Across the United States, health care organizations today must confront a varied menu of laws, rules and regulations that now include multiple legal requirements to retain documents. There are currently over ten thousand federal, state and local laws and regulations addressing the manner in which records must be stored, accessed, maintained and retained.  This new regulatory standard, coupled with the constant threat of audits and the increased use of e-discovery, places each organization at risk if a well-designed and effective document retention and destruction policy and protocol are not active and in place.  This ALFA International Health Care Practice Group tele-seminar discussed many of the critical issues concerning the development and implementation of document retention with an eye towards the legal guidelines. 

Your role today, as in-house corporate counsel leaders within American business, is very different then the role of this position ten years ago.  The demands, legal and business, pull you in many and at times conflicting directions.  Part and parcel of the day to day demands of your position and that of your department is a focus upon ongoing communication and information sharing.  How much is enough and how much might be too much and un-necessary?  Who should be receiving what information and who should be in communication with you and your office with necessary information?  Is there an information protocol and process in place that includes the legal department? What form does the information flow take and what is your company’s highlighted protocol for crisis communications?  This first time ACC Chicago Chapter tele-seminar focused on the “best-practices” and strategies of business communication for in house counsel and their legal departments.  The information presented will assist you in keeping the communications channels open in an effective and efficient manner.

Bankruptcy law remains a mystery wrapped in an enigma to many lawyers, even experienced corporate counsel. As the economic climate becomes more challenging and bankruptcies (corporate and personal) continue to increase at an alarming rate, more in-house lawyers have been forced to confront bankruptcy-related issues. For many, the mystery of bankruptcy law will need to be solved.  The ALFA International Bankruptcy Law Practice Group created this bankruptcy primer program for the general practitioner and new bankruptcy lawyer. Four key “bedrock” issues were discussed and analyzed by experienced ALFA International bankruptcy lawyers. There were: (1) Do I Really have to Give the Money Back? (2) Priority Claims and Reclamation in Bankruptcy Cases (3) Dischargeability: Not Evey Claim Dies in Bankruptcy and (4) Issues and Trends in Retailer Bankruptcies.

The increasing complexity of corporate structures, regulations, and multi-party litigation often produces results which are unexpected or counterintuitive in the application of the attorney-client privilege.  The legal landscape has become even murkier as the work product doctrine continues to evolve with distinctions between fact and opinion work product.  This tele-seminar approached these problems with a view toward increasing the awareness of the inherent limitations in the once broad protection provided by the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.  

This tele-seminar focuses on: Recognizing the unique roles of patents, trademarks & copyrights, protecting confidential information and trade secrets, and assessing the cost / benefit of enforcement.