Common law judicial doctrines in almost every state discourage and restrict arbitration agreements covering personal injury or death claims, write Manton G. Grier and Marcus A. Manos of Nexsen Pruet. They see this point particularly regarding admission contracts to nursing homes or assisted-living facilities, which have superior bargaining power and may offer services on a “take it or leave it” basis.  The Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), on the other hand, encourages arbitration of claims.

“Because the arbitration laws stack the deck against a facility, there is no foolproof way to draft an arbitration agreement; what may be found enforceable by one judge may be found unenforceable by another,” they write. “With so many defenses available to plaintiffs, a bullet-proof agreement just doesn’t exist.  Nevertheless, there are five ways a facility can improve the odds that a court will enforce the agreement.”

Read the article.

The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP announced that Chicago partner Jodi Patt Pellettiere has been honored among the “40 Illinois Attorneys under 40 to Watch” by the Law Bulletin Publishing Company, Chicago Lawyer, and The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin.

Law Bulletin Publishing Company conducts an annual survey to determine who Illinois attorneys believe are the “up and comers” of law in the state of Illinois. Attorneys cannot recommend themselves or attorneys from their own law firm or organization. “This is a great honor, and it is especially meaningful for the recognition to have come from my clients,” said Pellettiere.

Pellettiere is a partner in the firm’s Tax-Exempt Organizations Practice Group, where she dedicates her practice to advising both non-profits and for-profits on the corporate and tax issues impacting tax-exempt organizations. She advises public charities (including, for example, universities and hospitals) and private foundations, among others, on complex matters such as grantmaking (foreign and domestic), investments (including program-related investments), and private benefit, private inurement, and self-dealing issues, and she regularly represents clients applying for or maintaining tax-exempt status.

She received her law degree, cum laude, from Northwestern University School of Law and her bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.

About Law Bulletin Publishing Company
Law Bulletin Publishing Company, founded in 1854, serves the Midwest’s legal, real estate, and financial communities. The company’s products and services keep users up-to-date with the latest news and developments, enhance efficiency, and help to increase business.

About Quarles & Brady LLP
Quarles & Brady is a full-service AmLaw 200 firm with more than 475 attorneys offering an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients that range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies, with practice focuses in health care and life sciences, business law, labor and employment, real estate, data privacy and security, and complex litigation. The firm has offices in Chicago; Indianapolis; Madison; Milwaukee; Naples, Florida; Phoenix; Scottsdale; Tampa; Tucson; and Washington, D.C.

Global Jet Capital, a provider of financing solutions for large-cabin, long-range private jets, has agreed to purchase the aircraft lease and loan portfolio of GE Capital Corporate Aircraft in the Americas representing approximately $2.5 billion of net assets.

Latham & Watkins LLP advised Global Jet Capital on the transaction with a corporate team led by Washington, D.C. partners Daniel Lennon and Nicholas Luongo with associates J. Cory Tull, Rohith Parasuraman, Mariclaire Petty and Mitchell London.  Advice was also provided by New York partner David Raab with associate Matthew Dewitz on tax; New York partner Steve Betensky with associate Tiana Hertel on transition services; Washington, D.C. partner David Della Rocca with associate Matthew Conway on employee benefits; Washington, D.C. partner Jeffrey Chenard and New York partners Graeme Smyth,  Kevin Fingeret and  Larry Safran on finance; Washington, D.C. partner Marc Williamson and Brussels partner Hector Armengod with Washington, D.C. counsel Sydney Smith on antitrust; and New York partner Alan Avery with associate Pia Naib on banking.

Shawn Vick, Executive Director of Global Jet Capital, said, “We are investing heavily in growing the business both organically and through strategic acquisitions such as this one with GE. This is a prime example of our industry expertise and investment capital coming together to evaluate and identify an opportunity to expand the business in a disciplined, carefully measured way.”

He added, “This is a remarkable portfolio of corporate aviation assets, and this investment underlines our confidence in the long-term growth prospects of the large cabin, long range private jet market. The price point of these aircraft range between $25 and $75 million on average, and corporate users and high net worth individuals will seek competitive financing solutions rather than allocate their own cash resources which are better invested in their own businesses.”

The release from Global Jet Capital continues:

In building the Corporate Aircraft portfolio, GE Capital has adhered to the most comprehensive underwriting and asset evaluation practices as well as industry-leading documentation and collateral securing processes.

“We are pleased to sell our Corporate Aircraft financing portfolio to Global Jet Capital, a buyer that is fully committed to investing and growing the business,” said Keith Sherin, GE Capital Chairman and CEO. “We know our customers will benefit from the combined strength and expertise of the Global Jet Capital team and will continue to receive the high level of service they have come to expect from us,” he added.

Global Jet Capital, which was launched last year, is capitalized by three global investment firms – GSO Capital Partners, a Blackstone company in partnership with Franklin Square Capital Partners; The Carlyle Group; and AE Industrial Partners.

The company’s current management team and executive committee is composed of leaders from business jet manufacturers, maintenance and service providers and leading financial institutions who have served the private aircraft industry for a combined 200-plus years and have completed over 3,500 aircraft transactions. As part of this transaction, the GE Capital Corporate Aircraft team will join the Global Jet Capital organization.

Global Jet Capital was advised by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc., BofA Merrill Lynch and Citi together with Latham & Watkins LLP, Clifford Chance US LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP as legal advisors. Closing is contingent upon the completion of customary closing conditions and is expected to occur in stages over the next several months.

CobbleStone Systems has published a white paper designed to help companies implement new contract management software, beginning with preparation and continuing through the complete process.

One of the key steps, the paper explains, is getting key stakeholders on board with the process. Implementation will require a plan and participants will have to stick to it.

More guidelines include mapping out the process, starting out simple, and dedicating the time required for the process without rushing.

Download the white paper.


 


















Carrington Coleman of Dallas has published a guide to cybersecurity and corporate governance titled “9 Cybersecurity Tips to Mitigate Your Legal Liability.” The complimentary guide can be downloaded.

Cyber-attacks are increasingly frequent, sophisticated, and devastating to a business’s bottom line, the firm says on its website. There is no doubt that cybersecurity needs to be an important priority to the business and that real attention needs to be paid to the issue. Because a lot of fear-mongering associated with cybersecurity can generate paralysis in organizations, the problem may seem insurmountable and too costly to begin to address. But, in reality, there are easy, pragmatic steps an organization can take — and should be taking — to begin addressing its security vulnerabilities.

Download the guide.

Johnson & Johnson scored a defense win in a lawsuit over its Prosima pelvic mesh implant Oct. 5, after a Texas state jury ruled that the device was not defectively designed and that J&J subsidiary Ethicon’s risk warnings were adequate, reports Courtroom View Network.

“The jury reached a 10-2 verdict after beginning deliberations on Friday following a two-week trial during which attorneys for plaintiff Carol Cavness argued that J&J’s Ethicon unit knew the Prosima mesh was too stiff and could cause vaginal tissue to degrade, but failed to adequately warn patients and doctors of the risks,” the site reports. “Cavness, who is 60, had the Prosima mesh implanted in 2012 to treat a condition called pelvic organ prolapse, and claimed since then she’s suffered pain, infections and undergone multiple surgeries in an effort to remove the mesh.”

Read the story.

New Hampshire’s Supreme Court upheld a record $236 million judgment Oct. 2 against Exxon Mobil for its use of a gasoline additive that contaminated groundwater in the state, the Associated Press reports.

The original verdict came after a four-month trial in April 2013 when a jury found Exxon Mobil liable for contamination by the chemical MTBE.

A company spokesman said an appeal is under consideration.

“MTBE contamination has been found in New Hampshire because someone spilled gasoline in New Hampshire, not because it was added to gasoline in a refinery in another state,” spokesman Todd Spitler said. “The state should have sued the parties responsible for spilling gasoline, not the refiners who were compelled by law to add oxygenates to gasoline.”

Read the story.

Hidden perils in oilfield master service contracts have the potential to bring even a thriving company to its knees, making even big business with big clients a big mistake, writes  Jordan J. La Raia in Gardere’s Texas Energy Law blog.

“The good news is that even today big and small operating companies usually expect to negotiate (even with the small guys) and a few small requests can make the difference between meeting budget and bankruptcy,” he writes, before discussing three red flags that could be found in the next contract.

Those flags include the areas of insurance, enforceable indemnities, and catastrophic events.

Read the article.

Allergan plc, a leading global pharmaceutical company, announced that it has successfully completed the acquisition of Kythera Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of novel prescription products for the medical aesthetics market. Allergan acquired Kythera in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $2.1 billion.

The acquisition of Kythera adds KYBELLA^® (deoxycholic acid) injection, the first FDA approved non-surgical injection for improvement in the appearance of moderate to severe submental fullness, commonly referred to as double-chin, in adults. In a release, the company said KYBELLA is administered by a trained physician who injects the product under a patient’s chin to destroy fat cells, improving the appearance of the patient’s chin area. Up to six treatments may be administered per patient no less than one month apart, and each in-office treatment session lasts approximately 20 minutes.

“The completion of the Kythera acquisition is an important moment for Allergan and our world-class aesthetics business, adding highly differentiated products and development programs that enhance our product offering to global customers and their patients,” said Brent Saunders, CEO and President of Allergan.  “KYBELLA is a game-changing product in facial aesthetics, and builds on our leadership in the facial aesthetics market. We now can provide a broader range of market-leading aesthetics products to our customers, with KYBELLA joining BOTOX^® Cosmetic, JUVEDERM^® XC, JUVEDERM VOLUMA® XC and LATISSE^®. KYBELLA, a product I have been treated with myself, is also a key entry point for expanding the use of our aesthetics products in men, a growing market opportunity in both the U.S. and around the world.”

Latham & Watkins LLP represented Kythera in the transaction with a corporate deal team led from the firm’s Silicon Valley office by partners Alan Mendelson, Mark Roeder and Josh Dubofsky, with associates John Harrison, Deeptha Mathavan, Benjamin Liss, Owais Mahesri and Albert Yeh. Advice was also provided on public company representation by Silicon Valley partner Brian Cuneo, with associates Saied Pinto and Alexander White; on antitrust matters by San Francisco partner Karen Silverman and Washington, D.C. counsel Sydney Smith; on benefits and compensation matters by Silicon Valley partner James Metz and associate Ashley Wagner; on regulatory matters by Washington, D.C. partners John Manthei and Jennifer Archie, with San Francisco counsel Betty Pang and Washington, D.C. associates Elizabeth Richards, Susan Ebersole and Michael Dreyfuss; on intellectual property matters by Silicon Valley partner Judith Hasko and counsel Geoffrey Kuziemko; on tax matters by San Francisco partner Kirt Switzer and Washington, D.C. partner Nicholas DeNovio, with Washington, D.C. associate Sean FitzGerald and Silicon Valley associate Jessica Chen; and on litigation matters by Silicon Valley partner Patrick Gibbs, with associate Allison Davidson.

Veritext, the world’s largest court reporting company, announced the release of LawStudio – an all-in-one workspace that allows litigation attorneys and support staff to build their case. Documents, exhibits, depositions, videos, images and more are all in one place and are simple to access by all members working on a case.

A Veritext release said that LawStudio is priced at $299 per month for a single license, includes unlimited file storage, allows access from anywhere at any time and requires no IT support to purchase and use.

“We designed LawStudio to be a complete and robust litigation support platform while remaining easily accessible to any legal professional, regardless of their technical abilities or financial situation,” says Nancy Josephs, CEO of Veritext. “By keeping the cost low and the technology simple, we believe we’ve created a truly unique, innovative and useful tool.”

The company’s release continues:

LawStudio’s simple searching, annotation and reporting capabilities, integration with existing software and services and video streaming help legal teams collaborate easily on a case. Robust features include:

• File and Case Management – Secure data hosting means information is in one place and accessible anywhere, anytime. Files can be added using the “drag and drop” feature, and searching is simple and fast.
• Software and Service Integration – Transcripts and exhibits are automatically loaded.
• Annotation Engine – Capture, categorize and catalog every piece of information, including text and images.
• Robust Reports – Summarize any annotations, have the citations you need to construct a motion or trial document and use the image capture to include the actual image from the document – not just text.
• Collaboration Platform – Advanced security and sharing controls allow users to set the team. Extensive audit trails show who did what and when.
• Secure Share – Securely share large files while adding encryptions and link expiration times.
• Video Streaming – Veritext deposition videos are instantly streamed to users’ accounts, and other videos can be uploaded at any time.
• Client Connect – Built-in HD web conferencing allows users to virtually meet with and show documents to clients.
• Swift Redact – Data is protected and permanently removed before sharing.
• MS Office Integration – Share secure links within an email and upload and send large files right from a message. MS Office documents, including Word, Excel and PowerPoint, can be saved in their LawStudio case folder with one click.

LawStudio offers a free 45-day trial and can be accessed from the company’s website at www.lawstudio.com. Pricing for a single license starts at $299 per month and drops as low as $208 per user per month for firms with more than 21 users with an annual subscription.

The law firm of Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC represented SmartStop Self Storage, a public non-traded self storage real estate investment trust (REIT), in its merger with Extra Space, a NYSE listed self storage REIT.

The $1.4 billion transaction includes a sale of approximately $100 million of assets to an affiliated entity.

The Baker Donelson team representing SmartStop included shareholders Richard F. Mattern, Sam Chafetz and Kristine L. Roberts, and associates Marc J. Adesso, Robert C. McCauley Williams and Andrew T. Yonchak, all from the firm’s Memphis office; shareholder Lori B. Metrock and associate Taylor K. Wirth of the firm’s Nashville office; shareholder Thomas J. Mahoney Jr. and of counsel Andrea Bailey Powers of the irm’s Birmingham office; and shareholder Clint Crosby of the firm’s Atlanta office.

DLA Piper announces that Courtney Saleski, a litigation partner in the firm’s Philadelphia office, was named to The Legal Intelligencer’s “Lawyers on the Fast Track.”

The publication selected 40 Pennsylvania lawyers under the age of 40 who have impacted the legal profession across the state. The honorees were recognized for their contributions to legal innovation, leadership and advocacy, and pro bono and civic work.

Saleski focuses her practice on appellate and complex motions litigation, white collar criminal defense, internal investigations and complex civil litigation. She co-leads DLA Piper’s appellate practice of 30-plus lawyers, is a member of the firm’s North American Pro Bono Committee, and is the pro bono coordinator for the Philadelphia office. Through her pro bono work locally and nationally, Saleski lends her services to the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s Criminal Justice Act Panel and Supervision to Aid Reentry, which assists formerly incarcerated individuals in their transition back into the community. Before joining DLA Piper, Saleski served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia. Earlier in her career, Saleski served as a law clerk to the Honorable William H. Rehnquist.

About DLA Piper
DLA Piper is a global law firm located in more than 30 countries throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, positioning it to help companies with their legal needs around the world. In certain jurisdictions, this information may be considered attorney advertising.

The national law firm of Quarles & Brady LLP has announced that 12 of its associate attorneys have been admitted as partners as a result of superb performance and the promise of furthering the future for the firm and its clients. The new partners are in the firm’s Chicago, Madison, Milwaukee, Phoenix, and Tampa offices.

The new partners are Daniel J. Ark, Nicole A. Bashor, Jonathan W. Hackbarth, Brian A. Hartstein, Ryan S. Lovitz, Patrick J. Murphy, Lauren G. Raines, Rowan P. Smith, Martha Jahn Snyder, Valerie P. Vidal, Cathleen T. Yu, and Marian M. Zapata-Rossa.

Firm Managing Partner Fred Lautz, who supervises the partnership across the firm’s 10 nationwide locations from its founding office in Milwaukee, said, “These new partners have exceptional legal skills and provide terrific, business-aware client service. We are confident they will help Quarles & Brady grow and thrive well into the future.”

“All new partners must be outstanding representatives of the legal industry,” added Firm Chair Kimberly Leach Johnson. “As associates, they have done a superior job and we are certain they will continue their outstanding work as partners.”

The attorneys’ new status as partners becomes effective on October 1.

About the Attorneys:

Daniel J. Ark (Milwaukee office) practices in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group and specializes in patent prosecution and counseling. His background in materials science and engineering provides him with a broad technical base that is of particular value to clients having needs in the overlapping areas of materials, mechanical, electrical, or chemical arts.

Nicole A. Bashor (Chicago office) practices in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. She helps clients obtain, enforce, and defend against patents involving primarily mechanical, software, chemical, and medical device technologies.

Jonathan W. Hackbarth (Milwaukee office) practices in the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He defends corporations, financial institutions, financial advisors, and individuals against securities lawsuits in state and federal courts across the country, as well as against securities investigations and regulatory actions brought by state and federal securities regulators.

Brian A. Hartstein (Chicago office) practices in the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. He represents and counsels management on a wide range of labor and employment issues, with an emphasis in employment discrimination litigation.

Ryan S. Lovitz (Milwaukee office) practices in the firm’s Business Law Practice Group. He represents public companies in connection with securities law compliance, corporate governance matters, and offerings.

Patrick J. Murphy (Milwaukee office) practices in the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. He represents policyholders in several industries in connection with various types of claims, including third-party environmental, asbestos, and “personal and advertising injury” claims under commercial general liability policies.

Lauren G. Raines (Tampa office) practices in the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution and Real Estate Practice Group. She focuses on commercial real estate finance and enforcement, , with substantial experience in commercial lending, complex real estate transactions, loan workouts, debt restructurings, and foreclosures.

Rowan P. Smith (Phoenix office) practices in the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group with a focus on patent prosecution and counseling. He represents clients in many technology areas with a focus on those involving computer science and electrical engineering.

Martha Jahn Snyder (Madison office) practices IP Litigation as part of the firm’s Intellectual Property Practice Group. She primarily represents plaintiffs and defendants in litigations revolving around patent and trademark infringement, and the theft of trade secrets. Martha also assists clients with obtaining protection of their intellectual property and managing their IP portfolios.

Valerie P. Vidal (Milwaukee office) practices in the firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution Practice Group. She defends and enforces the rights of corporations and financial institutions in matters involving complex contractual disputes, business torts, loan enforcement and lender liability claims.

Cathleen T. Yu (Phoenix office) practices in the firm’s Business Law Practice Group. Her practice includes the representation of clients in corporate finance, securities, mergers and acquisitions, and business transactions in industries including health care, aviation, education, financial services, manufacturing, and biotechnology

Marian M. Zapata-Rossa (Phoenix office) practices in the firm’s Labor & Employment Practice Group. Her practice includes employment litigation defense and advising employers on all aspects of the employer-employee relationship with a focus on providing clients with business-oriented solutions to identify and mitigate risk.

About Quarles & Brady LLP
Quarles & Brady is a full-service AmLaw 200 firm with more than 475 attorneys offering an array of legal services to corporate and individual clients that range from small entrepreneurial businesses to Fortune 100 companies, with practice focuses in health care and life sciences, business law, labor and employment, real estate, data privacy and security, and complex litigation. The firm has offices in Chicago; Indianapolis; Madison; Milwaukee; Naples, Florida; Phoenix; Scottsdale; Tampa; Tucson; and Washington, D.C.

Email discovery is at the nexus of high volume and low relevance. Businesses generate a tremendous amount of email that has to be sifted to find a relatively small number of useful communications. However, although email discovery is burdensome and expensive, it’s also necessary and important. Filtering using email domains is a cost-effective means of culling significant volumes of non-relevant email with minimal human review, reports QDiscovery. That reports follows:

What Is the Email Domain?

The email domain is the part of the email address that comes after the @ symbol. For example, in the email address photosubmissions @ wikimedia.org, “photosubmissions” is the local part and “wikimedia.org” is the domain. Sender and recipient email addresses are captured in the metadata fields FROM, TO, CC, and BCC. Thus, there is no added cost associated with using email domains for data filtering.

Culling Non-Relevant Messages

The eDiscovery vendor or litigation support staff managing the document database can export a list of all the unique email domains in the dataset. There are several possible approaches to reviewing the list and marking non-relevant- or alternatively, relevant- email domains.

First, a lawyer or paralegal on the eDiscovery team can look for generally known domains. Project managers and eDiscovery consultants are also a good resource in this regard.

Second, the custodians can be asked to review the list. Since they’re the most familiar with the content of their own mail they can make the most comprehensive review. A second advantage of this strategy is that it imposes no out of pocket costs on the client. However, it obviously does require the custodians’ full cooperation, which may not always be possible or practicable.

Lastly, in dynamic culling the list is marked up on a rolling basis by the document reviewers in the course of making the substantive responsiveness review.

All email addresses that share a certain domain (e.g., amazon.com) can then be batch-tagged as non-relevant and filtered out of the dataset. Occasionally reverse culling may be appropriate; under this approach, email addresses from relevant domains (e.g., the other parties to the case) are batch-tagged to be retained and all other domains are filtered out.

Email domains can easily be used to identify messages in obviously non-relevant categories such as:

– Online shopping and other commercial solicitations;
– Customer loyalty rewards programs;
– Travel-related websites and notifications;
– Professional associations;
– Newsletters, digests, and other mailing list alerts;
– Social media notifications;
– Spam.

In the same spirit, full email addresses can be used to identify and exclude communications with friends and family.

Using Email Domains for Privilege Review

Email domains can likewise be used to identify potentially privileged communications and segregate them for later privilege review. The email domain list is reviewed for outside counsel, consulting experts, eDiscovery vendors, and other litigation consultants. Tagging email domains is a safety net to catch messages from and to email addresses of people whose names didn’t make the search list, such as support staff and others with limited client contact.

As intellectual property licensing continues to grow more prevalent, legal practitioners and business personnel are being asked to craft and negotiate agreements that can significantly impact a business’s ability to compete in a particular field or market, according to an article posted by Farella Braun + Martel LLP.

Authors Eugene Mar and Erik Olson collect a number of best practices learned the hard way—through litigation of agreements and arrangements that went awry. “Whether negotiating a complex cross-license of intellectual property rights or drafting a supplier agreement, practitioners should consider the license provisions and practice notes discussed below to ensure that a party’s licensing objectives are met,” they write.

Read the article.

Reed Smith has posted a discussion on drafting and negotiation commodities contracts, with a focus on Chinese counterparties with emphasis on successful enforcement in China.

Simon Jones, William J.G. Barber, Calvin Chan, Ivan Chiang  wrote the article.

“It is inevitable that some commodity trades end in dispute, particularly in current markets where prices are generally low and have been falling. This may happen in any jurisdiction, although this article focuses on China and how you can minimise risks relating to enforcement,” the authors wrote in the introduction.

Read the article.

Scott Sherman of Branscomb PC was recognized by Best Lawyers as the 2016 Trusts & Estates “Lawyer of the Year” in Corpus Christi, Texas. He and 12 of his Branscomb colleagues won recognition in the Best Lawyers peer review guide.

Other lawyers from the firm include:

Jeff Dickerson: Corporate Law

Jim Clancy: Commercial Litigation

Omar Leal: Trusts and Estates

Kenton McDonald: Tax Law; Litigation and Controversy – Tax

Jim Robichaux: Bet-the-Company Litigation; Commercial Litigation;
Mass Tort Litigation/Class Actions – Defendants

Scott Sherman: Trusts and Estates; Litigation – Trusts and Estates

Mike Stukenberg: Trusts and Estates

Scott Taylor: Energy Law

Craig Williams: Real Estate Law

Pat Autry: Litigation – Bankruptcy

Rhonda Jolley: Banking and Finance Law; Real Estate Law

Grady Jolley: Real Estate Law

Sandra White: Litigation – Labor and Employment

A Bloomberg BNA article by two Holland & Knight lawyers on blockchain technology and its potential application to the legal industry sets out basic concepts and terminology surrounding smart contracts.

While there is no universally accepted definition of smart contracts, write partner Joe Dewey and associate Shawn Amuial, “most people involved with the blockchain would expect at least the following three elements in order to consider something to be a smart contract: i) the transaction must involve more than the mere transfer of a virtual currency from one person to another (i.e., a payment transfer), ii) the transaction involves two or more parties (as every contract must), and iii) the implementation of the contract requires no direct human involvement after the smart contract has been made a part of the blockchain.  It’s this last element that makes these contracts “smart,” and therefore, merits a more detailed discussion.”

Read the article.

Although major organizations rely on contracts to define nearly every aspect of their business, from sales to vendor relationships to liability, sub-par processes are undermining efficiency and efficacy in the general counsel’s office.

A complimentary white paper from Exari discusses survey findings that highlight gaps in risk and revenue insight created by poor contract management practices.

Exari surveyed more than 90 corporate and general counsel to better understand the impact of common contracting trends and pain points on productivity and risk assessment at organizations handling large volumes of contracts. The report lays out these findings, as well as tactics for preventing key contract information from slipping through the cracks, empowering general counsel to take a seat at the executive table during high-stakes events or crises.

Download the white paper.

Merrill DataSite is offering a complimentary evaluation tool that addresses the challenges faced in the ever-changing world of corporation compliance. This tool provide a process for evaluating compliance challenges and a method for considering solutions.

The process also helps readers learn more about specific compliance challenges, as well as this three-step program to determine a company’s specific needs:

• Assess the current compliance challenges and impacts
• Review the existing program against a standard of best practices
• Create a comprehensive program that ensures effective compliance

Download the paper.