What Do Lawyers and In-House Counsel Really Think About Litigation Finance?
Litigation finance—when investors back pending legal cases in exchange for a cut of the proceeds—continues to gain traction here in the U.S. despite lingering concerns that the practice may violate historic prohibitions on third-party funding of lawsuits, as WSJ reported on Monday. How much traction, you ask? That’s hard to say. With a few prominent exceptions, such arrangements don’t typically come to light unless the parties end up squabbling in court, although funders and lawyers anecdotally report more cases coming their way. [Read more…]Five Rules For General Counsel In The Digital Age: Risks Abound, But So Do Opportunities
When most corporate general counsels look at that the world of digital and social media, they see a landscape rife with risk. The potential for an ill-advised employee tweet or Facebook post is always lurking. Online venues have provided plaintiffs’ attorneys and activists with megaphones that amplify their messages. When crisis strikes, the speed with which the public narrative develops and is disseminated is nearly impossible for all but the most prescient companies to match. But while the Digital Age has certainly introduced an intensified era of legal and reputational liability, it has also provided GCs with tools that, if effectively leveraged, take crisis preparedness and risk management to new and unprecedented levels. When they know where to look, who to watch, and – most important – how to partner with others in the organization who understand the digital space best, GCs can provide themselves with a wealth of intelligence that enables them to prepare for every anticipated contingency. [Read more…]20 keys to understanding and establishing communications protocols for risk assessments
Proactive risk assessment can be a powerful tool for an organization seeking to avoid a litigation or regulatory “event.” Failure of the organization to accurately anticipate risk can have serious consequences, including a damaged brand, excessive legal fees and a transformed organizational focus away from generating revenue to responding to discovery or regulatory inquiries. There are a number of concerns that are often raised as organizations consider conducting a risk assessment. The question for management, in most instances, is whether a risk assessment uncovers information or facts that, once discovered, could potentially be discoverable and damaging — and very costly to address. [Read more…]Get the GC Plugged In to Cybersecurity
As more countries try to create rules to deal with cybersecurity and data privacy, general counsel need to become more engaged participants in the conversation, said Kaye Scholer partner Adam Golodner, because those rules will affect future business. Recent incidents, including the massive hacking of data by a Russian gang revealed last week and the theft of customer financial data from Target Corp. in December, only accelerate the process. So GCs should “engage in those discussions now,” Golodner told CorpCounsel.com this week. Golodner boasts a background in law enforcement and cybersecurity issues. Before joining Kaye Scholer, where he heads the global cybersecurity and privacy group, he served as director of global security and technology policy at Cisco Systems Inc.; associate director for policy of the Institute for Security, Technology and Society at Dartmouth College; chief of staff of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division; and deputy administrator of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. [Read more…]Two thirds of in-house teams expect to grow
A survey of in-house legal teams in the EMEA region shows that 65 per cent expect to increase their numbers over the next two years and none are expecting to decline. Research by legal recruiter Laurence Simons in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region (EMEA) has found that in-house teams have risen by 60 per cent in terms of numbers employed since 2010. Over 25 per cent have already taken on more staff in the first part of 2014 whilst one in three have increased their department size with the average size of a department standing at 16 lawyers. [Read more…]Industry News
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When: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 to Thursday, September 18, 2014
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