The National Association of Corporate Directors annually collaborates with its five strategic-content partners to provide guidance for boards of directors on a hot-button governance issue. This year’s topic is ESG, or environmental, social, and governance oversight — an issue that strongly impacts corporate sustainability.

The NACD has made the report available for downloading at no charge.

The report provides ESG guidance in order to help directors:

• ensure the board and executive team have the right skills for driving ESG performance;
• connect environmental and social issues to the company’s business mission;
• communicate the company’s environmental and social efforts to investors, and to stakeholders;
• understand the financial impact of climate risks and improve related disclosures; and
• link compensation to financial results and ESG factors.

Download the report.

Kim Technologies has announced the launch of its Intelligent Legal Operations Platform, which allows in-house teams to automate various law department processes quickly and easily without the need for IT development or coding.

The award-winning Kim platform is already being used by a number of Global 100 companies for activities ranging from contract and in-life management, litigation and employment, to compliance, patents and property. More information can be found here.

Real world examples of how global law departments are using the technology will be demonstrated by in-house leaders at two sessions during the Corporate Legal Operations Consortium in Las Vegas May 9-11.

And the developer will present a complimentary forthcoming webinar at 11.30 ET on May 25: How Kim’s no-code AI platform is transforming legal departments around the globe.

See details of the new platform.

Bloomberg BNA, PKF O’Connor Davies LLP, Prairie Capital Advisors, and Sadis & Goldberg LLP will present an exclusive live event on using employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) to support growth and ownership transition strategies.

The event will be Thursday, June 1, 2017, 3-5:15 p.m., with a reception to follow. The location will be at Bloomberg LP, 120 Park Ave., New York, NY 10017.

On its website, Bloomberg says this program will explore all of the ways in which a business can utilize ESOPs to create favorable conditions for financing, allow for acquisitions, attract top talent, and generate wealth for both owners and employees.

ESOPs are commonly used by an owner seeking to retire, however, in today’s business market of successful start-ups, there’s an opportunity to consider them earlier in the lifecycle of the company. ESOPs, when done properly, may position the company for financing, allow for acquisitions, help attract and retain top talent in a competitive environment, and create wealth for owners and employees.

Register for the event.

Two verdicts won by East Texas law firm Ward, Smith & Hill are among the list of top 100 verdicts from 2016 as compiled by The National Law Journal.

In one of the cases, firm founder Johnny Ward helped VirnetX win a $302 million patent verdict against Apple Inc. After one week of trial, the jury awarded the amount based on Apple’s infringement of four of VirnetX’s internet security patents. The $302 million verdict was the ninth largest verdict overall in the U.S., and fourth largest IP verdict in 2016.

And in the other case, name partner Wes Hill successfully convinced a jury that Apple Inc. willfully infringed on a patent owned by Cellular Communications Equipment resulting in an award of $22 million for past damages. The seven-day trial revealed how Apple knowingly infringed the patent in its iPhones and iPads.

Read about the verdicts.

Sometimes a temporary restraining order, or TRO, can provide immediate relief from the court system when a party can show irreparable harm will be caused if someone is allowed to remain in control of assets that belong to the company, according to an article posted on the website of Mehendru P.C.

“It may be that a competitor has interfered with a business contract, an employee has stolen your trade secrets or breached a non-compete agreement, or a business partner has stolen from your company.  You have to go to court to protect the company though you’d rather not,” the post reads.

A judge can grant a TRO to stop an individual’s actions even without that person or his lawyer being in court. And a TRO provides immediate relief from the court system when a party can show irreparable harm will be caused if someone is allowed to remain in control of assets that belong to the company.

Read the article.

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Zapproved has published a free whitepaper revealing e-discovery insights on cases involving Volkswagen, Apple, Samsung and Takata. The paper can be downloaded.

• Apple
• Samsung
• Volkswagen AG
• Takata

While these cases paint a portrait of what not to do, they also illustrate why building a culture of compliance is so vital, Zapproved says on its website. The paper reveals three key takeaways:

• First, create and maintain a culture of compliance that champions ethical practices.
• Second, know the rules that apply to cross-border litigation, particularly discovery, and ensure that all participants understand those multinational rules.
• Finally, adopt smart, automated and secure e-discovery processes.

Download the white paper.

The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium will hold its 2nd Annual CLOC Institute on May 9-11, 2017 at Bellagio Resort in Las Vegas.

Known as the largest gathering of legal operations professionals in the world, this year’s conference will feature more than 70 sessions and 120 speakers. More information can be found in a press release here.

To see a list of all the sessions, click here.

Some session highlights and speakers include:

• “Was It Something I Said?: Advanced Workshop on the Role of Personality in a Successful Law Department,” featuring Larry Richard of LawyerBrain (pre-session on May 8);
• “The Future is Closer Than You Think: A Conversation with Richard Susskind,” featuring Richard Susskind, author of “Tomorrow’s Lawyers”;
• “Legal Operations Maturity Model: How Do You Rate?”;
• “Beyond the Hype about AI: Practical Applications of Artificial Intelligence in Today’s Law Department”;
• “Knowledge Management: What, Why and How”; and
• “Big Thinker Panel: CLOC’s Magna Carta for the Corporate Legal Services Industry,” (two-part session).

Register for the event.

Bloomberg Big Law Business will host its 3rd annual Summit in Manhattan.

The event will be Wednesday, May 24, 2017, at Bloomberg LP, 731 Lexington Ave., New York, NY 10022, from noon until 6 p.m. A networking lunch and cocktail reception will be included.

Attendance is by invitation only. Anyone interested in an invitation may submit a request.

The agenda is available online.

Some of the speakers will include:

• Peter Beshar, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Marsh & McLennan Companies
• Matthew Cooper, Executive Vice President, Head of Legal, Capital One Financial
• Stephen Cutler, Vice Chairman, JPMorgan Chase
• Eric Grossman, Chief Legal Officer and Managing Director, Morgan Stanley
• Deborah Kaback, Chief Legal Officer, Oppenheimer Asset Management
• Aristedes Mahairas, FBI Special Agent in Charge, Special Operations/Cyber Division, New York Office
• Manisha Sheth, Executive Deputy Attorney General for Economic Justice Division, Office of the New York State Attorney General
• Patrick Speice, Assistant General Counsel, Regulatory and Compliance, United States Steel Corporation
• Mary Jo White, Senior Chair, Debevoise & Plimpton

Request an invitation here.

The new Association of Women Lawyers of the Eastern District of Texas (WLED) was established with the first general order of 2017 issued by Eastern District Chief Judge Ron Clark in recognition of “the large number of outstanding female lawyers who practice in the Eastern District and the contribution they have made and continue to make to the district.”

WLED, an affiliate of the Eastern District of Texas Bar Association, will provide mentoring and networking opportunities for women lawyers practicing in the Eastern District.

Judge Clark appointed Elizabeth “Beth” Forrest from the Plano, Texas, office of Siebman, Burg, Phillips & Smith, LLP, as Chairperson for the WLED Organizational Committee. Amanda Abraham of The Roth Law Firm in Marshall, Texas, has been named Secretary/Treasurer, and Evelyn Chen, in-house counsel at Ericsson in Plano, has been named Vice Chairperson.

Eastern District Judge Marcia Crone of Beaumont, Texas; Eastern District Chief Bankruptcy Judge Brenda Rhoades of Plano; and Eastern District Magistrate Judges Caroline Craven of Texarkana, Texas; Nicole Mitchell of Tyler, Texas; Christine Nowak of Sherman, Texas; and Kimberly Priest Johnson of Plano will serve as the inaugural judicial liaisons to WLED.

“WLED’s goal is to provide a continuing forum where the many experienced women attorneys and judges in the Eastern District can provide advice and moral support to all our members, especially younger trial attorneys,” says Ms. Forrest. “Their insights and our shared experiences will help us develop our careers and assume the mantle of lead trial counsel in an increasingly competitive legal market.”

Membership in WLED is open to anyone who is committed to the group’s ethics and goals and who works toward the success of women trial attorneys, including fostering a deep bench of talented women lawyers as lead counsel in the Eastern District of Texas.

For more information on WLED and to learn how to become a member, contact Ms. Forrest at elizabethforrest@siebman.com.

Legal Aid of Northwest Texas will present the 17th Annual Women’s Advocacy Awards on Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at Arlington Hall at Lee Park, 3333 Turtle Creek Blvd. in Dallas.

The 6-9 p.m. event will include a cocktail reception, a raffle and a silent auction.

Honorees will include AT&T with the Business Leadership Award; Girls Embracing Mothers with the Nonprofit Leadership Award and Barry F. McNeil Louise Raggio Women’s Legal Advocate Award; and Jones Day with the Champion of Justice Award.

Tickets can be reserved on the LANWT’s website.

Bloomberg Big Law Business is convening leaders of corporate legal departments and law firms to address the diversity and inclusion challenge at a unique invitation-only event – the 4th Big Law Business Diversity Symposium.

The event will take place 8-10 a.m. Wednesday, May 10, 2017, at Bloomberg Government, 1101 K St NW, Suite 500, in Washington, DC 20005.

Request your invitation today to attend sessions such as:

Leading the Profession: Success Stories
Corporate legal departments see the most successful relationships when their goals and their law firm’s priorities are aligned. Hear how peers are approaching this effort and measuring success.

Inspiring Accountability: A Workshop
Big Law Business will facilitate a workshop on how to have the tough conversations on accountability for diversity and inclusion measures. Explore solutions to inspire leaders to create the incentives, models, and structures to increase diversity and stronger inclusion of ideas and skills in the profession.

Symposium Wrap-Up
Accountability measures that resonate: how the workshop results match back to traditional measurements of progress in the diversity of the legal profession.

The event is sponsored by Major, Lindsey & Africa and Quarles & Brady.

Request an invitation.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published a guide that reviews the three main indicators of an effective partnership between the general counsel and the board. The guide is available for free downloading.

Those three indicators include:

• aligned role expectations
• open and direct communication
• enhanced dialogue on risk oversight

Over the past few years, the role of the general counsel has grown in both scope and stature, the NACD says on its website. Once seen purely as legal advisors, many general counsel now spend much of their time serving as strategic advisors, regularly providing strategic direction to the CEO and to the board of directors.

General counsel should recognize that directors’ expectations of them go beyond their traditional legal role and that their unique legal and ethical perspective strengthens their ability to help mitigate organizational risk.

Download the guide.

More than 1,700 compliance professionals are expected to attend the 16th Annual Compliance & Ethics Institute in Las Vegas Oct. 15-18, 2017.

The event — at Caesars Palace — will be presented by the Society of Corporate Compliance & Ethics Institute.

The agenda calls for more than 150 speakers in more than 110 sessions.

Learning tracks will include ethics, risk, case studies, compliance lawyer, multi-national/international, IT compliance, general compliance/hot topics, and advanced discussion groups.

New for 2017 is a full-day pre-conference workshop on building professional skills.

Register for the event.

Black Duck Software has posted a complimentary on-demand webinar discussing ways organizations can outsource to meet their development needs and also address open source security and management risks before giving contractors access to their valuable technologies.

“Today’s rapidly changing technologies, including the proliferation of open source and the accelerating shift to the cloud, are increasing the use of outside experts for both application development and IT solutions,” the company says on its website. “At the same time, IP security is top of mind worldwide.”

The presenter is Jim Markwith, co-founder and managing partner of Symons Markwith LLP’s Seattle and Washington, DC area offices.

He is an experienced technology and corporate transactions attorney with over 20 years of experience. His clients range from start-ups to fortune 50 technology leaders, including computer software, on-line retail, and Healthcare IT product and service developers.

Prior to private practice, Markwith held executive and senior in-house legal positions with Microsoft, Adobe Systems, and Allscripts Healthcare. He received his J.D. degree from Santa Clara University School of Law, and is a member of the California, Washington, DC, and Washington State Bar Associations.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Keller and Heckman will produce a new seminar, “The Connected Product Intensive: A Framework for Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management,” May 2-3, 2017 in San Francisco, CA.

Keller and Heckman’s Connected Products Team will focus on the regulatory and litigation risks affecting connected products, and offer practical tips on compliance, risk avoidance, and risk management. Learn how to keep your customers safe and secure and to protect your company’s reputation and investments.

Highlights from the agenda include:

• Guidance on developing compliance frameworks
• Drafting privacy policies
• Responding to a security breach and best practices for encryption
• Environmental considerations including California’s Proposition 65 and state green chemistry laws
• FCC issues from equipment certifications through spectrum availability
• Handling product recalls, crisis management, and product liability litigation
• Energy efficiency considerations
• Advertising and marketing emphasizing claims, price, safety, and social media
• Rules surrounding In-app purchases
• End-User License Agreements

Register for the seminar.

Dallas-based litigation boutique Bailey Brauer PLLC has been recognized by BTI Consulting Group as one of the law firms with the “best brand standing” in the country, based on a survey of corporate counsel and executives at the world’s largest organizations.

In a news release, the firm said Bailey Brauer is among the smallest and youngest firms to earn this prestigious recognition, which is an indicator of how likely it is a firm will be considered for new work. The three-lawyer firm has enjoyed noteworthy successes in complex commercial litigation and appellate matters since its opening in 2013.

Selection to the BTI Brand Elite 2017 list is based on in-depth interviews with more than 600 corporate counsel and executives at the world’s largest and most influential companies. Respondents are asked about the law firms they hire and why. Final selection is based on intangibles that differentiate the law firms.

Read the release.

Exterro has published a new e-discovery case law report titled “The Importance of Proportionality under the New FRCP Rules” that is now available for downloading at no charge.

On its website, Exterro says the main goal of the recent FRCP amendments is to support Rule 1’s demand for a just, speedy, and inexpensive resolution to the dispute at hand. Proportionality is at the core of that notion.

This paper’s four cases cover rulings that push parties to be more proactive in finding ways to reach that resolution while avoiding over-burdensome and expensive production requests.

Included are:

• Brief case law recaps which get to heart of the e-discovery issues quickly
• Expert analysis on what these influential court rulings mean for your
  litigation process
• Tips for meeting updated e-discovery court requirements under the the new FRCP rules

Download the report.

Zapproved has published a free summary of “The Perfect Preservation Notice” session at the 2016 PREX, the premier conference for in-house e-discovery professionals. That summary is available for downloading.

• Craig Ball, Craig D. Ball, P.C.
• Dawn Radcliffe, Legal Operations Manager at TransCanada, Ltd.
• Kelly Lack, Litigation Counsel at Pacific Gas and Electric Company

Download the summary.

Leading in-house counsel and progressive law firm partners will share new ideas and approaches to control external legal costs, when they gather at the ACC Legal Services Management Workshop, April 19-20 in Dallas.

Participants at the event will learn how internal and external counsel can collaborate to improve outcomes, efficiency, and predictability by using:

• Value-based fees
• Project management
• Process improvement
• Data analytics
• Change management

The Association of Corporate Counsel says the two-day curriculum uses a blend of instruction, practical tools, case study and small group exercises. The ensemble faculty of industry-leading practitioners brings insight, experience, and lessons learned from in-house, law firm and consulting perspectives.

Participation is limited to only 25 law firm partners and 25 law department leaders to ensure a rich, interactive experience and opportunities for exchange of ideas.

The event is CLE eligible for up to 11.25 hours of credit.

General Counsel News readers may use the code LSMGC17 to receive a $100 discount off the registration fee.

Register for the event.

The National Association of Corporate Directors will present a complimentary webinar on reassessing the evaluation process on evaluations on director performance. The event will be Thursday, March 23, at 2 p.m. EDT.

“Given the increased emphasis on director performance, board evaluations have become commonplace in the boardroom over the last few years,” NACD says on its website. “The benefits of the evaluation are clear, including improving performance around identified opportunities, reviewing board composition relative to strategy, and communicating board effectiveness more effectively to shareholders. It is important, however, to periodically reassess the evaluation process to incorporate new leading practices and prevent complacency.”

Presenters will discuss how other boards:

• Align their evaluation process with the company’s strategy
• Incorporate peer-to-peer reviews
• Keep board members engaged in the evaluation process

Register for the webinar.

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