When a nonprofit suspects that someone in the organization might be engaged in wrongdoing, it can be particularly traumatic because the nonprofit team works together to make the world a better place, according to an article published by Lynch Service Company. If someone on the team is accused of fraud, embezzlement, or harassment, leadership handle an investigation carefully and appropriately.

Nonprofit investigations are often unique because volunteers might be important witnesses, and the nonprofit might not be able to learn much about the situation if volunteers don’t cooperate with the investigation. Since volunteers are often critical witnesses, is it possible for nonprofits to require them to cooperate with an investigation? In order to answer that question, we begin by considering whether or not an organization is able to compel employees to cooperate with an investigation. After all, if employees cannot be forced to speak with an investigator, it seems unlikely that a nonprofit could require cooperation from volunteers.

The article continues with a discussion of the obligations and rights an organization has with regards to volunteers.

Read the article.

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Practical Law and the Wage & Hour Defense Institute will present a free 75-minute webinar providing guidance on minimum wage and overtime pay exemptions applicable to sales employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

The event will be Wednesday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Speakers Paul Bittner of Ice Miller LLP (Columbus, OH) and Lawrence Peikes of Wiggin and Dana LLP (Stamford, CT), both members of the Wage & Hour Defense Institute, will discuss the sales exemptions, how to properly classify and compensate employees with sales duties, and the impact of improper classification, including:

• Understanding key elements of the exemptions.
• Defining “outside” sales.
• Distinguishing sales and sales-related activities.
• Defining a “retail or service establishment.”
• Structuring compensation.
• Identifying compensation “representing commissions.”
• Revisiting pharmaceutical sales and auto service advisors.
• Dealing with misclassified employees.
• Complying with differing state law.

A short Q&A will follow.
Presenters:
Paul Bittner, Partner, Ice Miller LLP (Columbus, OH)
Lawrence Peikes, Partner, Wiggin and Dana LLP (Stamford, CT)

Moderator:
Suzanne K. Brown, Senior Legal Editor, Practical Law Labor & Employment

Register for the event.

Dentons has published the latest edition of its “Government Contracts Legislative and Regulatory Update,” a summary of the relevant changes that took place during November.

Highlights of the report include:

• Compromise version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2017 nears completion
• FAR Council issues a final rule requiring representation of contractor greenhouse gas emission disclosures
• BIS issues a final rule to remove arms embargoes against certain countries
• DoD proposes a rule that would increase contractors’ evaluated bid prices by including allowable IR&D expenses

See the complete report.

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Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP successfully represented Matrix Petroleum Holdings LLC in a breach of contract suit against Talisman Energy USA Inc. A Texas appeals court decided against lifting an injunction that barred Talisman from proposing to drill mutually owned oil and gas wells on an Eagle Ford shale ranch.

In a release, the firm said the Fourth Court of Appeals ruled that Talisman’s actions threatened injury to real property. While Matrix is a minority stakeholder of the mineral leases, the companies had agreed to jointly develop interests.

The Gardere team was led by partners Alexander C. Chae and Mike Seely.

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Williams & Connolly LLP announces the election of four attorneys to its partnership, effective Jan. 1, 2017.

“We are proud to welcome four tremendously talented attorneys into our partnership,” said partner and Executive Committee Chairman Dane Butswinkas. “They embody the firm’s unwavering commitment to excellence, hard work and to providing clients with the absolute highest level of representation.”
The four new partners include:

Amy Mason Saharia – Saharia focuses her practice on complex commercial litigation and appellate litigation. She has tried cases in federal and state courts and in arbitration proceedings. Her clients include global financial institutions, law firms, accounting firms, and other corporate and individual clients. Recent civil matters have involved claims of breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, and professional malpractice, as well as claims under the securities laws. She also has represented clients in governmental and congressional investigations.

Jessica Bodger Rydstrom – Rydstrom litigates complex civil cases, with an emphasis on commercial and patent litigation and professional liability defense. She has tried cases at both the federal and state level and across a variety of industries. She is also a member of the firm’s Hiring Committee and Women’s Initiative.

Thomas S. Fletcher – Fletcher’s practice focuses on patent litigation and licensing disputes, primarily in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical fields. He has represented clients in Hatch-Waxman trials, in appellate proceedings in the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and in inter partes review proceedings before the PTO. He has also represented clients in proceedings under the BPCIA.

Allison Jones Rushing – Rushing has experience in complex civil and criminal litigation in federal and state courts at the trial and appellate levels. A significant portion of her practice focuses on appellate matters, constitutional issues, and regulatory challenges. She has argued before the federal courts of appeals and state appellate courts, as well as arguing significant motions before federal district courts. Rushing has briefed multiple cases before the U.S. Supreme Court and the federal courts of appeals in a wide variety of substantive areas. Legal 500 has praised her for her “excellent writing advocacy skills,” and Super Lawyers has recognized her as one of its “Rising Stars.”

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South Korea’s antitrust regulator fined Qualcomm Inc $854 million for what it called unfair business practices in patent licensing and modem chip sales, a decision the U.S. chipmaker said it will challenge in court, reports Reuters.

The Korea Fair Trade Commission ruled that Qualcomm abused its dominant market position and forced handset makers to pay royalties for an unnecessarily broad set of patents as part of sales of its modem chips, according to the report by Se Young Lee and Stephen Nellis.

The commission also claimed Qualcomm restricted competition by refusing or limiting licensing of its standard essential patents related to modem chips to rival chipmakers. Those action negatively affected the rivals’ sales and left their products vulnerable to lawsuits, according to the complaint.

Read the Reuters article.

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The current decline in oil prices is having a great many unexpected and unwanted consequences, many of which may turn into long-lasting troubles for the oil and gas industry − and especially for its investors, according to an article published by DLA Piper.

Michael A. Silva and Vince Slusher write that investors who own shares in companies and partnerships that are suffering from the hard times in the oil patch will face an ever-bigger headache thanks to the tax consequences of the price drop.

“The problem – essentially a situation that requires investors to book income for tax purposes and to pay hefty federal taxes even though they don’t actually receive any cash – is a direct result of the ongoing restructuring of the industry and its debt, triggered by the crash in oil prices,” Silva and Slusher write.

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Nexsen Pruet attorneys Peter Santos, Christy Myatt, and David Garrett led a recent presentation on cross-border contracts to members of the Association of Corporate Counsel Research Triangle Area.

According to a post on JDSupra, the team explored how more than 10,000 North Carolina businesses export more than $31 billion worth of merchandise every year and support more than 164,000 jobs.

Some of the general topics included: common law and civil law countries are different; cultrual differences can lead to legal differences; and comparing U.S. contracts to other nations.

Read the presentation.

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Corridor Company will present a complimentary 45-minute webinar outlining recommendations for planning a contract management roadmap.

The webinar will be Wednesday, Jan. 18, at 11 a.m. Eastern time.

On its website, the company says the webinar will address specific topics including:

• Client Readiness and Contract Maturity Goals
• Implementation Considerations
• Delivery Considerations
• Internal and External Participants and Responsibilities
• Ensuring the Success of your Constituents
• ROI Justification

Register for the webinar.

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In an article posted on Commercial Property Executive’s website, Elizabeth Levin of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips explores the implications of contracts and lease agreements pertaining to co-working and short term rental arrangements.

The central tenet of such agreements has not been tested in courts, Levin explains.

“Though the proprietors of co-working spaces and the owners of short-term rental properties have tried to make clear that these are not traditional landlord-tenant arrangements, that premise has not been truly tested, and the question of how a court would treat such an arrangement looms large over those drafting the contracts that govern these arrangements,” she writes.

Read the article.

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Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP has published a summary of key takeaways from a recent presentation on technology contract drafting and negotiating to the Charlotte Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel.

Josh Ganz, a Kilpatrick Townsend partner, and Michelle Tyde, counsel, made the presentation.

They discussed some of the basics, such as the scope of solution and services being provided, the level of performance quality to which the customer intends to hold the vendor, the level of risk the customer intends to shift to the vendor, and the price the customer will par for the solution or services.

Read the article.

General Counsel News and Zapproved have posted a complimentary on-demand webinar titled “Trends in Corporate E-Discovery Data Processing: Benchmark Survey Insights Revealed.”

An expert panel will explore the trends, and discuss the results of the 2017 benchmark survey.

The event provides insights and analysis on:

• In-sourcing vs. outsourcing e-discovery projects
• Satisfaction of process with an eye on factors such as time, cost and ease
• Technology trends affecting how in-house legal teams’ work evolves in 2017 and beyond

Corena Bahr

Speakers were Brad Harris, VP of Products, Zapproved, Inc.; Jack Thompson, Sr. Manager – eDiscovery & Legal Operations, Sanofi US; and Brad Ellis, Corporate VP of Legal Services, Physician Acquisitions, Asst General Counsel – Scripps Health.

The moderator was Corena Bahr, Webinar Consultant & Producer, YourWebinarGuru.

Brad Harris

Brad Harris has more than 30 years of experience in the high technology and enterprise software sectors, including assisting Fortune 1000 companies enhance their e-discovery preparedness through technology and process improvement. He is a frequent author and speaker on data preservation and e-discovery issues, including articles in National Law Journal, Corporate Counsel, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel and Information Management and presentations at leading industry events such as LegalTech New York. Prior to joining Zapproved, he led the development of electronic discovery readiness consulting efforts for Fios, Inc. from 2004 to 2009. He has held senior management positions at prominent public and privately held companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Tektronix and Merant.

Jack Thompson

Jack Thompson is a corporate eDiscovery and Legal Operations professional, specializing in the advancement of efficiency of legal technical operations and information governance.  From 2001 through 2014, He was legal operations manager at Purdue Pharma LP in Stamford, CT providing services and solutions to Purdue’s legal technology operations as well as leading the company’s legal analytics programs.  In 2014, Thompson relocated to Atlanta, GA to work as the legal technology manager for the UPS Corporate Legal Department, followed by working as an IT Business Services Manager for The Coca Cola Company’s global legal department providing technical expertise and process workflow implementations.  Heis currently working as the eDiscovery Manager and Legal Operations Lead for Sanofi US, located in Bridgewater, NJ.

Brad Ellis

Brad Ellis received both his Juris Doctorate and a Master of Law in Taxation from the University of San Diego School of Law. He has 25 years experience in healthcare law, and has worked at Scripps Health for the last 18 years. Prior to joining Scripps Health he was in private practice with a focus in healthcare and the banking industries. In addition to his legal duties, he is responsible for physician acquisition in a business role, and is also responsible for system-wide cyber-security for the Scripps Health system.

See the on-demand webinar.

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Amy Boardman Hunt of Muse Communications says she sometimes encounters lawyers who aren’t necessarily concerned about their websites ranking highly on Google searches, mainly because they get most of their clients through referrals.

Most prospective clients probably find their websites by searching for the name of the firms or the lawyers themselves, she writes in an article published on her firm’s website. In those cases, whether Google likes you may be irrelevant.

“But if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, Google may not be your problem,” she writes. Because many legal consumers use mobile phones to find a lawyer, “lawyers and law firms that want to make a good first impression should ensure that their site can be easily read and searched from phones and tablets.”

Read the article.

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By its very nature, a workplace investigation is an inquiry; a search for the truth behind complaints or concerns received, according to an article published by Lynch Service Company.

Recognizing the need for such an inquiry is sometimes straightforward. In a typical circumstance, an employee may file a complaint with the human resources department. It then becomes the organization’s responsibility to evaluate the legitimacy of that complaint through investigation.

Often times, the organization even has a legal responsibility to investigate the response. In other situations, symptoms of a larger problem may arise more subtly: through turnover, diminished performance, increased absenteeism, etc. In the day-to-day hustle and bustle of meeting deadlines and managing crises, these symptoms sometimes go overlooked.

A “head in the sand” approach is not advisable; do not make the mistake of assuming all is well so long as no one is making formal complaints. The organization interested in minimizing its legal exposure maintains a responsibility for assuring symptoms are recognized and properly investigated and resolutions are implemented.

The article discusses some basic principles for properly conducting a workplace investigation.

Read the article.

Corporate legal departments will decrease spend on outside counsel and take more work in-house in 2017, reveals a new report released by Liquid Litigation Management, Inc. (LLM), a legal workflow unification platform provider. “The State of the Legal Industry” report explores the motivations for technology adoption among U.S. law firms and corporations. It also examines the business benefits firms and their clients expect from technology adoption, as well as the lingering challenges they face.

While the corporations and law firms surveyed said their number one goal of incorporating technology is to boost efficiency, the way they use this new technology can prove counterproductive. The survey found that 64 percent of law firms rely on more than four distinct legal software systems to aid in developing strategy, tracking case management, and collecting, processing and reviewing data. This outsized number of systems, which can lead to inefficiencies and increased cost, is one example of why corporations think law firms are not as efficient as they should be. As a result, corporations are taking more work in-house and spending less on outside help.

“The law firms and GC offices participating in the survey show some interesting similarities and differences,” said Cas Campaigne, Chief Executive Officer and President of LLM. “Both are heavily focused on cost-cutting and efficiency gains, but their priorities differ. If law firms and corporations can work together to figure out how to consolidate their technology and reduce some of these inefficiencies caused by the complexity of systems they use, firms will be better equipped to meet the demands of their customers and corporations will save money.”

Some of the reports other key findings include the following:

• Corporations and law firms want greater budgeting predictability
• Corporations are using Alternative Fee Arrangements (AFAs) to reduce legal costs
• Nearly half of firms only use email to track communication around budget and strategy for historical purposes

“Doing ‘more with less’ is a mantra of many modern law departments. They are starting to demand similar discipline from their external providers,” said Casey Flaherty, former in-house counsel and founder of Procertas. “Talking about efficiency in the abstract isn’t enough. Corporations want measurable efficiencies and tractable savings without compromising quality. Many law firms struggle to meet these mandates. Buying technology is different from using technology is different from using technology well. Interoperability and integration are among the primary challenges we have in making our tools really work for us.”

The report provides other insights of particular interest to the legal community, such as:

• The most significant changes firms and GC offices anticipate in the coming months
• Their biggest obstacles
• How frequently firms communicate with their clients
• The ways in which corporations and firms want to use tech to improve operating efficiencies
• The degree to which legal departments and law firms leverage historical data and why
• The impact of AFAs on technology purchases
• The relative ability for firms and clients to keep pace with change

Download the report.

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Practical Law will present a complimentary 75-minute webinar providing insights into recent developments and expected trends in the evolving the legal landscape of marijuana law. The event will be Wednesday, January 18, 2017 at 1 p.m. EST.

“With the expansion of the number of medical and recreational marijuana states, businesses are in need of basic employment law counsel on the crossroads between marijuana use and workplace management,” Practical Law says on its website. “Currently 30 states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana use and 8 states now allow for recreational use. American companies are left to determine how these new requirements apply to their workforce and what sort of policies and procedures would best suit this new legal environment. This webinar will be a fast paced walk through of the 7 steps employers should take to balance compliance and the need to protect their workplaces from the adverse effects of employee marijuana use.”

Topics will include:

• Safety sensitive and other work-related risks associated with marijuana use.
• An overview of marijuana laws and applicable cases in the states where employees report for duty.
• Protocols for upgrading job descriptions to include critical essential function safety language directly applicable to marijuana use.
• Integration of marijuana use safety concepts into supervisory training.
• Creating an appropriate drug free workplace policy option when dealing with marijuana.
• Understanding the inter-play between the ADA and workplace drug testing employer obligations.
• Putting all the puzzle pieces into place to form your compliant legal strategy to effectively address marijuana in your workplace.

A short Q&A will follow.

Presenter:
Thomas M. Eden III, Partner, Constangy, Brooks, Smith & Prophete, LLP
Tommy Eden works in the Firm’s Workplace Drug & Alcohol Testing Practice Area and has developed employer Policies in all 50 states and all DOT Agency modes. Tommy is a national speaker on the subject of Marijuana in the workplace and many other workplace drug testing topics.

Moderator:
Kate Bally, Director, Practical Law Labor & Employment
Kate Bally joined Practical Law from Littler Mendelson P.C., where she worked as an associate in the employment group. Previously she was also an associate at Day Pitney LLP and a law clerk to the Honorable Stefan R. Underhill. Kate is Co-Director of Practical Law’s Labor & Employment Service.

Register for the webinar.

General Electric has developed what it’s calling a Yelp for lawyers, reports Bloomberg Law.

The report says the internal website allows the company’s approximately 800 in-house lawyers to search “preferred providers” of outside counsel and learn about their track record with the company.

“Titled GE Select Connect, more than 200 of the company’s outside law firms maintain profiles (à la Facebook) that feature firm information, including feedback the outside firms have received from GE lawyers, the firm’s diversity staffing levels, hourly rates, along and discounts the company has previously achieved,” Bloomberg reports.

Read the Bloomberg article.

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LexisNexis has begun notifying Lexis.com customers that it will be shutting down the legacy legal research service over the next 12 months and moving them to the newer Lexis Advance research platform, according to a post on Law Sites by Robert Ambrogi.

“It was five years ago this month that LexisNexis formally launched Lexis Advance as its next-generation research service,” writes Ambrogi. “Since then, the company has continued to build out and refine the newer platform, including rolling out a major redesign of it two years ago.”

Because many lawyers stayed with the older, familiar system, LexisNexis has been maintaining two separate systems with different architectures. Ambrogi writes that the company could substantially cut costs and gain efficiency by shutting down the older system.

Read the Law Sites article.

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Leading Republicans in Congress have vowed that even if they repeal most of the Affordable Care Act early in 2017, a replacement won’t hurt those now receiving benefits, reports NPR.

Reporter Julie Rovner  writes that Republicans will seek to ensure that “no one is worse off,” quoting House Speaker Paul Ryan. “The purpose here is to bring relief to people who are suffering from Obamacare so that they can get something better.”

“But that may be difficult for one big reason: Republicans have also pledged to repeal the taxes that Democrats used to pay for their health law. Without that money, Republicans will have far less to spend on whatever they opt for as a replacement.” writes Rovner.

Read the NPR article.

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Bruce M. Engel has joined Freeborn & Peters LLP in Chicago as a partner in the Insurance and Reinsurance Practice Group.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bruce to Freeborn and to our growing team serving the insurance and reinsurance marketplace,” said Joe McCullough, a partner in and the leader of Freeborn’s Insurance and Reinsurance Practice Group. “Bruce is a great addition to our firm and brings deep experience working on a wide range of complex insurance and reinsurance issues.”

In a news release, the firm said:

Most recently a partner at Tressler LLP in Chicago, Engel represents insurers and reinsurers worldwide, focusing on insurance and reinsurance coverage analysis, litigation and arbitration. In the area of reinsurance, Mr. Engel represents parties in multimillion-dollar arbitrations that involve all forms of reinsurance claims and underwriting disputes such as misrepresentation, allocation, late notice, coverage for expenses and application of follow the fortunes. His insurance coverage experience includes serving as lead counsel for insurers on a national basis in cases involving insurance coverage for environmental, lead paint, products, asbestos, silica and pharmaceuticals, as well as professional liability matters.

Mr. Engel earned his law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Illinois College of Law. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.