“Netflix Inc. and Comcast Corp., two of the largest U.S. media companies, collectively gave almost $20 million in total compensation last year to their top lawyers,” reports Brian Baxter in Business & Practice.

“David Hyman, Netflix’s chief legal officer and corporate secretary since 2002, received nearly $10.5 million in total compensation, a 28% increase from 2019.”

“Thomas Reid, hired by Comcast in 2019 to be its chief legal officer and corporate secretary from his role as chairman and managing partner of the law firm Davis Polk & Wardwell, had a nearly $9.3 million pay package.”

“The disclosures, made by both media giants in their annual proxy statements filed April 23, follow similar disbursements to law department leaders at other major entertainment companies. Those include billionaire Barry Diller’s IAC/InterActivCorp, which noted earlier this month that its former legal chief Gregg Winiarski received more than $22 million in total compensation during 2020.”

Read the article.

“AT&T Inc.’s top lawyer David McAtee made nearly double the compensation in 2020 he did the previous year, due to an equity award infusion,” reports Ruiqi Chen in Bloomberg Law’s Business & Practice.

“McAtee made over $18.6 million in 2020 as the Dallas-based telecom giant’s general counsel and senior executive vice president, compared to $9.4 million in 2019, according to a Thursday SEC filing.”

“The increase comes from a ‘career retention grant’ in the form of an additional $9 million in stock awards over what he received in 2019, on top of his base salary of $1.3 million. The grant does not vest until 2030.”

Read the article.

“Former Wells Fargo & Co. general counsel C. Allen Parker Jr. took home outsized pay of more than $9.6 million last year thanks to his elevation to interim CEO,” reports Brian Baxter in Bloomberg Law’s Banking Law News.

“Parker’s compensation is all the more notable since Wells Fargo’s top in-house lawyer has rarely, if ever, been one of the highest-paid executives at the company, according to three former lawyers for the bank.”

“The bulk of Parker’s pay—approximately $8.3 million, including a $2 million grant of restricted stock—came from his service last year as Wells Fargo’s interim CEO from March through October, according to a 2019 proxy statement filed by the company March 16.”

“The proxy, which also revealed that the bank clawed back a $15 million stock award to former CEO Timothy Sloan, came less than a week after its hire of a new general counsel in Ellen Patterson, the soon-to-be former in-house legal chief at Toronto-Dominion Bank.”

Read the article.

“There has been a veritable explosion of antitrust litigation in the workplace law field, putting employers and their executives at risk. Federal and state antitrust agencies and private plaintiffs have accelerated their attacks on employers who agree to coordinate wage levels (wage-fixing) or not solicit each other’s employees (no-poach),” writes Dennis Cuneo in Fisher Phillips’ Resources.

“Four years ago, the Department of Justice threatened criminal prosecution of companies and individuals who engaged in such activities. A few weeks ago, the nation’s top antitrust law enforcement official reiterated that threat, announcing that he plans to bring a criminal prosecution this year challenging a no-poach agreement. Attorneys General in several states have stepped up their challenges to no-poach agreements, particularly in franchise settings. Private plaintiffs have obtained huge settlements in class action lawsuits challenging no-poach agreements and exchanges of compensation data among employers.”

“The antitrust prohibitions against price fixing or market allocation in product markets are well understood. What is not as well understood is that the antitrust laws apply equally to labor markets. Just as a price fixing agreement between two companies to fix the price of widgets may lead to antitrust sanctions, a wage-fixing or no-poach agreement between two companies that compete for the same labor may also lead to antitrust sanctions.”

Read the article.

“Stephanie Apostolou has been elected general counsel and secretary of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based Koppers and Koppers Holdings, effective March 1,” report Ben Maiden in Corporate Secretary’s Appointments.

“Apostolou is at present deputy general counsel and assistant secretary with the NYSE-listed company, which is a global provider of treated wood products, wood treatment chemicals and carbon compounds.”

“Her promotion follows the announcement that Steven Lacy, chief administrative officer, general counsel and secretary of Koppers will retire at the end of this year after a 20-year career with the company. In the period between March 1 and December 31, Lacy will hold a new position as assistant to the president of Koppers.”

Read the article.

“Most lawyers have a general understanding of the “no-contact rule”  — with a few exceptions, you can’t communicate directly on the subject of the representation with someone you know is represented by counsel.  But where does in-house counsel fit in?  Is in-house counsel “fair game” for ex parte contact by opposing counsel?” asks Karen Rubin in Thompson Hine’s Communication.

“Last month, the Virginia Supreme Court approved Legal Ethics Opinion 1890, and answered “Yes,” in an opinion that also covered some other issues of concern to in-house counsel.”

Read the article.

ACC-Northeast and RFP Advisory Group will present a webinar designed to teach how to use a request for proposal (RFP) as a tool to better manage outside counsel.

Using the RFP process effectively can help a legal department pick the law firms that are the best fit for a company and its existing needs/budget, ACC says.

The event will be Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, at 1 p.m. EST.

The webinar will cover how to use an RFP to:

* create a preferred provider panel

* identify the best firm for a specific matter or project

* convert your pricing structure from the billable hour to an alternative fee arrangement (AFA)

* incorporate the latest technology and innovations into your legal strategy

* increase the diversity of the lawyers working on your matters

* create a set of outside counsel guidelines for your law firms to abide by

Attendees will learn the latest trends in how RFPs are being used, and best practices in how to structure and execute a successful RFP, the sponsors said.

Register for the webinar.

The Washington Post reports that the National Rifle Association shook up its legal team Thursday and severed ties with its longtime outside counsel, intensifying a civil war that has upended the influential gun rights lobby.

The group dismissed prominent Washington attorney Charles Cooper, and another outside counsel, Michael Volkov, resigned, an NRA spokesman said.

The New York Times reports that Cooper had been aligned with former NRA president Oliver North in a contest with chief executive Wayne LaPierre. Cooper had been charging the group $1,350 an hour, the Times reports.

Read the Post article.

Onit has published a case study showing how TIAA embarked on a journey that leverages best-in-class technologies, onshore and offshore partners, and innovation to bring together an efficient resource mix that enables the highest and best use of each law professional’s time.

The case study can be downloaded at no charge.

As TIAA law department’s chief operating officer and chief of staff for the past two years, Brad Rogers was tasked with transforming the entire legal operations function by bringing together law department employees and vendor partners from across the world to streamline processes and implement a comprehensive technology platform with capabilities rooted in process, workflow and collaboration that would allow the best use of each law professional’s time.

Download the case study.

Merry Neitlich of EM Consultants tells the story of the legal department of a Fortune 500 company its legal operations practices and interactions with its internal clients. Under the leadership of the senior vice president and general counsel, the legal department of 35 attorneys decided to ask their internal clients at the company how their services were being viewed and what could be done to improve upon them.

“The participants filled out a fourteen-question short answer continuum-based questionnaire,” explains Neitlich. “This information was transferred into graphs which allowed the attorneys to visually see their service strengths and weaknesses at a glance. The in-person feedback reports combined with the statistical data provided a deeper level of knowledge. ”

The article describes participants’ perception of the legal department, areas for possible improvement, internal communications, workflow options, human resources, and relationships with outside law firms.

Read the article.

RFP Advisory Group will present a complimentary webinar where attendees will learn best practices and obstacles to avoid when issuing a request for proposal (RFP) to law firms.

The webinar will be Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2019, beginning at 1 p.m. EST.

RFP Advisory Group says that RFPs can allow a legal department to:

* Identify how many, and which law firms are the best fit for your business goals
* Incorporate the latest technology and innovations into your legal strategy
* Negotiate rates that will ensure that you are getting the most value for your dollar
* Convert your billing structures to alternative fee arrangements (“AFAs”)
* Increase diversity of the lawyers working on your companies matters
* Create a consistent set of outside counsel guidelines

However, RFPs can be labor intensive and a disaster to manage when done incorrectly, especially when done by general counsel with no legal operations or procurement staff to support the process, the RFP Advisory Group says. This webinar is ideal for general counsel who have been considering issuing an RFP but need to learn more about the latest trends and best practices.

Register for the webinar.

By Justin Perkins
Contract Logix

With more than two-thirds of CEOs expecting their business models to change in the next three years, it’s no surprise that digital transformation continues to be a strategic priority for organizations of all industries and sizes.

What is surprising, however, is that a recent study by Gartner revealed an astonishing 81% of legal departments are not prepared to support their company’s digitization process. That’s a worrisome figure given that legal departments and the contracts they execute define our business relationships and are the backbone of any organization.

The good news for legal is that digitization, at least when it comes to contract management, has never been easier. By embracing software that’s built specifically to support contract lifecycle management, legal teams can shift from laggard to leader in the execution of their organizations’ digital transformation.

The question then becomes, where and how should a legal organization begin the process? Let’s look at the first and most critical step to take when setting the foundation for contract – and legal — digitization.

Digitize and Centralize All Your Contracts in Secure Repository
It’s not uncommon for legal departments to store contracts in shared folders across multiple locations and formats. However, centralizing your agreements into an electronic contract repository is the all-important first step towards the digital transformation of your contract management processes.

Think about how often you or your team need to reference or find an agreement. Whether you’re locating a specific detail or reviewing the entire contract before a renewal or termination, there are many reasons why an online, centralized repository is a foundational element to your legal digitization.

Not only will it keep your agreements organized, it greatly reduces the risk of contracts being lost, overlooked, and accessed by the wrong individuals. It will also allow you to access any document at anytime from anywhere on any device, and that ubiquity is a key component and driver for any organization’s digital transformation.

Another reason to digitize your contracts is so you can easily make use of the valuable data contained in them. Having the ability to capture, analyze, and report on data such as expiration dates, contract amounts, types of clauses used, and contacts will allow you to make much more informed business decisions. After all, digital transformation is all about improving your business processes and developing new business models.

As you begin the process of digitizing and centralizing your contracts – whether they are paper or already in electronic form – it’s’ important that your contract management system employs optical character recognition (OCR) technology. OCR automatically scans the content of your documents as you add them to the system regardless of their format. This ensures that all your contract data is easily found in the results of any search you perform, reports you run, or dashboards you create.

Takeaway
Centralizing all your contracts into a secure, electronic repository is the best and most logical starting point to achieving legal digitization. It may seem like a daunting task, but with help of contract management software, it’s not.

Cloud-based contract management software can be very easy and cost-effective to implement. You can start with a solution that meets the needs of your organization today. Then, as your requirements grow, you can add additional capabilities and user licenses.

Once you’ve built this foundation you can begin to embrace all the other wonderful features of contract management software that allow you to further execute your digital transformation strategy and put smiles on the faces of both your CIO and CEO.

Hanzo, a developer of dynamic web archiving technology for compliance and e-discovery professionals, announced a lineup of industry experts presenting in the webinar “How to Win Using Native Format to Capture Social Media Data,” on Dec. 19, 2018.

The event will include a discussion about the importance of social media to business communications and the ensuing challenges it presents for e-discovery and compliance in the aftermath of the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The webinar also will share strategic insights and best practices for defensible social media collection and real-world stories from the field.

In a release, the company said social media is a valuable way to communicate with customers, but many heavily regulated financial firms shy away from its use, fearing that regulatory compliance will be too difficult. Organizations can also find social media to be critical in e-discovery because it offers a rare window into people’s daily thoughts and activities, even after those people have become embroiled in litigation.

Recent data privacy and security discussions have impacted the use of APIs for social media collections. In this webinar industry experts from legal to corporate will share their experiences with how organizations use and deal with social media in the course of their business. They’ll discuss the risk and challenges surrounding compliance and eDiscovery collections, and explore what is driving organizations toward superior native-format collections.

Speakers will be:

• Mark A. Smolik, General Counsel Chief Compliance Officer, DHL Supply Chain Americas
• Michael Quartararo, Managing Director, eDPM Advisory Services
• Steve Tanner, Social Media & Online Communities Lead, Relativity
• Evan Gumz, Senior Account Executive, EDiscovery, Hanzo

REGISTER
How to Win Using Native Format to Capture Social Media Data
https://www.hanzo.co/native-format-capture-social-media-webinar
Date: Wednesday, December 19, 2018
Time: 1:30 pm ET
Cost: Free

Register for the webinar.

The International Association of Defense Counsel (IADC), an invitation-only global legal organization for attorneys who represent corporate and insurance interests, has published its fourth quarter 2018 Defense Counsel Journal (DCJ) with articles on current trends in the practice of law.

The current DCJ issue’s articles explore asbestos tort reform on the state level, the growth of punitive damages in Anglo-Canadian contract law, and legal hurdles that manufacturers face when launching products in the United States.

In a release, the organization, said the DCJ is a quarterly forum for topical and scholarly writings on the law, including its development and reform, as well as on the practice of law in general. DCJ articles are written by members of the IADC, which is a 2,500-member, invitation-only, worldwide organization that serves its members and their clients, as well as the civil justice system and the legal profession.

The DCJ is available for free and without a subscription via the IADC’s website.

The current DCJ issue is the first to be overseen by new editor and former IADC board member Kenneth R. Meyer, a partner in the products liability practice group at McCarter & English, LLP, in Newark, N.J. The issue also is the first under the leadership of new IADC president Craig A. Thompson, a partner at Venable LLP.

Following are brief summaries of key articles included in the fourth quarter 2018 issue of the DCJ:

— “The More Things Change: Bankruptcy Trust Reform and the Status Quo in Asbestos Litigation” – The article debunks plaintiffs’ lawyers’ arguments that trust transparency reforms would delay litigation, deny compensation to the most sympathetic of plaintiffs, and divest plaintiffs of their traditional control over the trust and tort systems. The authors explain how trust transparency reforms have not delayed litigation and have, in fact, accelerated compensation from the asbestos trusts. The article also describes that, where reforms have been enacted, they have achieved their purpose of fostering communication within the two-tiered system of asbestos compensation so that juries can properly account for all of a plaintiff’s exposures to asbestos.

— “Moving Beyond Uberrima Fides? The General Duty of Honesty in Contractual Performance and Punitive Damage Awards in Anglo-Canadian Contract Law” – The article’s authors suggest that the characterization of punitive damages as “the bane of corporate defendants” has perhaps never been more true under Anglo-Canadian contract law. This article demonstrates that while punitive damages for pure breach of contract are undoubtedly exceptional remedies at common law, they are generally larger and more common than ever before, which marks an extraordinary development in Anglo-Canadian contract law considering that only 30 years ago punitive damages were barred for pure breach of contract.

— “Entering the U.S. Market: Legal Hurdles That Manufacturers Must Overcome” – Investigates the life cycle of a product’s development and marketing and provides insight into some of the most common legal hurdles – especially consumer protection lawsuits – faced by manufacturers entering the U.S. market.

Companies must shift from focusing on rules and consequences to emphasizing culture and values, according to Carolyn Frantz, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel and corporate secretary, in an article published by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

The article is available for downloading from the NACD website.

n this interview from the Strategic Asset General Counsel forum, an annual day-long event hosted by The National Association of Corporate Directors, Frantz answers these questions:

• Who presents compliance-related information to the board?
• Do you need an outsider CEO to change a company’s culture?
• What does tone-in-the middle training look like?
• What shapes culture at the bottom?
• How do you address differences in moral values as a global company?

Download the article.

A new study from BarkerGilmore confirms that female lawyers are still paid less compared to their male counterparts — and the disparity is greater for GCs.

The Global Legal Post reports on the study: “On average, female in-house counsel earn 84 per cent of what male in-house counsel earn. The gap is much larger at the general counsel level, with a 78 per cent disparity, than at managing counsel or senior counsel levels, which show 90 per cent and 89 per cent disparities respectively.”

Above the Law takes a look at overall compensation for general counsel of both genders: “As one might expect, general counsel have the largest variation — with total compensation ranging from $350K to around $900K based on company revenue. Managing counsel, those with at least one direct report who aren’t the GC, are much more consistent across companies, with comp averaging from just under $300K to around $350K.”

Read the Legal Post article.

Morrison & Foerster announced the results of “Legal Risks to Consumer Products Companies in 2018,” a survey of senior in-house legal counsel at consumer products companies. Morrison & Foerster commissioned the survey to gain and share insights into consumer products companies and their key legal concerns, perceptions of emerging risks, and expectations for 2018.

The report includes the following findings:
• The most important drivers of change for consumer products companies in 2018 will be the economy (78%), government regulatory change (71%), and technological advancements (59%).
• 69% of respondents said that litigation was their biggest concern, followed closely by protection of brand equity (60%) and privacy and data security (56%).
• Approximately two out of five legal departments expect their litigation costs to increase in 2018. Estimated cost increases ranged from 5% to 11% or more.
• Approximately one in three legal matters in 2017 were considered high risk or complex, with one out of five in-house counsel expecting more high-risk lawsuits in 2018.
• Survey respondents expect that product liability (45%), data privacy (44%), and regulatory/compliance (42%) will give rise to the most new case activity.

“Consumer products companies have always faced unique legal challenges, but in-house counsel are now under more pressure than ever to protect their brand and keep their consumers’ trust,” said Erin Bosman, chair of Morrison & Foerster’s Product Liability and Counseling Practice. “Our survey revealed that, while reputation and litigation threats continue to grow, advancing technology ¬ like the Internet of Things ¬ has created an even more complex legal landscape that will force companies to anticipate and plan for previously unknown risks.”

“Our survey results show that the ever-changing regulatory environment is also top-of-mind for consumer products companies,” stated Julie Park, a partner in the Product Liability and Counseling Practice. “While the current federal government is unlikely to add regulations, state and local governments are taking a different approach and could implement changes on everything from climate change and nutrition to privacy and labor laws.”

Morrison & Foerster’s “Legal Risks to Consumer Products Companies in 2018” survey of consumer products companies was conducted in late 2017 by telephone, primarily by market research company YouGov. The survey incorporates responses from senior in-house counsel at more than 60 consumer products companies in the United States with revenues ranging from $250 million to $1 billion. Companies participating in the survey represent a range of consumer products, including electronics, foods and beverages, household products, apparel, cosmetics, and office products.

Read the report.

A recent research study developed by Globality in collaboration with The Lawyer found that general counsel prefer working with smaller law firms but often lack the means to find them. The survey went out to more than 300 GCs from organizations with over $1 billion in revenue to uncover the latest industry viewpoint about hiring outside counsel.

The report, “Global Trends in Hiring Outside Counsel,” is available for downloading at no charge.

Key findings:

• Almost 70% of General Counsel rely on pre-existing relationships or referrals to source new legal providers. In-house teams overwhelmingly appoint law firms based on personal connections rather than a systematic appraisal of which firms would be best for the job.
• Levels of dissatisfaction are three times higher with larger law firms than with smaller competitors. Companies find smaller firms deliver better client service, but often lack the means to source them.
• When presented with a series of new legal technologies, 86% of survey respondents were most excited by tools for sourcing and/or communicating with legal providers outside of their immediate network.

Download the Globality report.

UnitedLex, a global provider of technology-powered business, legal and cybersecurity solutions, announced that it has been selected by DXC Technology to lead a global law function transformation, UnitedLex said in a news release.

The announcement follows the April 2017 formation of DXC, which brought together Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) and the Enterprise Services business of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPES). Under the five-year agreement, the industry’s largest-ever managed-services legal transaction, UnitedLex will help create one unified, strategic team to support DXC, the world’s leading independent, end-to-end IT services and solutions provider, and its nearly 6,000 clients.

The release continues:

Working closely with DXC’s General Counsel Bill Deckelman and other key executives, UnitedLex has established a unique platform of proven technologies, highly skilled attorneys, contract and commercial professionals, and subject matter experts to support DXC’s business strategy and provide greater measurability and accountability across the entire legal ecosystem. Primary focus areas for the engagement include client transactions of all sizes, litigation, immigration, and legal operations. The UnitedLex team supporting DXC is comprised of more than 250 senior professional resources.

“DXC Technology’s law department transformation would not have been possible without UnitedLex, who co-conceptualized and executed our shared vision for the law department of the future,” said Bill Deckelman. “Through an impressive combination of process improvement, enhanced technologies, insightful data analytics, and transparent financial management, UnitedLex has helped us create a more strategic and effective law department that can support our growth and future success.”

UnitedLex’s solutions team analyzed every function, resource group, process, and technology used by CSC and HPES to create an ideal framework for DXC’s new law department – the ability to capture value by focusing on cost predictability, which traditional law firms and service providers were not able to do.

“UnitedLex’s engagement with DXC further demonstrates our proven ability to combine legal talent, technology, and process optimization to deliver positive business impact,” said Dan Reed, CEO of UnitedLex. “The transformation of DXC’s law department is a landmark moment for the legal industry and sets a new precedent for the way legal services are provided.”

As part of the strategic relationship, select attorneys, contract and commercial professionals, and other experts were rebadged from HPES and CSC to UnitedLex and, along with legacy professionals from UnitedLex, formed a core team that is further infused with DXC’s in-house professionals. UnitedLex currently deploys more than 250 senior attorneys, contract and commercial professionals, engineers, and other experts in support of DXC around the globe. The UnitedLex platform allows DXC to reduce required resources by more than 30 percent, while enhancing operating performance and preserving the intellectual capital and domain expertise of the larger legal organization.

Legal entity management transforms the lawyer’s mundane corporate secretary function into a platform to deliver better business results and improve client relations, writes Mark Little of Berkman Solutions in an article on the company’s website.

He explains that, legal entity management provides three benefits to clients:

1. Ensure compliance
2. Manage legal risk at the entity level
3. Communicate value of the legal team to the business.

“To manage legal entities in an era of increasing complexity and responsiveness requires five steps: centralize all entities on a corporate registry, track ownership details for each entity, manage officers and directors, store corporate documents with the entity details, and adapt to changing corporate forms and laws,” he writes.

Read the article.