The National Association of Corporate Directors has introduced the its new Strategic-Asset GC initiative, which recognizes the unique position general counsel hold relative to their boards of directors.

The new NACD initiation provides an exclusive view into how today’s general counsel are helping to craft boardroom strategy.

This NACD effort will aim to provide general counsel with valuable insights from directors, subject-matter experts, and fellow general counsel in order to help identify effective strategies for continued partnership. Led by a General Counsel Steering Committee, The Strategic-Asset GC initiative will include a quarterly webinar series, resources, and peer-to-peer events.

Sign up for access.

 

 

The number of cases demanding electronic discovery continues to escalate. With digital media and technology becoming more mainstream in both personal and private matters, in-house legal counsel face new and complex challenges of preserving and searching electronically stored data.

At the 2016 Conference on Preservation Excellence, Zapproved asked six judges to weigh in on 10 such cases in an hour. A complete discussion summary is available for downloading.

Their discussion dissects cases in detail and offers insights on key factors impacting trends in the e-discovery age:

• Spoliation
• E-discovery abuse
• Proportionality
• Keyword searching
• BYOD policies

See the complete discussion summary, featuring:

Moderator:

Hon. Ron Hedges (Ret.), Senior Counsel, Dentons U.S. LLP, and former United States Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court of New Jersey

Panelists:

• Hon. Frank Maas, U.S. Magistrate Judge, United States Southern District of New York
• Hon. Andrew Peck, U.S. Magistrate Judge, United States District of New York
• Hon. Xavier Rodriguez, United States District Judge for the Western District of Texas
• Hon. Shira Scheindlin (Ret.), Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP, Former United States District Judge of the Southern District of New York
• Hon. David Waxse, U.S. Magistrate Judge, United States District of Kansas

Download the discussion summary.

 

 

 

Navex Global has produced a benchmark report that can be used to help organizations judge how effective their third-party risk management systems are and how to make improvements.

On its website, Navex says one-third of organizations have faced recent legal action related to their third parties.

The new 2016 Third Party Risk Management Benchmark Report is available for free downloading.

Use this report to identify gaps, get buy-in for additional resources and make your program more efficient. The report discusses:

• Trends for screening and monitoring third parties
• About the program maturity model and how it impacts your due diligence programs
• How automated systems help increase performance satisfaction
• Recent developments in legal costs and number of incidents

Download the Navex report.

 

 

Exterro has published its “2016 In-House Legal Benchmarking Report,” which allows readers to compare their legal processes to their peers and learn how other legal departments are trying to become more productive and reduce legal spend without sacrificing defensibility.

The report, with the subtitle “Reducing Costs, Increasing Productivity in Today’s Complex Litigation Environment,” is available for free downloading.

The publication:

• is a 24-page comprehensive report, which surveyed 76 in-house legal professionals
• Key topics include how legal departments are allocating spend, techniques used to manage legal operations and much more…
• Interesting stats, including: 77% of respondents will invest or evaluate some type of legal project management software in the next 1 – 2 years

Download the report.

 

 

For the fifth consecutive year, the commercial litigation and intellectual property firm Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA, is being recognized among the nation’s Best Law Firms by U.S. News & World Report and The Best Lawyers in America.

Houston’s AZA is listed in the 2017 top tier of area metropolitan law firms for commercial litigation. The selection of Best Law Firms is based on a rigorous process that includes client and lawyer evaluations and peer review from other attorneys in the same practice areas, the firm said in a release.

Earlier this year nine AZA lawyers were selected for the 2017 edition of The Best Lawyers in America for their work in commercial and intellectual property litigation. The firm and its lawyers also received recognition in the Chambers USA 2016 guide, 2017 edition of Benchmark Litigation, and the  the 2016 Texas Super Lawyers list.

Read the article.

 

 

Exterro has published “The Comprehensive Guide to E-Discovery Preservation,” an e-book that discusses how to incorporate preservation principles into the legal process that will enable defensible and proportional policies.

“The preservation process may be the most complicated and confusing stage within the e-discovery process, namely because there is no bright line indicator of when you need to start preserving data once litigation is reasonably anticipated,” the company says on its website. “Instead, judges and courts around the country have used their own discretion to decide when this must be done, depending on the circumstances surrounding the case. That is why you should continually reference preservation best practices and lessons learned from experienced e-discovery practitioners to ensure your process is defensible.”

The guide discusses:

• What is required within your preservation process
• Need-to-know steps for deciding how and when to preserve data, including new data types
• Preservation advice from in-house legal professionals

Download the guide.

 

 

The Innoxcell Annual Symposium – The US -Asia Cross Border White Collar Crime Series will be on Dec. 6, 2016, in New York at the Warwick New York Hotel.

Complimentary passes are available for General Counsel, Corporate Compliance, Head of Audit, Head of M&A, IP and Head of Risk. Contact Jeffrey Teh at Jeffrey.teh@innoxcell.net for more information on passes.

The Innoxcell Annual Symposium (IAS) is the world’s largest and most comprehensive white-collar crime and regulatory compliance conference, focusing on cross-border business legal relations between the US and Asia.

In 2016, the Innoxcell Annual Symposium (IAS) has been held in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom and now, the United States. This is the only event of its kind, featuring multiple streams covering the great diversity of cross-border issues, including:

• US – Asia eDiscovery judiciary panel
• US-China anti-corruption best practices
• Financial Crime Compliance
• Employee Misconducts
• China outbound investment and merger review best practices
• Cross-border fraud investigation and litigation
• One belt, one road – risk and legal considerations

Register for the symposium.

Exterro has published a complimentary e-book that presents best practices for streamlining the e-discovery process, especially relating to transitions between different stages.

“In today’s competitive legal market, many legal teams are looking to streamline their processes, and while focusing on streamlining the different stages of the e-discovery process is a great way to gain consistency and lower costs, there is much to be said about streamlining between those stages, before getting to the most expensive e-discovery stage: document review,” the company says on its website.

This e-book contains a series of tips and best practices to smooth out those bumps that fall in the gaps between the well-defined parts of the e-discovery process before the review stage, including transition tips between (1) information governance to identification, (2) identification to preservation and (3) preservation to collection/processing.

The book includes:

• 7 tips on leveraging information governance to streamline identification
• 5 questions to ask during identification for smart preservation
• 6 ways your preservation strategy should influence your collection approach

Download the e-book.

 

 

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published the 2016 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission Report: Building the Strategic-Asset Board. The report is designed to help readers prepare for boardroom discussions on top-of-mind issues related to board strategy and composition.

The NACD says this report, based on the recommendations of leading directors, investors, and subject matter experts, outlines steps corporations and general counsel can take to help the board continuously improve boardroom performance, including how to

• make relevant updates to your governance principles;
• plan board succession in line with the company’s long-term strategy; and
• consider tenure issues as part of your director review process.

The full report is available exclusively to NACD members, but the executive summary, which includes a list of additional recommended steps for building a strategic-asset board, is available to anyone.

Download the summary.

 

 

Fort Worth lawyer Steve Laird has once again been recognized by his peers and independent researchers, who have named him to the Top 100 Super Lawyers in Texas and Best Lawyers in America.

On his website, Laird has published articles with headlines such as “Study Shows Incredible Benefits of Collision Avoidance Systems,” “Texting and Driving Accidents on the Rise,” “Speed Limiter Delay Raises Danger on Highways,” “Questions Created by Catastrophic Injury, Wrongful Death,” “New Highway Law Allows Too-Low Insurance, Hides Safety Scores” and “Tractor-Trailer Cameras Benefit Safety.”

His firm, the Law Offices of Steven C. Laird, P.C., is located at 1119 Pennsylvania Ave., Fort Worth, Texas 76104.

Read more.

 

 

Bloomberg Law will hold the Big Law Business Summit – West, convening the future leaders of Big Law, chief legal officers, outside counsel, and those serving legal departments around the world to discuss challenges and share ideas about the legal industry.

The event will be Oct. 27, 2016, from 1:30 to 6 p.m. Pacific time, with a networking reception to follow. The location will be The Standard Hotel, 550 S. Flower Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071.

Featured panelists will be:

• Elizabeth Baker, General Counsel, Twitch Interactive
• Brad Butwin, Chair, O’Melveny & Myers LLP
• Sharon Tomkins, Vice President & General Counsel, Southern California Gas Company

Register for the event.

 

 

The Center for Board Excellence is offering for free download a checklist aimed at modernizing directors and officers questionnaires. The checklist uses CBE’s cloud-based platform.

A company spokesman explained that the D&O form is uploaded by CBE to its secure platform and then is accessible from anywhere on any device.

Users can customize the questionnaire for respondents with prepopulated information. The number of questions can be reduced, providing for easier director completion.

And definitions and schedules are converted to dynamic flyovers or online links.

Download the questionnaire checklist.

 

 

The trustee for a bankrupt company decided to drop his lawsuit after watching his expert witness cross examined by an attorney from Ahmad, Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C.(AZA), clearing AZA’s clients of claims that they received fraudulently transferred company assets, the firm reports in a news release.

Rodney Tow, trustee for the estate of the Peterson Group Inc., a Houston real estate development company, had watched AZA’s John Zavitsanos examine his expert witness over whether Peterson Group was solvent and what company assets remained. The legal dispute involved a series of shopping centers and other properties worth more than $30 million.

The night of the expert’s failed testimony Tow informed Zavitsanos that he was completely dropping the case, which was in the third week of trial to a jury in the 269^th District Court in Harris County.

 

See a video and read about the case.

 

 

The National Association of Corporate Directors has made available a free executive summary of “Director Essentials: Strengthening the Oversight of M&A.”

“With more than 40,000 mergers and acquisitions transacting annually, boards need to stay up to date on trends,” the company says on its website.

“Director Essentials: Strengthening the Oversight of M&A” is designed to help general counsel:

• provide guidance on director responsibilities;
• develop parameters for M&A review; and
• prepare directors to ask management the right questions.

The full publication is available exclusively to NACD members, but anyone may download a complimentary copy of the executive summary.

Download the summary.

 

 

eSignLive by Vasco has made available for downloading a new white paper that discusses the best security practices for implementing e-signatures and evaluating vendors. (See the download form below.)

“It is important to make sure your electronic signature provider meets the highest security standards. Security is at the core of a trusted digital experience between you, your employees and customers,” the company says on its website.

That means more than simply passing an audit. eSignLive recommends taking a broader view of e-signature security that also addresses:

• Choosing the appropriate level of authentication
• Protecting signatures and documents from tampering
• Making it easy to verify e-signed records
• Ensuring vendor-independent records
• Verifying the vendor has a consistent track record of protecting customer data
• Creating end-to-end trust through white-labeling and integration with your existing IAM framework

The white paper includes a best practices checklist.

var gform;gform||(document.addEventListener("gform_main_scripts_loaded",function(){gform.scriptsLoaded=!0}),window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){gform.domLoaded=!0}),gform={domLoaded:!1,scriptsLoaded:!1,initializeOnLoaded:function(o){gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?o():!gform.domLoaded&&gform.scriptsLoaded?window.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",o):document.addEventListener("gform_main_scripts_loaded",o)},hooks:{action:{},filter:{}},addAction:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook("action",o,n,r,t)},addFilter:function(o,n,r,t){gform.addHook("filter",o,n,r,t)},doAction:function(o){gform.doHook("action",o,arguments)},applyFilters:function(o){return gform.doHook("filter",o,arguments)},removeAction:function(o,n){gform.removeHook("action",o,n)},removeFilter:function(o,n,r){gform.removeHook("filter",o,n,r)},addHook:function(o,n,r,t,i){null==gform.hooks[o][n]&&(gform.hooks[o][n]=[]);var e=gform.hooks[o][n];null==i&&(i=n+"_"+e.length),gform.hooks[o][n].push({tag:i,callable:r,priority:t=null==t?10:t})},doHook:function(n,o,r){var t;if(r=Array.prototype.slice.call(r,1),null!=gform.hooks[n][o]&&((o=gform.hooks[n][o]).sort(function(o,n){return o.priority-n.priority}),o.forEach(function(o){"function"!=typeof(t=o.callable)&&(t=window[t]),"action"==n?t.apply(null,r):r[0]=t.apply(null,r)})),"filter"==n)return r[0]},removeHook:function(o,n,t,i){var r;null!=gform.hooks[o][n]&&(r=(r=gform.hooks[o][n]).filter(function(o,n,r){return!!(null!=i&&i!=o.tag||null!=t&&t!=o.priority)}),gform.hooks[o][n]=r)}});

/* = 0;if(!is_postback){return;}var form_content = jQuery(this).contents().find('#gform_wrapper_31');var is_confirmation = jQuery(this).contents().find('#gform_confirmation_wrapper_31').length > 0;var is_redirect = contents.indexOf('gformRedirect(){') >= 0;var is_form = form_content.length > 0 && ! is_redirect && ! is_confirmation;var mt = parseInt(jQuery('html').css('margin-top'), 10) + parseInt(jQuery('body').css('margin-top'), 10) + 100;if(is_form){jQuery('#gform_wrapper_31').html(form_content.html());if(form_content.hasClass('gform_validation_error')){jQuery('#gform_wrapper_31').addClass('gform_validation_error');} else {jQuery('#gform_wrapper_31').removeClass('gform_validation_error');}setTimeout( function() { /* delay the scroll by 50 milliseconds to fix a bug in chrome */ jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery('#gform_wrapper_31').offset().top - mt); }, 50 );if(window['gformInitDatepicker']) {gformInitDatepicker();}if(window['gformInitPriceFields']) {gformInitPriceFields();}var current_page = jQuery('#gform_source_page_number_31').val();gformInitSpinner( 31, 'https://generalcounselnews.com/wp-content/plugins/gravityforms/images/spinner.svg', true );jQuery(document).trigger('gform_page_loaded', [31, current_page]);window['gf_submitting_31'] = false;}else if(!is_redirect){var confirmation_content = jQuery(this).contents().find('.GF_AJAX_POSTBACK').html();if(!confirmation_content){confirmation_content = contents;}setTimeout(function(){jQuery('#gform_wrapper_31').replaceWith(confirmation_content);jQuery(document).scrollTop(jQuery('#gf_31').offset().top - mt);jQuery(document).trigger('gform_confirmation_loaded', [31]);window['gf_submitting_31'] = false;wp.a11y.speak(jQuery('#gform_confirmation_message_31').text());}, 50);}else{jQuery('#gform_31').append(contents);if(window['gformRedirect']) {gformRedirect();}}jQuery(document).trigger('gform_post_render', [31, current_page]);gform.utils.trigger({ event: 'gform/postRender', native: false, data: { formId: 31, currentPage: current_page } });} );} ); /* ]]> */

LawGeex has published a case study showing how social media company Brandwatch uses artificial intelligence to reduce costs and speed up the contract review process.

The case study focuses on Dylan Marvin, Brandwatch’s general counsel. His company employs more than 350 people.

He worked closely with LawGeex to build his own customized solution, resulting in:

• 80% reduction in time spent reviewing routine contracts
• 90% cost saving compared to using outside counsel or hiring new staff
• Legal department no longer a bottleneck
• 3 times faster deal closing

Download the case study.

 

 

Wednesday, Sept. 21
2-3 p.m. EDT

eSignLive by Vasco is sponsoring an online presentation providing an overview of the basic terminology, concepts, and laws related to electronic signatures and answer the most frequently asked questions on the topic.

The free webinar will be Wednesday, Sept. 21, beginning at 2 p.m. EDT.

The speaker will be Richard Medina, co-founder and principal consultant of Doculabs.

Topics will include:

• What is the difference between an electronic signature and a digital signature?
• How can you prove who e-signed?
• What legal and compliance requirements do we need to consider?
• What ROI metrics have others reported?
• What do signers need in order to e-sign?
• How do we get started? What’s the cost? What’s the effort?

Register for the webinar.

 

 

NAVEX Global will webcast a free webinar outlining updates to FLSA requirements, presented by Scott M. Nelson, a national labor and employment law authority from Baker & McKenzie, on Thursday, Sept. 22. The hour-long webinar will begin at 10 a.m. PDT (1 p.m. EDT).

New Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations will go into effect on Dec. 2, updating the salary and compensation levels for exempt employees, impacting millions of salaried workers.

Wage and hour cases represent the most significant exposure to employers under workplace laws, NAVEX Global says on its website. This webinar will explain responsibilities and options for complying with the FLSA’s overtime provisions.

Register for the webinar.

 

 

Exterro is offering its new “2016 Law Firm Benchmarking Report – Staying Competitive in Today’s Crowded Legal Market” for free downloading.

This benchmarking report discusses why changing legal business circumstances will force firms to find ways to increase productivity or risk revenue loss.

The download includes:

• 24-page comprehensive report, which surveyed 112 law firm professionals
• Key topics include how law firms are billing their clients, approaches used for managing legal operations and more…
• Example of one interesting stat: 79% of law firm respondents stated that client expectations have elevated (i.e. clients expect more for less)

Download the report.

In an article on its website, the Law Offices of Frank L. Branson tallied some of the firm’s recent victories, including a $10.9 million verdict for the families of two north Texas grandmothers who died as a result of injuries from the crash of a the Choctaw Casino chartered bus.

In that case, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma refused to take responsibility for its role in ensuring the safety of its guests and offered only $50,000 to settle the case, the firm says on its website. At trial, testimony established a critical finding that the Choctaw Casino had retained the right to control the charter bus and its driver.

In another case, the firm won $4.45 million in actual damages and another $598,500 in exemplary damages for a physician who was forced out of a partnership in two medical imaging center businesses.

The firm has been honored by Best Law Firms in America Metropolitan Tier I, Texas Super Lawyers, and more.

Read the article.