrate techniques for communicating these complex ideas in terms anyone can understand. Don’t miss the opportunity to educate yourself in IP.
Whatever happened to the tradition of getting two paper originals executed by the parties so that they would each have one? How times have changed! This session will address how the use of emails, faxes and electronic signatures is affecting contract law and the implications for the statute of frauds.
The consequences for an employer running afoul of federal wage and hour laws can be dire. This session will review the most common FLSA mistakes made by employers, and how employers can avoid making those mistakes. Strategic ideas about self-correcting FLSA missteps and ways to deal with FLSA claims by employees and/or former employees will also be discussed. This session will also cover case law, collective actions and Department of Labor initiatives.
Whether you have a multi-million dollar advertising campaign or a basic website, your company is engaging in commercial speech. Regardless of industry or company size, bodies of law govern all of your business communications: defamation, commercial disparagement and false advertising. From the sales person in a one-on-one encounter with a prospective customer, to the billboard showcasing your latest product line, statements about your products and those of your competitors could create tremendous risks for your organization. Attendees will learn how to recognize when marketing statements pose unacceptable legal risks, and guide their sales and marketing colleagues to safer ground. Attendees will use handheld clickers to vote on whether particular advertisements cross the line, and receive live feedback on their choices.
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