The NACD Risk Oversight Advisory Council has published a complimentary briefing of “Current and Emerging Practices in Cyber-Risk Oversight.”

The briefing can be downloaded from the National Association of Corporate Directors website.

“Cyber events have become so prevalent in today’s business world that it’s not a matter of if a company is affected, it’s a matter of when,” the association warns. “In a recent NACD survey, directors selected cybersecurity threats as one of the trends most likely to have the greatest effect on their companies in the next 12 months.”

This resource will help directors stay on their toes in the global cybersecurity struggle—ensuring that they are prepared to respond to cyber events, fulfill corporate risk oversight expectations, and reduce overall risk exposure.

Download the briefing.

ContractWorks has published a guide to artificial intelligence and its impact on legal departments today and made it available for downloading from the company’s website.

The guide is titled “How AI Contract Management Improves the Value of the Legal Department.”

The publication covers:

• How AI is impacting legal departments today
• Where AI helps, and where it doesn’t
• Why you should identify their core challenges before implementing AI
• How to manage departmental adoption of new AI technology
• What the future of contracting looks like with AI

Download the guide.

The $166 million jury verdict secured by Fears Nachawati for the son of a North Texas woman killed for the proceeds of her life insurance policies has been recognized by The National Law Journal as 2018’s largest intentional tort award in Texas.

The May 2018 jury verdict in Tarrant County’s 141st Judicial District Court was also ranked the sixth largest among all verdicts in Texas and the 14th largest nationally for the year. Rankings are based upon national court records compiled by the NLJ’s research affiliate, VerdictSearch, coupled with its own research of online news sources and databases.

Read more about the case.

A post on the Provost Umphrey website describes the role of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in investigating a workplace accident — and the role that a lawyer can play in finding where fault lies and obtaining fair redress for the victim.

The post cites a hypothetical construction accident in which a large piece of equipment injured a worker.

One of the first questions to ask is: What caused the accident? “That’s an important question because the answer can determine who’s liable for the worker’s injuries and can be made to pay for his medical expenses, lost wages, even lost earning capacity,” writes the author of the post.

“OSHA serves an incredibly important purpose,” he adds. “Because of it, workers are safer and accidents fewer. But while workers benefit from the services OSHA provides, they are still in need of help. The results of an OSHA investigation can be used to get the victims of workplace accidents the compensation and help they need. But it doesn’t fall to OSHA to make that happen.”

Read the article.

Despite the increasing complexity of corporate governance, many new directors do not receive any form of onboarding, or even a job description, according to the National Association of Corporate Directors. Yet effective onboarding will equip new directors with the information and skills they need to contribute value—immediately.

The NACD has published a guide titled “Navigating the First Year: An Onboarding Guide for New Directors” that can provide new directors with essential information.

The full version of the guide is available to members of the NACD, but nonmembers are invited to download an executive summary.

The guide provides:

• The questions all directors should understand they need the answers to
• Practical advice on what to do (and what not to do) during board meetings
• A checklist process for effective onboarding and helpful directorship practices
• Information on public disclosures needed when onboarding new public company directors

Download the executive summary.

NAVEX Global will host a master class webinar designed to help participants learn how a proactive program that comprehensively addresses risk and drives improved culture prioritizes ethics beyond compliance.

The 2.5-hour complimentary event, “Ethics Beyond Compliance: Performance Drivers,” will be on Tuesday, June 18, 2019, at 8:30 a.m. Pacific / 10:30 a.m. Central / 11:30 a.m. Eastern / 4:30 p.m. British.

Participants will be among the first to see findings from the inaugural 2019 Definitive Corporate Compliance Benchmark Report.

Presenters will include:

• Bob Schuettler, Vice President Compliance, Vista Outdoor Inc.
• Carrie Penman, Chief Compliance Officer & SVP, NAVEX Global
• Erin Fair Taylor, MPH, JD, Chief Legal Officer, CareOregon
• Fernanda Beraldi, Senior Director, Ethics & Compliance, Cummins Inc.
• Jolene Wall, Deputy General Counsel, Compliance, Risk & Litigation, REI
• Mary Bennett, President, Right Compliance Consulting
• Michael Duran, Assistant General Counsel & Compliance Director, 3M

Get more details or register.

West Mermis, PLLC, a Houston-based law firm, secured a take-nothing defense verdict for its client, a national highway construction contractor, in South Texas. Plaintiffs’ counsel asked the jury to award $40 million to the decedent’s family. Following a two-week trial, the jury rendered a complete defense verdict.

According to the firm, the lawsuit arose out of a two-vehicle accident that occurred within a road construction project in Duval County, Texas. Vincent Vargas’ vehicle rear-ended an 18-wheeler tractor-trailer within the construction contractor’s highway construction zone. Vargas suffered fatal injuries as a result of the accident, and his parents filed a lawsuit against the construction contractor.

At trial, West Mermis highlighted the safety measures the construction contractor utilized during the road construction and the professionalism with which it performed its work, the firm said on its website. The defense team, led by Lawrence J. West and assisted by Francis D. McWilliams, emphasized to the jury that the evidence did not support the plaintiffs’ allegations.

Read details of the case.

Zapproved has published a new Electronic Discovery Management Model that addresses the overarching importance of information governance, advances in legal technology, and the 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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

The original Electronic Discovery Reference Model successfully described the nascent ediscovery process and gave ediscovery practitioners a common language and framework for evolving their own approaches, but a lot has changed since then, Zapproved says on its website.

The company says it grappled with the overarching importance of information governance, advances in legal technology, and the expansion of data identification. It also considered recent changes in legal department operations and the 2015 amendments to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which sought to stem the tide of out-of-control ediscovery by re-emphasizing proportionality.

Download the new version.

ContractWorks has published “The Contract Management Software Implementation Guide” and made it available for downloading from the company’s website.

The guide is designed to help readers identify and mitigate some of the common obstacles organizations experience when implementing contract management software.

ContractWorks says the implementation guide helps readers learn:

• Why successful software implementation is a must for your team
• How to develop a successful software implementation strategy
• What you can do to resurrect failing contract management software
• The 7 crucial steps for successful software on-boarding

Download the free guide.

The Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics will present its 18th annual Compliance & Ethics Institute at the Gaylord National in National Harbor, MD, on Sept. 15-18, 2019.

The SCCE says the event is the primary educational and networking event for compliance professionals across all industries around the world. Each year more than 1,800 attendees from 40 countries attend the institute. Leading industry experts cover real-world compliance issues, emerging trends, and practical applications.

The institute will help participants:

• Understand new and emerging risks and develop strategies for addressing them.
• Gain insights, skills, and tactics to help develop and maintain a more effective compliance program.
• Build connections with compliance professionals at all levels and from around the world.

Register or download the brochure.

Thirteen Texas attorneys from global law firm Greenberg Traurig, LLP have been recognized in the 2019 Chambers USA Guide, one of the most prestigious listings for business lawyers. In addition, Chambers recognized three practice areas in Texas: Health Care, Intellectual Property, and Real Estate.

Kent Newsome, chair of the Texas Real Estate Practice and co-managing shareholder of the Houston office, received a Band 1 ranking in Real Estate. Thomas J. Bond, the firm’s Austin managing shareholder and co-chair of its Government Law & Policy and Insurance Regulatory & Transactions Practices, earned a Band 1 ranking in Insurance.

Read the complete list of GT lawyers honored by Chambers USA.

Exterro has made available a new Gartner report titled “Defining Your E-Discovery Process Will Lower Costs and Reduce Risks.”

The report, which discusses six recommendations Gartner has for defining e-discovery process, can be downloaded from Exterro’s website at no charge.

“The goal of e-discovery is to find important files and communication that is usually spread out across an organization’s data footprint,” according to the Gartner report. “Infrastructure and operations leaders can use these procedures to better control their information and equip themselves for legal discovery requirements while improving overall maturity.”

Download the report.

The National Association of Corporate Directors has published a briefing that explains how audit and nominating and governance committee chairs can improve their risk-oversight strategy.

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

The report discusses such questions as: How can boards and committees continue to scale up their capacity for overseeing the major risks on their agendas? How should they address the concerns risk oversight raises among investors and regulators?

Some of the strategies discussed are:

• Use ad hoc committees to cope with expanding oversight requirements.
• Leverage evaluations and carefully review charters to ensure that committees are focusing on clearly-defined priorities and responsibilities.
• Ensure directors’ skills are keeping pace with rapidly-evolving and future issues.
• Increase meeting efficiency with prereads, consent agendas, and other tactics.
• Communicate risk-oversight priorities and processes to investors and regulators.

Download the briefing.

Zapproved has published “A How-To Guide for Managing Discoverable Data” and made it available for downloading at no charge.

“Your organization’s data has value, but — even with the low unit cost of storage — you can’t afford the cost, or the risks, of storing it all forever,” the company says on its website. “On the other hand, you can’t delete all of your data without running afoul of regulatory and litigation-based retention requirements. Information governance is the key to bridging the gap between these two extremes.”

The guide breaks down the five key components that information governance shares with ediscovery and explains why the quality of your ediscovery depends on the quality of information governance. It covers data organization and management, record retention and its flip side, defensible deletion, data access and security, and the extraction and use of critical business data.

Download the guide.

ContractWorks has published a guide to evaluate current contract management processes and learn best practices for vetting the right software for a company’s needs.

“The 2019 Buyer’s Guide to Contract Management Software” can be downloaded from ContractWorks’ website at no charge.

“Purchasing contract management software can be a complicated and time-consuming process for in-house counsel. Recognizing that you need a better way to manage your organization’s contracts is an important first step, but understanding what to do next can be a challenge,” the company says.

The guide covers:

• How to recognize failing contract management indicators
• How gauge software readiness at your company
• How software can help and where it can’t
• How to evaluate and understand your options
• How to ensure successful on-boarding

Download the guide.

Bill Boyce, a justice on the Fourteenth Court of Appeals in Houston for 11 years, has joined Alexander Dubose & Jefferson in the firm’s Houston office.

In addition to his experience on the bench, he practiced law for 18 years as an associate and partner at Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.

While in private practice he argued more than 60 cases in appellate courts throughout Texas and across the country, including the United States Supreme Court.  He has been board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Civil Appellate Law since 1994 and has served on the board’s appellate exam drafting committee.  He has been selected as Appellate Judge of the Year by the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists.

Read more about Boyce.

GAN Integrity has published the second edition of A Blueprint for an Automated Compliance Program, an ebook that can be downloaded from the GAN website at no charge.

The ebook is a detailed guide to risk management, due diligence, training, policy management, reporting, and more.

The book is designed to help readers:

• Understand what to ask when designing your processes
• Comprehend the building blocks of an automated compliance program
• Grasp how automation streamlines previously time-consuming processes
• See how automation heightens the strategic value of compliance

Download the ebook.

A new white paper published by Exterro takes a look at six e-discovery cases from the recent past that spell out the key elements of a defensible legal hold process.

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

“A solid legal hold process is the foundation of all your e-discovery efforts,” the company says on its website. “After all, if your organization fails to preserve relevant electronically stored information, you’re opening up the door for potential problems during litigation. While practitioners, vendors, and thought leaders can offer their opinions on what constitutes a defensible process, the courts are the ultimate authority who determine whether or not your process passes muster.”

The paper covers:

• Why you need to be timely and specific
• Why collect-everything approaches aren’t necessary
• What you’re risking if you fail to show good faith

Download the white paper.

Zapproved has published “The Essential Guide to Ediscovery Law and Practice” and made it available for downloading from the company’s website at no charge.

The new guide covers relevant critical sections of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and includes case law examples.

The company says the guide summarizes those portions of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that pertain specifically to ediscovery: from Rule 26’s definitions of scope and proportionality to Rule 37’s explanation of spoliation and delineation of available sanctions.

And the guide includes interspersed targeted advice and case law illustrations.

Download the guide.

Estes Thorne & Carr has earned a place on the 2019 BTI Client Service A-Team List.

Selection is reserved for firms and individuals that go above and beyond on the promise of outstanding client service. Attorneys cannot self-nominate, self-refer, or pay to be included. Selection to the list is based solely on unprompted feedback from GCs through in-depth telephone interviews.

In addition, firm founder Dawn Estes was singled out with a place among the BTI Client Service All-Stars, an elite group of just 335 attorneys nationwide.

Read about the award.