"News of Note" - Sodexo honored; Mirixa makes deals

WMACCA would like to recognize the following accomplishments of our members and their organizations:

• The Sodexo Law Department received the Bar Association of the District of Columbia's 2008 Constance L. Belfiore Quality of Life Award at the BADC Annual Banquet on December 6, 2008.  The Award Committee was very impressed with the quality of life offered in Sodexo's legal department, in particular the offer and extensive use of alternative work schedules, and the commitment to keeping talent.  Congratulations to our friends at Sodexo on their receiving this honor!

• Mirixa Corporation recently entered into two significant deals, both of which were handled in-house by General Counsel Karen Litsinger. 

Mirixa, a pharmacy-based patient care services company, and healthlinks.net, a subsidiary of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, have signed a technology licensing and business consulting agreement, paving the way for the use of MirixaPro℠ in Australia's pharmacies nationwide.  Mirixa Australia, a newly formed business venture, will be operated by the Guild's healthlinks.net subsidiary. Under the agreement, Mirixa, which is sponsored by the National Community Pharmacists Association (NCPA), will adapt and license its widely used web-based software, MirixaPro℠, for use by pharmacies in Australia.   Additionally, Mirixa's success and leadership in enabling patient care services, through its U.S. network of 46,000 contracted pharmacies, will be leveraged by the Guild as it builds its Australian national program.  The Guild will initially deploy Mirixa technology and services to facilitate improved medication adherence and outcomes via programs that harness the power of the pharmacist-patient relationship.

Mirixa and the American Pharmacists Association (APhA) Foundation, the creator of the Diabetes Ten City Challenge and a partner in the Asheville Project®, will form a new partnership that will deliver all of APhA Foundation's HealthMapRx commercial programs via Mirixa. MirixaPro℠ will be the platform of choice for all existing and future APhA Foundation commercial programs delivered through pharmacies.

The WMACCA PR Initiative:

Each day, in-house counsel are on the front lines in managing and handling the issues and deals that are of the highest priority to the companies and organizations that employ them.  Sometimes, the matters that they handle are sensitive, and the goal is to avoid public scrutiny and media attention.  However, oftentimes the work they are doing is deserving of recognition and kudos - but we never hear about it.

WMACCA wants to change that state of affairs.  And we need your assistance.

We will act as a conduit to get information about developments of note to the local media (including The Legal Times, the Washington Business Journal, the Washington Post business section, Bisnow on Business, Metropolitan Corporate Counsel magazine, the Washington Lawyer, and others).  Each month, we will gather the submissions we receive (on or before the 15th of the month), and submit them to those media outlets.  The topics we are looking for include:

• Recent promotions, appointments, or honors of note.  These may include appointments or honors that you received in connection with an outside activity in which you are engaged (such as being named to the Board of Directors of a volunteer organization that you work with). 
  
• Important deals or matters for your organization - including M&A activity, IPOs or follow-on offerings, important contracts, prevailing in or settling a significant piece of litigation, etc.  Please provide all relevant details, including the names of those in-house counsel, and if appropriate outside counsel, involved in handling the matter.
  

We will send the write-ups we prepare to you for review and approval prior to submitting them to the news organizations.   

Please submit the information to Ilene G. Reid, WMACCA Executive Director, by clicking here.

Are you a good writer?  We also are looking to develop a pool of writers who would be willing to develop articles – on a substantive area of law, on a practice-management technique that has been particularly valuable, or any other subject that you want to share with your colleagues.  This is yet another way to demonstrate the expertise that in-house counsel have.  WMACCA members are encouraged to write for American Lawyer Media’s “Law.com” in-house counsel site and for the Legal Times’ monthly Corporate Counsel section. We can help you find a co-author, discuss topics, and provide other support.   If you are interested, please contact Adam Palmer, Law & Policy Counsel at Public Interest Registry, who is co-chairing the WMACCA public relations initiative:  703-464-7005 ext. 110  or by e-mail, or Ilene Reid, WMACCA Executive Director, at 301-881-3018 or by e-mail.  There also are several wonderful opportunities to share your insights via ACC resources.  The ACC Docket – the Association of Corporate Counsel’s top-notch journal – is always looking for contributors.  In addition, there are many opportunities to develop InfoPaks for your colleagues or submit forms for the Virtual Library.

Thank you, in advance, for your assistance with this important initiative.