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.
Regulatory investigations and enforcement actions are running at unprecedented levels across Australia. Major regulators have been very public as to their priority focus including matters canvassing cyber security and cyber resilience, data management and disclosures concerning ESG, in particular climate change and the “greenwashing or greenhushing” debates.
It is crucial for in-house counsel to have a comprehensive understanding of various strategic factors that have the potential to significantly influence the outcome of a regulatory investigation.
This CPD event, hosted by Gilbert + Tobin’s Disputes + Investigations team in conjunction with ACC Australia, will explore a range of topics including:
recent regulatory trends, including in relation to data breaches, greenwashing and crypto currency;
working with your executive team and Board in anticipation of a regulators’ focus;
the impact of regulatory actions on a company’s strategy and operations; and
tips for in-house counsel when managing a regulatory investigation, including engaging with the regulator, preparing for compulsory processes, document and evidence management and stakeholder engagement.
The energy sector is undergoing rapid transformation. Climate change and technological advancements are disrupting energy markets, and creating challenges for regulators, policy makers and market participants.
This webinar, hosted by Gilbert + Tobin’s award-winning Competition + Regulation team, will explore the latest regulatory developments in the energy sector, including:
major interventions in gas markets;
changes to the electricity grid connection rules; and
the ongoing development of Government schemes to support investment in renewable energy zones.
This CPD session is a must for in-house counsel who expect to be involved in major projects, transactions or disputes in the energy sector over the coming year.
Artificial Intelligence (particularly Generative AI) has truly now arrived in the legal industry and has the potential to shake up the way we practice. But don’t panic! This session will serve as your trusty guidebook to the AI technologies that will likely change the way we find, review and write legal content. Taking a vendor-agnostic approach, we’ll bypass the hype and explain everything you need to know about:
With historically low unemployment and increased employee mobility post pandemic, many have suggested that Australia is currently experiencing the Great Resignation. While organisations work to retain talent, it is inevitable that employees will change jobs in the current market. The key challenge for many employers is ensuring that the organisation’s staff, customer relationships, confidential information and trade secrets don’t follow the ex-employee to their new job.
Please join Employment Relations Partner, Erin McCarthy, for a webinar on legal and practical issues in protecting confidential information and minimising the impact of staff turnover.
In this session we will cover:
What is and isn’t confidential information;
The challenges of managing confidential information in the current age (bring your own devices, working from home);
Surveillance of employees’ use of devices and IT resources;
Use of exit procedures to minimise loss of confidential information;
Post-employment restraints including non-solicitation and non-competition type clauses;
How to minimise the risk of departing employees poaching staff and customers; and;
Contract and policy reviews to provide the best foundation to protect your organisation’s valuable information and relationships.
What’s next on your Legal Department’s DEI journey?
In the words of the great Maya Angelou “If you don't know where you've come from, you don't know where you're going.”; and this is certainly the case for your legal department’s DEI strategy. No matter where you are at on your DEI journey, the ACC Foundation’s DEI Maturity Model (ACCF DEI MM) can help get you to where you need to be. The ACCF DEI MM has been designed for use by legal departments around the world to benchmark maturity of their efforts regarding diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) across a wide range of functional areas that have been proven relevant to optimising DEI impact and results.
Join our panellists Christalyne Look and Sneha Balakrishnan in a roundtable facilitated by Carmel Mulhern, the Group General Counsel and Group Executive, Legal & Group Secretariat, CBA to check where your department is at against the ACCF DEI MM, identify DEI challenges particular to your industry and hear about inclusive practices you can adopt to support your organisation to achieve its goals and increase innovation and growth through equity and inclusion.
We hope you can join us at an exclusive lunch for senior in-house lawyers at the Ashurst Sydney office. This roundtable event will feature guest speakers Anna Smith, Corporate Counsel - Employment Law (Asia Pacific) at Salesforce, and Linda Grace, Head of Ashurst Advance Reach.
Attracting and retaining staff is challenging at the best of times, and particularly during the ‘draft season’ we are in now. At this roundtable lunch, we’re going hear Anna’s experiences at Salesforce and share stories of effective approaches to retaining and attracting the right in-house talent. Linda will also offer insights into ‘keeping the team together’, based on Ashurst Advance Reach's recent survey of over 100 legal consultants.
Seats at this event are limited. Please RSVP as soon as possible to confirm your place.
We hope you can join us at an exclusive lunch for senior in-house lawyers at Ashurst's new Melbourne office. This roundtable event will feature guest speakers Amanda Wilson, Chief People Officer, and Ana Maros, P&C Advisor, of Melbourne Convention & Events Centre, and Linda Grace, Head of Ashurst Advance Reach.
Attracting and retaining staff is challenging at the best of times, and particularly during the ‘draft season’ we are in now. At this roundtable lunch, we’re going hear about MCEC’s retention strategy during Victoria's lockdowns and share stories of effective approaches to retaining and attracting the right in-house talent. Linda will also offer insights into ‘keeping the team together’, based on Ashurst Advance Reach's recent survey of over 100 legal consultants.
Seats at this event are limited. Please RSVP as soon as possible to confirm your place.
The Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) Australia and Baker McKenzie are hosting the 2022 Commercial Contract Law Series for in-house counsel.
Each session will focus on the law and practice of a specific commercial contracting topic area.
Contracting for Privacy and Other Data Regulatory Risk
We invite you to join our second webinar on Wednesday 24 August on Contracting for Privacy and Other Data Regulatory Risk.
In this session Partner, Anne Petterd and Senior Associate, Adeline Brosnan will explore data regulatory requirements customers and suppliers are seeking to translate into workable contract obligations that appropriately allocate risk.
Data regulatory requirements in Australia and overseas continue to develop. For example:
• Cyber-security incident notification requirements have been recently introduced under the Security of Critical Infrastructure Act
• Data transfer requirements were recently updated through revised model clauses under the GDPR
• There are potential changes to the Privacy Act
The data regulatory requirements must be considered against the relevant data flows under a contract and technical constraints, and the interplay of these factors provides much to think about in determining what to include in contract clauses for data regulatory risks.
The Victorian Supreme Court recently awarded record damages of $292.9 million in favour of Cargill against Viterra for false and misleading statements made by Viterra and Glencore relating to the $420 million sale of the Joe White malt business. Gilbert + Tobin acted for Cargill. The judgment shines a spotlight on the litigation risks that companies face if the disclosure made during a corporate transaction process is inaccurate, and the practices companies are taking to mitigate their liability once a corporate transaction has completed.
This session, presented by Gilbert + Tobin’s market leading M+A and Disputes + Investigations teams, will provide practical guidance for in-house counsel in respect of the risks associated with corporate transactions highlighted by the judgement in Cargill. It will explore how to prepare for a corporate transaction and identify the steps that can be taken to manage and mitigate these risks.
This in-person panel session will look at key privacy issues facing organisations and explore the role of lawyers in addressing privacy and building trust. It will cover:
Key challenges facing industry and how these relate to privacy and trust, for example, new technologies such as biometric and uses of AI and automated decision making.
What are some steps being taken to address these and are these industry specific or economy wide?
Are there any particular lessons for lawyers?
What does success look like?
This fantastic session will be followed by networking drinks and provides an excellent opportunity for our Sydney members and colleagues to connect during Awareness Privacy Week.
Please note that this session will be recorded and available for viewing as part of ACC Australia's In-House Counsel Month.