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In 2022 the ACC Foundation launched the DEI Maturity Assessment (powered by Ethisphere), allowing organizations to pinpoint where they are in their DEI journey, benchmark them against their corporate peers, and chart paths to increased DEI success with the ultimate goal of increasing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging across the legal profession. The ACC Foundation DEI Vanguard Award was created to honor organizations that have demonstrated their commitment to and impact on legal diversity by completing the assessment and scoring within the top 15% of respondents.

Join us as we host a virtual conversation with the 2024 ACC Foundation DEI Vanguard Award winners. Learn how they’ve developed effective plans for DEI success, challenges they’ve faced along they way and strategies to overcome them, how their commitment to diversity has impacted their organizations, and where their DEI journey is taking them in the future. 

The Global Women in Law & Leadership Symposium and Honors Dinner is an opportunity to bring high level professionals together to explore the many issues confronting women in the workplace, particularly in the corporate legal profession. The symposium will include programing focused on career strategies, leadership, and wellness. The honors program will include keynotes, networking, and a dinner honoring women leaders.

The coming election year promises to be turbulent, and your workplace will unlikely be immune from the challenges that are sure to face employers. As political passions run high, for most employers it will be more a question of when, rather than if, workplace disruptions will occur.  As we have seen in the past, these disruptions include employees arguing with, refusing to work with, shunning, and/or harassing co-workers with opposing political views. Considering what you can do as an employer to prepare for this impending workplace dynamic raises several questions, such as: 

• Can you prohibit all political speech in the workplace? What about prohibiting just whatever political speech you want?  
• How about political speech outside the workplace or on social media? 
• Can you discipline or terminate an employee who violates your political speech policy?  Should you? 
• Can you as an employer encourage employees to vote for a specific candidate or position?  
• Is your organization publicly supporting a political candidate? If so, do you have a plan on how to respond to employees who object to the company’s position? 

 Join attorneys from Fisher Phillips to learn the answers to these and related questions, and for practical tips on what you can do to effectively address these unique challenges.

Join us for a review of one of the biggest years in data privacy, as regulators have increased the stakes of privacy enforcement. 2023 saw everything from new laws, new regulatory actions, to new presidential decrees impacting privacy against a backdrop of AI-fueled seismic shifts in both public and private sectors. We will break down the state of data privacy compliance going into 2024, analyzing noteworthy updates such as:

• New rules from the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
• Trends in privacy litigation and strategies to avoid becoming the next target
• Exacting rulemakings from the California Privacy Protection Agency
• Emerging guidance on AI and data privacy.
• Updates in state privacy law, including the now 13 comprehensive state laws.
• The Biden administration’s AI Executive Order and its repercussions for privacy.
• The latest international privacy updates, such as the EU-US Data Privacy Framework.

Presented by Natasha Kohne and Michelle Reed, Partners at Akin, Sheila Pham, Director, Legal -  Privacy at RingCentral and Amy Yeung, VP and Deputy General Counsel at Sallie Mae. 

Moderated by Tony Pierce, DC Partner-in-Charge at Akin. 

1.5 Hours of VA and CA CLE pending.

IAPP Credit also pending.

The Corporate Transparency Act, effective from January, mandates entities formed this year to make their initial filing with FinCEN within 90 days of formation. Entities formed before 2024 have the entire year to comply. Well-prepared companies are using this time to analyze and fine-tune their structures to best position themselves to report as efficiently as possible. With the information reported to FinCEN now widely accessible to the IRS, it’s crucial for legal departments and in-house practitioners to collaborate with their counterparts in finance, tax, and compliance to ensure consistent reporting across government agencies and minimize audit risks.

Discover how the IRS’s significantly enhanced enforcement and technology budgets, along with new information sources like the Corporate Transparency Act, are set to impact large corporations, complex partnerships, and high net worth individuals who are under the IRS’s scrutiny.

This panel will also share insights gleaned from the initial months of filings under the Corporate Transparency Act and discuss how companies can benefit from the various reporting exemptions.

Presented by Melissa Wiley, tax controversy partner at Lowenstein Sandler and Laura Murray, General Counsel at Virginia REALTORS®.

1.5 Hours of VA MCLE pending.

Please join the ACC NCR Community Service Committee and the Accessibility Affinity Group for a virtual evening of meditation!  Sign up to join a group-lead meditation session and learn about the importance and value of meditation, all from the comfort of your home or office.  

In addition, we ask that participants, and anyone else who wishes to, donate to our National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Fundraising Page.  NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots mental health organization dedicated to improving the lives of all those affected by mental illness.
NAMI provides education, support, advocacy, and awareness so that we all live better lives.  

Our goal is to raise $500.

Please join us for some relaxation and mindfulness!

By registering for this ACC NCR event, you acknowledge that you have read ACC NCR’s Code of Conduct for Events and agree to comply with its terms.

8:30 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Registration & Breakfast

Session 1 - 9:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.
"Oh my, AI: The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Key Business Agreements"
Presented by Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP

These days, news about artificial intelligence is constantly popping up in articles and our social media feeds—and the content we read is increasingly written by ChatGPT and other generative AI systems.  Given the trends, it’s no surprise that corporate attorneys are considering whether these tools can help draft agreements with customers, vendors, consultants, and employees.  While ChatGPT passed the bar exam last year, there are still significant risks in using AI to help draft documents.  In this program, we’ll discuss the impact of AI on contract drafting and use it as a springboard for discussing the state of the law regarding NDAs and restrictive covenants, as well as independent contractor and consulting agreements.

Speakers:

• Michael Pepperman, Partner, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP
• Ivo Becica, Partner, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP
• Teleicia Dambreville, Director, Senior Counsel, Burlington Stores, Inc.
  

Session 2 - 10:15 a.m. - 11:15 a.m.
"Avoiding Déjà Vu All Over Again: Incorporating Lessons Learned from the Courthouse into Commercial Contracts"
Presented by Ballard Spahr LLP

Common provisions in agreements often have significant impact on litigation that arises under those agreements.  In this program, we will discuss how experience in litigating disputes involving commercial contracts can inform how to negotiate future agreements to both mitigate risk and better position your client in a dispute arising out of the agreement.  We will highlight such familiar provisions as limitations of liability, diligent efforts, termination right, and dispute resolution clauses, and how those provisions can be drafted to avoid unintended consequences and improve litigation positions.

Speakers:

• Robert Baron, Partner, Ballard Spahr LLP
• Mike O’Connor, Global General Counsel, CSL Behring

Session 3 - 11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
"Act 122 of 2022, New Reporting Obligations for LLCs and What’s Up Next"
Presented by Stradley Ronon

With a slate of changes to the Pennsylvania Business Corporation Law (BCL) and the implementation of new reporting requirements, how can Pennsylvania limited liability companies (LLCs) best navigate these complex obligations? And what does the legislative landscape for LLCs look like going forward?

Tune in for an overview of the latest in LLC developments, reporting obligations and what to expect in the future, including:

• Revisions based on changes in the BCL:
  • Ratification of defective acts.
  • Entity records and use of blockchain technology.
• New and modified reporting requirements for Pennsylvania entities:
  • Annual reports to be filed with the secretary of state.
  • Beneficial ownership information reporting obligations under the Corporate Transparency Act.
• Revisions based on the American Law Institute’s “Principles of Corporate Governance” (as endorsed by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court).
• Changes contemplated by updates to the Uniform Limited Liability Company Act.

Speakers:

• Lisa Jacobs, Partner, Stradley Ronon
• Megan Stamm, Associate, Stradley Ronon