13th ANNUAL ETHICS DAY FOR IN-HOUSE COUNSEL
The only all-day ethics program designed
specifically for in-house counsel
Wednesday, December 4, 2019
7 Ethics Credits
Registration/Continental Breakfast 8:30am - Program 9:00am to 4:00pm
(includes lunch)
Program Schedule:
8:30am Registration & Continental Breakfast
9:00-10:00am - Session 1
10:00-11:00am - Session 2
11:00-11:15am Break
11:15-12:15pm - Session 3
12:15 Lunch Buffet
12:30-1:30 - Session 4 (Lunch Session)
1:30-2:30 - Session 5
2:30-2:45 Break
2:45-3:45 - Session 6
9:00-10:00am - Session 1
Littler:
Joint Representation Jitters: Ethical Concerns for In-House and Outside Counsel in Representing Multiple Clients
Corporate counsel are increasingly becoming embroiled in potential conflict situations with individual stakeholders and closely aligned entities. How do you handle an internal investigation with potential individual misconduct that may create liability for the company? What do you do when one of your executives is threatened with suit that may impact the company? How do you ensure that conversations with a former supervisor critical to litigation are protected from disclosure? When is a joint defense with a related (or unrelated) company feasible, or even advisable? In this presentation, we will address the ethical and strategic concerns in navigating each of these quagmires, and we will share tips, tricks, and best practices for reducing risk to you and your organization.
Presenters:
Alan McLaughlin, Office Managing Shareholder, Littler
Stephen Baumann, Associate, Littler
10:00-11:00am - Session 2
Perkins Coie
Avoiding Ethical Pitfalls Unique to Internal Investigations: How to Protect Your Company (And Yourself!)
As experienced white collar & investigations practitioners know, internal investigations can be some of the scariest experiences for clients - whether this is the client’s first or tenth time to go through the process. But besides the inherent emotional (and financial) toll investigations can take, in these days of heightened regulatory, enforcement, investor, and other stakeholder scrutiny, companies and their employees face real legal, financial, and operational risks if they do not stage and conduct these sensitive inquiries with a clear-eyed understanding of the ethical implications of their actions (and inaction).
Topics covered: This presentation will cover the following topics/issues:
- The importance of tailored and practical investigative work plans to ensure alignment and protect applicable privileges;
- How to properly scope an investigation (and identify the actual client);
- “Upjohn advisements” and how to conduct an effective, yet ethical, interview;
- The company’s duty to investigate;
- The hazards of joint representations and providing company counsel to employees;
- Indemnification;
- Data privacy restrictions and their implications on the data collection and review process;
- Dealing with whistleblowers;
- Disclosure decisions; and
- How to appropriately interface with the government (without losing sight of the “advocacy piece”) and meet government investigative expectations.
In tandem with practical advice on these and other issues we will cover the key ethics rules, namely, ABA Model Rule of Professional Conduct 1.13 (organization as client); Rule 4.1 (false statements to third persons); Rule 4.2 (contact with represented parties); Rule 4.3 (Dealing with Unrepresented Persons); and Rule 4.4 (respect for rights of third persons).
11:15-12:15pm - Session 3
Armstrong Teasdale:
Ethical Considerations in Negotiations: Practical Strategies and Tips
Negotiation requires a careful balance of ethical considerations to avoid potential ethical traps. Whether you’re attempting to close a deal or trying to settling a dispute, it’s important to know the ethical obligations and responsibilities that exist beyond the Colorado Rules of Professional Conduct. In this session, Armstrong Teasdale Partners Bill Ojile and Vance Knapp, along with General Counsel William Munn of Nelnet, will discuss the unique ethical challenges for in-house and outside counsel presented by conflicts of interest, dynamic shifts and obligations to disclose. They will also provide practical strategies for negotiating within ethical parameters from the transactional, litigation and employment perspectives.
12:30-1:30 - Session 4 (Lunch Session)
Kilpatrick:
Ethical Issue Spotting for Your Enterprise Innovation
As all enterprises encounter intellectual property issues with their innovation, our panel will examine a series of real-world hypotheticals and uncover the ethical dilemmas. We will explore strategies and best practices to help you spot issues before it is too late. Take away informative considerations that will prove useful across a variety of industries.
Speakers
Thomas Franklin—Partner, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
Eric Hutchins, Managing Counsel, Patent, Trademark & Copyright Group, Oracle
Eric Hutchins is Managing Counsel in Oracle’s Patent, Trademark, and Copyright Team, where he is responsible for managing Oracle's patent risk. He oversees patent market transactions, negotiates patent licenses, and collaborates with Oracle's Litigation Team on patent litigation and post-grant proceedings before the United States Patent and Trademark Office. He also assists Oracle's M&A Team with IP-related due diligence on various acquisitions. Before joining Oracle in 2012, Eric practiced IP litigation at the law firm of Kilpatrick Townsend and Stockton LLP and was a 2006 graduate of the Santa Clara University School of Law.
1:30-2:30PM - Session 5
Fisher Phillips
Government Audits & Investigations: Ethical and Practical Challenges
This presentation will cover the ethical issues that come into play during government investigations and provide best practices to help in-house counsel avoid ethical violations from the perspective of a government attorney and attorneys litigating against the government. Anticipating ethical issues and developing a strategy for handling those situations can minimize risk to your company and strengthen the credibility of the investigation. We will navigate the life cycle of an investigation, from the initiation of an investigation through resolution through questions and answers from our panel.
Kristin White, Partner, Fisher Phillips
Danielle Voorhees, Assistant Regional Director, Division of Enforcement, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission
Ryan Bergsieker, Partner, Gibson Dunn
2:45-3:45 - Session 6
Shook, Hardy & Bacon
Look Both Ways Before Your Cross: When Civil Procedure and Ethics Intersect
Description: Be prepared to be challenged by civil procedure conundrums with ethical overtones! But do not worry: fear of what you don’t know will give way to relief by what you learn! John Barkett will review five civil procedure/ethics hypotheticals to help litigators be better at what they do without running afoul of the Rules of Professional Conduct.
John Barkett, Partner Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
John is a commercial and environmental litigator– and for the past several years, a peacemaker and problem solver serving as an arbitrator, mediator, facilitator or allocator in environmental, commercial and reinsurance contexts. He is a certified mediator in Florida and a member of the London Court of International Arbitration and the International Council for Commercial Arbitration, and serves on the American Arbitration Association and International Centre for Dispute Resolution roster of neutrals, the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Institute for Dispute Resolution’s “Panel of Distinguished Neutrals,” and the National Roster of Environmental Dispute Resolution and Consensus Building Professionals of the U.S. Institute for Environmental Conflict Resolution. He conducts commercial domestic and international arbitrations under