The president of the American Bar Association is set to urge chief executives at all of America’s Fortune 500 companies to commit to ending human-rights abuses in their supply chains. The ABA president will send executives the message in a letter by the end of this year, reports the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Even though a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision has made it harder to hold U.S. companies liable for child labor, slavery, human trafficking and dangerous working conditions among their suppliers, the risks to corporate brands grows by the day, said Chris Johnson, the former general counsel of General Motors North America who heads the ABA business section’s supply-chain initiative.

The Star Tribune quoted Johnson: “Regulation is increasing. Litigation is increasing. It’s astounding to me that companies don’t get out ahead of this. It’s a time bomb.”

Some companies have tried. Johnson credits Starbucks, Microsoft and Coca-Cola with setting examples in assessing and addressing the risks of human-rights violations in their supply chains.

Read the story.

The Network for Public Health Law presents a free on-demand webinar providing an update on Affordable Care Act implementation, including states’ decisions regarding Medicaid expansion and health insurance exchanges, as well as a number of provisions regarding public health.

Experts will also discuss the legal challenges, some seeking to enjoin the law and others, to enforce it.

November marked the second year when millions of Americans can purchase health insurance coverage through the online marketplaces established by the ACA. The health law’s first year was bumpy, due to technical glitches that plagued the marketplaces and a number of states’ refusals to expand Medicaid, The Network said on its website. The ACA was challenged by dozens of lawsuits that raised a range of constitutional and statutory arguments. In the most high profile case of the year, the Supreme Court ruled that some companies can be exempt from the ACA’s contraceptive requirements.

Watch the on-demand webinar and view the slides.

Practical Law presents an on-demand discussion with Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP about IP and information technology considerations in the context of negotiating and drafting complex corporate transactions for in-house lawyers and their counsel.

Presenters of this webinar address conducting IP due diligence, special considerations for carve-outs and spin-offs, potential effects of various transaction structures on IP assets and agreements, and more.

Speakers from Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP are Daniel Glazer, Henry Lebowitz and Jason Greenberg. The moderator is Patricia Harley, Head Editor, Practical Law Intellectual Property & Technology.

Free registration is required.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Norton Rose Fulbright presents a complimentary on-demand webinar on the key issues facing energy companies worldwide as they pursue new opportunities in the unconventional hydrocarbon sector.

On its website, the firm says that in the last ten years, technical advances in hydraulic fracturing have made vast reserves of shale gas and oil technically and economically recoverable in North America.

Currently, the United States and Canada account for virtually all of the global shale related production. As shale oil and gas production increases globally, North America’s experience in the exploration and production of unconventional resources can serve as a valuable blueprint for countries in the initial stages of this development.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Stefan Thomas and Evan Schwartz have posted a complimentary white paper detailing smart oracles, which can provide a simple, flexible way to implement “smart contracts.”

Smart oracles can be used to encode business logic, laws, and other agreed-upon rules, according to the white paper.

“Smart oracles build on the idea of oracles, or entities that provide smart contracts with information about the state of the outside world, and combine information gathering with contract code execution,” the authors write. “In such a system, rules can be written in any programming language and contracts can interact with any service that accepts cryptographically signed commands. This includes, but is not limited to, cryptocurrency networks. We introduce an implementation of smart oracles, called Codius (based on the Latin “ius” meaning “law”), which uses Google’s Native Client for code sandboxing.”

Read the white paper.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability in coordination with the Federal Smart Grid Task Force will conduct a webinar to conclude the development phase of a Voluntary Code of Conduct (VCC) related to privacy of customer energy usage data for utilities and third parties.

The event will be Thursday, Dec. 11, 1-4 p.m. Eastern time.

The webinar will summarize changes made to the VCC concepts and principles as a result of comments received through the public comment period. In addition, a proposed implementation plan and adoption process will be presented as well as preliminary results from focus groups conducted to gauge consumer sentiment.

Register for the complimentary webinar.

Restaurant.com is arguing in federal court that it shouldn’t be forced to pay penalties for gift certificates it sold in the past, penalties that could go as high at $1 million.

The company has been defending itself since 2010 against the class action suit filed by two New Jersey residents who bought gift certificates from its website, reports the Chicago Daily Herald.

From the Daily Herald:

Larissa Shelton and Gregory Bohus are suing Restaurant.com on behalf of themselves and others over certificates that had expiration dates and a disclaimer in violation of New Jersey law. That is no longer in dispute after being argued before the New Jersey Supreme Court.

What a U.S. Court of Appeals will decide is whether the rulings can be applied retroactively, in which case Restaurant.com could have to pay a penalty of $100 each for certificates sold in the past — penalties that could total an estimated $1 million.

Read the story.

Russian sanctions are defeating efforts to automate compliance using screening software, reports The Wall Street Journal.

According to The Journal‘s report, the complexity of U.S. sanctions against Russia is forcing firms to manually check thousands of transactions, slowing deals and raising the cost of compliance. Unlike past sanctions, like those against Iran, the U.S. actions against Russia are targeted to punish Moscow for its involvement in Ukraine without severing economic ties with the West. But the available screening software tools that companies use to stop forbidden transactions cannot handle the nuance of U.S. sanctions against Russia, compliance experts say.

Read the story.

American Apparel Inc. has named Chelsea A. Grayson its new executive vice president, general counsel and secretary of the company. The appointment will be effective Dec. 15, 2014.

Grayson was in private practice as a corporate attorney for more than 15 years with Jones Day and Loeb & Loeb LLP, where she was a partner in the corporate groups of both firms, according to fibre 2 fashion. Her experience includes private placements of equity and debt securities for public and private companies, joint ventures and strategic alliances, and mergers and acquisitions for clients in a variety of industries, including retail.

Chelsea Grayson will replace Tobias S. Keller, who has been interim general counsel since June 2014.

Read the story.

Former Netflix vice president of IT and current Yahoo CIO Mike Kail has been accused in a lawsuit of taking thousands of dollars in kickbacks while he was at Netflix.

Business Insider reported that Kail was Netflix’s vice president of information technology operations until August 2014. He was in charge of contracts and invoices for Netflix’s tech vendors, which included an enterprise software company called Vistara IT and a tech contract worker company called Netenrich.

What Netflix didn’t know, the video streaming company alleges, is that Kail had a side company called Unix Mercenary, which was taking a 12-15 percent commission on invoices being paid by Netflix. Netflix claims fraud and breach of fiduciary duty, according to Business Insider’s report.

Read the story.

A Texas appeals court has rejected an argument that the association’s general counsel had an attorney-client relationship with a member embroiled in a lawsuit.

The decision, involving the Texas Automobile Dealers Association, addresses some important questions about the relationship between an association general counsel and the organization’s members, Associations Now reported.

“The case arose when a member of the Texas Automobile Dealers Association was sued after the proposed sale of the Nissan dealership went sour last year,” Associations Now said. “During discovery in the lawsuit, the lawyer for Baytown Nissan had a phone discussion about the conflict with TADA General Counsel Brenda Karen Phillips. The plaintiff in the case—the spurned potential buyer—sought to depose both lawyers about the substance of their conversation.”

Read the story.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP presents a complimentary webinar, “The Lure of Functional Claiming: Benefits, Pitfalls, and Recent Court Decisions.” The one-hour webinar will take place on Wednesday, December 17, 2014, at 11:00 am CST.

Patent attorneys have historically used functional claim language in an effort to cover what an invention does rather than what it is. The use of functional language in a claim presents potential advantages over strictly reciting structure, but also presents potential risks during prosecution and litigation. Understanding how the USPTO and courts are currently evaluating functional claim language is essential to writing and prosecuting patent applications that issue with valuable and enforceable claims.

During the webinar, we will cover these topics and more:
• Functional claim language: history, examples, and advantages
• Functional claim-drafting techniques for maximum impact at the USPTO
• Cases including Nautilus, Inc. v. Biosig Instruments, Inc. and their impact on the interpretation of functional claim terms during litigation
• Writing and prosecuting applications to survive the storm of litigation and post-grant proceedings

Our speakers will be Fitch Even attorneys Stephen S. Favakeh and Jonathan H. Urbanek. For over 20 years, Steve Favakeh has assisted clients in the strategic procurement and enforcement of patent and trademark rights in the U.S. and abroad, with a special focus on Japanese clients. Jon Urbanek focuses his IP law practice on patent preparation and prosecution and advises clients working in diverse technologies on issues including freedom-to-operate decisions, product design-arounds, and competitive technology analysis.

CLE: IL, CA, NE; other states may also grant CLE upon attendee request.

There is no fee to attend, but please note registration is required.

Register for the webinar.

Could you confidently walk through a small to medium sized industrial facility and identify the various opportunities to reduce energy use and costs?

The Energy Center of Wisconsin has made available a free on-demand webinar on controlling costs in industrial facilities.

The webinar discusses what to look for when assessing these types of facilities. It shares information about the most common energy improvements and cost effective strategies.

A variety of systems and process controls, including motors, compressed air combustion systems and lighting are explored, the Center says on its website. The webinar reviews technology characteristics, key areas for consideration, assessment checklists and data collection approaches for future analysis.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

EY offers a complimentary on-demand webcast discussing proposed International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) modifications to IFRS 4 Insurance Contracts after the Exposure Draft received extensive comments from preparers and industry practitioners.

On its website, EY says that in recent deliberations following the receipt of comments, the IASB has reached tentative decisions about recognizing the contractual service margin in profit or loss. Further tentative decisions have been reached concerning fixed-fee service contracts, significant insurance risk, portfolio transfers and business combinations.

This webcast discusses the background to the ED and the current project status. Our panel will review the insurance industry’s responses to IFRS 4, and outline the IASB’s path towards finalising the project, focussing on key issues, challenges and operational impacts, and on what the IASB expects from the insurance industry.

Register for the webcast.

LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell offers a complimentary on-demand webinar exploring best practices for creating and sharing your own law firm video.

The company says on its website that the webinar explains how the best use of video demonstrates your credibility and personality, helps attract new clients and grows your business, and delivers return on investment within a flexible budget.

Other topics will be

• The Value of Video for Your Law Firm
• Why Video Speaks Volumes In Attracting Clients
• How to Create a Law Firm Video
• Which Videos Make the Most Impact with Consumers
• Video Social Sharing

Watch the on-demand webinar.

With health reform in full effect, compliance is top of mind for employers, health insurance brokers, and CPAs. As employers transition to individual health insurance and premium reimbursement, there are important compliance considerations to understand and comply with.

Zane Benefits offers a complimentary 60-minute on-demand webinar that covers the issue.

On its website, Zane Benefits says this session will cover:

• 3 ways to reimburse employees for individual health insurance
• The federal regulations employers must follow to avoid costly fines
• Tips for administering a compliant, tax-free reimbursement plan in 5 minutes per month
• Answers to common compliance questions

Watch the on-demand webinar.

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers has posted a free on-demand webinar on how hydraulic fracturing technology works and just how much oil and gas it might uncover.

On its website, ASME says that not long ago, the United States was facing a future where the demand for oil and natural gas was being met by ever-dwindling domestic supplies — and ever-growing imports. But thanks to the new use of some clever technology, including horizontal drilling and the hydraulic fracturing of deep shale rocks, U.S. production of oil is growing and natural gas has become both cheap and plentiful.

Steve Mathis from Chevron and Philip Budzik from the U.S. Energy Information Administration were presenters for the webinar as part of the ASME Energy Forum series.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

International law firm offers a free on-demand webinar that serves as a guide to managing risk before, during and after disputes arise in international contracts.

On its website, Eversheds says the webinar focuses on various issues which commonly arise in international contracts and will provide practical tips on how to deal with them by reference to recent cases.

Richard Little and Alison Brearey are the presenters for the session.

Eversheds is one of the world’s largest corporate law firms. It maintains more than 40 offices based in the world’s major economic centers, with a proven track record of delivering consistently high quality legal services across jurisdictions.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Shipman & Goodwin LLP, a full-service law firm with offices throughout Connecticut and in Washington, DC, recently made its website content accessible for clients and other visitors who have sight or hearing limitations. This move puts the firm among a small percentage of law firms nationally to have a website in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The firm ranks among the nation’s largest law firms on both the National Law Journal’s annual NLJ 350 survey and the Law360 400.

Firm leadership identified website accessibility as a priority in response to increased efforts by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to ensure that certain business and organization websites comply with the ADA, which requires that communication from public accommodations and commercial facilities must be accessible and usable to individuals with disabilities. While the broad definition of public accommodations does not include some types of private-sector businesses, recent actions brought by the DOJ signal that it might be prudent for companies such as law firms to make preparations for compliance.

For Shipman & Goodwin, “it wasn’t a question of whether or not the firm was required to make the website ADA compliant,” said Scott Murphy, the firm’s Managing Partner. “It was a natural step to take. Many of our clients either have sight and hearing limitations, or are in the business of helping those who do,” he said. All content on Shipman & Goodwin’s website is now readable by ADA screen readers that are able to re-represent content to either text to speech, sound icons, or braille output devices. And although the firm recognizes that many clients and visitors will not be impacted by the change, it was important to provide access to those who do require special assistance.

“As we approach the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act it is great to see a business so thoroughly embrace the principles of accessibility, effective communication and equality in the provision of its services,” said Michelle Duprey, Director, Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities, City of New Haven in Connecticut.

Client of the firm Jeff Bravin, Executive Director of the American School for the Deaf (ASD), agrees, and wishes more people would take the initiative to make their websites ADA compliant. “For nearly 200 years, ASD has strived to provide accessibility to information for our students and clients. We need more people to help level the playing field for people of all abilities,” he said.

“Every little step makes our community a better place,” added Ms. Duprey.

Shipman & Goodwin LLP is a full-service law firm with more than 160 attorneys and offices in Hartford, Stamford, Greenwich and Lakeville, Conn. and in Washington, DC. Founded in 1919, the firm serves the needs of local, regional, national and international clients, which include public and private companies, institutions, government entities and non-profit organizations. The firm also actively supports pro bono service and community involvement on both a firm-wide basis and among attorneys at all levels. For more information, visit www.shipmangoodwin.com.

Google has avoided a potentially costly legal precedent by settling out of court with a former Morgan Stanley banker in an online abuse case due to be heard in Britain’s High Court Nov. 24.

Daniel Hegglin was seeking an injunction to force Google to block all traces in its search results of online abuse against him, following a defamatory anonymous campaign of abuse.

But Google instead settled with Hegglin before the case started. His lawyer said the settlement “includes significant efforts on Google’s part to remove the abusive material” from search results and Google-hosted websites.

David Cook, cybercrime specialist at law firm Slater & Gordon, said if the court had ruled in Hegglin’s favour it would have set a costly precedent for the company and “opened a floodgate” of claims in much the same way as the so-called “right to be forgotten” ruling has done, reported The Register.

Read the story.