Under California’s groundbreaking privacy law, general counsel face stringent compliance requirements for managing the personal data of consumers, including personal data shared with third parties, points out the Association of Corporate Counsel.

The issue can be far-reaching, considering that 60 percent of a company’s personal data resides with third parties, the ACC says on its website.

“Companies must take stock of what personal data their company has, where it resides, how long it’s retained, and third parties with whom they share their data. Third-party diligence is explicit or implied in the CCPA, the GDPR, Colorado’s Privacy Legislation, 23 NYCRR 500, and many others,” the organization warns.

The ACC has posted a white paper titled “Third-Party Data Compliance” to review seven important considerations for every general counsel. The paper can be downloaded at no charge.

The ACC  provides its Vendor Risk Service, the world’s only third-party diligence process designed specifically to help corporate legal teams rapidly assess third parties and meet compliance requirements.

Download the white paper.

Get information on the Vendor Risk Service.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published an article titled “Proxy Season Survival Tip: Make Board Composition a Priority” and made it available for downloading.

It’s from the latest edition of NACD Directorship Magazine.

During proxy season, directors may feel as though they’re navigating a minefield of activist issues. Major institutional investors are also taking activist stances, especially in the area of board composition.

This puts boards under pressure to comply with investors’ guidelines. But how? It isn’t possible for boards to track and address many thousands of investor issues.

This article explains how boards can avert activist demands–by knowing what their shareholders are thinking and staying ahead of possible grievances. Directors can make needed changes in the boardroom by

• increasing board diversity with both female and minority members;
• strengthening risk oversight with tools and resources provided by NACD; and
• updating governance guidelines in light of those proposed by investors.

Download the article.

Conga and Gartner are offering Gartner’s Fast-Track to Creating a Contract life Cycle Management Shortlist With These 3 Steps to help companies kick-start the contract lifecycle management evaluation process by identifying what exactly is important to the organization and which tools can support the abundant needs of all stakeholders.

“The business landscape has becoming increasingly fast-paced and competitive,” Conga says on its site. “Having visibility into contract status while collaborating with stakeholders throughout your entire enterprise is imperative for success. From creation all the way through negotiation and execution, gain insight into your business with the addition of a contract lifecycle management (CLM) solution.”

The CLM market has become increasingly crowded, so finding a solution that supports the volume needs of enterprise contracts can be challenging.

Download the guide.

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.

Attorneys for Dallas-based Fears Nachawati Law Firm have secured a $166 million verdict against the daughter and son-in-law of a North Texas woman who was killed in 2014 for the proceeds of life insurance policies totaling $5 million.

Jurors in Tarrant County’s 141st Judicial District Court determined Mark and Virginia Buckland were central figures in the conspiracy that led to the stabbing death of Anita Fox that was carried out by two members of a nomadic ethnic clan known as Irish Travellers. The multimillion-dollar verdict is believed to be among the largest in Tarrant County this year, according to the firm.

Though the couple has never been charged criminally in the murder, the jury found that they had crafted an insurance scheme in which they would be the sole beneficiaries of a series of policies, in part without the knowledge of the 69-year-old Ms. Fox.

Read details of the case.

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics will present its 17th Annual Compliance & Ethics Institute, October 21-24, 2018, in Las Vegas, with top industry experts and professionals from around the world.

At this four-day networking and educational event, participants will gain information they need to effectively manage their compliance programs and mitigate risk, the SCCE says on its website.

At the Compliance & Ethics Institute, participants will:

• Network with over 1,800 professionals from all industries and 40 countries.
• Choose from 10 learning tracks, 100+ sessions, and over 150 speakers.
• Get up-to-date on issues relevant to your current challenges, including global antitrust compliance, cyber security, anti-corruption, and harassment and discrimination prevention.
• Leave with practical solutions you can immediately put into practice at your organization.

This conference is for compliance and risk professionals and those who work with them in an advisory or partnership capacity. Positions include: in-house and outside counsel, audit managers and officers, consultants, corporate executives, human resource managers, privacy officers, researchers and policy makers, risk managers, staff educator and trainers, and more.

Get more information.

The American Arbitration Association has introduced the Streamlined Three-Arbitrator Panel Option to help parties in large cases lower the costs and escalate the speed of the dispute resolution process.

“When parties’ agreement calls for three arbitrators to hear and decide their case, the Streamlined Three-Arbitrator Panel Option allows them to utilize a single arbitrator for the preliminary and discovery stages of a case,” the AAA explains on its website. “The full panel of three arbitrators then participates in the evidentiary hearing and renders the final award—a more efficient and less expensive process.”

On its website, the AAA describes the three options and alternatives available.

Get more information.

NAVEX Global recently released two of its annual industry-leading benchmark reports. With data from more than 1,200 respondents, these reports provide analysis of today’s compliance challenges relating to policy management and hotline reporting.

The company says the reports illustrate how best-in-class programs are reducing legal, reputational and regulatory liability, and get expert advice to help improve a compliance program.

The reports are:

1) The 2018 Policy & Procedure Management Benchmark Report uncovered the four essential elements that the most effective policy management programs have in common. The report also showcases best practices for policy creation and distribution, how organizations ensure employees understand and adhere to policies, and how the recent DOJ advice impacts compliance programs.

2) The 2018 Hotline & Incident Management Benchmark Report shows employee complaint and misconduct reports are rising—and a surprising 44 percent of all reports are substantiated. However, cases are taking longer than ever to close, leading employees to feel unheard and be more likely to report externally—ultimately causing missed opportunities to mitigate risk and reputational damage. Get best practices from the experts to help you encourage internal reporting.

McKool Smith has racked up some new recognition, including being named again in The National Law Journal‘s “Top 100 Verdicts” list.

The NLJ recognition represents the 18th time the firm had a top 100 verdict, more than any other law firm since the rankings began.

In a release, the firm said: “In 2002, The National Law Journal published its first annual listing of the nation’s ‘Top 100 Verdicts.’ Since that time, no law firm in the country has won more Top 100 Verdicts than McKool Smith.”

Other recent recognition includes being named Trial Group of the Year by Law360, and receiving Band 1 rankings in Chambers USA for Texas commercial litigation and Texas intellectual property.

Law360 also presented the firm its Insurance Practice Group of the Year honor.

Inn 2017, Texas Lawyer presented the firm its Litigation Department of the Year award, and Managing Intellectual Property named the firm Patent Plaintiff Firm of the Year.

McKool Smith, based in Dallas, also has offices in Houston, Austin, Marshall, Silicon Valley, New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles.

Exterro has published “The State of E-Discovery 2018,” the results of a survey of industry trends, practices and challenges. The publication is available for downloading at no charge.

Pulling from the most recent research into the economics, in-house legal departments, the judiciary, and more, this State of E-Discovery 2018 report provides a holistic overview of where e-discovery is, as an industry, today.

Download this complimentary report and learn:

• How trends in e-discovery are affecting in-house legal departments and law firms
• How technology is affecting the way professionals practice e-discovery
• Which challenges in-house legal departments and law firms need to address to continue growing

Download the survey results.

The 2018 annual meeting of the Association of Corporate Counsel will be Oct. 21-24 in Austin, Texas.

Participants at this year’s event may select from 110 CLE/CPD programs.

The complete schedule is posted online.

Some of the topics are:

Compliance & Ethics
Corporate & Securities
Employment & Labor
Energy
Environmental & Sustainability
Financial Services
Health Law
Information Governance
Insurance Staff Counsel
Intellectual Property
International Legal Affairs
IT, Privacy & eCommerce
Law Department Management
Litigation
New to In-house
Nonprofit Organizations
Real Estate
Small Law Department
Sports & Entertainment

Jason Dorsey, Co-Founder & President, Center for Generational Kinetics will be the keynote speaker on Monday, Oct. 22.

Get more information.

Bloomberg Law’s June 6 Cross-Border Deals Forum 2018: Applying Emerging Technologies for Efficiency & Success, will feature an examination of the dealmaking landscape and new risks to watch.

The live event will be Wednesday, June 6, 2018, at Bloomberg LP, 120 Park Avenue, New York. A networking reception will follow.

Ed Hammond, senior deals reporter for Bloomberg L.P., will talk with Diane Holt, managing editor at Bloomberg Law, about how business leaders are leveraging technology, implementing new compliance strategies, and mitigating risks as the market changes and new regulations come into effect.

Speaking at other sessions will be:

• Julia Shullman, VP, Chief Privacy Counsel, AppNexus
• Elizabeth Sanders, Chief Counsel – Transactions/M&A, Panasonic Corporation of North America
• Jonathan Anastasia, Senior Managing Counsel, Mastercard Labs

Register for the event.

The 4th annual Bloomberg Law In-House Forum will Explore the steps that general counsel need to take to mitigate the internal cybersecurity threat.

The event will be Wednesday, June 27, 2018, at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, 345 Stockton Street, San Francisco 94108.

Specifically, the event will dissect one of the most pressing issues affecting the modern corporate workplace: cybersecurity threats from its own employees. Participants will learn how general counsel can effectively partner with other teams at the organization to guard against this growing risk.

Speakers will guide the discussion, outlining how corporate counsel can build relationships between IT and Human Resources in order to act in a leadership role, crafting an effective risk avoidance plan that includes auditing, training, and both preemptive and post-breach initiatives.

Register for the event.

eSignLive by Vasco has published a paper discussing how to mitigate legal risks of electronic signatures and increase enforceability by leveraging e-signatures when moving business processes online.

The paper can be downloaded from the company’s website at no charge.

The ESIGN act, recognizing the legal validity of electronic signatures, has been in effect for over 10 years. It governs the minimum requirements for legal electronic and digital signatures. Moving business process online and leveraging e-signatures is not entirely without risk.

This paper outlines the top six legal risks to be aware of, and how to prevent fraud, repudiation and increase admissibility and compliance when executing transactions digitally.

The company says a well-designed process, supported by electronic signature technology, can actually reduce the legal risks and increase the enforceability of e-transactions compared to paper processes.

Download the paper.

SecureDocs has introduced NDAworks, which is designed to help companies manage non-disclosure agreements.

The company says on its website that NDAWorks helps manage the signing, tracking and storing of a company’s NDAs from a central, secure location.

By utilizing agreement templates, built-in electronic signature, and custom document tagging, a legal team can save time and remain in control of every single NDA issued by the organization, the developer says.

The company is offering a free 14-day trial.

Learn more about NDAworks.

Gauri Prakash-Canjels, Ph.D. has joined Litigation Economics, LLC as a principal in its Washington, DC office.

In a release, the firm said Prakash-Canjels has worked on more than 150 cases, including intellectual property, antitrust, breach of contract, natural resource damages, personal injury and other matters. She is a seasoned expert and has served as an expert in federal and state courts as well as mediation and the Federal Trade Commission hearings, according to the firm.

Prior to being a principal at Litigation Economics, Prakash-Canjels was a consulting director at Brewer Attorneys and Counselors (formerly, Bickel and Brewer). She was a managing director and founding member of GreatBridge Consulting, Inc. Prior to founding GreatBridge Consulting in 2012, Prakash-Canjels was a principal at The Kenrich Group, a national business and litigation consulting firm.

Her background includes academic, corporate, economic consulting, and non-governmental organization positions.

Exterro has published “A GDPR Road Map” that discusses best practices and techniques for ensuring e-discovery processes are compliant with the EU’s new General Data Protection Regulation.

The complimentary report can be downloaded from Exterro’s website.

The report includes:

• Practical explanations of the requirements of GDPR and their implications for e-discovery
• Workflows to meet the needs of several key components of GDPR
• Change management tips organizations can use as they adapt to post-GDPR life

Download the report.

The Association of Corporate Counsel will hold the 4th annual ACC Legal Operations conference in Chicago on June 11-13, 2018, at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.

On its website, the ACC says the conference offers members a unique opportunity to learn about the latest trends and advancements in a peer-rich environment, while also collaborating to address shared issues and opportunities.

The program will feature:

• Sessions on AI, blockchain, and so much more
• Multiple workshops and expert-led roundtables
• Benchmarking metrics
• Takeaway tools you can use right away
• A workshop with an organizational development expert on “Leading Yourself and Others (Including Your GC.) Through Change”

Register or get more information.

Companies must shift from focusing on rules and consequences to emphasizing culture and values, according to Carolyn Frantz, Microsoft’s deputy general counsel and corporate secretary, in an article published by the National Association of Corporate Directors.

The article is available for downloading from the NACD website.

n this interview from the Strategic Asset General Counsel forum, an annual day-long event hosted by The National Association of Corporate Directors, Frantz answers these questions:

• Who presents compliance-related information to the board?
• Do you need an outsider CEO to change a company’s culture?
• What does tone-in-the middle training look like?
• What shapes culture at the bottom?
• How do you address differences in moral values as a global company?

Download the article.

Zapproved and Hobson & Company recently partnered to research the average return on investment (ROI) that businesses gained by implementing Digital Discovery Pro for in-house ediscovery. A report on the research is available for downloading at no charge.

Zapproved reports that its research shows a 4X return on investment with an automated, cloud-based software solution.

“Companies in this study reported that for many of their investigations and legal matters, in-house ediscovery is more cost-effective than outsourcing,”  Zapproved reports. “Our experience with clients backs that up: for organizations that are ready, automating data processing and review in house is well worth the investment. But how quickly does that investment pay for itself?”

Download the report.