Most of us would agree that litigation is both undesirable and inevitable. Not even the most
cautious companies are immune from lawsuits. Law departments must therefore gear up for
battle by developing strategies for the efficient and effective handling of cases. Through trial
and error, I have uncovered some practical and useful litigation strategies for small law departments. While these strategies will not guarantee victory, they should help to maximize your resources, focus your attack, and make the litigation battle a little less agonizing.
Scholars and business people have proposed a variety of definitions of strategic thinking, including: the ability to
define and create purpose and models, the ability to go from chaos to concept, and an understanding of knowledge
creation.
This paper will discuss the use of techniques to combat abusive discovery in cases brought against corporations based upon allegations of a corporation's employee's negligence.
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.
Do you have a corporate client that wants to make contributions to a federal election campaign? This material is in the PDF format. <A HREF="http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep.html" TARGET=new>Adobe Reader</A> is needed to view it.
This outline covers election-related activities which may be pursued by corporations and labor organizations. One of the core provisions of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971, as amended, is Section 441b, which prohibits corporate expenditures and contributions in federal elections. The prohibitions apply to both independent expenditures and contributions made out of general treasury funds.
The following are observations about some of the differences between new construction, and remedial construction contracting.
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."
Materials from ACCA?s 1998 Annual Meeting?s program.
ACC Value Challenge: Chapter Initiatives
Provides an overview of commercial arbitration. Includes a summarization of relevant case law, international agreements, and sample arbitration provisions.
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 - Immigration Law Primer
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
Presented at ACCA’s Annual Meeting 2000; Program - A Comparative Analysis between U.S. and European Competition Laws
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."
"Do in-house lawyers have the same rights concerning hiring, promotion, termination and similar decisions as other corporate employees? Or does their status as attorneys require different treatment?"
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.
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