Drum roll please...
The finalists for the 6th Annual Corporate Counsel Awards are:

Outstanding Chief Legal Officer:

• Scott D. Chaplin, former Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Stanley, Inc.
• Samuel A. Flax, Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer and Secretary, American Capital, Ltd.
• Bruce F. Metge, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Catalyst Health Solutions, Inc.
• Judith S. Sapir, General Counsel, Senior Vice President and Secretary, APCO Worldwide Inc.

Outstanding In-House Counsel:

• Michael F. Finn, Vice President and General Counsel, General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, Inc.
• Jonathan S. Isaac, Assistant General Counsel, QIAGEN
• Joshua J. Izenberg, Corporate Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Alion Science and Technology Corporation

Outstanding Law Department:

• The AES Corporation
• The George Washington University
• Network Solutions

Community Service Award:

• Robert E. Gans, Assistant General Counsel, CSC
• Sherry L. Rhodes, Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, Noblis, Inc.
• Karen C. Wishart, Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary, TV One, LLC

Congratulations to the finalists!  The winners will be announced at the Corporate Counsel Awards Reception on Thursday, October 14, starting at 6 p.m., at The Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner.  We hope you'll join the celebration. Registration opens next week.

Need intro-level CLE on major topics of today?  We'll fix you right up!

IN-HOUSE BOOT CAMP, Part II, will feature:

• Hot topics in government contracting.
• Current issues in global business compliance.
• A primer on managing litigation.

Three one-hour sessions, each providing 1.0 hours of MCLE credit.
For more details and registration, please click here...

Ready? Set? Go!
Once Labor Day has passed, you'll want to go back to school with WMACCA. Here are some highlights from our schedule for the next two months:

• ETHICS -- WMACCA will provide two opportunities for you to get 2.0 hours of ethics credits:
  
  
• JEOPARDY ETHICS - Tuesday, September 21 in RIchmond and by web seminar
  
  
• 2010 JUDICIAL PERSPECTIVES ON ETHICAL OBLIGATIONS REGARDING TECHNOLOGY, eDISCOVERY AND INFORMATION MANAGEMENT - Tuesday, October 19 in McLean, VA
  

• EMPLOYMENT LAW CONFERENCE -- September 30, 8 to 1:30 p.m. -- Our annual half-day conference, featuring tracks for those looking for basics and advanced-level topics, and a luncheon discussion about the Obama Administration's legislative and regulatory agenda in the employment and labor arena.  Up to 4.0 hours of MCLE credit anticipated.  Click here for a downloadable flier about the Conference.

Also -- SAVE THE DATE: Mini-Executive MBA -- October 7, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. -- Sessions on key business concepts and issues that in-house counsel need to understand to be successful members of the business team. Up to 5.5 hours of MCLE credit anticipated.

For the full line-up, click here a chronological list or click here for a calendar view.  Remember:  The Virginia Bar MCLE deadline is October 31.

When you begin to register for our upcoming programs, you will notice that our online registration has changed - we have gone back to Cvent as our provider for this service.  What does this change mean to you?

• Our home page now features a new icon (pictured here) that will take you to a CALENDAR VIEW of our schedule.  You'll have a month-at-a-glance picture of our schedule.  Each listing on that calendar links directly to the online registration for that program.
  
  
• Sign-ups no longer require you to log onto the system.  Whether you sign up via a listing on our web site or the calendar, or via an e-vite, you will simply need to provide or confirm your identity, then go through the registration process.
  
  
• While you will be able to register for only one program at a time, we have made it easy for you to "loop back" from the confirmation page to sign up for another program. Just look for the self-explanatory link at the top of the confirmation page.

We hope you will be pleased to be back with Cvent. If you have questions or other feedback, send us an e-mail at Programs@WMACCA.com.

Whether you want community service hours, a merit badge, or just to get your hands dirty for a good cause, you should plan to join the WMACCA "In-House... In the Community" team for our annual project at Great Falls Park in Virginia on Saturday, September 25, from 8:45 to 11:30 am. Bring friends, family (including kids) and colleagues. We'll provide breakfast, before you provide the energy and enthusiasm to improve this lovely park.  First-time volunteers also get a fabulous WMACCA T-shirt. Lots of fun, and great networking!  For more information and registration, click here...

The Washington Business Journal is seeking nominations for its seventh-annual Women Who Mean Business awards program. The award is designed to honor the region's most influential business women - women from every industry and profession who've made a difference in their communities, blazed a trail, and are leaving a mark on the Washington-area community. Nominees must be female residents of the Washington area who are employed in the region. Nominations will be judged on three criteria: Professional accomplishments, community leadership, as well as awards and milestones. Self-nominations are welcome.The deadline for submitting nominations is September 10.  For more information on the awards criteria or to submit a nomination, please visit http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/nomination/3381

DC Bar Committees:  The D.C. Bar Board of Governors is seeking candidates for appointment in the fall to 10 of the Bar’s standing committees, and to the Board of Directors of the Neighborhood Legal Services Program. Materials must be received by September 3.  For further details, please visit http://www.dcbar.org/inside_the_bar/bar_news/shell.cfm?filename=committee_vacancies&emc=lm&m=139220&l=9&v=27463733

Virginia State Bar Boards:  The Virginia State Bar is seeking nominees for vacancies in the following roles for terms that would start on July 1, 2011:  Council Members at Large; Disciplinary Board; Mandatory Continuing Legal Education Board.  (In particular, we would note the MCLE Board, on which WMACCA member Craig Dixon has served for the past three years.) Nominations must be received by September 7.  For further details, please visit http://www.vsb.org/site/news/item/nominations-discip-mcle-council-2010/

DC Volunteer Elections Monitors:  The D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics is seeking attorneys interested in serving as volunteer election monitors during the District of Columbia primary election on Tuesday, September 14, 2010 and general election on Tuesday, November 2, 2010. Election monitors are given the task of assisting Precinct Captains with legal concerns on Election Day, such as completion of Election Day registration forms and adequate demonstration of proof of residence; maintenance of proper procedures during challenges to voter qualifications; and detection of electioneering and election fraud.  Training will be provided prior to the start of the early voting period.  For more information or to sign-up, please contact Renee Christensen by email at rchristensen@dcboee.org or by phone at 202-727-2897.

The ACC Value Index now has 2,800 evaluations of more than 850 law firms. With new evaluations added every day, the ACC Value Index is becoming an indispensable tool for finding law firms to meet your particular needs.

You can help make the ACC Value Index an even more robust and dynamic resource for the entire ACC membership community by submitting evaluations of your outside counsel to the database. As an incentive to participate, here's an offer you may not want to refuse:

• For every two reviews submitted online between now and September 30th, you will receive a $5 Starbucks Card as a token of ACC's appreciation. The more you evaluate, the more you earn. Log-in to http://www.acc.com/valuechallenge/valueindex to contribute your evaluations.
• At each live meeting, WMACCA will have available hard-copy review forms.  We'll reward you with a treat or a $10 Starbucks Card for reviews you complete at our programs.