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.
Professional, ethical conduct requires sensitivity, recognition, and constant vigilance. Corporate counsel should be every bit as good, if not better, than our outside counterparts at educating our people, and recognizing and appropriately addressing ethical issues. While doing so, we must also provide our clients with “Hall of Fame” service that goes well beyond the basics of good file handling, excellent legal advice, and reporting.
Data security laws are rapidly changing the way organizations manage information worldwide. Breach investigations are becoming increasingly complex and pose greater risk including potential international effect. Recent breaches in the UK have literally changed the political landscape there. In Europe, huge fines have been imposed in recent cases.
Best practices dictate that you should get and keep your directors interested in and learning about your company and issues pertaining to the board. This effort should start with the “on-boarding” process, followed by a continuing education program on topics such as legal and regulatory changes, trends in corporate governance, compliance, compensation, financial reporting, whistleblower developments, insurance, and more. It’s never to late for anyone—even the Board—to learn.
Wage and hour issues can be significant sources of liability for any company. It is essential to keep up to date on these matters. This session provided an overview and update on federal and state wage and hour developments. It also reflected on best practices for dealing with those changes and provided practical advice for implementing them at your company.
This program explored non-traditional ways a company can leverage its insurance policies, or the policies of a party with which it has a dispute, to access outside funds to resolve its disputes. Frequently, companies think of their insurance policies as applying only to personal injury claims, or fiduciary duty claims with respect to officers and directors. However, with appropriate documentation and planning, existing insurance policies often can be efficiently “mined” to address a broad array of commercial disputes beyond those traditionally considered.
Electronic content management is a hot issue, especially with discovery’s scope extending to all electronically stored information (ESI). How can in-house counsel be proactive in managing ESI? Numerous vendors providing valuable services related to ESI attend the ACC Annual Meeting. These services help in-house counsel manage electronic records retention, document management, litigation hold policies/procedures, compliance, reporting, etc. Before talking to vendors, attend this session for guidance on defining and addressing information management problem areas within your company.
Add to that long list of considerations in mergers and acquisitions the topic of how you handle the IP. This session provided an overview of this important issue, including engagement/pre-due diligence advice, matters that must be tracked down in due diligence, handling due diligence findings, working with outside counsel and legal department subject matter experts, the technical due diligence process including addressing open source matters, and the definitive agreement and disclosure schedules.
Both your board and your company need to understand basic issues relating to Board liability. This program reviewed recent cases where directors were held directly liable. It also addressed how to educate Boards about this subject without scaring them off, provided practical tips on how to counsel the Board to help them avoid liability, and the extent to which D&O insurance covers the Board members. If you’re responsible for the care and feeding of the Board—this program was for you.
Litigation of any kind is incredibly daunting for almost every defendant. The stigma, process, and potential costs associated with sexual harassment litigation can be especially harrowing. In this presentation audience members sat in the jury box and watched a DVD of a mock sexual harassment trial. The audience then was broken up into small groups with each “jury” asked to deliver a unanimous verdict and discuss the reasons behind their decision. This process showed corporate counsel which actions are the focus of jury deliberations and allowed them to participate in a jury trial.
For over 50 years, members of the European Union have worked to create a single, harmonized pan-European internal market. However a seeming paradox has arisen: The more "harmonizing” legislation is passed at EU level, the more important divergent nationals laws become. This rise of national law, combined with the devolution of activity from EU to national regulators, has serious “real world” compliance ramifications for companies doing business in Europe.