The Corporate Counsel Committee of the American Bar Association’s Business Law Section is presenting a CLE program at the Business Law Section’s Annual Meeting. The program is co-sponsored by 42 additional committees of the Business Law Section. The program is entitled “How Inside and Outside Corporate Counsel Can Work Together to Maximize the Value of Corporate Legal Services” and it is scheduled for Friday, September 12, 2014 from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency Chicago, 151 East Wacker Drive, in Chicago.
At the program, twelve general counsel of major corporations will provide practical advice and strategies. This program is designed to help business lawyers do their jobs better and faster. The program will focus on improving the quality and maximizing the value of legal services for corporate clients. The panelists will engage in a candid discussion about how law firms and in-house counsel can enhance their corporate clients’ bottom line while building strong client relationships. The program will identify significant challenges which delivery of corporate legal services presents and will show business lawyers how to select and implement value-maximizing strategies that address those challenges as effectively as possible. The format for the program will be two 60-minute interactive panel discussions in which the panelists will respond to questions from the moderator. This format is intended to encourage a lively give and take among the panelists, the moderator, and the audience.
The chair of this program is Robert L. Haig of Kelley Drye & Warren LLP in New York. The panelists include the following general counsel of major corporations: Douglas C. Barnard, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, CF Industries Holdings, Inc.; Robert E. Bostrom, Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, Abercrombie & Fitch; Ivonne M. Cabrera, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Dover Corporation; Jodi J. Caro, Vice President and General Counsel, Integrys Energy Group, Inc.; Christine M. Castellano, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Ingredion Incorporated; Kathryn McNamara Corley, Executive Vice President and General Counsel, Discovery Financial Services; Deborah A. Golden, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary, GATX Corporation,; Maria C. Green, Senior Vice President and General Counsel Illinois Tools Works Inc.; Carrie J. Hightman, Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer, NiSource Inc.; John L. Howard, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, W.W. Grainger, Inc.; Jeffrey W. Jackson, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, State Farm Insurance Cos.; and Kenton R. Rose, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Beam Inc.
The first session of this program is on “Managing and Controlling Cost.” This session will focus on how in-house and outside counsel can assist their corporate client in managing and staffing legal matters cost-effectively. Topics will include pricing trends within the legal profession that have been adopted by in-house and outside counsel, such as alternative fee arrangements, preferred firm/value-based billing arrangements, and realistic budgeting. Other topics will include staffing, bundling and unbundling of professional services and expenses, planning (including case investigation and assessment), use of technology, quality management, and benchmarking and evaluation of law firm performance.
The second session of this program is on “Minimizing Risk, Liability, and Harm.” This session will focus on how in-house and outside counsel can assist their corporate client in minimizing financial liability, regulatory risk, and reputational harm arising from legal matters. Topics will include litigation avoidance and prevention, improving litigation results, minimizing damages and exposure to other remedies, settlement and ADR strategies, dealing with regulators and law enforcement entities, controlling litigation’s disruption of a corporation’s regular business activities, compliance issues, crisis management, and media relations.