Thousands of legal professionals are expected to participate in the 5th Annual E-Discovery Day — through webcasts and live in-person events — on Dec. 4, 2019.

In addition to a webcast, the event will include networking and learning sessions in cities across the United States. Last year’s E-Discovery Day had more than 2,600 participants, at 19 webcasts and 14 in-persons events.

Exterro, powering the annual event, said that access is complementary, and no vendor pitches will be allowed.

Seventeen leading legal organizations are official E-Discovery Day supporters, Exterro said in its invitation.

Learn more or register.

ContractWorks has published a new legal tech guide titled “Choosing SharePoint or Contract Management Software,” which can be used for identifying the type of software legal teams need most based on specific business objectives.

The guide is available from the company’s website at no charge.

It includes such information as:

• The different business problems that SharePoint and contract management software are designed to address
• Specific strengths of each type of software
• Scenarios where SharePoint and contract management software can be used together

Download the guide.

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NAVEX Global is inviting participants to contribute input to its annual Corporate Compliance Benchmark Report.

“As a legal professional within the risk and compliance field, your experience and opinions are vital to helping us define what matters in this quickly evolving field,” the company says in its invitation.

Participants who take this 25-minute survey will receive a free copy of the report, as well as early and exclusive insights into survey results and analysis.

Phase5, an independent marketing research firm, will be collecting all the feedback. All responses are confidential and will be reported only in aggregate form. Individual data will never be shared with any other party, NAVEX says.

Take the survey.

For the eighth consecutive year, Dallas-based Estes Thorne & Carr has been placed among the nation’s best law firms in the Best Law Firms guide compiled by U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers in America.

In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the firm ranked as a top law firm for commercial litigation and employment law and was also recognized in the publication for arbitration, family law, labor law and construction litigation practices.

“This recognition comes from client feedback and peer review, so it is especially significant and meaningful to us,” Jessica Thorne, managing partner, said.

Read the article.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published “A Field Guide to Bad Directors” from NACD Directorship magazine for a close look at the behaviors of the least effective and most distracting directors.

A copy of the article can be downloaded from the NACD website at no charge.

These bad actors suffer from inattention to detail, a narrow field of focus, entitled behavior, and inadequacy, NACD says. Among the 14 types, the “Representative” can’t see the big picture and instead focuses on one specific issue. The “Financial Stumbler” is comfortable with basic financial terminology, but becomes lost when the financial discussion turns technical. The “Questioner” claims to ask tough questions but is really hiding a lack of preparation.

Download the article.

Flexera has posted a complimentary on-demand webinar discussing the role of in-house and external counsel in managing open source software in the business environment.

“Having some best practice guidelines that more clearly define your role and help you guide companies through license compliance and risk management only reinforces and bolsters one of your most important responsibilities as a legal advisor,” the company says in its invitation to view the event.

Speakers are Amy Chun, partner in Knobbe Martens, and Marty Mellican, vice president and associate general counsel of Flexera.

Some of the topics covered include:

• Key data points that emphasize there’s a lack of understanding regarding the amount of OSS companies are using
• The range of OSS risk and what that means to you
• Actionable steps and tips for managing OSS risk including available tools, how to flag issues, implement policy, and update agreements

Watch the webinar.

Bailey Brauer co-founders Clayton Bailey and Alex Brauer are among the “agents of change” in the legal profession singled out by Texas Lawyer magazine to receive the publication’s inaugural Texas Trailblazers recognition.

The two founders were chosen for their leadership in reshaping expectations for legal boutiques in Texas, the firm said in a release.

Other recent individual and firm honors include recognition from Benchmark Litigation, Chambers USA, BTI Consulting Group, The Best Lawyers in America, the National Law Journal, Texas Super Lawyers and D Magazine.

Read more about the honor.

All five shareholders in the trial and appellate firm Johnston Tobey Baruch are recognized in the 2020 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, and three earned the distinction of being selected Lawyers of the Year for Dallas-Fort Worth.

Firm managing shareholder Randy Johnston’s work with plaintiffs in professional malpractice solidified his selection as Lawyer of the Year. Renowned in Texas legal circles, his experience in commercial and mergers and acquisitions litigation, along with legal and professional malpractice law, secured his Best Lawyers honors.

Shareholder and firm co-founder Robert Tobey earned Lawyer of the Year honors for his legal malpractice work on behalf of plaintiffs. He also won recognition for malpractice defense and commercial litigation. Shareholder Chad Baruch’s exceptional appellate work also earned him a Lawyer of the Year designation.

No other law firm this size in Texas has received this many Lawyer of the Year honors for 2020.

Shareholder Karen Fitzgerald’s work with individuals in employment law and her litigation skills in labor and employment led to her selection. Coyt Johnston earned Best Lawyers honors for his commercial and mergers and acquisitions litigation skills.

Read more about the honors and
five benefits of hiring a smaller firm.

Exterro has published the 2019 In-House Legal Benchmarking Report, comparing in-house legal processes among 180 participating legal departments.

Compared to last year’s results, legal teams are choosing to coordinate services with fewer outside partners and are moving more operations in-house.

The report can be downloaded at no charge from the Exterro website.

Exterro says on its website that the report provides:

• 4 important takeaways to help improve your legal processes in 2020

• Results to 29 questions surrounding in-house legal activities

• Data to help drive change in your in-house legal department

Download the report.

Global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP has 30 attorneys representing a wide variety of practice areas on the 2019 Texas Super Lawyers list, which includes some of the top lawyers in the state.

According to Super Lawyers’ publisher, only the top five percent of Texas lawyers are chosen each year through the patented peer-review process it developed. The guide is reported to be one of the nation’s most respected legal guides. The 2019 guide is published in the October issue of Texas Monthly and in the Texas edition of Super Lawyers magazine.

Read about the honors.

The 8th annual Ethics & Compliance Virtual Conference will feature a full agenda dedicated to helping compliance programs remediate risk holistically—from preventive to reactive program components.

The NAVEX Global event, scheduled for Oct. 24, 2019, is designed to help participants understand global complexities, budget restrictions and the future of integrated risk management.

Webinar sessions will include:

• Driving Lasting Impact for Compliance Investment
• How to Impress or Underwhelm a Federal Prosecutor
• Predictive Analytics for Proactive Compliance Programs
• Correlation Between Brand Reputation Damage & Hotline Reports

Register for the event.

Zapproved has published a guide to understanding in-house ediscovery processing and review.

The guide may be downloaded from Zapproved’s website at no charge.

Whether you handle document review in-house or outsource it to your outside counsel, in-house legal teams can save significant time and money by processing and culling the data themselves.

An effective culling, processing and review system allows you to reduce, organize and review data to find only the facts that matter., the company says on its website.

This means you can:

• Reduce your ediscovery spend
• Minimize the volume of potentially relevant data
• Decrease the time it takes to review

Download the guide.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published the 2019 NACD Blue Ribbon Commission Report―Fit for the Future: An Urgent Imperative for Board Leadership—an invaluable resource for board rooms across America.

The report can be downloaded from the NACD website at no charge.

NACD members receive the added advantage of a comprehensive toolkit that helps boards transform information into meaningful action. The toolkit includes case studies, sample documents, questions to inform boardroom discussions, and other resources. NACD members benefit from this additional level of support that ensures that knowledge yields results.

Download the report.

Attorney Peter Idziak, who practices in residential mortgage lending, has joined the Dallas office of Texas-based Polunsky Beitel Green, LLP.

Idziak is an honors graduate from both Harvard University and the University of Texas School of Law.

He works in residential lending law, regulatory matters, and compliance issues.

Idziak is licensed to practice in both Texas and New York. He works with the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA), Truth in Lending Act (TILA), Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (FDCPA), and the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA).

He also provides guidance concerning Veterans Administration (VA), Federal Housing Administration (FHA) and Government-Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) requirements.

PactSafe has published a new guide that outlines different ways a legal department can foster effective cross-departmental relationships. It offers ideas that can be implemented this week, and tips that can plant the seed for more strategic, long-term change.

“Whether your goals are focused on increasing sales velocity, more efficient employee on-boarding, or mitigating risk of a new product, the legal department is often seen as an operational bottleneck and inhibitor of innovation,” PactSafe says on its website. “With 2020 on the horizon, legal needs to refresh its reputation—and understand its unique position to enable innovation—and it starts with better interdepartmental relationships.”

The guide covers:

• How legal and sales can maintain a united front when closing a deal
• Why legal and finance need to collaborate better on budget
• Ways legal and HR can limit risk of employee charges
• How legal and dev can find common ground in risk management and UX design

Download the free guide.

The Dallas-based firm Aldous Walker has chalked up three jury trial victories in 80 days, accounting for verdicts of more than $95 million.

In Jackson v. Beamers Private Club, et al., the firm represented the mother of Jerry Brown, a Dallas Cowboys practice-squad football player, who died in an alcohol-related automobile accident in December 2012. The lawsuit was filed under the Texas Dram Shop Act.

Milburn v. American Honda Motor Co., Inc. was an automotive product liability case on behalf of their client Sarah Milburn. The firm brought a product liability claim against Honda, arguing that the design of the seat belt in the third row’s middle seat was defective because it did not work as passengers expect and would therefore be used incorrectly.

In I.F. v. Andrew Valderrama and Isaiah Gary, the firm represented a client who at the age of 14 was drugged and then sexually assaulted by two high school football players at a party.

Read about the three cases.

Drexel University’s online LLM programs from the Thomas R. Kline School of Law can provide a legal practitioner with the expertise needed to become a specialist in either cybersecurity and data privacy or health care and pharmaceutical compliance.

Kline School of Law representatives will answer questions about the program at an online open house on Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2019, at 6 p.m. ET.

The university offers the program online on either a full- or part-time basis.

With a focus on topics like EU data privacy and internet law, this specialized LLM program will help fill a knowledge gap that’s needed in the cyber law and data privacy field, the university says on its website. Participants can tailor elective courses to specific fields such as health care, finance or higher education.

The health care and pharmaceutical industry is increasingly complicated and ever-changing, and Drexel’s LLM program provides insider knowledge needed to successfully navigate the system. Participants can focus on either health care compliance or pharmaceutical compliance or take classes in both areas, according to the university.

Learn more about the LLM program.

The annual meeting of the Association of Corporate Counsel in Phoenix in October will feature more than 140 sessions that will allow participants to earn up to a year’s worth of CLE/CPD credit in less than three days.

The event will be Oct. 27-30.

Topics at those sessions will include such subjects as contract drafting, data security, corporate sustainability, records management, and business education for in-house counsel.

Register or get more information.

The 2020 edition of Best Lawyers in America recognized 30 Greenberg Traurig attorneys in 31 practice areas across the global firm’s three Texas offices.

Additionally, Kyle K. Fox, a shareholder in the firm’s Austin office, was named “Lawyer of the Year” in the category of Mergers & Acquisitions. Only one attorney in each practice area and designated metropolitan area is honored as a “Lawyer of the Year.” Those recognized with this honor are selected based on voting averages received during peer-review assessments for their legal acumen, professionalism, and integrity.

Read a list of the honored lawyers.

A $98 million verdict secured by Boyd, Powers & Williamson has been inducted into the VerdictSearch Texas Verdicts Hall of Fame.

In reaching the December 2017 verdict, a Dallas County jury found that BBVA Compass Bank and one of its executives had committed fraud during loan renewal and modification negotiations with a developer of three luxury subdivisions in northeast Tarrant County following the 2008 financial crisis.

Lead trial attorney Derrick Boyd presented evidence, including email correspondence, showing that the bank executive had been actively working to sell the properties while simultaneously promising developer David Bagwell that the bank was not selling the loans and intended to extend his loan.

A $96.2 million final judgment in the case in 2018 preserved all but one portion of the verdict and added pre- and post-verdict interest.

Read details of the case.