In a recent article, ContractRoom examines some of the best practices for determining whether candidates for contract manager possess the necessary qualities to perform the job.

The article starts with tips about the pre-interview process and then progresses to the questions that should be posed to the applicants.

Most of those questions involve asking the candidates to describe negotiation and management situations they’ve faced in the past and having them outline how they reached the decisions in those cases.

Read the article.

Termination rights are a crucial and frequently negotiated aspect of complex commercial agreements, write Peter M. Watt-Morse and Glen Rectenwald in the Morgan, Lewis & Bockius blog, Sourcing @ Morgan Lewis.

In addition to providing protection in the event that a vendor defaults, the ability to walk away from negotiations regarding modifications or renewals can also be a powerful tool for creating negotiating leverage,” they explain. “Flexible termination options, termination assistance, and other termination rights can manage the risks of transitioning to a new provider and provide credible alternatives for future negotiations.”

Read the article.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau determined that pre-dispute arbitration clauses harm consumers by forcing them to sign or click away their right to pursue future remedies in a court of law, reports Julie Goldsmith Reiser is a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC in an article published by Bloomberg BNA.

Consumers “undervalue the importance of mandatory arbitration clauses even in the rare instances where consumers might be able to opt out.” she writes. “CFPB correctly concluded that binding individual customers to mandatory arbitration before a dispute arises, rather than encouraging its voluntary use, is harmful to public interest and consumer protection.”

She details the CFPB’s study and results and examines a critique offered by the Mercatus Center.

Read the article.

Principal Energy Institute has posted a free on-demand webinar designed to help energy project developers, operators and investors understand the risks associated with those projects, and how to mitigate them. The presenter is energy risk expert, Christopher Lohmann , VP of Alternative Energy Solutions, Energi, Inc.

Large renewable energy projects require substantial capital investments, and depend on predictable, long-term cash flows in order to provide investor returns that can attract that capital, the institute says on its website.

The webinar addresses the questions of:

• What are the risks in renewable energy projects, and to which party can they be assigned?
• How can risks be managed, and at what cost?
• Which risks can be eliminated?

Watch the on-demand webinar.

D.C. Toedt III, an attorney and adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Cen­ter, has published an article that he calls “a useful teaching case for people drafting (i) merger-and-acquisition agreements, and (ii) related employment agreements, especially those being offered to employees of an acquired company.”

The article is on the On Contracts website.

The case is Cardoni v. Prosperity Bank, No. 14-20682 (5th Cir. Oct. 29, 2015), involving the acquisition of an Oklahoma bank by a Texas bank.

Read the article.

In a post on the Business Law Prof Blog, Joan MacLeod Heminway, professor law at the University of Tennessee, discusses the question: Is an LLC operating agreement a contract?

She writes that “with judicial and legislative attention on freedom of contract in the LLC, the status of the LLC as a matter of contract law may shed light on the extent to which contract law can or should be important or imported to legal issues involving LLC operating agreements.”

The writer discusses some recent court rulings that address the issue, and says there are some other LLC questions that may be impacted by the determination that an LLC operating agreement is or is not a contract.

Read the article.

John E. Griffith Jr., a partner in DLA Piper’s Baltimore office, has been selected to receive The Daily Record’s 2015 Leadership in Law award.

The award recognizes 27 members of the legal community for outstanding work throughout Maryland. Griffith was selected from more than 70 nominees. Winners must have devoted time and energy to bettering the legal profession, as well as the communities in which they live and work. They must also have mentored future professional and community leaders.

Griffith is co-chair of the firm’s global Environmental Health and Safety Group and chair of the US Environmental Practice Group. With more than 35 years of experience representing high profile clients in a broad range of matters involving environmental issues, he is highly regarded both within DLA Piper and the legal community. Additionally, Griffith is involved in a variety of pro bono projects, including the firm’s Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) program, which assists disabled veterans whose disability stems from military service, Conservation International (CI), a science-based conservation organization on legal agreements required for the implementation of forest carbon conservation projects in Peru and the Nature Conservancy on projects related to creation and restoration of oyster reefs.

The winners were honored at an awards dinner Nov. 19 at the BWI Hilton in Baltimore.

CobbleStone Systems, a provider of contract lifecycle management software, announced it has launched an enhanced Microsoft Word App for Contract Insight Enterprise Edition. The latest version of Contract Insight Enterprise offers an Install Pak with an innovative MS Word Application for seamless contract revisions and version control.

“CobbleStone has been providing industry-leading contract management software which allows legal resourced to more easily track, manage, negotiate and approve organizational contracts for over 20 years,” the company said in a release. “We understand the need for a seamless connection with MS Word and our web-based CLM to effortlessly track all versions of each contractual document. Our new features save our clients’ time and effort during the contract redlining process.”

The release continues:

CobbleStone Systems Corp. is a leader in user-friendly, enterprise contract lifecycle management software solutions. CobbleStone has been a best-of-breed vendor since 1995, provides the benefit of years of experience, is a Federal GSA vendor, is rated by Gartner, Forrester and Dun & Bradstreet, and offers one of the most feature-rich products on the market.

When heading off to China, foreign companies all too often make the mistake of trying to protect their IP from China by using a U.S.-style non-disclosure agreement (NDA), writes Dan Harris of Harris Moure. In a new article on the website of Forbes, he explains how to protect intellectual property from China with a China appropriate NNN (non-use, non-disclosure, non-circumvention) agreement.

The article focuses on why U.S.-style NDA agreements do not work for China.

“The Chinese company that steals your idea does not do so to reveal it to the general public. It steals your idea to use for its own benefit. This means that your contract with Chinese companies must make clear that whether the information provided is a secret or not, the Chinese factory agrees not to use the information in competition with you.” he writes.

Read the article.

Scores of big brands – from AT&T and Yahoo! to Netflix, GoPro and Macy’s – are being sued because their HTTPS websites allegedly infringe an encryption patent, reports The Register in an article written by Shaun Nichols.

Longview, Texas-based CryptoPeak Solutions bases its legal action on US Patent 6,202,150, which describes “auto-escrowable and auto-certifiable cryptosystems.”

CryptoPeak is suing owners of HTTPS websites that use elliptic curve cryptography, a common method for sites to encrypt their traffic.

“Starting in July, CryptoPeak began pursuing companies through the courts in the eastern district of Texas,” the article reports. “Just in the past week or so, the patent-holding biz filed infringement claims against AT&T, Priceline, Pinterest, Hyatt Hotels, Best Western, and Experia.”

Read the article.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. must pay a $159.5 million civil fine for its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil well whose blowout that caused the largest U.S. offshore oil spill, reports Reuters.

But in his ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans said Anadarko was not at fault for the spill.

His order said “the company’s 25 percent ownership stake in the Macondo well made it part of the “polluting enterprise” responsible for the April 20, 2010, disaster, which began with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers.”

Read the article.

If you thought the debate over net neutrality was over and done with, think again, warns Jeremy Quittner in an article on Inc. magazine’s website.

He explains that net neutrality is the term used to describe the unrestricted flow of content over the Internet. Some startups, legal experts and entrepreneurs advocate open content flow, but most broadband providers favor restricting access, requiring companies pay a fee for faster connection speeds.

“This could add to the expenses of typically cash-strapped startups and, as a result, throttle innovation,” the writer warns.

The U.S. Appeals Court for the D.C. Circuit will hear the case on Friday, with a ruling expected in the spring of 2016.

“Depending on the outcome, the FCC could call for the decision to be reviewed en banc, by the entire 9-person panel of judges. And that ruling could potentially wind up in front of the Supreme Court next year.” according to the Inc. story.

Read the article.

Pharmaceutical and medical device companies find themselves in the crosshairs for major matter “bet-the-farm” litigation, and recent research tends to suggest that such large-scale litigation is going to increase, reports litigation consulting firm DOAR in a new article published on its website.

DOAR is offering a presentation of its research and findings to corporate legal departments and the lawyers who represent them. The research is based on a national survey of attitudes toward the pharmaceutical industry that reports on consumer and juror sentiments and the ways in which their views and dispositions may impact litigation strategies.

“In order to best advise our clients as they respond to this shifting landscape, DOAR conducted empirical research designed to identify the key factors that contribute to jurors’ perceptions of product liability and defending companies, and how juror attitudes can be altered,” the company said. “What may be surprising is the vigor and specificity in feedback offered by individuals – as customers and as prospective jurors.”

Read the article.

In the wake of an economic recession, many corporations have experienced greater scrutiny into their financial decisions, according to a report from Mitratech. Higher expectations, decreased budgets, and a growing workload are prevalent among every function of the organization, but legal departments have experienced the greatest shift in these dynamics over the past decade. This disruption has become the catalyst for much needed changes in the power structures of legal departments.

Mitratech is offering a free white paper that it calls a blueprint for becoming the best-run business unit in the organization.

The paper offers such advice – along with commentary and insight – as: visualize and measure what success looks like, hire a director of legal operations focused on operational excellence, create a legal technology roadmap through collaboration with it, leverage data to optimize resource selection, and train your legal staff to better understand the business.

Download the white paper.

Special counsel Galen Mason of Foley & Lardner has been named to Crain’s Chicago “40 Under 40” list. The publication annually recognizes Chicago professionals under the age of 40 who are leaders in business, government, philanthropy and the arts.

Mason was recognized for his ongoing work and commitment to Catapult Chicago, a non-profit working space for digital start-up companies that he helped co-found in 2012. As a founding sponsor of Catapult, Foley has supported the group’s growth through leased office space and access to the firm’s business network and Foley Ventures. The firm’s lawyers also provide counsel and free office hours for Catapult’s companies.

Robert C. Creighton has been named managing partner of Farrell Fritz, effective Jan. 1, 2016. Current managing partner Charles M. Strain will continue as a partner serving on the firm’s management committee.

In announcing the transition in a news release, Strain said: “I have had the privilege of serving as the firm’s managing partner for the past 15 years. It is time to give one of my colleagues the opportunity to take on this responsibility. Bob Creighton is a superb lawyer, and equally important, he is thoughtful relating to his colleagues, respectful of the firm’s ethos and genuinely interested in the well-being of everyone at the firm. With his firm-first attitude, I am certain that Bob will be a terrific leader going forward and will add his own very positive imprint on Farrell Fritz over the next number of years. I look forward to supporting Bob in his new role and becoming a more active lawyer again.”

The release continues:

During Strain’s years as managing partner, which included a deep recession, the firm has grown and thrived. “Charlie’s strong leadership has been a key driver of our success,” Bob stated. “During his service as managing partner, he has quietly demonstrated enormous compassion and kindness that has reflected the firm’s culture time and time again. He is a great role model and mentor to me and many within Farrell Fritz. I look forward to continuing to work with him as we grow the firm, while remaining true to the firm’s culture and character.”

Creighton said the hallmarks of Farrell Fritz – commitment to clients, to the firm’s employees and to the community – will continue to guide the Firm’s management. He emphasized that Farrell Fritz will continue to grow organically by providing opportunity for advancement from within the firm and will continue to pursue strategic growth opportunities through lateral additions.

Everlaw announces the appointment of Olivia Lopez as a new product designer with the Berkeley, Calif.-based legal technology company.

A news release from the company says Lopez will lead development of the user experience and interface of Everlaw’s litigation platform and related design projects.

“To protect ourselves and the businesses we oversee, the way we govern absolutely must change,” says Gerald M. Czarnecki, governance expert, in the latest edition of NACD Directorship magazine, a publication of the National Association of Corporate Directors.

The current model — where the board as a whole, the audit committee, or even the risk committee has general oversight of cyber threats — is no longer adequate, he writes. Cybersecurity and technology risks require a much-higher degree of specialized focus — the same level of focus and commitment allotted to financial controls. Czarnecki proposes that a fourth standing committee devoted to data security and technology become part of every public and private company’s board structure.

NACD Directorship magazine is an exclusive benefit of membership in the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), but anyone may download the complimentary copy of the magazine.

Download the report.

A China-centric written contract is an effective tool for doing businesses in or with China, explains Steve Dickinson of Harris Moure in an article published on the China Law Blog.

“A first step in creating this effective tool is to carefully follow the rules for execution,” the explains. “Chinese courts are bureaucratic and formalistic. Make use of that tendency so that you can prevail. Don’t blunt the edge of your instrument with sloppy execution procedures. A casual approach to execution is neither appropriate nor effective for China. A failure to follow China contract law formalities can lead to a Chinese court not enforcing your contract.”

“Chinese courts are hyper-technical when working with written documents. If there is any surface flaw, a party will object to the authenticity of the document and then force the party offering the document to prove its authenticity,” he writes in the article.

Read the article.

Chris Brown, founder of Kansas City law firm Venture Legal, offers seven quick factors to review in every contract to help you protect your interests.

In the article published on SiliconPrairieNews.com, he starts his discussion with the importance of properly naming the parties. “The first thing you need to do is make sure the parties are identified correctly. If you are a business, then make sure you are signing the contract on behalf of the business and not yourself individually.”

He continues the discussion with the issues of naming the parties, obligations, payment terms, termination rights, intellectual property, confidentiality, and miscellaneous terms.

Read the article.