October 2010 Chapter Meeting

Jackson Walker, ACC Houston's Platinum Sponsor, on October 12, 2010, presented an ethics presentation on the rules of ethics and How to Say "No" to Management and Keep Your Job.  Tim Taylor from Jackson Walker's Austin Office, Charlotte Fischer Ewart, former general counsel of ICO, Inc., and Susan Ponce, vice president and associate general counsel, spoke on real world ethical and professional issues facing in-house attorneys.Practical advice on how to avoid ethical pitfalls, comply with the rules and laws, while building trust with clients and delivering legal advice to the company were some of the many topics covered. Over 100 ACC members and guests attended the presentation.

(In the photo, from left to right- George Thomas, Charlotte Fischer Ewart, Tim Taylor and Susan Ponce.)

November Chapter Meeting

The room was full once more for the monthly chapter meeting on November 12 which featured an update on recent Texas Supreme Court developments.  The speaker,   an obvious expert in this area, was The Honorable Scott Brister who is currently the head of the appellate section at Andrews & Kurth LLP and was previously a Justice of the Texas Supreme Court for six years.  Judge Brister is a most entertaining and informative speaker, and we thank him not only  for his presentation and for his willingness to give a repeat performance  at a special meeting for our ACC members in the Woodlands area.  Thanks also to Andrews and Kurth its sponsorship of this meeting and its support throughout the year of ACC.  If you missed both of these meetings, click here to view the program materials.

 

October Chapter Meeting

Another standing room only crowd of over 90 memebers attended the chapter meeting on October 14 at Maggiano's.  The topic was Enterprise Risk Management and the speakers were Mark Jones, a corporate partner of Jackson Walker L.L.P. and Susan Ponce, Senior Vice President & Chief Compliance Officer of Halliburton and  a member of the board of directors of Houston ACC. Click here to view the program materials for the presentation by Mark and Susan.  Also at this meeting, our new chapter president, Russ Miller, recognized the accomplishments of immediate past president, Kelli Powell.  Kelli in turn presented Russ with the President's plaque for him to hold during his term of office. Honored guests at the meeting included the 2009/2010 Houston ACC Diversity Scholarship winners from the area's three law schools.  Click here for  the names of the scholarship recipients.  Congratulations and best wishes to each of them.  And finally, a very big  thank you to Mark and Susan for their presentation and  to Jackson Walker for its sponsorship of the October chapter meeting and for its long standing support of Houston ACC as our title sponsor. 

Susan Ponce and Mark Jones.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monthly Happy Hours and In Transition Lunches

The Houston ACC Social Networking Committee has begun two new monthly events.  The first is an unsponsored  monthly Happy Hour from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM on the second Thursday of each month at The The Tasting Room in the Uptown Shopping Mall.  The first two of these Happy Hours were held on August 13 and September 10.  Attendance was low as would be expected for a new event of this type, but the participants all enjoyed themselves and wanted this event to continue with the expectation that attendance will increases over time. 

The second new event by the Social Networking Committee is a monthly lunch for ACC members in transition.  This is also an unsponsored event held on the third Monday of each month from 11:30 to 1:00 at Cafe 121 which is at 5757 Westheimer at Chimney Rock (southwest corner of intersection).  The first in transition lunch was held on September 21.  Those attending exchanged views on the various aspects and strategies of being in transition and explored things that that each of them could do to assist each other. 

Latin America Practice Group

The Latin America Practice Group had two events in September.  On September 3, about 20 persons from 10 different energy companies attended a meeting at the Daily Grill.  The topic was the new Pemex framework and exploration contracts.   On September 30, about  25 persons gathered at the St. Regis Hotel for a presentation on International Agency and Distribution with a focus on Latin America.  Specific considerations covered included the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, dealer contracts, and dealer relations and terminations.

IP Practice Group

The IP practice group of AAC Houston held a lunch seminar at the Offices of Vinson & Elkins on September 29.  Approximately 20 persons attended.  The speaker was Gordon Arnold, managing partner of Arnold & Knobloch in Houston.  Mr. Arnold discussed the status of  Patent Reform Legislation pending in Congress.  Also participating in the program by telephone was Paul Loomis from Austin who is involved in patent licensing programs for Open Text Corporation in Austin. The presentations were well received by the ACC members in attendance.  Thank you to Gordon Arnold and to Vinson & Elkins for its sponsorship of this lunch and its continuing support of ACC.

Small Law Department Practice Group

The Lillter law firm and the Houston ACC Small Law Department Practice Group  hosted a breakfast briefing on September 22 at Littler's Houston office.  Approximately 15 persons braved severe weather that morning to attend.  The topic was Information Management and the speakers included Kerry Notestine of Littler, and ACC members Mark Wolf of FMC Technologies and Michelle Cash of ABM Industries.  Specific areas addressed by the speakers included matter management systems, form contracts, and leveraging knowledge within law firms and corporate legal departments.  The Small Law Department Practice Group appreciates Littler sponsorship of this meeting and its general support of ACC.  Also, thank you to Kerry Notestine for his participation in this successful event.

September Chapter Meeting

The topic for the September chapter meeting held  at Maggiano's (the usual place), was a 2009 Texas Legislative Wrap Up; Washington May be a Bigger Circus, But don't Forget They still Rodeo in Austin.  The speaker was Mark Vane of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP.  Mark, who is a partner in Gardere's Austin office, specializes in government affairs.  At the meeting, he observed that the activity level of the recent Texas legislative session was lower than normal, and he discussed several of the reasons for this.  Mark also provided his views on some of the dynamics in play for the 2010 elections in Texas.  Finally Mark empathized that  for those companies that have issues of importance that may be before the next session of the legislature, the time to contact  representatives to address concerns  is now.  This was a most informative chapter meeting.  Many thanks to Mark for his time to Gardere for its continued and long standing support of ACC.

Compensation Survey Breakfast

There was a  breakfast meeting at Maggiano's on September 1 which featured a presentation on the results of the 6th Annual In-House Compensation Survey.  The survey was co-sponsored by ACC Houston, KMPG, and Prescott Legal Search. Over 35 ACC members attended and each of the received a copy of the survey results.  A very big thank you to KMPG and Prescott Legal Search for sponsoring this survey and sharing the results with the ACC members at this meeting.

August Chapter Meeting.

Another Chapter meeting.  Another excellent program. Another full house.  Over 90 person attended the monthly Chapter meeting on August 11.  Robert Theriot and Michael Rubenstein of Liskow and Lewis spoke on "Privilege under Fire as it pertains to in house lawyers.  Obviously, this is a topic of interest to all members regardless of our areas of practice.  One case discussed by our speakers with a recommendation that all in house lawyers read was In re Vioxx Products liability Litigation, 501 F. Supp.2d789 (E.D. LA. 2007).  For those who were unable to attend this meeting, please click here to view the program materials which provide an excellent outline of the presentation.  Many thanks to Robert and Michael for their time, effort  and thought in preparing this presentation, and to Liskow and Lewis for sponsoring this meeting and for their support of ACC in general.

 

 

 

 

 

July Chapter Meeting

 Major League Baseball  held its All Star Game on Tuesday July 14 in St. Louis.  The American League won 4-3.  It did not much matter however, because earlier in the day there had already been an overflow standing room only crowd  of 110 persons attending the Houston ACC July chapter meeting.  The topic was "On the Hot Seat: In House Counsel Discuss What You Really Need to Know about About Litigation Management."   A question and answer format was used for the entire session.  There was no shortage of questions, and many members stayed for up to 30 minutes after the meeting to continue asking questions.  The panelists were Jim Ferguson, Vice President and Deputy General Counsel at Haliburton, Bob Vote, Assistant General Counsel at EOG Resources, and Pat Tagtow, Vice President -Litigation at BMC Software. Russ Miller of Anadarko Petroleum was the moderator. Each of these panelists  had different answers and perspectives to most of the various questions, One key  area of agreement was on the need to analyze litigation, comunicate effectively with management and avoid suprises to management or the board. Click here for list of some the questions and other program materials.  Many thanks to the panelists and to Russ for their time.  Also thank you very much to US Law Network, Inc. for sponsoring the July chapter meeting.