Courts and administrative agencies, including the US National Labor Relations Board, are expanding the definition of “employer” to allow liability for employment obligations to cross corporate lines. Various legal theories, including joint employer, single employer, and alter-ego theories, are being used to treat nominally separate corporate entities as one employer for liability purposes. The result of this definitional expansion is that affiliated companies are being found liable for labor and employment law violations of subsidiary or sister companies, including violations of the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, wage and hour, discrimination, and whistleblower laws, among others. Many corporate structure forms are put at risk, including holding and operating companies, parent-subsidiary relationships, private equity management-portfolio company relationships, general and limited partnerships, independent contractor relationships, and joint ventures. This session will address the factual and legal bases for disregarding corporate separateness in the labor and employment law setting and suggest practical strategies to minimize or avoid liability.
This advanced-level program will provide invaluable insights on how to deal successfully with the complex issues that companies face when managing subsidiaries in Europe and Asia. The experienced international lawyers on the panel will discuss issues that include successfully handling the crises and potential reputational damage that could occur when a foreign subsidiary’s activities are alleged to involve dishonest or illegal business practices, as has happened recently in the European Union and China, or that may result from threats of civil or criminal actions at home or abroad.
This interactive session will explore the intersection of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and pro bono, with a particular focus on how legal department leaders can develop pro bono programs to complement their companies’ CSR efforts and increase impact.
As in-house counsel, you provide your outside counsel with some of your company's most highly sensitive information. Your company may have robust procedures for evaluating other third-party vendors with access to company data, but often with respect to law firms, the procurement process is left solely to in-house counsel. Do you know what your law firms are doing to protect that information from cyber attacks and other disclosures? Even if you consider your company to be at low risk for cyber incidents, can the same be said of your law firms? This discussion will explore the issue of law firm data security - how to address the issue when retaining a new firm or raise the issue with an existing firm. The panel will also discuss what policies and processes should be applied inside the legal department to meet in-house counsel's ethical obligations under Rule 1.6 of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct.
Smart contracts are receiving significant commercial attention — and for good reason. They have the potential to transform businesses and deliver significant cost savings by automating and streamlining processes. Smart contracts are software that has the ability to perform aspects of a contract autonomously. Depending on a range of factors, they may sometimes amount to binding contracts in the legal sense or otherwise affect legal relations between parties. When used in combination with block chains or distributed ledgers, smart contracts have the ability to move value or information between parties without the need for human intervention. This session will discuss what smart contracts are, their potential impact, and the legal, regulatory and consumer protection issues relating to their use.
In this increasingly connected world, an international cyberattack is no longer a possibility but an inevitability. The difference between success and catastrophe in defending against international cyberattacks comes down to not just preventing them, but responding quickly and appropriately when one does occur. In-house counsel must be prepared to work with internal clients to anticipate potential consequences of an international cyberattack, mitigate the risks of an attack, and implement an agreed strategy that effectively deals with the business and legal risks. This session will give in-house counsel the tools to have constructive conversations with their company's business leaders and technical teams to ensure that their program for dealing with international cyberattacks fits the needs of the company and the customers it serves and addresses the company's legal obligations relating to the attack.
In 2016, employers should expect to see US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines that are as much as 80 percent higher than in the past as a result of a budget provision signed into law by President Obama that will significantly increase OSHA fines for the first time since 1990. Fines will place greater emphasis on getting OSHA compliance right. In this program, OSHA experts will address the agency’s new penalties and provide a checklist for specific compliance steps that employers can use to better insulate their companies from those penalties. Presenters will address OSHA’s increased focus on new recordkeeping and reporting responsibilities; temporary works; Voluntary Safety and Health Program management guidelines; workplace violence; and joint employer responsibility.
Are you bringing your in-house A-game for defending class actions? A good offense to managing and litigating class actions, especially high-profile class actions, includes the effective use of motion practice, limiting the scope of liability, and, ultimately defeating class certification. A panel of experts will discuss these and other strategic decisions such as choice-of-law arguments; developing a robust factual record to support motions for summary judgment and strengthen expert reports; prosecuting and defending Daubert motions targeting class experts; and advancing constitutional and due process arguments against certification. Lastly, faculty will reveal tips for developing a “secret weapon” communication strategy that advances your business objectives and aims to minimize the potentially harmful adverse effect litigation may have on the corporate brand.
This advanced-level program will provide a mock negotiation of a major-tenant large commercial office lease in a Class A commercial office building in a major metropolitan area. The audience will have an opportunity to watch seasoned leasing attorneys representing both the landlord and the tenant work their way through the most hotly contested issues in major lease negotiations, including tenant improvements; common area maintenance and real estate tax provisions; maintenance and repair obligations; landlord building services; tenant restoration obligations; casualty, insurance, and indemnification provisions; mortgagee nondisturbance; assignment and subletting; and other issues. The audience will follow along by viewing lease documents with sample redlined negotiated provisions, illustrating typical back and forth communications in lease negotiations.
What do you do when your receptionist pierces her nose? When your sales associate has a sleeve tattoo that can't be covered up by clothing? When your male customer service representative announces that he is transitioning and wants to use the women's restroom? Or when an applicant for a wait staff position shows up for the interview wearing a hijab? Welcome to the brave new workplace, where an employer's right to regulate an employee's appearance and behavior with dress and appearance codes, restroom access rules, and other standards of conduct may conflict with a variety of employment law statutes. A panel of employment law experts will explore this rapidly evolving area of the law with insights into recent court cases, what federal and state agencies are doing in this area, and practical advice to help in-house counsel manage their workplaces within the law.