The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) is the world's largest organization serving the professional and business interests of attorneys who practice in the legal departments of corporations, associations, nonprofits and other private-sector organizations around the globe.
The following outline is intended to provide short overview of some of the issues at the heart of this discussion topic. Enterprise Risk Management is a broad topic that includes areas of risk that may not typically fall within the purview of the legal department except in more incidental ways. This outline focuses primarily on those aspects of risk management that may be most likely to impact the law department and your role as CLO on a day-to-day basis.
Canadian CCU 2007: You can be the smartest and best-educated lawyer in the world, but if you can’t communicate your thoughts and analysis in a useful way all of your intelligence will be of little use. In order to effectively communicate with your in-house client you need to be able to explain legal issues and risk in an understandable way and temper that analysis with good judgment and a thorough understanding of your client’s business needs.
Canadian CCU 2007: This fast-paced overview of the basics you need to know to provide legal advice to your marketing and advertising departments will cover legal issues such as regulators and their hot-button issues, how to run a sweepstakes, how to challenge a competitor's ad, claim substantiation and comparative advertising, dealing with emerging mediums such as branded entertainment and blogs, and email and web advertising.
Canadian CCU 2007: Everyone likes to talk about "partnerships" with outside counsel, but often we do not focus on building effective and mutually beneficial relationships. Learn how. Topics included ethical issues and requirements for engagements, billing and cost containment, and legal work product.
Many compliance and intellectual property issues faced by corporations require the use of outside private investigation firms. The ethical rules that apply to counsel engaging private investigators need to be considered along with the boundaries of acceptable activity and use of resources. There are also practical aspects to the engagement and management of private investigation firms to ensure compliance with the law and the avoidance of liability and embarrassment to the company and its directors and officers.
Using plaintiff lawyers for corporate high-stakes litigation is fast proving to provide strategic advantages for both large and small corporations. With the risks and fees associated with litigation soaring, in-house lawyers have successfully employed the plaintiff's bar to maximize recoveries and minimize costs. Take home real-life insights where Corporate America has used plaintiff lawyers with great success.
In today's business world almost nothing is more important than hiring the right person. Hiring the right person means pre-employment screening and background checks are imperative! Employers are responsible for ensuring: the accuracy of information provided by an applicant, meeting your employer required obligations within the hiring process, preventing turn over, and eliminating employer liability within the hiring process. Failure to conduct appropriate pre-employment screening measures can lead to significant liability and risks.
What is the connection between the environmental activities of your company and Sarbanes-Oxley or other corporate legal requirements? What does sustainability mean for companies, and what are the current benchmarks for such a company? How can an environmental management system (EMS) be used to identify potential environmental law risk and improve bottom line performance at the same time? What must Board members and senior management know regarding these issues, and how can in-house counsel most effectively communicate that information to them?
The law department must take a leadership position in preparing a corporate client for global business. Counsel should play a substantial role in the audit of the company for assets required to do business globally and should take the lead in acquiring the expertise and identifying resources for the information necessary to prepare the client. From this program, take home feature audit checklists and get examples of ways gaps can be filled in the client's resources in order to minimize the risk of operating outside of the US.