One of the in-house litigator's most important roles is quantifying litigation exposure. Whether evaluated at the enterprise level or on a case-by-case basis, the in-house litigator is under more pressure than ever to assist the corporation to manage/contain overall risk. Nuanced high/low analyses or "it depends" answers from a learned legal pulpit will not make the cut in today''s cost-conscious corporate environment. In-house practitioners need to have effective tools and methodologies to assess litigation risks and develop strategies for containing the cost of litigation, as well as financial exposure to the corporation. This program will explore novel ways the in-house litigator can approach litigation, and contain risk and cost, with a business (not only a legal) mindset.
The Stark Law has promulgated complicated regulations for transactions involving payments to physicians. All facets of the healthcare industry also face on a daily basis the shadow of government prosecutors focused on violations of the federal anti-kickback statute. These laws involve both criminal prosecution and civil liability, and in-house attorneys have at times been prosecuted as individual defendants. Enforcement is expanding to cover individual physicians as prescribers of company products and providers of services to companies, such as consulting and clinical investigator services, and to physician ownership of medical device distributors. Looming over healthcare companies and individuals is the potential to be debarred from participation in Medicare, Medicaid & other federal health care programs. In addition, in-house counsel need to be aware of obscure state laws on the issues of physician self-referral prohibition and anti-kickbacks. This program will discuss the government’s new enforcement trend and mechanisms that in-house counsel can employ to reduce these risks.
Part of risk management is managing the enterprise’s insurance coverage, submitting claims and getting claims paid. Insurance companies often avoid paying claims. You will learn: what the insurance companies’ obligations are with respect to claims adjusting; how to manage the process and maximize your recovery; insurer duties and the insured’s obligations; what to do when you get denials or reservation of rights letters; how the tri-party relationship of insurer, defense counsel and insured works; whether you can get in-house attorneys’ fees paid; and some creative ways to settle claims with insurers.
Social networking is no longer relegated to personal communications; businesses are increasingly using Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to strengthen their relationships with consumers. While benefits of social networking are numerous, these sites have become increasingly attractive targets in litigation. This article discusses how organizations can mitigate the risks associated with social networking through thoughtful and proactive planning.
This checklist outlines issues and gives tips for policy conditions, sublimits and deductibles, anti-concurrent causation clauses, and liability issues when natural disaster is a factor.
This brief article explains the top ten considerations for your company to consider when choosing a spokesperson, purchasing a policy, and making a claim for coverage in the United States.
Check out this 2014 Communicator Award-winning column! The author discusses the importance of being realistic and pragmatic about dangers and probabilities instead of anticipating the rare, colossal corporate slip-up.
The following is a risk management briefing that puts the key issues at the top of the agenda.
This Top Ten article contains some predictions about corporate governance, regulatory risks, boundaries of the employer-employee relationship and other issues that professionals in the corporate legal department may be working on this year.
While there is no "one-size-fits-all" compliance program for every organization, there are several core components that must exist to have an effective Program. This QuickCounsel covers those components.