President's Column:

Teigue Thomas

Hello to all 1500+ members of the ACC-SoCal!  I’m honored to serve as 2011-2012 ACC-SoCal Chapter President and am truly excited about our 2012 calendar of programs and events.  Please join me in welcoming the rest of your 2011-2012 Chapter officers and thanking them for their willingness to serve this extraordinary chapter:

•    VP, Programs: Manisha Merchant (Union Bank)
•    VP, Services: David Cohen (Angels Baseball)
•    Treasurer: Allison Malin (British Telecom)
•    Secretary: Peter Ching (IBM)

I’d also like to thank 2010-2011 President Bill Harn (SCE).  Bill was ACC’s “member of the Year” in 2010 and under Bill’s leadership our chapter was honored by ACC HQ as 2011 Chapter of the Year in the “Large Chapter” category.  Receipt of this honor also sets the chapter apart as having received this distinction more times than any other ACC chapter – a record 8 times!  Now if we could just abolish the HQ rule that no chapter can be named chapter of the year for 2 years in a row . . .   ;)

Your chapter leadership is looking to build on our tradition of success with an unbeatable 2012 calendar.  A few highlights for 2012:

•    Our annual all day In House Counsel Conference (IHCC) is coming up in January 2012.  To build on the growing popularity of this event, This year we’ll be expanding to provide two—that’s right, two—all day programs in January!  The first will be our Los Angeles program on January 11, 2012 at the Montage Hotel with the theme of “Core Strong Corporate Counsel: Growing & Improving Key Skills For Success At Every Level Of In-House Practice.”  The second will be our Orange County program on January 25, 2012 at Angels Stadium in Anaheim with the theme of “A New Frontier For Corporate Counsel: Social Media, Privacy & Intellectual Property In The New World.”  Both are train-station close and are an extraordinary value with ACC member pricing of $50 until January 3rd.  Member signups are already into the triple-digits for each of these great locations so Click Here NOW to reserve your spot before we sell out!!  Note that registration for IHCC is open only to in-house counsel.

•    On May 4, 2012 get ready for another spectacular ACC-SoCal gala!  This annual event is a SoCal tradition and in recent years has featured top-tier keynote speakers including former presidents George W. Bush and William J. Clinton as well as former US Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright.  For 2012 we continue this legacy of timely and intriguing speakers by presenting a special election-year themed keynote: James Carville and Mary Matalin will provide ACC-SoCal with an enlightening and entertaining look at the most important political issues.  They’ll give us a behind-the-scenes look at politics inside Washington and how today’s headlines are playing out around the country as we head into the 2012 Presidential election.  This event WILL sell out be sure to secure your ticket well in advance.  As always, we’ll also be honoring in-house counsel that have worked tirelessly in the pro bono and legal diversity arenas.  If you have an in-house colleague you would like to nominate, please fill out the ***FORM** and send it to socal@acc.com.

•    ACC-SoCal’s annual golf outing will be held on October 29, 2012.  Sure to be another sell-out event, more details will be coming soon.

Of course, the ACC-SoCal 2012 calendar will also be choc-full of monthly CLE opportunities on subjects uniquely tailored to in-house counsel along with our other fantastic member-only events.  Almost all events and CLE programs are provided at NO COST to ACC-SoCal members!  If you’re not regularly attending the events available to you as an ACC-SoCal member you’re not taking full advantage of your membership!  Watch your email on Tuesdays for our weekly email “blast” which provides a summary of all the upcoming events you can enjoy as an ACC-SoCal member!

Get ready for a great 2012 with ACC-SoCal!

Teigue Thomas
VP, General Counsel
Acer America Corp./Gateway, Inc.

ACC-SoCal 2011-2012 President