Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Using Persuasion Techniques to Achieve Litigation Success: Part One,” featuring Fitch Even partners Karl R. Fink, Nikki Little, and Timothy P. Maloney.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 9:00 am PST / 10:00 am MST / 11:00 am CST / 12 noon EST.

In the fourth century B.C., Greek philosopher Aristotle described three key methods of persuasion that can be used to influence your audience—ethos, pathos, and logos. These persuasion techniques are used in all types of communication in our everyday lives. And when complex issues are involved, such as in intellectual property litigation, effectively applying these principles becomes even more important.

During this webinar, we’ll explore the ways these modes of persuasion can be used to effectively communicate throughout the life of a case, covering the following:

• An introduction to the concepts of ethos, pathos, and logos
• How to integrate persuasion techniques when developing case themes
• The importance of building a team that can communicate and persuade
• How to select and prepare effective fact witnesses

In April we will present Part Two, which will cover additional aspects of a case, including expert witnesses, communications with the court, and trial.

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and is pending for Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP is pleased to announce that the firm scored a 90 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies, practices and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.

Medlock and Bradley’s Inclusion and Diversity Committee, which is chaired by partner Anne Marie Seibel, led the effort to ensure the firm had practices and policies in place to participate in the CEI survey. The committee is tasked with identifying and implementing inclusion and diversity initiatives across all the firm’s offices. In 2020, the Inclusion and Diversity Committee implemented new programs aimed at improving recruitment, retention and advancement of diverse attorneys, held firm-wide social justice discussion groups and panel discussions, and supported the firm’s affinity groups in their activities.

The 2020 CEI ranks employers that took concrete steps to ensure greater equity for LGBTQ workers and their families in the form of comprehensive policies, benefits and practices. The rating criteria includes non-discrimination policies across business entities; equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families; and supporting an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility.

Pandemic-related pressure and political disruption are expected to create significant uncertainty in 2021—and as governments grapple with these challenges, enforcement authorities are likely to uncover bribery and corruption issues. In this climate, businesses face compliance risks across a range of industries and regions, according to a new report by global law firm Hogan Lovells.

The Global Bribery & Corruption Outlook identifies a number of compliance and enforcement trends, and areas in which enforcement is on the rise.

“Over the course of 2021, we expect to see continued cross-border enforcement activity and collaboration, the alignment of European corporate criminal liability laws with existing U.S. laws, and a more global crackdown on bribery and money laundering,” said Stephanie Yonekura, global head of Hogan Lovells’ Investigations, White Collar, and Fraud practice.

Businesses face uncertainty on a number of fronts. Countries that had hoped to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic this year have instead enacted further restrictions. The United Kingdom is adjusting to life after Brexit, and the United States is transitioning to a new administration.

“Despite these unpredictable times, we have identified some unifying trends in key industries and jurisdictions around the world,” Yonekura said. “For example, in the U.S., even though the new administration has just begun to shape its legislative and regulatory priorities, there is broad agreement that enforcement activity involving corporate fraud will only increase in coming years.”

Industries in the hot seat

As governments plan for recovery from the economic downturn inflicted by the pandemic, the financial services sector can expect to see a global rise in enforcement activity, including actions brought under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the U.S.

“Financial services institutions should anticipate and prepare for heightened attention from the Department of Justice, Securities and Exchange Commission, and regulators worldwide in anti-bribery enforcement,” said Hogan Lovells partner Ann C. Kim, co-editor of the Global Bribery & Corruption Outlook. “Given the current economic climate, now is the time to examine compliance efforts and identify and remediate any issues, before enforcement officials come knocking.”

Technology companies also find themselves in the hot seat.

“2020 saw no shortage of governmental scrutiny of technology companies, and it is not lost on us that the very companies that were in the crosshairs of enforcement authorities were the ones helping the world to keep turning during the pandemic,” Yonekura said. “We expect government authorities to continue their focus on the technology sector, including a likely surge in FCPA enforcement actions in the U.S.”

The Global Bribery & Corruption Outlook examines enforcement in other industries as well, including:

• Life sciences – The race to find therapeutics and a vaccine in the fight against COVID-19 has put the spotlight back on international clinical trials, and companies are increasingly turning to AI to spot compliance issues.

• Sports, media, and entertainment – Businesses in this sector, among the hardest hit by the pandemic, face compliance challenges as they begin to re-open, such as the potential for vendors and third parties seeking to use in-kind donations, such as tickets to events, to cut through government bureaucracy.

• Aerospace, defense, and government services – The industry saw arguably the largest anti-corruption settlement in enforcement history, and tighter controls are likely ahead.

• Private capital – Developments in Europe expand the risks companies can face when bribery and corruption is uncovered at a newly acquired entity. The report also looks at acquisition risks in the U.S. and UK.

Around the World

Written by Hogan Lovells attorneys from offices around the world, the Global Bribery & Corruption Outlook examines enforcement trends in a number of regions.

“The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will continue to shape enforcement activity around the world,” noted partner and report co-editor Liam Naidoo. “But, as we explore in the Outlook, ongoing political and economic changes may have a greater impact in the longer term in some key jurisdictions.”

Regional highlights include:

• China – The digital transformation of Chinese retail companies in a post-COVID-19 era have given rise to compliance risks and challenges.

• Europe – In Spain and Germany, there is movement towards greater alignment with U.S. and other European jurisdictions when it comes to the criminal liability of companies.

• Latin America – Progress on the anti-corruption front, which had built up in Latin America in the wake of the 2014 Car Wash investigation, was impacted in 2020 by political developments, economic instability, and the COVID-19 crisis. Nevertheless, significant corruption investigations are underway.

• Southeast Asia – The report contains feedback from lawyers across the Asia-Pacific region on what the next 12 months will bring. In jurisdictions such as Vietnam and Indonesia, lawyers observe a “Wild West vibe” to compliance and ethical business practices.

As the world begins to step out of the darkness of the pandemic, the financial support that governments have put in place will start to wane, and with that, the fraud, corruption, and white-collar crime that may have lay hidden since March 2020 will begin to surface. It is not too late to review and improve corporate compliance programs, and such action may help mitigate issues yet to come to light.

The Global Bribery & Corruption Outlook can be viewed here: https://www.hoganlovells.com/en/news/2021-global-bribery-corruption-outlook

DENVER (January 12, 2021) – Perkins Coie is pleased to announce that Andrew J. Kline has joined the firm in Denver as a senior counsel in the firm’s Commercial Litigation Practice and Cannabis Law Industry Group.

Kline brings a rare combination of public policy, cannabis law, coalition building and prosecutorial expertise to the firm, following decades of service in the highest levels of government and in the private and non-profit sectors. Drawing on his fourteen years of experience as a federal prosecutor, and public service working as policy advisor to then-Vice President Biden and counsel to then-Senator Biden, Kline will represent clients in some of most sensitive areas of law and policy.

Most recently, Kline had been leading public policy for the cannabis industry at the National Cannabis Industry Association (NCIA), the industry’s preeminent trade organization for the state-legal cannabis industry, and was previously president of the National Association of Cannabis Business. Prior to joining the cannabis industry, Kline held a variety of high-profile positions in government and the private sector. Kline’s experience as a federal prosecutor includes six years as an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia. He also served as a federal prosecutor for six years in the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section, with the DOJ’s Criminal Division, and in the Enforcement Bureau at the Federal Communications Commission. Kline has first-chaired over forty criminal jury trials, twelve bench trials, and argued numerous criminal appeals.

At NCIA, Kline led public policy development and created and led its Policy Council – the “think tank” for the cannabis industry. Under Kline’s leadership, the Council developed public policies to promote, grow, and protect state-legal cannabis businesses. The Council’s work served to inform and influence members of Congress, Executive Branch officials, state legislators and regulators, the media, and industry stakeholders on matters critical to the future of the burgeoning industry.

Kline earned his J.D. from the Pepperdine University School of Law and his B.S. from Emerson College. He also has an M.P.A. from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. Kline is admitted to the Bar in Colorado, California, and Washington, DC.

Perkins Coie is a leading international law firm that is known for providing high value, strategic solutions and extraordinary client service on matters vital to our clients’ success. With more than 1,100 attorneys in offices across the United States and Asia, we provide a full array of corporate, commercial litigation, intellectual property and regulatory legal advice to a broad range of clients, including many of the world’s most innovative companies and industry leaders as well as public and not-for-profit organizations.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Means Plus Function Claim Construction in Patent Prosecution and Litigation,” featuring Fitch Even partner Jon A. Birmingham.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, January 27, 2021, at 9:00 am PST / 10:00 am MST / 11:00 am CST / 12 noon EST.

Means plus function claim construction is being applied by courts and the USPTO when the term “means” is not explicitly used. When does this happen, and what is the impact? Understanding the law of means plus function claim construction, as well as its application in litigation and patent prosecution, can provide answers.

During this webinar, we will discuss these topics and more:
• How to identify means plus function claim terms
• How to construe means plus function claim terms
• How to avoid a means plus function claim construction in patent prosecution
• How to use means plus function claim terms in patent prosecution
• Indefiniteness and means plus function claim terms
• Differences between the Doctrine of Equivalents and means plus function equivalents

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and is pending for Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

As companies continue to operate in a remote work environment, many are looking at ways to improve their contract management processes. On December 11th at 12:00pm ET, the Contract Logix team will be hosting a webinar on Best Practices to Successfully Manage Contracts in a Remote World.

Join us to learn 5 best practices you can leverage to overcome the challenges of managing contracts when your employees, customers, and vendors are working remotely.

Some key topics that we’ll cover include how to:

• Make your contracts securely accessible from anywhere at any time.
• Quickly search for any and all information in your agreements.
• Request, create, process, and execute contracts remotely.
• Automate alerts for key dates and obligations.
• Get real-time reports on your contracts’ stage, status, and performance.

In Era of Remote Engagement, Actionable Guidance Remains Crucial in Law Firm Communications, New Study Finds

Incumbent law firms have advantage in the battle for clients’ attention, but substantive content creates openings for challenger firms

Chicago, December 1, 2020 – By bringing in-person client interactions to a virtual halt, the COVID-19 pandemic has triggered a digital content explosion as law firms compete for the attention of clients and prospects. A new study of in-house counsel shows that providing substantive, actionable guidance remains the best way to rise above the noise, preserve existing client relationships, and win new ones.

These findings are detailed in the report, “How to Win and Protect Client Relationships in the Age of Remote Engagement,” released today by strategic communications firm Greentarget, legal consultancy Zeughauser Group, and B2B branding agency Right Hat. The August 2020 survey of 75 in-house lawyers, including 37 general counsel, offers important guidance for law firms anticipating an extended period of remote outreach.

The survey’s top findings include:

• Stick to Substance: 53 percent of respondents say they most want communications from outside counsel that relay substantive legal or business information. And substantive legal or business information is also most likely to generate a response from in-house counsel, especially for incumbent firms. For challenger firms, content that provides actionable guidance is the best route to sparking a conversation.
• Incumbent Firms Beware! 68 percent of in-house counsel say communication from existing outside counsel is of greatest value, but 31 percent say they place great value on communications from firms introduced to them by friends or colleagues. This suggests a clear opening for challenger firms with the right connections and approach.
• Pick Up the Phone – to Call or Text: Amid the age of digital communication, in-house lawyers most prefer the simplicity and intimacy of a telephone call or text. Picking up the phone affords outside counsel the chance to check in on a client personally before raising an emerging business or legal issue.
• Stay Relevant to be Read or Shared: More than half of in-house lawyers surveyed are willing to give communications from existing law firms (56 percent) and unfamiliar law firms (50 percent) at least a perfunctory read for relevance. Twenty-eight percent go further, saying that they appreciate good content sent from both types of firms, and they forward these communications to peers when appropriate.
• Perspective Wanted on Pressing Legal and Business Issues: 69 percent of in-house counsel say they want content on COVID-19’s impact on the economy and their businesses; nearly as many (65 percent) want content on business and legal topics not related to COVID-19. When we asked in-house counsel to name issues they’d like to hear about from firms, diversity, equity and inclusion topped the list.
• Forget Zoom Cocktail Hours: Seeking to fill the vacuum created by the inability to entertain clients, some firms have gotten creative with virtual social events. But virtual entertainment has little appeal for most in-house lawyers; 51 percent of respondents say they simply are not interested, and 40 percent say that they don’t want to engage with law firms in this manner.

What Law Firms Should Do
The report concludes with a series of recommendations for breaking through in the age of information overload, particularly given the increased flow of digital communication clients are receiving during the pandemic.

These recommendations start by reminding outside counsel that phone calls and texts are a welcome alternative to email; that evaluating content for its relevance, urgency, novelty and utility will distinguish it from the bulk of what clients are receiving; that all communication to clients and prospects should be customized; that incumbent law firms should avoid complacency; that investing in prospects can differentiate a firm seeking to develop a new relationship, and that bigger and bolder thought leadership projects – like research reports and podcasting – can show clients that a law firm is sensitive to their preferences and priorities.

Freeborn & Peters LLP is pleased to announce the formation of the firm’s Consumer Products Industry Team to help its consumer product manufacturing clients strategically and comprehensively address every facet of their business.

The new group draws on the legal skills and business acumen of Freeborn’s corporate, intellectual property, employment, and other attorneys and litigators with industry-specific experience and knowledge across a range of practice groups to fully serve consumer products companies.

Jeremy D. Richardson, a Freeborn Partner and Leader of the Consumer Products Industry Team, said of the newly established group, “We have brought together many of Freeborn’s most knowledgeable and accomplished attorneys in key practice areas that will help our clients achieve the full spectrum of legal protections and business success. In addition, our Consumer Products Industry Team members have substantial experience working with consumer products companies and are attuned to the unique, critical challenges they face.”

The Consumer Products Industry Team attorneys have substantial experience responding to the opportunities and navigating issues regularly encountered by consumer products companies. These include negotiating agreements and resolving disputes with distributors, suppliers, vendors, regulators, governmental authorities, and competitors. The attorneys identify risks and mitigation opportunities for consumer products companies, as well as enforce and defend their rights in litigation, when necessary. The team’s legal services that specifically address the primary needs of consumer products companies include:

• Intellectual property and brand protection;
• Purchasing law, supply chain, and sales channels;
• Product liability, safety, and recalls;
• Antitrust and Federal Trade Commission;
• Labor and employment; and
• Website, e-commerce, data privacy, and cybersecurity.

Freeborn’s Consumer Products Industry Team attorneys also are well connected across the consumer products landscape. The firm is an active member in groups that include the Juvenile Products Manufacturers Association; International Consumer Products Health and Safety Organization; Toy Association, Inc.; ASTM International; International Trademark Association; Brand Activation Association (formerly Promotion Marketing Association); and IRI Worldwide. The team’s attorneys also regularly share thought leadership with industry stakeholders through webinars, white papers, and other presentations provided for consumer products organizations.

Some highlights of the team’s recent successes for its consumer product manufacturer clients include:

• Counseling a consumer products manufacturer on evaluating incident reports, designing product testing protocols with engineering experts, and reporting to the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission including proposing a remediation plan.

• Successfully resolving allegations of false “Made in the USA” marketing claims on a toy manufacturer’s product packaging.

• Representing a leading children’s products manufacturer in a design patent lawsuit with a competitor, resulting in the preservation of the design patent and the competitor’s exit from the market for the protected product.

• Representing sporting equipment distributor-marketers seeking contribution for personal injury settlements from Taiwanese manufacturers and distributors of alleged defective equipment, including obtaining depositions and other discovery in Taiwan and successfully executing judgments against personal property in Taiwan.

The Consumer Products Industry Team is made up of the following Freeborn attorneys:

• Jeremy D. Richardson, Leader of the Consumer Products Industry Team and a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• David S. Becker, a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Kimberly A. Beis, Co-Leader of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and Partner in the Litigation Practice Group.
• Stephen P. Benson, a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Jeffrey J. Catalano, Co-Leader of the Intellectual Property Practice Group and Partner in the Litigation Practice Group
• Jennifer L. Fitzgerald, a Partner in the Intellectual Property and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Erin McAdams Franzblau, a Partner in the Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.
• Rita W. Garry, Senior Counsel in the Corporate Practice Group.
• Andrew L. Goldstein, Senior Counsel in the Corporate and Intellectual Property Practice Groups.
• Kathryn T. Lundy, a Partner in the Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.
• John T. Shapiro, a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group.
• Robert A. Stines, a Partner in the Litigation Practice Group.
• Marc B. Zimmerman, a Partner in the Labor and Employment, and Litigation Practice Groups.

More information about the Consumer Products Industry Team is available at https://www.freeborn.com/practice/consumer-products.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Legal Ethics for IP Practitioners: A Cautionary Tale of Professional Irresponsibility,” featuring Fitch Even attorney Steven G. Parmelee.

The webinar will take place on Wednesday, December 16, 2020, at 9:00 am PST / 10:00 am MST / 11:00 am CST / 12 noon EST.

Registered patent practitioners must follow the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct, which conform to the ABA Model Rules of Professional Conduct. Although largely similar to state bar rules, the USPTO rules can be applied in some fact scenarios that are unique to the intellectual property world.

During this webinar, the presenter will take a deep dive into how one patent attorney repeatedly ran afoul with the USPTO Rules of Professional Conduct in the context of a business venture that purported to serve the unique needs of the inventor community. This troublesome tale showcases some interesting ways in which the USPTO Office of Enrollment and Discipline interprets and applies these USPTO rules. The presenter will examine these and other behaviors to which the USPTO objected:

• Following instructions from an intermediary on when to file a patent application for a client
• Disclosing a fee arrangement with a client
• Supervising an employee working for a client via an intermediary
• Doing business under an assumed name

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

In-House Impact: Life Sciences 2020 is the first dedicated national forum for life sciences legal leaders to accelerate their journey (and that of their teams) from legal specialist to strategic business partner.

For the first time, we’ll be shining a light on how the most high-impact legal teams are embedding innovation, collaboration and creativity into their DNA, sharing exactly how that’s allowing them to move from minimizing risk to maximizing opportunity in operating as true partners to their rapidly growing scientific business and helping them get better drugs to patients faster.

Download your copy of the Event Guide to see what else you will take away.

Among those sharing their stories of what’s working – and what’s not – in making this critical journey, include:
• Monika Dorda, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Global Pharmaceuticals, GSK
• Maurus Schreyvogel, Chief Legal Innovation Officer, Novartis
• Marcela Kirberger, General Counsel & Secretary, Roche Diagnostics Corporation
• Eric Sherbet, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, IQVIA
• Yvonne Tran, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Schrödinger
• Laurie Keating, Executive Vice President & Chief Legal Officer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
• Marie E. Pasquale, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Incyte
• Michael MacDougall, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, EMD Serono
• Jonathan Biller, Chief Legal Officer, Agios Pharmaceuticals
• Paul Savidge, General Counsel, Spark Therapeutics
• John Ryan, General Counsel, The Jackson Laboratory
• Richard Rew, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Luminex Corporation
• Shaun Ryan, Senior Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Moderna
• Heather Goodman, General Counsel, Two Labs Pharma Services
• Christine Bellon, Chief Legal Officer, Beam Therapeutics
• Dina Ciarimboli, General Counsel, Thrive Earlier Detection Corp
• Beth Zelnick-Kaufman, most recently Chief Legal Officer, The Broad Institute of MIT & Harvard
• Javier Rodriguez, Chief Legal Officer, Indivior
• Greg Bokar, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, Sunovion
• Brenda Furlow, General Counsel, Secretary & Chief Compliance Officer, Bio-Techne

Register now.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka will host its first virtual Tax and Business Planning Seminar Tuesday through Thursday, November 10-12, 2020.

This year’s seminar will showcase presentations from Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s nationally recognized tax, estate planning, bankruptcy, corporate and employee benefits attorneys across the firm’s all four offices, including Houston and San Antonio. The event is open to the public, but particularly well suited for accountants and business leaders responsible for financial operations, financial planners and lawyers who guide clients in tax matters. Up to 11 CLE and 13.2 CPE credits available in Texas.

Attendees will gain valuable knowledge from members of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s nationally recognized tax, labor and employment, corporate and employee benefits practices.

This three-day series will include half-day seminars on topics such as:

• Recent Tax Court valuation opinions that could put you in dire straits;
• Top employee benefits plan issues;
• Tax implications of the Paycheck Protection Program and related expenses;
• Bankruptcy in the COVID-19 age;
• Tax planning in a down-cycle economy;
• Impact of COVID-19 on state and local taxes (SALT);
• Estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax case law developments;
• 2020 International tax update; and,
• Old but gold strategies in estate planning.

Workshops will be led by Houston and San Antonio-based shareholders: Brett T. Berly, Sebastien N. Chain, Phyllis A. Guillory, Jarrod Martin, Joshua A. Sutin, Jaime Vasquez, Juan F. Vasquez, Jr. and Justin E. VandenBout.

Registration on or before November 9 is $20 per day or $50 for all three days. Check out complete details.

Chamberlain Hrdlicka is pleased to announce that it will host its first virtual Tax and Business Planning Seminar Tuesday through Thursday, November 10-12, 2020 from 1:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday and at 12:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. The year’s seminar will showcase presentations from attorneys in each of our offices. The event is open to the public, and ideal for accountants, business leaders responsible for financial operations, financial planners and lawyers who guide clients in tax matters.

Attendees will gain valuable knowledge from members of Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s nationally recognized tax, labor and employment, corporate and employee benefits practices.

This three-day series will include half-day seminars on topics such as:

• Recent Tax Court valuation opinions that could put you in dire straits;
• Top employee benefits plan issues;
• Tax implications of the Paycheck Protection Program and related expenses;
• Bankruptcy in the COVID-19 age;
• Tax planning in a down-cycle economy;
• Impact of COVID-19 on state and local taxes (SALT);
• Estate, gift and generation-skipping transfer tax case law developments;
• 2020 International tax update; and,
• Old but gold strategies in estate planning.

Workshops will be led by Atlanta-based Shareholders John Hackney, Scot Kirkpatrick and Christopher Steele, Senior Counsel Steve Wyatt, Associate Jasen Hanson, Philadelphia-based Shareholder and SALT Practice Co-Chair Jennifer Karpchuk, Shareholder and SALT Practice Chair Emeritus Stewart Weintraub and Special Counsel Mark Lubin.

Registration on or before November 9 is $20 per day or $50 for all three days. 3.0 hours of CLE credit has been approved for Georgia attorneys on Tuesday and 4.0 hours of CLE credit has been approved for Wednesday and Thursday. 3.6 hours of CPE credit are recommended for Georgia CPAs for Tuesday and 4.8 hours of CPE credit are recommended for Georgia CPAs for Wednesday and Thursday. Anyone is welcome to register to attend.

Register Now

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Aftermarket, Not Afterthought: Patent Strategies for Protecting Aftermarket Parts,” featuring Fitch Even attorneys Jonathan H. Urbanek and Jacqueline L. Thompson.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, October 29, 2020, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

Aftermarket parts for a product such as a vehicle or large machine can provide an important revenue stream for the product manufacturer. Aftermarket parts sales are often highly profitable for the manufacturer, which invites will-fitters to sell their own aftermarket parts. These competing parts may not only negatively impact the manufacturer’s sales, but may cause safety and warranty concerns due to potential quality issues.

This webinar will provide approaches for cost-effectively protecting aftermarket parts, including these tactics:
• Preparing, filing, and prosecuting patent applications to develop a strong portfolio focused on aftermarket parts
• Integrating business input into the patent life cycle
• Detecting and stopping will-fitters
• Creating non-patent challenges for will-fitters

CLE credit has been approved for California, Illinois, and Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

Your company may suffer a cybersecurity incident that warrants bringing in third-party forensics or other consultants to investigate and report on the cause or consequences of the cyber event or compromise. To seek to protect the third parties’ reports with the work product privilege (and, thus, to avoid having to disclose the reports in litigation) – and to try to side-step the unexpected failure to establish such protection that Capital One recently experienced (In re: Capital One Consumer Data Security Breach Litigation) – do (and don’t do) the following with respect to your contracts with these third parties:

Do have outside counsel be the entity contracting directly with the third party. Have outside counsel pay the third party’s fees, directly. Then, have outside counsel bill you for reimbursement of the fees paid.

Do contract under a specific statement of work or services description that is exclusive to the particular cyber incident.

Do state and expressly limit the purpose of the third party’s services and reports to anticipating litigation arising from the cyber incident. The purpose should not explicitly or implicitly include, for example, financial controls or reporting.

Do require that the third party’s report be in a form and of substance specific to the purpose of anticipating litigation. The report should not mirror what would be provided for reports for other purposes.

Do require the third party to issue formal and informal reports and updates only to the contracting outside counsel. Outside counsel, then, as necessary or appropriate, can distribute further the reports or updates, for example, to select internal stakeholders.

Don’t allow those who receive reports and updates from outside counsel to further distribute the reports or updates, whether internally or externally. Require recipients to explicitly agree to limited use and handling terms, before receiving reports or updates.

Don’t allocate the costs and fees for the third party’s services to any internal billing or cost center other than Legal’s. The costs and fees should be assigned to Legal’s budget. Categorize the costs and fees as “legal” costs and fees, not, for example, cybersecurity or business costs or fees.

And, in the contract with the third-party forensics firm or consultant, do include requirements that the third party conform to all of the applicable above do’s and don’t’s.

Importantly, these are only a few do’s and don’t’s that may help guide many companies to attempt to structure and implement contracts with third-party consultants so as to establish the work product privilege applicable to the third party’s reports. Each company, each cybersecurity incident, and applicable law can vary and be unique, so it is perhaps even more critical for the company to immediately involve inside (or outside) counsel to navigate these thorny issues.

Background – In re: Capital One Consumer Data Security Breach Litigation

The above do’s and don’t’s follow from the recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in the above-referenced litigation. Capital One sought to avoid having to disclose the report issued by the cybersecurity forensics firm that it retained in wake of the March 2019 data security breach suffered by the financial company.

In affirming a magistrate judge’s order to compel Capital One to disclose the forensics report, the Virginia federal district court made several observations. Well before the breach (and not specific to the March breach), Capital One had retained the forensics firm under a general SOW, on a retainer basis, to provide a set number of service hours for any one of a broad range of incident response services that might be needed. After the security breach, although the bank’s outside counsel signed a letter agreement with the forensics firm for services with respect to the breach. The terms of the letter agreement provided for the same scope and kind of services, on the same terms and conditions, as the general SOW (except that the forensics firm would work at the direction of the outside counsel and provide the forensics report to the outside counsel).

For performing under the letter agreement, the consultant was first paid from the retainer already provided under the general SOW. Then, Capital One directly paid the balance of the consultant’s fees due under the letter agreement – with funds from Capital One’s internal general cybersecurity budget. Capital One (at least at first) internally identified the fees paid to the consultant as a “business critical” expense – not as a “legal” expense.

During the forensics firm’s investigation, it communicated directly with the bank’s external financial auditors, so that the auditor’s could assess whether the breach impacted the bank’s accounting controls. Many internal and external parties received a copy of the forensics report, but Capital One provided no explanation as to why these recipients received a copy of the report, as to whether the report was provided for business purposes, regulatory reasons, or specifically in anticipation of litigation, or as to any restrictions placed on the recipients’ use, reproduction, or further distribution of the report.

Both the magistrate judge and, on appeal, the district court judge who opined on the matter saw these above facts, among others, as support for finding that the forensic firm’s investigation report was not protected from disclosure by the work product privilege.

Overview:
One of the most critical areas of employee relationships and one of the biggest challenges management faces today is conducting effective performance appraisals and determining appropriate merit increases.

Learn to give performance appraisals that help motivate employees to achieve goals and increase their value to the organization.

Since both managers and employees often view performance appraisals with anxiety, attention is given to preparing for and conducting performance discussions that are objective, complete and defensible. You’ll also share experiences and participate in various exercises with other participants to better understand how to obtain the best possible performance from employees.

Watch the webinar.

In this webinar, the speaker will explain best practices for Electronic Recordkeeping of I-9 Forms, as well as the importance of understanding the requirements for completing I-9 Forms.

Overview:
The costs of not complying are high. Compliance is actually easy if you know what to do. Unfortunately, many organizations do not take the time to learn how to properly complete an I-9 form. The forms are also changed every few years.

The presenter has conducted hundreds of I-9 audits.
The number of companies that were totally in compliance in 18 years of conducting I-9 Audits is a big fat ZERO.

Watch the webinar.

Even in the midst of the pandemic, we continue to see significant legal developments in the world of the workplace. To kick off our Fall Webinar Series, we begin with “What Did I Miss? The Year in Review (So Far)” We will explore the latest developments in a variety of areas across many states, such as:

• Federal Agency Update
• U.S. Supreme Court Decisions
• New Litigation in the COVID-19 Era
• Wage and Hour Developments
• Classifying Workers: Independent Contractors vs. Employees
• Upcoming Supreme Court Cases

Orlando, Florida — For the second year in a row, RumbergerKirk will host a series of workshops for Florida A&M University (FAMU) College of Law students during the 2020-2021 academic year. The RumbergerKirk Professional Development Series will move to a virtual format and will feature five workshops designed to help prepare the next generation of leaders for the ever-changing legal industry.

The workshop series kicks off Thursday, Sept. 24, 2020 with a presentation on “Taking the Bar Exam and Bar Admissions Process,” presented by Richard Greenberg, Partner; Michaela Kim, Associate; and Sara Lewis, Associate.

RumbergerKirk has assembled a group of presenters for the workshops that will be conducted via Zoom, including partners, associates and professionals from the firm, as well as local judges and other legal experts. Several of the workshops will feature breakout sessions and polling questions to ensure a more interactive and engaging experience for the law students.

The additional RumbergerKirk Professional Development Series workshop topics are:
• October 22, 2020 – Associate Life: What to Expect Your First Three Years, presented by Jason Bullinger, Associate; Vaughn Glinton, Associate; and Christian Tiblier, Associate.
• November 5, 2020 – Courtroom Etiquette and Professionalism, presented by Suzanne Hill, Partner; Judge Bob LeBlanc, Ninth Judicial Circuit; and Judge Margie Schreiber, Ninth Judicial Circuit.
• January 7, 2021 – Interviewing Skills, presented by Angela Sterley, Human Resources Director
• February 4, 2021 – Taking Depositions, presented by Skip Eubanks, Partner; Darryl Gavin, Partner; and Shenele Pettis Bright, Associate.

For more information email Hammond.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Latest Developments in the Patentability of AI- and Software-Based Inventions,” featuring Fitch Even attorneys Thomas F. Lebens and Zachary Van Engen.

The webinar will take place on Thursday, September 24, 2020, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

The changes in subject matter eligibility prompted by the Supreme Court’s decision in Alice v. CLS Bank and subsequent Federal Circuit and district court cases have continued to make it challenging to patent inventions tied to artificial intelligence and other types of software. The legal analysis often turns on how the software interacts with the outside world and the nature of the problems it solves.

During this webinar, we will provide an update on the latest legal developments in computer software patentability along with guidance on best practices for protecting software-related innovations, covering these topics and more:

• Ramifications of recent post-Alice Federal Circuit cases
• Updated USPTO guidelines
• Tips for patent application drafting
• Tips for responding to office actions

CLE credit has been approved for California and Illinois and is pending in Nebraska. Other states may also award CLE credit upon attendee request.

Following the live event, a recording of the webinar will be available to view for one year at www.fitcheven.com.

Register for the webinar.

Join SCCE September 14-16 for our first ever virtual Compliance & Ethics Institute. Hear from industry professionals on emerging trends and hot topics with 100+ sessions across 11 subject areas. New lower pricing available!

Don’t Miss these General Sessions:

Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic
COVID-19 Panel – Justin Ross, Blair Marks,
Art Weiss, Adam Turteltaub
Experienced compliance professionals share lessons learned from the pandemic and how to strengthen compliance programs for a post-pandemic world.

Fraud Is Not a Trade Secret: A Conversation
with Tyler Shultz
Tyler Shultz and Rebecca Jarvis
Hear directly from the whistleblower who helped expose Theranos, and gain insight into what to watch out for in your own organization.

Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into
Moral Rebels
Catherine Sanderson
Learn why so many people standby when they
see wrongdoing and what it takes to get them to come forward.

Fostering a Culture of Compliance
Culture Panel – Tiffany Archer, Susan Roberts, Adelle Elia, Jacki Cheslow
Culture is crucial for compliance success, but with workers at home new challenges abound. Learn how compliance and culture experts are meeting this challenge.

Additional registration discounts apply for SCCE & HCCA members. Group discounts are also available.

Register now.