Search

Annual Meeting 2006: In the event of a corporate failure, particularly one involving a failure of legal compliance, in-house lawyers may find themselves increasingly in the cross hairs. Expansive changes in attorney conduct regulation, fiduciary liabilities for gatekeeper failures, dawn file-raids, subpoenas for lawyers as witnesses, certifications without adequate sub-certifications, and even unsuccessful reporting-up-turned-retaliatory discharge all suggest that the potential for personal liability, fiduciary breaches, obstruction charges, and sanctions for in-house lawyers are on the rise. As general counsel, you owe it to yourself and your legal staff to understand trends, best practices, and helpful policies for safeguarding your law department and your lawyers’ exposure before a corporate failure, or even 20/20 hindsight, puts you in the cross hairs.

Numerous legal issues can arise when you enter into a joint venture or development deal, particularly IP-related ones. Knowing how to identify and address them in the necessary legal documents is essential to protecting your company’s IP assets and those produced under the development deal. Learn legally effective ways of sharing jointly developed intellectual property and how to enter, operate under, and exit (if necessary) such a deal.

Meeting today’s regulatory and client demands requires close up the full power and productivity of all members of the legal department. Law managers must develop the management and relationship skills that aren't taught in law firms or in law school. How can you be more than just a manager and become also an effective leader? Join us for this open dialogue between management experts and corporate counsel as they share advice on how specific general management and leadership techniques can been applied with success to law departments. Learn to articulate the strategies for increasing commitment to organizational goals, identify opportunities to extend leadership training in your department, and appreciate the soft skills required to increase productivity, collegiality, and focus of your department-all with a primary goal of becoming a better leader.

Annual Meeting 2006: Don't know a copyright from a trademark, or just looking for a refresher to help you spot issues? This program will cover the fundamental issues in intellectual property law, including copyrights, trademarks, and patents. You will learn how to spot major issues and avoid common mistakes.

Everyone likes to talk about "partnerships" with outside counsel, but often we do not focus on building effective and mutually beneficial relationships. Learn how to work effectively with your outside counsel and get what you really need and want from your arrangements. Topics will include ethical issues and requirements for engagements, billing, and legal work product, with a special comparison of differences among practices across the border.

Whether you are brand new to in-house practice, or have spent a few years working for a company, your career depends upon some basic skills. Learn how to provide the legal support your client needs, including how to set priorities, communicate legal concepts with management, and understand the legal issues relevant to all businesses.

Would you like to move up, either within your current company or at another company? Maybe become a senior lawyer at a large organization or a general counsel of an any-size corporation? You work hard and charting your advancement is always on your to-do list, but somehow it always stays at the bottom, thanks to company meetings and more. This panel of career specialists will discuss meaningful ways for you to approach advancement in the in-house profession and show you ways to build your skill set so that when the next big position comes along, your resume and you will get in the door.

As in-house counsel, you are likely the first line of defense or corporate "spokesmodel" in a media situation. When the press comes knocking at your door will you be prepared? This interactive session will teach you how to handle a media call, reporters’ tactics, what to do in a crisis, and much more.

It is a competitive hiring world out there. Once you’ve hired just the right team, your job isn’t over. As a manager you are expected to encourage your employees to excel, allow them opportunity to grow, and maintain an open dialogue to promote sharing of ideas. Our panel will share practical advice on how to hire the staff you need and insights on how to manage and motivate your most valuable resource, your staff.

As a small law department practitioner, your typical day could involve anything from addressing a trademark infringement, reviewing a confidentiality agreement to handling an employment dispute. The list is endless. Benchmark with this panel of small department experts who will share practical tips for maximizing your resources and share thoughts on how to prioritize issues, use technology effectively, and partner successfully with outside counsel to provide your company with the best possible legal solutions.

It takes more than being a good lawyer to be recognized as a valued member of the business team at any corporation. It takes initiative, keen decision-making abilities, and yes even a little bit of luck. Join this open discussion among your peers to benchmark experiences and learn how you too can gain a seat at the top table.

All assumptions should be checked at the door for this engaging session where our panel of experts will provide an overview perspective on commercial and IP litigation procedure in various jurisdictions, including the UK, Germany France, and the US. Pan-European in-house counsel should plan to attend in order to learn how to reduce the often surprising, and sometimes frustrating, process of suing or being sued in foreign jurisdictions. Topics to be covered include discovery, timing, the appeals process, and enforcement issues.

Many in-house counsel maintain a business responsibility in addition to their legal role and numerous others spend time "getting closer to the business". How do you manage this schizophrenia? What happens when one gets in the way of the other? Hear perspectives and answers to these and other questions.

Real estate is a subject about which most in-house counsel will be required to provide advice at some point in their careers. Understanding and managing the law and insurance related to real estate can help minimize the risks, especially as they relate to acquisition, ownership and management, leasing, and construction issues. Take home a checklist of real estate risks, strategies regarding environmental, health, and litigation risks, and how to shift the risk of loss onto others.

If your company enters into commercial agreements with other organizations and you don't understand the law surrounding the insurance issues relating to them, this session is for you! Join us as we look at the various insurance clauses that should be included in your agreements and their legal impact.

This advanced level session will provide you an overview of negotiating international license agreements in the context of a variety of property types (trademarks, patents, copyrights, and databases). Included in the list of topics to be covered will be defining the nature of the properties, licensing fees and payment issues, identifying the role of licensing representatives, choosing the applicable law, choosing the appropriate entity to receive the license, and much more.

We've all seen movies where a smoking gun document surfaces late in a crisis. While this can be entertaining when it is someone else's problem, most of us would prefer to avoid this scenario with our own companies. The best way to avoid smoking guns is to implement sound document retention policies. Topics to be covered include education and document retention challenges, proper maintenance of files, teaching law to non-lawyers and making the law relevant, encouraging non-lawyers to use proper document creation processes, and much more.

From the board room to the store room, diversity is an issue that's "top of mind" within the business community. But even the most successful companies and people managers recognize that with this topic, there's still much to learn. This is your chance to ask the experts! MCCA, the leading association for diversity issues in the legal profession, has retained two of the nation's top diversity consultants to share insights into jump starting diversity programs, enlisting broader inclusion of white men, and avoiding common pitfalls that could tank even the best intentions. Check all preconceptions at the door and join us for what promises to be an enlightening and informative discussion.

Despite limited budgets and unique organizational challenges, smaller companies face many of the same drivers with respect to implementing effective ethics and compliance programs as do large public companies. At the same time, smaller companies face additional challenges because the in-house counsel must wear multiple hats including lawyer, business advisor, price analyst, proposal developer, contract administrator, facility security officer-just to name a few. This program will offer a workplan and specific solutions for in-house counsel who must implement an effective ethics and compliance program with limited financial and staff resources, including a look at some of the conflicts when counsel also wears a business hat.

Since the 1990s, there has been a substantial increase in the number of class action lawsuits filed in federal and state courts. Often these suits are developed in collaboration with plaintiffs' counsel from multiple jurisdictions, and after testing on mock juries. Many of these suits are coordinated with requests for government action against the company and launched with a media blitz. How can you prepare for such an assault, and how should you respond once a complaint is filed? Your legal peers who have survived this new class-action game will identify the plaintiffs' tactics and offer suggestions for early responses as well as long-term strategies in defending class actions. Plus you'll learn strategies on how to reduce risk from such actions and coordinate the activities of your legal department and public relations.

This training course explains the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Standards of Conduct in simple, understandable terms. It includes pop quizzes, news clippings and a final quiz highlighting real-world compliance issues that employees should learn to recognize and respond to appropriately.

To access the FERC Standards of Conduct Training Course, visit <a href=http://www.ethicsxchange.com/topic/53519-ferc-standards-of-conduct>www.ACC.com/compliance</a>

Discussion of the ethical and professional issues facing in-house counsel in e-discovery and document retention.

Overview of public relations issues that pharmaceutical companies may encounter. Provides examples of some worst-case scenarios, crisis management tips, constituencies to consider, and tips on how to react to crises.

Will your contract withstand an unexpected change and still provide you with the benefits you have anticipated? Have you anticipated what might happen to your “deal” if the counter-party has a significant change in its business, such as being acquired, becoming insolvent, or losing key personnel? Is your contract designed so anticipated, routine changes can be readily made? Are you protected from a force majeure event? Are you prepared to make quick, non-routine changes to your contract, when this is necessary? This presentation will help you to answer “yes” to all of these questions, thereby producing contracts that are more resilient in the face of future change.

Whether it is called excess or erroneously awarded, some compensation – at some point – that has been paid to executives may need to come back to the company. Dodd-Frank made a policy on this mandatory, and the SEC rulemaking on Section 954 of Dodd-Frank needs to be taken into account. Attend this session to engage in a discussion of what a policy might cover and what a policy needs to cover. Consider the choices and policy implications on this important topic with colleagues. Should policies be all-encompassing, or should recapture provisions be included in employment agreements and awards? What triggers the clawback? Who is covered by the policy? What are others doing and what do advisory firms think about clawback policies? Good questions for a great discussion at this session.

It has been almost a year since the adoption of the most significant financial reform legislation in recent history. Find out what has been happening on the regulatory and legislative fronts, and what still needs to be done.

McMillan's presentation for the conference entitled "doing it right – how to comply with Canadian, American and UK anti-corruption legislation" (2012) This presentation provides an interesting overview on the compliance aspects of anti-corruption legislation.

Program material from the 2012 ACC's Annual Meeting, which provides an overview of legal project management techniques and tools, as well as best practices for scoping projects, managing teams and budgets, communicating to stakeholders, addressing scope creep, and conducting post project-reviews.

Examine key issues arising from differing legal systems in negotiating and drafting contract terms, particularly choice of law considerations, as well as other substantive provisions such as warranties, indemnities, limits on liability and dispute resolution.

Learn techniques to become a more effective negotiator. Gain insights into different approaches to the major legal issues that arise, and discover the cultural “soft skills” you need to navigate successfully across the cultural divide while keeping a firm hold on your ethical compass.