Question of the Month

How can our company evaluate the performance of members of our board of directors?  How would my company go about removing a director from the board?

Answer: ACC has resources that can help you clarify the responsibilities of your board and board committees, train board members on their role, allow board members to evaluate their own performance, and take the necessary steps to remove a board member.

• Benchmarks for Training the Board of Directors
• Checklist for the Removal of a Director
• A Comparative Study of Corporate Governance Across Borders
• Director Self-evaluation Questionnaire
• Sample Code of Conduct Policy

 
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Stay up-to-date on the latest legal issues facing in-house counsel practicing in Europe with ACC Europe educational seminars.  Find out how the most successful companies are using patents as competitive weapons in “The New Intellectual Property Economy” (18 January, Paris).  Explore the “Aspects of Legal Liability for Companies and In-house Counsel” (25 January, Athens). Attend one of a series of seminars on how to prepare for and avoid criminal liability for corporate failures (30 January, London; 1 February, Paris; 7 February, Munich; 8 February, Geneva).  Visit the ACC Europe webpage for more information and to register.

If you missed a program that you were interested in, you can access available program materials on the ACC Europe website.  Get materials from sessions on topics such as the legal risks of offshoring and electronic invoicing and legal spend management.

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Are you or is someone in your law department new to in-house practice?  Open only to in-house counsel with a focus on those practicing for 1-5 years, ACC Europe’s Corporate Counsel University (4-6 March, NH Barbizon Hotel, Amsterdam, The Netherlands) will teach you how to excel in your new role with a focus on the basics you need to succeed. You will have the chance to learn from in-house experts from such companies as The Body Shop, Turner Broadcasting, Starbucks, Foot Locker, General Electric, Oracle, Lenovo, and many more! Featured topics include how to become a successful in-house practitioner, EU competition, financial analysis, career development, building negotiation skills, and EU labour law. Plus, there will be plenty of networking time to establish contacts that will help you long after the meeting. With registration set at EUR 425, you can’t afford not to make this investment in your career or legal department. Visit the website for more information and to register or email your questions to acca@confpeople.co.uk.

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If you or your colleagues missed this year’s meeting, you can still get access to all of the resources that were provided to attendees.  Sessions covered a wide range of topics including litigation, employment and labor law, and information technology. Top sessions included, “Leading the Way in Privacy and Data Security Compliance,” “Care & Feeding of the Board of Directors,” and  “How to Apply Successful Management Techniques to the Law Department.”  On our special Annual Meeting wrap-up page you will find links to session handouts and background resources, online CLE courses, pictures from the meetings, and other meeting highlights.  Find out what you missed and register for the 2007 meeting.

Online CLE courses from virtually all of the Annual Meeting sessions are available right now.  Take advantage of these exclusive resources.

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ACC’s Top Ten lists provide quick overviews on hot topics for in-house counsel. Check out the latest list: ACC's Top Ten Lessons Learned by CLOs About Executive Compensation From the Stock Option Crisis.  In case you missed them, here are some of the other available Top Ten lists:

• Top Ten Methods to Manage Outside Counsel
• Top Ten New to In-house Pointers
• Top Ten Things Your Board Needs to Know About Effective Compliance and Ethics Programs
• Top Ten Tips for Corporate Counsel Dealing with the New FRCP on eDiscovery

 
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Like the world we live and practice in, the in-house legal profession is continually evolving. We are no longer just "the company lawyer"—we are managers, advisors, strategists and leaders. As in-house counsel, we perform all these roles and more. To be successful, we need access to information and networks to help us stay on top of changing demands, and we need to continue to build and hone our substantive legal skills and knowledge. Join us for ACC Europe's 2007 Annual Conference: The Growing Role of In-house Counsel: Lawyers as Business Partners (3-5 June, Bayerischer Hof Hotel, Munich, Germany). Programs will feature legal updates, management advice, and will open opportunities to network with the best and brightest in the in-house legal profession in Europe. For more information, email acca@confpeople.co.uk.

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ACC members are using the committee listservs (especially, the Small Law Department and Employment and Labor listservs) to get answers and advice on their most pressing questions.  Recent topics include:

• Approaches to managing litigation
• Attorney “moonlighting” (working for a private company and a law firm simultaneously)
• Employee arbitration agreements
• Referrals for attorneys in Taiwan, Las Vegas, and West Virginia
• Risk management committees
• Solutions to compare various drafts of contracts

Visit the committee page, choose the committee you are interested in, and sign up today.

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Just in case you didn’t get a chance to read all the stories in ACC Docket last year, here is a list of some of the most popular:

• Beating Vendor Lockdown: Negotiating Software Licenses for Your Organization
• Before Signing Your Next Nondisclosure Agreement, Count to Ten
• Five Ways In-house Counsel Can Talk to Law Firms
• Keeping Secrets: Developing Confidentiality Systems
• Practical Tips and Tools for Negotiating Everyday Contracts
• Setting Up a Compliance Department from Scratch
• Three Hot Ideas for Improving In-house Law Departments

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ACC is looking for article submissions for European Briefings, a quarterly supplement to the ACC Docket. To find out how you can submit an article, please contact Kim Howard, editor in chief of ACC Docket at howard@acc.com or 202.293.4103 x320.

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In December, Deputy Attorney General, Paul McNulty, issued new DOJ guidelines (already being referred to as the "McNulty Memorandum") that place restrictions on some of the tactics being used by its prosecutors.  This move to update the controversial "Thompson Memorandum" was prompted in part by legislation introduced by Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) on December 7, called "The Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act of 2006.”
ACC has been leading the way in demonstrating that the DOJ's tactics are leading to a "culture of waiver," and undermining our judicial system.  While the announcement by the DOJ is a welcome step forward, the changes they proposed are not strong enough.  ACC is preparing resources to help you navigate these new developments, such as a chart comparing the McNulty Memo and Specter's "Attorney-Client Privilege Protection Act."

Get more information in the public policy section of ACC’s website.

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