Thousands of legal professionals are expected to participate in E-Discovery Day, scheduled for Dec. 4, 2018, to learn more about e-discovery and the vital role it plays within the legal process.

Exterro, one of the E-Discovery Day supporters, says this one-day industry-wide, vendor-neutral celebration, will feature an all-star lineup of complimentary in-person events and online webcasts. 34 leading legal organizations are proud to support E-Discovery Day and partnered together to host all events free of charge.

The event will include:

• 13 educational webcasts with e-discovery experts (e.g. federal judges, e-discovery managers, in-house attorneys and more)
• 7 in-person networking events located across the country

Get details or sign-up for an event.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “FRAND Licensing: Recent International Developments,” featuring Fitch Even senior licensing specialist and patent analyst Curtis S. Dodd.

The event will be Thursday, Nov. 15, 2018, at 9 am PST / 10 am MST / 11 am CST / 12 noon EST.

Understanding the latest developments in FRAND licensing is essential to developing appropriate strategies for licensing standard essential patents (SEPs), both as licensor and licensee.

During this webinar, presenters will provide an overview of recent developments in FRAND licensing as a process and as a result, including a discussion of the following:
• Guidelines published in Europe, China, and Japan for licensing of SEPs
• Key decisions from the U.S., the UK, and China regarding how to determine FRAND terms and conditions, including
o Unwired Planet v. Huawei (UK)
o TCL v. Ericsson (US)
o Huawei v. Samsung (CN)

In addition, the event will address these topics:
• Who holds the FRAND burden of proof
• What it means to be a willing licensee
• Jurisdiction for deciding FRAND disputes
• The appropriateness of confidentiality agreements

Register foor the webinar.

Akerman LLP announced the addition of partner Barbara Edwards in New York. She joins the Corporate Finance and Lending Practice from Shearman & Sterling.

“Barbara’s practice is a strong addition to our growing corporate group,” said Jonathan Awner, Corporate Practice Group Co-Chair. “Her experience in complex finance transactions advances our capabilities for borrowers, lenders and other corporate clients across the U.S. and internationally.”

In a release, the firm said Edwards works with clients on all aspects of complex finance transactions in the U.S. and international markets, including emerging markets. With more than 20 years of practice, she has represented private and public companies, including Fortune 500 companies, private equity sponsors, hedge funds and other financial institutions in their financing activities. She has represented borrowers and lenders in all aspects of financing transactions and represents clients in a wide array of industries including the automotive, coal, financial services, gaming, healthcare and life sciences, industrials, infrastructure, natural and renewable resources, media, power and energy, retail and telecommunications sectors. Edwards has experience in investment grade financings and maintains a particular focus on public company financings and power projects financings.

The firm’s Corporate Practice Group has expanded the team’s national footprint with 16 lawyers in Austin, Chicago, Miami, New York, Orlando and Washington, D.C. this year to date. In addition to Edwards, lateral partners include Michael O’Brien from Vedder Price, Ted Rosen from Fox Rothschild, Peter Eccles from Foley and Lardner, and Robert Stein from Kirkland & Ellis in New York, Robert Winner from Seyfarth Shaw in Chicago, Todd Reed and Bentley Harris from Reed & Scardino in Austin, and Karyn Koiffman from Baker McKenzie in Washington, D.C.

Marcellus Shale landowner coalitions — their form, function and impact — will be the topic of a one-hour, web-based seminar offered by Penn State Extension at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2018.

Presenting the webinar will be Grace Wildermuth, a Penn State doctoral degree student in the Department of Agricultural Economics, Sociology, and Education. She will discuss research from her thesis on landowner coalitions.

Topic will include:

• coalition models and forms
• benefits and detriments of membership in a coalition
• best practices identified by members of coalitions
• specific effects of participation in a coalition for agriculturalists
• potential future applications of the landowner coalition model.

Register for the webinar.

Flexera will present a webinar titled “Risk Management & IP Value Protection for Software Suppliers” on Tuesday, July 31, at 10 a.m. Central time.

In this webinar, Christian Bartsch, partner at international law firm Bird & Bird, will give an overview of legal issues software suppliers must be aware of and the ramifications of leaving them unmanaged.

Martin Callinan, founder of Open Source Software consultancy, Source Code Control, will explain the simple and effective management principles your organization needs to adopt to manage these open source software risks appropriately.

“Whether your organization supplies software alone or embedded in devices or machinery, you need it to be robust, secure and legally compliant,” Flexera says on its website. “Security vulnerabilities or licensing loopholes stemming from open source software can result in product recalls, the loss of valuable IP and terrible damage to your reputation and bottom line.

“These risks can be successfully mitigated by understanding how they arise and the key management principles you need to put in place to manage them.”

Register for the webinar.

The oil and gas industry is benefiting from a surge in start-up companies focused on digital transformation and radical change proving that the oil and gas start-up ecosystem is alive and growing.

Frost & Sullivan’s Oil & Gas Innovation Council will present a complimentary webinar titled “Start-ups Driving Innovation in Upstream Oil & Gas” on Tuesday, July 31, 2018, at 10 a.m. CDT.

Dylan Ellett, a Frost & Sullivan leading oil and gas analyst, and a panel of industry experts from start-up companies will showcase their solutions, impacts on the industry and real-world scenarios of success and hardships along the journey, from founding to investment.

• Discover start-up companies that are providing innovative solutions to industry challenges
• Hear real success stories and pain points from start-ups
• Interact with start-up companies

Register for the webinar.

NAVEX Global will present a complimentary webinar titled “Deep Dive: State of Ethics & Compliance Training in 2018” on Thursday, July 19, 2018, at 10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT.

The event is designed to show how companies are using their training programs to change employee behavior and positively impact corporate culture. Participants will discuss the most important compliance training benchmarks to use when measuring a program and offer best practices to improve efforts and show ROI to management.

Some of the questions to be explored include:

• How do I maximize the impact of my (limited) available training hours?
• How do I gain leadership and audience buy-in, participation and comprehension?
• What elements and topics are necessary to my training program?

Register for the webinar.

LawGeex will present a live webinar titled “How Contract Review Automation Helps Mitigate Risk to Your Organization,” on Wednesday, July 18, 2018, at 2 p.m. EDT.

The 60-minute event will cover how to:

• Automate contract review
• Enable company-wide compliance with corporate policy
• Mitigate an organization’s contracting risk using AI
• Free up a legal team’s time for more strategic work

Register for the webinar.

Compliance Week will present a webcast titled “Compliance and Contract Management –The Right People, Process & Technology” to highlight effective strategies and considerations to maintain compliance with contractual agreements in the U.S. and abroad.

The event will be Wednesday, June 27, at 2 p.m. EDT.

“While relying on both outside counsel and third-party legal services providers to meet standards and governing party obligations, competitive organizations enlist effective digital strategies where appropriate and seek to automate as many tasks as possible,” Compliance Week says on its website. “As we explore the people, processes and technology that aid compliance and contract management, we’ll discuss e-Communications monitoring, digital learning services, open source software and trending technology such as block chain contracts, and other tools.”

Register for the webcast.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Advanced Obviousness Analysis: Understanding the Reasonable Expectation of Success Doctrine,” featuring Fitch Even attorneys David A. Gosse and Margaret “Peggy” Wojkowski.

The event will be on Thursday, May 31, 2018, at 9:00 am PDT / 10:00 am MDT / 11:00 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

When an invention combines previously known features, non-obviousness turns on whether the person having ordinary skill in the art would have a reason to make the combination. This analysis requires considering whether the ordinarily skilled person would have a reasonable expectation of success in combining the known features, the firm said in a release.

Recent Federal Circuit cases provide guidance in successfully arguing for patentability under this doctrine and establish that it applies even when obviousness is asserted based on a single reference. Successfully arguing obviousness in patent prosecution, post-issuance proceedings, and district court litigation depends on this analysis with increasing frequency.

In addition to discussing applicable cases, the event will explore these issues:
• When do circumstances favor arguing reasonable expectation of success at the PTAB and during patent examination?
• What types of evidence are helpful or needed to support the arguments?
• How can patents be drafted to establish that skilled persons would not have expected success by modifying the known art?

Register for the webinar.

International law firm Brown Rudnick announced that it has named the first-ever 1L Social Mobility Diversity Fellow, W. Lydell Benson Jr.

In a release, the firm said the Fellowship is aimed at first-year law students who are also the first members of their family to graduate from college. The Fellowship provides the recipient with an opportunity for substantive work and professional development experience, as well as a significant scholarship.

Benson is a first-year law student at George Washington University Law School and will be working in Brown Rudnick’s New York office as a summer associate.

“This Fellowship program really resonated with me and demonstrated a true commitment to diversity and providing opportunities to people of all backgrounds,” Benson said. “When I was searching for opportunities, this Fellowship caught my eye not just because it was a great opportunity to get hands-on work experience with a prominent law firm, but also because it was the first time I had come across a law-firm diversity program targeting those who are the first in their family to graduate from college. I take a lot of pride in being the first in my family to graduate from college. My family and the people in my community are really proud of me, too.”

The firm said the 1L Social Mobility Diversity Fellowship is a holistic program to support students during their time as a summer associate at Brown Rudnick and throughout the academic year. Benson will work on a wide variety of matters as an integral member of client teams. He is also eligible to receive a scholarship of up to $22,500, in addition to his summer associate compensation.

Once Benson returns to school in the fall, he will continue to have regular check-ins with Ari Joseph and his recruitment champion, partner Jeff Jonas. Brown Rudnick will arrange for Benson to attend firm events, holiday parties, networking events and professional development training throughout the year. The firm will also provide financial support for academic groups Benson is involved in at George Washington University Law School.

“As I am also the first in my family to graduate from college, I am particularly passionate about this Fellowship program,” said Ari Joseph, Director of Equity, Inclusion and Diversity at Brown Rudnick. “The challenges that such an individual must overcome can be overwhelming, and are often overlooked or underestimated. This unique Fellowship is focused on the problem of social mobility and economic inequality, as well as diversity. It is truly a one-of-a-kind program and Lydell is the perfect choice for our first Fellow.”

Benson will work alongside 10 other Brown Rudnick summer associates who come from law schools across the country: Richard Darst, Meghan McCafferty, Maureen Sweeney, Samuel Toomey, Korey Wilson, Yarelyn Mena, Ijeoma Ozoma, Erio Vignali, Matthew Lambros and Mona Goodarzi. Brown Rudnick’s 2018 summer associate class begins May 21.

First-year law students can find more information about the 1L Social Mobility Diversity Fellowship here. Questions should be referred to Brown Rudnick’s Legal Recruitment Department  at recruiting@brownrudnick.com.

Latham & Watkins has posted the second of a two-part webcast series on joint ventures in the oil and gas industry — this one on upstream joint ventures.

Both this video and the first part — on midstream joint ventures — are available on-demand.

This series explores market trends driving recent joint ventures, as well as structural options, potential challenges, and other considerations related to joint ventures, within both the midstream and upstream spaces.

Part II of the series addresses joint ventures in the upstream space, including “DrillCo” transactions.

Topics include:

• DrillCos and Other JV Structures
• Typical Transaction Documents
• Issues and Pitfalls

Watch the on-demand video.

Meritas will present a webinar titled “When #MeToo Means #YouToo: What to do when you’re in the sexual harassment hot seat.”

The event will be Wednesday, May 2, 2018, at 1 p.m. CDT.

“The #MeToo movement has many employers uncertain about the best ways to protect themselves from sexual harassment complaints and the right way to respond after a complaint has been made,” the firm says on its website. “This seminar will explore how our definitions of sexual harassment have evolved in the age of #MeToo and the misconceptions that have formed around this issue.”

“Participants will come away with actionable advice they can put to use to avoid the damage that such claims can create, not just in terms of liability but also in workplace culture, employee attraction and retention.”

Register for the webinar.

Flexera will present a complimentary webinar about the basics of open source licensing, vulnerabilities, trends and expectations for compliance.

The event will be Wednesday, April 18, at noon Central time.

Data shows that most companies are significantly under-counting their use of open source software (OSS), leading to potential legal and security concerns that need to be respected, monitored, and — if needed — resolved. Additionally, your customers are expecting higher levels of compliance. This begs the question, what is your legal team’s role in managing compliance and security vulnerabilities associated with OSS?

Marty Mellican, VP and Associate General Counsel at Flexera, will discuss the need for process and lawful management of OSS. This webinar will cover:

• The basics of intellectual property (IP) law and how open source licenses are built on top of those principles
• The most common licenses, including the GPL, AGPL, BSD, Apache, and MIT to name a few
• How to work effectively and securely with OSS both as a consumer and a creator of OSS
• Trends in OSS license enforcement in the last year
• Expectations for compliance and what compliance looks like
• How GDPR will affect your open source use and management

Register for the webinar.

More whistleblowers turn directly to the SEC to report complaints of alleged misconduct than to internal reporting systems, reports NAVEX Global. A recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling further encourages this behavior, so it is critical to evaluate a company’s employee whistleblowing program.

NAVEX will present a complimentary webinar on the subject on Tuesday, April 10, 2018, beginning at 10 a.m. Pacific / 1 p.m. Eastern time.

Participants will hear new insights from the 2018 Ethics & Compliance Hotline & Incident Management Benchmark Report. Experts at Baker McKenzie and NAVEX Global have analyzed the data to show you how to assess your program and improve the odds that an employee will report to you first—giving you critical foresight into potential organizational risk.

Presenters will be Carrie Penman, Chief Compliance Officer and Senior VP, NAVEX Global; and Scott Nelson, Partner, Baker McKenzie LLP.

Register for the webinar.

Hunton & Williams LLP has posted an on-demand webinar discussing the Securities and Exchange Commission’s recently released cybersecurity guidance.

For the first time since its last major staff pronouncement on cybersecurity in 2011, the SEC has released new interpretive guidance for public companies that will change the way issuers approach cybersecurity risk, the firm says on its website.

Presenters are partners Lisa Sotto, Aaron Simpson and Scott Kimpel, and senior associate Brittany Bacon. They discuss the new guidance, along with changes in regulatory obligations under EU law with respect to the upcoming GDPR and historical SEC enforcement actions related to cybersecurity.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

CRE8 Independent Consultants presents a free on-demand workshop on law firm process improvement, offering 20 ideas in 20 minutes.

Today, to attract and maintain clients, law firms are being asked to lower fees through discounted rates, alternative fee arrangements, fixed fee through the life of the matter, and to follow client guidelines that restrict who can bill and what expenses can be charged, the company says on its website. Firms can respond by writing off charges (losing profitability) or by examining their internal processes to determine how to increase efficiency and to improve quality. How should AmLaw 100, and 200 law firm Executive Directors, Chiefs, and Partners respond to these challenges? Education is the first step.

This workshop in 20 minutes discusses:

• what are the internal, and external signs a law firm needs process improvement,
• over twenty different areas within a firm that can benefit from process improvement,
• how a firm can use procedural changes (non-technology) to reduce costs, mistakes, communication issues, and re-work; while improving quality and client service,
• why process improvement is important before installing a new computer system,
• process improvement methods for law firms,
• a five-step process improvement method to improve a law firm,
• how to engage professional and administrative staff to participate in, and support the successful roll-out of process changes, and
• how to create a culture within the firm to sustain on-going process improvement.

Sign up for the on-demand workshop.

PilieroMazza has posted an on-demand webinar discussing compliance with new laws requiring or providing a preference for the purchase of goods, products, or materials produced in the United States.

President Trump signed Executive Order 13788 on April 18, 2017, aimed at tougher enforcement of the “Buy American Laws” which are those laws requiring or providing a preference for the purchase of goods, products, or materials produced in the United States. Given the Trump administration’s intent for stricter enforcement of domestic preference requirements, government contractors need to stay abreast of the relevant laws and regulations, such as the Buy American Act  and the Trade Agreement Act, the firm says on its website.

Webinar topics include:

• The general requirements of the BAA and TAA
• The applicability of the requirements and exceptions to their applicability
• Tests for determining a product’s country of origin
• Relevant FAR clauses and certifications
• The potential penalties for non-compliance
• Practical tips and strategies for compliance

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Troutman Sanders will host a complimentary webinar that will cover the legal landscape surrounding data based products. The event will be Thursday, March 22, 2018, 3-4 p.m. Eastern time.

“In the last few years, the right to privacy has been hotly debated in the United States. What critics do not understand or appreciate is that the next technological paradigm is completely dependent on improvements both to the quality and quantity of data,” the firm says on its website.

Webinar speakers will cover the ongoing evolution of the legal landscape for data-based products, so that organizations can continue to succeed in their development of data-based products.

Register for the webinar.

Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Avoiding Prosecution Churn: When Ex Parte PTAB Appeals Make Dollars and Sense,” featuring Fitch Even partner Thomas F. Lebens and Anticipat founder Trent Ostler.

The event will be Wednesday, March 21, 2018 , at 9 am PDT / 10 am MDT / 11 am CDT / 12 noon EDT.

During the process of acquiring patent rights through the patent application process, applicants sometimes wish to seek review of rejections by an examiner. The formal mechanism for achieving this review is an ex parte appeal to the Patent Trial and Appeals Board (PTAB). Some patent practitioners avoid the ex parte review process, viewing it as lengthy and expensive. But, data and experiences recently compiled by an AIPLA subcommittee suggest that this conventional thinking may be incorrect. It turns out that pursuing an appeal can be a more attractive option than other patent prosecution procedures.

During this webinar, presenters will explore how the AIPLA findings may provide guidance on
• When to file ex parte PTAB appeals
• How often to file these appeals
• Which issues to choose to appeal

Additional topics will include
• USPTO incentives
• Working with the examiner
• Patent term adjustment
• Pre-appeal brief reviews
• Other relevant statistics

Register for the webinar.