Washington (WA) Corporate Law CLE Course Catalog

In house counsel plays a crucial role in modern business operations, especially in uncertain times. When considering opportunities for mergers or acquisitions in this risky market, the GC should be ready to take the lead on strategy and planning in order for success. This session will teach you how to protect your company against potential risks involved in M&A.

It is proving to be a very unique time for businesses, as attention to ESG continues to become increasingly more significant. With circumstances that will impact the way leaders navigate forward, GCs are now expected to take the lead on ESG initiatives for their organizations. During this session, expert panelists will review how in-house counsel should be prepared to respond and take the lead on representing a company's values and priorities.

In this session, we will deep dive into the best negotiation strategies, how to effectively communicate your vision, and negotiate with the board.

Today's boards are holding the purse strings tighter than ever and every department is vying for money. With the predicted economic downturn approaching, legal departments need to make their requests stand out from the crowd in order to gain the budget to drive successful initiatives for the legal team.

Companies are increasingly initiating or defending concurrent lawsuits in foreign jurisdictions – each with its own opportunities and risks. Companies competing in the global economy should not ignore the global litigation landscape. Speakers will address opportunities and risks presented by various jurisdictions, and important strategic considerations in managing concurrent disputes throughout the world.

In the past few months, we have witnessed a sharp rise in litigation cases. Law firms are inundated with new cases and juggling these over a virtual platform for the first time. General Counsel and their litigation teams are also increasingly feeling the burden of these cases and must work closer than ever before with their law firms and partners to produce a successful outcome.

The pandemic has forced companies to deal with an abundance of contractual challenges across the supply chain and with vendors. With the challenges not likely to disappear for 2020, how can General Counsel successfully navigate these novel contractual issues from force majeure, public disclosure to global supply chain disruption. Collaboration with external advisors and partners will be key to securing successful outcomes, yet for many General Counsel reservations still stand with security fears ranking top of the list.

In today's world of social media, bad PR travels fast. To combat these situations, the best offense is often good defense. Legal teams, marketing and PR teams and firms must work in tandem to swiftly handle negative attacks against them. Industry leaders know that this requires a well-reasoned crisis management plan, and one that involves multiple key teams to be effective.

With M&A on the rise and cross-industry M&A becoming ever more common, nearly every legal department will be affected by it at some point. Identifying the intricacies of these situations is only the start. It is important to understand the precise impact these will have on the process and the risk they may pose later down the line.