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Question of the Month
My company regularly faces business-related disputes both in the US and abroad. How can I go about building a range of approaches to dispute resolution that go beyond litigation?
Answer: ACC can help you identify best practices in alternative dispute resolution and provide perspective from the US, Europe, and Canada:
• ACC’s European Briefings: Alternative Dispute Resolution
• Alternative Dispute Resolution InfoPAK
• Attitude Adjustment: Eight Leading Practices in Building a Dispute-savvy Organization
• Going Global—Preparing for Arbitration
• Litigation and Dispute Resolution in Canada
• The Use of Mediation in the United States and Western Europe to Add Value to Transactions and Effectively Resolve Commercial Disputes
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Hurry! Annual Meeting Registration Rate Expires September 8th
ACC’s 2006 Annual Meeting, October 23–25 in San Diego, CA, includes over 120 CLE sessions across 12 tracks of programming, including sessions targeted toward new in-house counsel, legal managers, chief legal officers, small law department practitioners, and much more. You can’t afford to miss this meeting. Get a year’s worth of CLE in one shot and network with the best and the brightest in the legal industry. Be sure to register by September 8th to receive the regular $1195 member rate. Don’t delay: Visit the annual meeting website to see the full program and register today. Questions? Contact ACC’s education department at education@acca.com or 202.293.4103 x451.
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CLOs Address Top In-house Concerns
ACC’s CLO ThinkTanks bring together a select group of top CLOs in an intimate “deep dive” into the most pressing topics facing today’s law department leaders. We’ve captured their fresh thinking in a series of executive summaries of these ThinkTank meetings, allowing you to share their ideas on best practices, challenges and opportunities for response. Here are the latest reports:
• Compensation and Career Advancement
• Corporate Governance and Compliance
• Financial Compliance and Relationships with Auditors
• Hot Topics for Private Companies: Liability and Beyond
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Parent Company v. Subsidiary Over In-house Counsel Services
ACC filed an amicus brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in connection to a case involving Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE, Inc.), which is being sued by a number of its former subsidiaries now in bankruptcy, primarily Teleglobe Communications. Teleglobe is demanding access to attorney-client privileged communications between BCE and its in-house and outside counsel on the grounds that BCE’s in-house counsel previously represented both the parent and subsidiaries on a variety of issues. A key question in this case is the appropriateness of an in-house lawyer advising both a parent corporation and another company within a corporate group. ACC believes that such joint representation is both the norm and a best practice that promotes integrated, coordinated, and superior compliance and legal services across the corporate family.
For more information, see ACC’s brief and read our press release.
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By Popular Demand: Top ACC Docket Articles
In case you missed them, here are the ACC Docket articles that are top resources for members:
• Before Signing Your Next Nondisclosure Agreement, Count to Ten
• Three Hot Ideas for Improving In-house Law Departments
• Practical Tips and Tools for Negotiating Everyday Contracts
• Setting Up a Compliance Department from Scratch
• Five Ways In-house Counsel Can Talk to Law Firms
• Contracts Illustrated: A Modular Approach to Drafting Contracts
• Beating Vendor Lockdown: Negotiating Software Licenses for Your Organization
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On the Minds of In-house Counsel: ACC Listservs
Every day ACC members use the committee listservs to get insight and advice from their in-house peers. Here’s what ACC members are talking about:
• Recommendations for outside counsel in particular geographic areas and legal specialties;
• Hourly rates law firms are charging for the use of paralegals;
• The legal and accounting costs for taking a company public;
• Malpractice insurance;
• Best ways to avoid duplicate inquiries to the legal department;
• Cell phone use policies; and
• Holding departing employees accountable for returning company property.
Take advantage of this great resource. Go to the homepage for the committee you’re interested in and sign up for an ACC listserv today.
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Resources for Doing Business in Latin America
• A Lawyer's Guide to Panama
• Doing Business in Mexico
• Doing Business in Chile
• Doing Business in Colombia
• Doing Business in Paraguay
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Recruit a Member and Win a Prize
ACC would like to challenge you to help increase membership in the association by participating in the ACC “Share the Knowledge” Membership Drive. Your expertise is what separates us from other bar organizations. You know the value that this collaborative effort has brought you. So if you know of another in-house attorney who could benefit from our expertise, send them to ACC. More members in ACC translates into improved educational opportunities, enhanced networking, increased online resources, and advancement of the profession worldwide. And each time you recruit a member, you are guaranteed to WIN! ACC’s “Share the Knowledge” Membership Drive ends on October 31, so don’t delay, recruit today! Visit the “Share the Knowledge” website for more information.
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Participate in Important Duke University Study of In-house Counsel
Professor Steven Schwarcz, the Stanley A. Star Professor of Law & Business at Duke University, is engaging in a groundbreaking empirical study of why in-house lawyers are taking over, and whether they are likely to continue to take over, the functions and roles of outside lawyers in business transactions. To ensure this study produces accurate results, you are encouraged to participate in the confidential survey of corporate general counsel, chief legal officers, and other legal department managers (or their designees) available below. The survey's results and Professor Schwarcz's resulting article will be made available to the ACC as an important resource. To fill out this survey, please go to http://www.law.duke.edu/forms/acc.html.
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Upcoming ACC Webcasts
• The OFCCP's New Take on Systemic Compensation Discrimination and Voluntary Self-Evaluation
Wednesday, August 16, 1:00 PM (ET); 5:00 PM (GMT)
• The New Federal eDiscovery Rules: How Your eDiscovery and eRecords Management Practices Should Be Revised for Compliance
Tuesday, August 29, 2:00 PM (ET); 6:00 PM (GMT)
• Resisting Union Neutrality Agreements, Ballot-free "Elections," and Corporate Campaigns
Wednesday, September 6, 1:00 PM (ET); 5:00 PM (GMT)
• Backdating Stock Options
Thursday, September 7, 1:00 PM (ET); 5:00 PM (GMT)
• Deal or No Deal: Recent Developments Impacting Environmental Due Diligence in M&A Transactions
Tuesday, September 12, 4:00 PM (ET)
• ACC Solutions: A Guide to Your Member Resources
Wednesday, September 13, 12:00 PM (ET); 4:00 PM (GMT)
• Key Distinguishing Features of Canadian Employment and Labour Law
Tuesday, September 19, 1:00 PM (ET); 5:00 PM (GMT)
• Patent Trolls: What Are They, and How Do You Deal with Them?
Wednesday, September 20, 12:00 PM (ET); 5:00 PM (GMT)
• The Joys of Parenting—How Not To Get Hurt By Your UK Pension Plan
Thursday, September 21,12:00 PM (ET); 4:00 PM (GMT)
• Nonprofit Organization Affiliates
Tuesday, September 26, 12:00 PM (ET); 4:00 (GMT)
• Tracking Outside Counsel Performance
Wednesday, September 27, 1:00 PM (ET); 5:00 PM (GMT)
Please contact Jacqueline Windley at windley@acca.com with any questions or topic suggestions for ACCs Desktop Learning Webcasts.
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Celebrating a New Benchmark for Corporate Pro Bono
On November 9, the Pro Bono Institute at Georgetown University Law Center, along with Corporate Pro Bono, the ACC’s national partnership project with the Institute, will host a gala celebration at the Pierre Hotel in New York City to formally launch the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge. The Challenge is a simple, voluntary statement of commitment to pro bono service by corporate legal departments, their lawyers, and staff. Its goal is to empower departments to identify, benchmark, and communicate their pro bono results. All Challenge signatory legal departments receive information, guidance, and tailored support free of charge from Corporate Pro Bono to strengthen their existing pro bono programs or to start new ones. There is still time for your legal department to sign the Challenge and receive recognition at the event. To ensure that you and your colleagues receive an invitation to the gala, please contact Courtesy Associates at 202.973.8720 or probonogala@courtesyassoc.com. For more information about the Corporate Pro Bono Challenge visit www.cpbo.org/challenge. To become a signatory to the Challenge contact Eve Runyon, project director of Corporate Pro Bono, at erunyon@cpbo.org or 202.662.9699.
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