Jones Day has published a white paper that addresses some of the most prominent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act-related compliance priorities requiring the attention of board members.

Those priorities include ensuring that corporate management is completely committed to compliance efforts, risk assessment, training relative to processes and policies, third-party due diligence, and similar concerns.

“The United States Department of Justice, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and non-U.S. governments and agencies have recently emphasized their continued commitments to pursuing both corporate and individual violators of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act,” the firm says in an introduction to the paper. “Given this ongoing emphasis, corporate board members have particularly important roles to play in overseeing compliance and anticorruption programs in place at the companies they serve.”

Read the white paper.

Image by BCorn MarketingDiv (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Bloomberg reports that Belinda Johnson, formerly chief business affairs and legal officer, has taken the new role with the company as part of a shakeup in the senior ranks.

“Before joining Airbnb, Johnson served as general counsel at Yahoo and Mark Cuban’s Broadcast.com,” according to reporter Olivia Zakeski. “She was named to the board of PayPal Holdings Inc. a year ago. As Airbnb’s operating chief, she becomes one of the most powerful women in Silicon Valley.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

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

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

Key findings:

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

Download the Globality report.

In an upcoming webinar, LawGeex will demonstrate how modern legal teams are revolutionizing their daily contract review processes.

The 45-minute event will be Wednesday, Feb. 21, beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern time.

On its website, LawGeex says the webinar will show how modern legal teams are revolutionizing their daily contract review processes. This will be a practical look at using on-the-ground solutions for contract review automation.

The webinar will cover:

• What is contract review automation?
• How are leading legal teams using this technology today?
• How to dramatically reduce the time and cost of contract review and approval.
• A live demonstration of contract review automation in action.

Register for the webinar.

Large companies increasingly want to work with smaller, more innovative law firms but have trouble finding them due to over-reliance on personal connections, according to a new survey reported by Courthouse News Service.

“Along with an increasing preference for smaller firms, the survey revealed the levels of dissatisfaction rated three times higher with bigger firms—19 percent as opposed to 6 percent,” writes Matthew Renda.

Renda quotes Joel Hyatt, CEO and co-founder of Globality, the company that commissioned the study:

“It’s clear clients are increasingly unhappy with larger legal providers. They’re expensive, aren’t as innovative, and don’t provide the same level of customer service smaller firms can offer.”

Read the CNS article.

NAVEX Global will present a complimentary webinar on recent and anticipated enforcement and regulatory changes as they relate to third-party risk.

The online event will be Thursday, Jan. 25, at 1 p.m. EST / 10 a.m. PST.

Michael Volkov, renowned FCPA and third-party due diligence expert, will help participants learn about new FCPA policies and DOJ advice, data privacy regulations coming in May and more.

Participants also will learn what’s ahead in the world of anti-bribery, corruption and third-party risk management efforts.

Anyone who can’t watch the live online event may register to receive a recording of the webinar afterwards.

Register for the webinar.

Zapproved has published a report providing insights from a PREX17 summary on meeting the new GDPR rules by May 2018. The summary may be downloaded free of charge.

In May 2018, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will go into effect, requiring companies that do business in Europe to adjust their strategies for data management. The GDPR standardizes data protection law across the member countries, but it doesn’t specifically address preservation and discovery for U.S. legal proceedings.

The PREX17 session summary, “Data Privacy, the GDPR and Security All in One” explores the practical considerations for this transition with insight from Intel’s Dan Christensen, U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth Laporte and Jeane Thomas, Partner at Crowell & Moring LLP.

It discusses strategies to address:

• Article 30 requirements for detailed record keeping
• U.S vs EU perspectives on cross-border discovery and personal privacy rights
• ISO2l701 certification

Download the summary.

A new book by the former general counsel of American Airlines tells the story of the company’s journey from the brink of insolvency following the loss of two of the airline’s jets in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks through the most successful corporate bankruptcy and restructuring in U.S. history.

The Dallas Business Journal, with The Texas Lawbook, has an advance copy of Gary Kennedy’s “Twelve Years of Turbulence: The Inside Story of American Airlines’ Battle for Survival,” scheduled for release in February.

According to writer Mark Curriden, the book reveals that American Airlines paid lawyers and financial advisers involved in the bankruptcy proceedings $300 million – or $500,000 a day. It also goes behind the scenes of the terrorist attacks of 2011.

Read the Dallas Business Journal article.

Salle Yoo, who resigned as general counsel of ride-hailing giant Uber in September, reportedly came up with an idea to foil government raids on the company’s computers: set up a system to wipe the data when the cops come through the door.

Bloomberg, citing three people with knowledge of the system, reports that, between spring 2015 until late 2016, Uber used a system designed to thwart police raids in foreign countries.

When authorities showed up at Uber offices, employees could page a number that alerted specially trained staff at company headquarters in San Francisco.

Citing a raid in Montreal, the report says, “When the call came in, staffers quickly remotely logged off every computer in the Montreal office, making it practically impossible for the authorities to retrieve the company records they’d obtained a warrant to collect. The investigators left without any evidence.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

The former head of a Wells Fargo legal department responsible for employment matters is one of two high-ranking executives who are no longer with the company, reports The Charlotte Observer.

The executive changes are the latest at the top of the bank since a sales scandal broke more than a year ago.

The former legal department group head is Deanna Lindquist. The other former executive mentioned in Deon Roberts’ report is Tracy Kidd, who was head of human resources for Wells’ community banking segment in Charlotte, NC.

Read the Observer article.

The National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) will host a meeting of progressive general counsel, directors, and subject-matter experts for an intimate discussion on the continuing evolution of the general counsel’s role, and its impact on boardroom issues. This exclusive, one-day event seeks to help GCs to better align themselves with director expectations, as well as elevate their role in the boardroom, the company says.

The event will be on Monday, Feb. 12, 2018, at the Grand Hyatt Washington in Washington, D.C.

Once seen solely as legal advisors, general counsel are now regularly called upon to provide the board with an objective opinion about the company’s strategy based on their legal and ethical training. In fact, almost 70 percent of NACD’s full board memberships have a general counsel on their board roster. As part of our continuing goal of equipping boards with the information they need to create long-term value for businesses, NACD launched a new initiative: The Strategic-Asset GC.

Now in its second year, the Strategic-Asset GC event will aim to provide general counsel unique insights from directors, subject-matter experts, and fellow general counsel in order to help identify effective strategies for continued partnership with the board.

Register or get more information.

On Thursday, Jan. 18, 2018, the experts at NAVEX Global will discuss the challenges of ethics and compliance and offer predictions for 2018’s most pressing compliance issues.

The complimentary webinar will be at 1 p.m. Pacific time/ 1 p.m. Eastern time.

This past year was filled with news headlines that resulted in major legal repercussions for many organizations—causing workplace unrest or wreaking havoc on reputations.

Webinar participants will be able to take a proactive look at their programs and make sure they have a legally defensible strategy that’s prepared for any scenario, NAVEX says in its invitation.

Register for the webinar.

In an article for Bloomberg Big Law Business, Wiley Rein LLP’s Kirk Nahra details the top-10 U.S. and international developments in 2018 that companies must be aware of to ensure an effective information security program.

Nahra writes that “it is clear that privacy and data security has moved from an issue impacting primarily healthcare and financial services companies, to an issue that affects, in large and small ways, virtually every company across the globe. These issues affect litigation, mergers and acquisitions, product development, research, corporate strategy, business partnerships, and, in some way most activities of most companies.”

His article covers the European Union’s new General Data Protection Regulation, Privacy Shield and other data transfer obligations, non-EU data transfer programs, cybersecurity, breach litigation, FTC and Office for Civil Rights enforcement, and the role of the states.

Read the Bloomberg article.

LawGeex, publisher of “LegalTech Buyer’s Guide,” has published a guide to change management for legal teams: “In-House Counsel’s Guide to Change Management.”

The book delivers the definitive eight-stage process of navigating and reinforcing enduring change. It contains dozens of interviews and real-life experiences from a host of industry leaders, including Pearson, Telstra, Avis Budget Group, NetApp, L’Oreal, Microsoft, Cisco, Google and many more.

The guide includes:

• The secrets of legal change management from Pearson, Telstra, Avis Budget Group, NetApp, L’Oreal, Microsoft, Cisco, Google and many more.
• The definitive eight-stage process of lasting change, including everything from identifying opportunities, to measuring and reinforcing success.
• Dozens of interviews and real life experiences from the world’s leading in-house lawyers and legal experts on navigating lasting change.

Download the guide.

NAVEX Global has released its first ever role-based Ethics & Compliance Benchmark Report for Legal Professionals, designed to help legal professionals get unique insights into compliance challenges and solutions.

Download this report to learn:

• What general counsels value most in their ethics and compliance programs

• A proactive approach to resource constraints

• The most common methods legal professionals use to administer and manage attestations

The report provides insights and benchmarks for compliance programs, from the eyes of legal professionals. It includes best-practice recommendations and discusses how legal departments view compliance training, third-party due diligence and policy and procedure management.

Download the free report.

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

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

The release continues:

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

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

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

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

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

Just days into his new job as chief legal officer at Uber, Tony West sent an email to the firm’s security team telling them to stop any competitive intelligence projects that included surveilling individuals, reports Recode.

In the email, West said he and new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi “are still learning the details about the extent of these operations and who was involved in directing them, but suffice it to say there is no place for such practices or that kind of behavior at Uber.”

Reporter Johana Bhuiyan writes that Khosrowshahi also sent an email to all employees, saying in part, “I will not tolerate misconduct or misbehavior that was endorsed or excused in the past. Period.”

The ride-hailing company has had to deal with the sudden loss of its former CEO, a lawsuit from a competitor, and other challenges in recent months.

Read the Recode article.

For 10 years, Blickstein Group, in cooperation with Consilio, has surveyed hundreds of law departments solely on the operations function to provide benchmarks that are useful to all law departments.

The written survey report is available now and may be downloaded at no charge.

On December 14, at 1 p.m. Eastern time / 10 a.m. Pacific, Blickstein will host a webinar to provide exclusive LIVE analysis of survey results by five industry leaders.

Those leaders are Brad Blickstein; David Cambria, Global Director of Operations – Law, Compliance and Government Relations at Archer Daniels Midland Co.; Joe Polizzotto, Senior Vice President, Strategy & Client Services at QuisLex; Kristin Calve, Publisher of Metropolitan Corporate Counsel; and Robin Snasdell, Managing Director at Consilio.

They will benchmark topics such as:

• The role of Legal Ops
• Change management
• Alternative fee arrangements
• Technology and tools
• Metrics and reporting

Download a copy of the report.

Register for the webinar.

NAVEX Global will present a webinar to launch a new role-based Ethics & Compliance Benchmark Report for Legal Professionals.

The event will be Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2017, at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern time.

The program will provide insights into how a legal department manages compliance program initiatives. Participants will discuss best-practices for building effective programs, revealing particular challenges and strengths unique to the legal function.

Featured speakers will be Randy Stephens, Vice President, NAVEX Global; and Scott Nelson, Partner, Baker McKenzie LLP.

Anyone interested in the webinar who is unable to attend the online event may register and receive a link to the recording and a full copy of the report afterwards.

Register for the webinar.

Conga has published an eBook designed to help readers get clearer visibility across contracts  through automating and integrating the contract lifecycle.

“Use-it-or-lose-it budgets are a fact of life, but they don’t have to derail your organization,” the company says on its website. “Your remaining dollars will go farther when everyone in your organization works smarter, more efficiently, and more diligently. Lightning-fast automation, policy enforcement, and true oversight will help you get the most out of end-of-quarter initiatives without taking on unnecessary risk.”

Download “The Path to Year-End Efficiency” to:

• Do more with your year-end dollars
• Learn how to accelerate sales processes
• Understand the importance of getting contract management right
• Stop the bottlenecks associated with year-end
• Boost purchasing efficiency and oversight

Download the guide.