Thursday and Friday: Business Law Institute and Business Law and International Law & Practice Annual Meetings

Need CLE? The Business Law Institute and the Business Law & International Law & Practice Annual Meetings will be held on Thursday, Feb. 14 and Friday, Feb. 15.

Find details and registration for the Business Law Institute here and and the Business Law & International Law & Practice CLE here.

Thursday, Feb. 14: Business Law Institute

Focus on emerging business technologies, ESOPs, insurance provisions and issues, and indemnification issues  

Don Reynolds, Andrew Steffensen and Jim Verdonik bring their expertise to the topics of securities, blockchain and cryptocurrencies.  Don will review the basic tenets and structure of U.S. securities law, and provide an update on recent developments in the field, including public companies’ use of block trades to efficiently access the capital markets, and the applications of blockchain technologies to securities law and vice versa (e.g. initial coin offerings or ICOs).  Andrew and Jim will follow with an introduction to blockchain technologies and cryptocurrencies, discussing how these emerging technologies may impact a variety of business transactions in an increasingly digital world.

Adam Doerr will address how to address issues that arise when companies indemnify and advance expenses to officers, directors, and LLC members and managers to protect company representatives and recruit talent. He will highlight the unintended consequences of indemnification and advancement for transactions, breaches of fiduciary duty, and mismanagement or fraud.

Fred Kaseff, David Shuford and John Solimine will introduce you to key ESOP business, regulatory and financial considerations, as well as the pluses and minuses of an ESOP as a strategic alternative for your clients.  ESOPs can be a tax-favored way for a business owner to take money out of the business, to transition ownership, and to incentivize employee and management performance, all while preserving a meaningful voice in the company’s governance and should be a tool with which all of us are familiar.

Larry Bowen will shine a light on the insurance provisions in commercial contracts and other transactions, typical coverages and endorsements that should be considered when negotiating commercial contracts.  These provisions are often overlooked or misunderstood, leaving the possibility of unmanaged and unlimited risk. He will also reviews other exposures and insurance considerations arising in the M&A context and discuss the pros and cons, as well as the mechanics, of captive insurance companies.

Sponsors for the Business Law Institute are US Bank and High Rock Partners.  We extend our thanks to both of them for their sponsorship. 

Friday, Feb. 15 – Business Law & International Law & Practice Annual Meeting

Focus on business law updates and changes to the Business Corporations Act, international dispute resolution, the effects of GDPR, partnerships between inside and outside counsel, and choice of entity.  As always, ethics and substance abuse/mental health will be covered as well. 

Tom Molony will be back with his excellent update of recent developments (and hopefully his jar of M&Ms).

Dave Clement will provide us with a review of the key topics of the new Session Law 2018-45, including changes that affect boards of directors and officers, voting trusts, shareholder agreements, mergers that follow tender offers, appraisal rights, short-form mergers into non-corporate parent entities, and a new statutory ratification procedure for defective  actions or share issuances.

John Branson and Kurt Lindquist will present the available methodologies, benefits, disadvantages and alternatives in the resolution of international disputes.

Ben Baldwin moderates a panel of four in-house counsel, Nicole Blacksburg of Qualys Inc., Benjamin Edwards of Lincoln Financial Group, Jason Idilbi of Passport Labs Inc., and Clayton Morgan of Duke Energy Corporation, to discuss expectations for outside counsel, including tips for how to meet and exceed those expectations.

The EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a hot topic, having ushered in a sweeping set of privacy regulations whose impacts stretch far beyond Europe’s borders. From this panel of David Delaney, Jay Exum, Jr.,  and Alexander Pearce, and moderated by Joseph E. Kennedy, we will learn about key considerations for U.S. companies and their counsel trying to make sense of these regulations.

Adam Tarleton will  discuss the impact of the 2017 tax law on business structure and entity choice decisions.

Caroline Hubbell Yingling will highlight ethical questions that can arise in business law practice and impact your firm’s risk management and professional liability profile and Nicole Ellington and Camille Stell will review the ABA/Hazeldon Foundation study, discuss how to identify colleagues at risk and how to help colleagues in need.

Sponsors for the Annual Meetings are Bernard Robinson & Company, Brown Advisory, and Davis Forensic Services, LLC.  We extend our thanks to each of them for their sponsorship. 

Many thanks to the Panning Committees for planning these excellent program and to all of the speakers for their time and willingness to provide us with this valuable information.