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Many companies acquire real estate from time to time. This can range from acquisitions to meet the needs of a company's operational growth to acquisition of real estate in connection with mergers and acquisitions of other companies or business units. The real estate due diligence process can be time-consuming and costly. To a non-real estate lawyer, it can also involve arcane issues of real estate law (such as easements, rights of first refusal, liens and encroachments). This panel is designed to provide the audience with knowledge that they can use to perform real estate due diligence or manage outside law firms providing that service.

Gone global? More and more companies are stretching their operations across the world; in-house employment lawyers can no longer afford to be experts only in US employment law. Instead, those who work for multinational companies must be able to manage complex multijurisdictional human resources projects, as well as employment issues arising in many countries simultaneously. This panel will address some of the key challenges such as managing global reductions in force, and provide advice on best practices.

Serving as a witness is a particularly tricky situation for in-house counsel, who are often involved in both business and legal affairs and communications posing vexing ethical issues. When called as witnesses, however, how do in-house counsel manage the expectations of their company, protect confidential information, live up to the legal and ethical standards set by the profession, and still abide by the law? This program will discuss the situations in which in-house counsel may find themselves as a witness in litigation, and the strategies to help them cope with this difficult situation.

Are the Obama administration and Congress really going green? The 2008 elections were filled with promises of new investment in clean energy and efficiency, including the Obama-Biden "New Energy for America" plan. This session will include a discussion on pending energy-related legislation, as well as the energy policy initiatives anticipated from the Obama administration and current Congress.

Experts from the USPTO will discuss current patent and trademark issues, and more importantly, listen to you — the customer. If your practice has anything to do with patents or trademarks, you should not miss this important session.

This panel will address developments since 2008, with emphasis on the repercussions of the US financial crisis for the European Union, Asian markets, and other global economies. Topics covered will include the Obama Administration's approach to the crisis, and related developments in the European Union, China, and Hong Kong economies. Panelists will also address proposed changes in legal and regulatory structures to respond to the crisis in the US, the European Union, China and Japan.

This program will present psychological theories that both explain and challenge the conventional wisdom on the art and science of negotiation. The panel will first examine general negotiation effectiveness and then discuss how to translate these lessons into mediation. You will walk away with practical advice for applying these concepts systematically when preparing for negotiations and working with clients to achieve maximum results. Join this session and engage in a lively discussion that is sure to be as entertaining as it is enlightening.

Under the Obama administration, companies should expect to see a shift in OSHA's emphasis toward greater standards enforcement and away from voluntary partnerships. Employers should prepare for the agency to focus on OSHA recordkeeping, new safety and health standards, a Federal ergonomics standard, and ongoing Congressional debate to the OSH Act. This session will also address actions that in-house counsel can take today to remain on top of the changes and assure compliance.

The company's subsidiary is being sold to a competitor. The CEO's daughter wants to buy a house. An employee confesses an inappropriate activity to you. Conflict can be tough to avoid for in-house counsel. This program will help you assess the critical issues of who your client is, what constitutes a conflict, how far you can go in providing advice to those who aren't your corporate client, and how you can avoid or extricate yourself from this logjam of issues.

The worldwide financial crisis has affected more than just stock markets and the economies of individual countries. It has significantly impacted where and how companies operate and make decisions about Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), particularly in Asia. This session will be conducted as a roundtable discussion of experts who have first-hand experiences in the region. They will discuss the short and long-term effects of the crisis on FDI. The roundtable will also highlight the risks and opportunities that now exist in China, India, Southeast Asia, Russia, Japan and Korea.

We may not all have to address complex environmental permitting issues, but we likely all have to deal with real estate issues. Imagine your company just bought 20 acres for a strip mall or moved into vacant commercial space. Suddenly, buried drums are discovered on the neighboring property and it is now being called a Superfund site. This session will cover issues on how to identify and avoid costly environmental liabilities. The panelists will offer practical insights into environmental terminology, due diligence and negotiating strategies that will help avoid costly expenditures.

Conventional views of records and discovery are failing organizations in their quest to effectively tackle the challenge of managing corporate information. Many in the legal and records management community talk about the intersection of records and discovery, implying that these are two distinct parts of a larger information paradigm. They are not. This session will explore how the distinctions that exist between records and discovery management are eclipsed when you consider that most of the catalysts driving these previously distinct disciplines have coalesced to create similar requirements and a common challenge — The Information Challenge. Join this interactive panel discussion, learn how to work with the Information Challenge in your organization with practical requirements, and take solutions with you.

Open source software is everywhere and whether you like it or not, your company is using it. It's one of the hottest areas of technology, both in terms of innovation and the ability to implement deep cost savings. This presentation will review the essentials in-house counsel need to know regarding their company's usage of open source software. The panel will also review the latest legal developments in this fast-moving area and what they mean in terms of how to represent your company.

Last year we presented you with a number of professionally acted hypotheticals that ask the audience to interactively navigate a series of ethical close calls. We got such good reviews and the discussion was so active that we are back again with more this year. Visit again with our in-house colleagues as they address a slew of ethical issues that arise in their practices and try to navigate the right course.

This session will focus on the experiences of the major business players in Latin America and their domestic and cross border product and services transactions, as well as financial operations, including raising capital (debt and equity) through the stock exchanges. Other issues to be addressed include; whether debt commitments are being met; whether the regulatory response is designed to provide incentives for better corporate performance, compliance, and governance; whether restructuring or liquidation is the best option to deal with insolvent debtors; and the effectiveness of procedures for restructuring insolvent debtors. Finally, we'll discuss what the future looks like.

This extensive powerpoint outlines competitor agreements, mergers, pricing and distribution agreements, as well as misleading advertising. In both English and French, this will help you decide if your company is ready for Canada's Competition Act.

This program material covers proportionality in litigation, monetary limits for small claims, discovery and summary judgment as well as the
timing for motions, applications and appeals when considering civil justice reform.

Learn how to better prepare and avoid a product crisis.

Learn how to deal with other departments and manage their expectations of the roll the legal department has in so many situations.

This material will help the small legal department choose, manage, and work with outside counsel.

Mediation rules to consider when working in cross-boarder situations.

A discussion regarding the lack of legal privilege for in-house counsel in Europe.

An all encompassing overview of recent developments in product safety in the United States

This material covers developments in growing fines, guidelines to watch out for, and record settlements.

This material covers competition law in Switzerland with particular focus on issues of interest to in-house counsel, including useful charts and diagrams for review.

If your organization uses subsidiaries or related companies to carry on parts of its business (in or outside the US), this program will provide practical guidance about some of the legal issues that may arise in relationships between affiliated business entities. These include: issues relating to the creation and capitalization of subsidiary companies; discovery against a parent through its subsidiary; how affiliates can use intellectual property owned by a related company; jurisdictional issues and piercing the corporate veil. Let our panel of your small law peers teach you how to avoid legal liability in these and other related situations.

Climate change is a hot issue around the globe. If you aren’t up to date this session is for you. Our panel of experts will provide an overview of the numerous legal and business issues emerging from state, federal, international and voluntary initiatives aimed at mitigating the potential impacts of global climate change. Attendees will come away from the program with a benchmark of what U.S. companies are doing and a resource guide to better equip them to help guide their company's response to this enormous problem.

All employers need to know when their employees are eligible for an excused protected leave. Now there are so many different types of protected and unprotected leaves for employees. This presentation will help you understand an overview of state and federal laws covering leaves such as: FMLA, disability accommodations, and USERRA. Learn how best to deal with FMLA intermittent leave, employees who have been called up for active military duty, employees requesting extended periods of leave, and leave as an accommodation. Plus our employment specialists will provide a list of possible tools you can make use of to manage disability, wellness and attendance. This program is designed for both the generalist and the employment law specialist.

Developed with the transactional attorney or corporate generalist in mind, this session will provide you with the fundamentals to draft and negotiate legally enforceable environmental terms and conditions for the purchase of real property and the sale of an on-going concern with environmental liabilities. Our panel will focus, in particular, on environmental law including indemnification provisions, baselines, and related insurance. From this program, you will be able to draft and negotiate environmental terms in a contract without being forced to go to outside counsel for assistance.