Answer Bar: 2020 Corporate Counsel Essentials and Hot Topics

Session 1: In-House Counsel Panel: Effective Relationships Between In-House and Outside Counsel - Best practices for establishing and maintaining a healthy relationship between in-house and outside counsel, including effective communications, working with business leaders and inventors, establishing working procedures, activities beyond the business relationship, creating unique service offerings, and relevant ethical issues.

Session 2: COVID-19 Financial Risk Mitigation Tools - A primer on how companies can protect themselves from the financial consequences of COVID-19 through the strategic use of insurance and force majeure clauses. 

Session 3: Conducting a Risk Assessment - Following the DOJ’s 2019 guidance on the evaluation of corporate compliance programs, what's changed? How do you ensure your process is effective? And what are the key steps and best practices for an effective risk assessment process?

Session 4: Cybersecurity Insurance - Examine key insurance provisions and hear thoughts on evolving exposures impacting privacy and cyber insurance. 

Session 5: New Kids on the Block: State-of-the-Art New(ish) M&A Clauses That You Need to Know - In the always-evolving M&A market, it’s critical that counsel be up-to-speed on the latest deal provisions for buyers and sellers. Hear from seasoned practitioners on the key clauses that savvy dealmakers are including in their agreements to avoid pitfalls and give their clients the edge.

Session 6: Revenge of the Sea Squirts: More Glenn West on Encrusted M&A Boilerplate - The need to understand and appropriately modify “standard” M&A boilerplate to fit your deal cannot be over emphasized. Glenn West builds on last year’s presentation and adds additional examples of the problems that unexamined/encrusted boilerplate can create in potentially undoing the specifically negotiated provisions of your deal.

Session 7: Overview: Implementing Blockchain Solutions - The panel discusses a business approach to blockchain and how and where this technology is being implemented today; the legal, fiduciary and regulatory issues in drafting legal contracts into code; and blockchain from a cybersecurity perspective.

Session 8: Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives: A Priority and a Challenge - Developing diversity and inclusion initiatives is a growing priority for many companies and organizations. Gain strategies and advice in how to approach the creation and implementation of these initiatives, and how to avoid inadvertent Title VII violations or other legal liabilities.

Session 9: Age Discrimination: A New Kind of Generation Gap - The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) just celebrated the 50th anniversary of its enactment. With an aging baby boomer population, employees working past traditional retirement age, and millennials moving into management positions—these issues are more important than ever. Discuss strategies for managing multi-generational workforces and preventing age discrimination claims.

Session 10: Whistleblower Issues and Best Practices - An exploration of the myriad challenges posed for companies by whistleblowers, as well as viable strategies for successfully negotiating the difficult obstacles presented.

Session 11: Tailoring Internal Investigations to be More Efficient and Cost Effective - Discuss the latest technology and techniques that are being employed for conducting efficient and effective internal investigations.

Session 12: Outsourcing Legal Work - What kinds of legal services can you outsource? How do you go about it and how do you effectively protect client confidences when you do? This presentation explores three areas: core legal services (legal research, deposition summaries, drafting, etc.), support services (bookkeeping, website development, HR, etc.) and ancillary services (tenant representatives, retirement plan implementation, or other professional services for one-off-projects).

Session 13: The Company in Crisis: Talking to Investors, Regulators and the Media - Best practices for crisis preparation, planning, and how to disclose and communicate after a crisis event. Address strategies for dealing with the media, investors, and the public then discuss the legal requirements and the strategic considerations in making disclosures in company filings.

Session 14: Representation of Multiple Parties: Ethical and Practical Considerations - Examine the advantages and disadvantages of using pool counsel in internal investigations, including the impact of joint representation, whether the various clients' interests are sufficiently aligned, the types of agreements entered with the company, the logistics of the engagement, consequences of one client being charged or cooperating, and managing client information to avoid potential cross-contamination.

Session 15: Ephemeral Data and Other Emerging Technology - In cybersecurity, staying on pace with current technology, issues, and approaches is a step behind. Practitioners must remain ahead of what is current, or else they will find themselves obsolete, commoditized, outside best practice, or a victim of a cyber incident or crisis. Take a look ahead with thought leadership and awareness around emerging, nascent, or predicted cyber technologies, approaches, threats, challenges, and applications such as transactional due diligence, ephemeral data, incident response, smart cities, alternative commerce and banking, identification, contracting, connected devices, artificial intelligence, risk transfer, data analytics, ethical and privacy concerns, IoT, industrial controls, and connectivity.

Session 16: Wellness and Well-Being: Ethical and Professionalism Implications - Identify current life challenges facing lawyers, the professional responsibility and professionalism issues raised by lawyer impairment, and current efforts by the organized bar and legal employers to address issues of lawyer wellness and well-being.

Includes: Video Audio Paper Slides