Close
Login to MyACC
ACC Members


Not a Member?

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.

Join ACC

The ACC member portal was recently upgraded
Contact our team if you require assistance or encounter access issues. You may need to reset your password following the upgrade.

Search Filters
Country Code
US

Is a data theft or breach one of your company’s worst nightmares? Read the daily paper to see the serious ramifications that can occur under such a breach. What can and should you know about this subject matter and implement to help protect your client? This presentation provided a summary of the current state of the law (state and federal), a discussion of to whom the laws apply and the types of data that have to be protected, and a description of the technology that can be used to help compliance.

Lawyers consume vast amounts of energy, paper, water and other natural resources, and we generate a large stream of waste products, all of which have a substantial impact on climate change and environmental quality. The solution to climate change and diminishing environmental quality not only includes global and national action, but also efforts by individuals, businesses and organizations — including the legal profession — to reduce environmental impacts.

What does “litigation management” really mean? How do you do it? Are you supposed to be involved in every detail or merely outsource cases to outside counsel and receive status reports, or something in between? Does it matter what kind of case it is? How do you best advise your boss of the status of these cases? The panel discussed different methods and styles of litigation management, and guided attendees to determine which approach works best for them, their companies, and their cases.

Since the Enron and Arthur Andersen debacles, prosecutors have shifted toward deferring prosecution of companies and enhancing their scrutiny of officers, directors and professionals. Companies have become more willing to lay blame at the feet of in-house counsel and plaintiffs’ counsel are suing in-house counsel to increase the size of settlements and pit corporate insiders against each other. This program explored the personal liability risks that in-house counsel face in every day situations and provided the legal background so that in-house counsel can properly address those risks.

Your company may be or has been sued; now you must take steps to preserve documents. No task is potentially more important in terms of reducing both headline and economic risk. You face critical questions as to if, when, and how you should implement a document preservation notice and this panel of experts tackled them, such as: When and what type of investigation must a company undertake before determining that a threat is not credible and, therefore, that litigation is not “reasonably anticipated?” When is a corporate entity “on notice?” How do the courts view the parties’ efforts?

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.

Subscribe to United States