WHAT'S NEW WITH ACC COMMITTEES

ACC to Introduce Three New Practice Area Groups
Do you lie awake at night, worrying about the next issue that will hit your
desk in the morning? Are tax, compliance, and real estate issues causing
premature graying? In an effort to respond to the challenges faced by our
members, we are launching three new interest groups: Corporate Tax, Real Estate, and Compliance. Listservs have been set up for members to share information and challenges regarding these practice areas. We will also hold business meetings at the Annual Meeting for these groups. The response to these efforts will determine whether we move forward with developing ACC committees for these practice areas. In the meantime, if you have any questions, please contact Jacqueline Windley at windley@acc.com. ACC’s committees offer you the unique opportunity to connect with colleagues who share your expertise in a specific legal field or practice setting. Connect with your in-house peers. Join an ACC Committee today!


Committees Get Special Counsel
In order to enhance committee activities and provide more opportunities for ACC to respond to committee needs, an ACC staff attorney is being assigned responsibility for each committee. This will include attending monthly teleconferences and annual business meetings, participating on listservs, and working with members to develop webcasts and other resources. These assignments are listed below. Jacqueline will introduce these attorneys at the next monthly meeting. In addition to her committee assignments, Jacqueline will continue to have responsibility for overall committee management and communication.

Lew Hages—Employment & Labor, International Legal Affairs, Law Department Management

Nichole Opkins—Corporate & Securities, IT and eCommerce, New to In-house

Karen Palmer—Financial Services, Insurance Staff Counsel

Jacqueline Windley—Energy, Environmental Health & Safety, Litigation

Ellen Zavian—Intellectual Property, Nonprofit Organizations, Small Law Departments


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The 2007 ACC Annual Meeting (October 29-31, Hyatt Regency Chicago) is just a little more than a month away. ACC Committees have been busy developing programs to provide current information on topics of value to in-house counsel as well as networking events for relaxation and catching up with colleagues. Be sure to click on the comittee links above, and see below for details about committee events at the 2007 ACC Annual Meeting.

Lunch at AM07

Annual Committee Business Meetings 

ACC committees will hold their annual business meeting on Monday and Tuesday, October 29 and 30, beginning at 12:30 pm. Below is a list of the committee meetings scheduled for both days. Lunch will be provided. Join fellow committee leaders to discuss programs for the coming year and to see how you can contribute to the continuing success of ACC Committees.

Monday, October 29, 12:30 – 2:30 pm

• Corporate and Securities Law
• Environmental, Health & Safety Law
• Information Technology Law & eCommerce
• Insurance Staff Counsel
• International Legal Affairs
• New to In-house
• Small Law Departments

Partner and Guardian: The Challenge for In-House Counsel
Attend your committee lunch meeting and still have time for Monday’s lunch program at 1:30 pm. The greatest challenge for corporate counsel is to reconcile the dual, and sometimes contradictory role, of being both a productive business partner and guardian of the corporation’s integrity and reputation. Successfully resolving this tension is essential if a company is to attain the two fundamental goals of contemporary capitalism: high performance and high integrity. Ben W. Heineman Jr. will share his thoughts and observations about this dilemma. Under Heineman, the GE legal department became well known for its innovativeness and excellence as well as the important role its attorneys played in management and business.

Tuesday, October 30, 12:30 – 2:30 pm

• Employment & Labor Law
• Energy
JW
• Financial Services
• Intellectual Property
EZ
• Law Department Management
• Litigation
• Nonprofit Organizations

Learn from Former White House Counsel at ACC’s 2007 Annual Meeting
After your committee meeting be sure to join Tuesday’s lunch program at 1:30 pm. If you think your clients are challenging, consider what it is like to be the counselor to the ultimate CEO---the President of the United States! Counsel to Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush share their insights into providing legal advice under the most challenging of circumstances. Moderated by ACC Chair Laura Stein, this updated replay of a blockbusting program was first presented by WMACCA.

You won't want to miss these valuable business meetings, informative luncheon speakers, or the 100+ CLE-approved programs that will be provided at the 2007 ACC Annual Meeting (October 29-31, Hyatt Regency Chicago). If you haven’t registered yet, go to am.acc.com and sign up today! And be sure to click on the committee links above for detailed information about committee program tracks and networking events.

Submit Your Program Idea for ACC’s 2008 Annual Meeting by January 11
Want to do more than just attend ACC’s 2008 Annual Meeting (October 20-22, Washington State Convention & Trade Center, Seattle, WA)? Check www.acc.com for details about submitting your new and innovative idea for a CLE/CPD program. The submission site will be open mid-November 2007 – January 11, 2008. Your ideas are what make ACC's Annual Meeting a valuable resource every year. Questions? Contact the education team at education@acc.com


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ACC's Legal Resources Department continues its tradition of providing timely information for ACC members to use for research, benchmarking, and resolving everyday issues. Below are the latest offerings from ACC’s Legal Resources Department, many of which were developed in conjunction with ACC Committees and their sponsors. Need additional information, or maybe information on a different topic? Please send an email to legalresources@acc.com

New Practice Profile

The Role of In-house Counsel in managing the use of Open Source Software
This profile examines the benefits and unique issues that arise in using Open Source software for nine companies.  Particular attention is given to the role of in-house counsel in managing the use of OSS, and safeguards for limiting any drawbacks of using the software.   

New InfoPAKs

Managing Family and Medical Leaves of Absence: Statutory Entitlements, Employer Commitments, and Reasonable Accommodations
The administration of the FMLA has proven to be a great frustration to corporate legal counsel and human resource professionals. There are many reasons innate to the FMLA for why this is so, but more fundamentally, most in-house counsel view leave management as a puzzle. Within this complex environment, the risk for employers of mishandling employee absences by inadvertently violating statutory rights, breaching employee commitments, overlooking requests for accommodations, and bogging down legal and human resources staff is great. This InfoPAK explores the concept of employee leave management and examines various sources of obligation that may govern the diverse situations of employee absences.

Attorney Gatekeepers
In recent years, the role of the in-house counsel has evolved dramatically. The corporate scandals at the turn of the century propelled a wave of regulatory and legislative initiatives to deter such misconduct. Many of the new rules target the in-house counsel, and add the role of "gatekeeper" to their already long list of duties and responsibilities. This sudden re-writing of the role of in-house counsel caught many off-guard, and the sheer number of new rules and regulations are extremely difficult to harness. This InfoPAK, sponsored by Steptoe and Johnson LLP, will serve as an introductory guide to the new legal order that in-house counsel must follow.

Updated InfoPAKs

Canadian Labour and Employment Law
This InfoPAK is designed to provide corporate counsel with a general overview of the labour and employment laws of Canada.       

Survey of Corporate Law Department Diversity
The Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) and the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC) have teamed up as partners to survey the members of our respective organizations. Through participation in this survey, you will assist MCCA and ACC to capture a meaningful snapshot of the diversity of the in-house bar. To participate or for more information, please visit http://www.corporatediversitysurvey.com/
 

Are You Giving Enough Fiduciary Duty Advice?
Be a participant in a project which seeks to gather information on whether in-house counsel are advising their corporate officers as to their fiduciary duties. This survey, which focuses on the interaction between corporate officers and legal counsel, addresses a serious gap in our understanding about the delivery of legal advice to business managers. Lyman Johnson, Robert O. Bentley, Washington and Lee School of Law, and Professor Dennis Garvis, professor at Washington and Lee University School of Commerce, are the key investigators in this project. The results of this research will be made available to ACC members and published this fall in the Wake Forest Law Review.    
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Making its second appearance in Canada, this acclaimed ACC program will be offered in Toronto, November 18-20, 2007! Whether you practice in Canada, the United States or are involved in work that crosses the border, in-house counsel face a number of similar challenges. Open only to in-house counsel, CCU teaches attendees how to excel in their new role with a focus on the basics you need to succeed. Registrants will learn first-hand from in-house colleagues the tools and best practices necessary to foster a successful in-house career. Network with the best and brightest in the in-house legal profession! Visit the ACC website at http://ccucanada.acc.com/ to register now!      
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Are you interested in being published? Do you have valuable information to share with your in-house colleagues? Well, writing for the award-winning ACC Docket may be for you. Each issue of the Docket focuses on a different aspect of in-house practice, so share your topic or idea for an article or column. The ideal length for feature articles is 4,000 words. And if you are in-house counsel to a company operating in Europe or Canada, European Briefings or Canadian Briefings might be the home for your article idea. These publications are distributed as supplements to the ACC Docket, and the ideal lenght for articles for the Briefings is 1,500 words. Check the 2008 ACC Docket Editorial Calendar for the topics that have been chosen for upcoming issues. For more information about writing for the ACC Docket or European Briefings, please contact Kim Howard, editor in chief, at 202.293.4103 x320 or howard@acc.com.  You can contact Diane Rusignola, 202.293.4103 x348 or rusignola@acc.com,for more details about Canadian Briefings.  
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