Committee on Corporate Counsel

Mission

This committee focuses on solutions to corporate law and practice issues through dialogue between inside and outside counsel representing corporations. Its membership is balanced between inside and outside counsel. It has led the profession in focusing on methods of controlling the cost of corporate litigation through the study of innovative billing and budgeting techniques, imaginative litigation management methods and alternatives to litigation.

It is also focusing on corporate compliance and preventative law and a variety of substantive topics of interest to its members. The committee sponsors an annual three-day mid-year meeting on President's weekend, a series of regional workshops, and presents other CLE programs. The committee has also published The Corporate Litigator (1989), is now working on its second edition, and publishes a regular newsletter with timely articles and law surveys.

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Announcements

2013 CLE Seminar Program Proposal Deadline

It is time to start planning for the 2013 ABA Section of Litigation Committee on Corporate Counsel CLE Seminar, which will be held at The Westin Diplomat in Hollywood, Florida February 14–17, 2013. We are currently accepting program proposals for the seminar and welcome your submissions. Program proposal forms should be completely filled out with detailed speaker information. Proposals with missing information will not be considered. Please complete and remit the proposal form to Stephen C. Norman and Maria Gamboa. The deadline for submissions is Tuesday, June 4, 2012

2013 Corporate Counsel CLE Seminar

The 2013 Corporate Counsel CLE Seminar will take place February 14–17, 2013, at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood (Ft. Lauderdale), Florida.

Program Proposal, Development, and Selection

The opportunity to participate in timely, substantive programs is a key benefit of our committee, the Section of Litigation, and the ABA as a whole. Throughout the year, programs are offered nationally, regionally, and online and via webinars. The majority of the programs offer CLE credits while some are free. Opportunities to propose and produce programs are constant; deadlines, limitations, and expectations vary.

Are you interested in proposing and producing a program for our committee? Below are tips to navigate the process.

It starts with an idea. The idea must be timely and defined by content and should emphasize practical nuts and bolts or similar information that attendees can utilize and value in their practice. Propose a program idea by filling out a form and submitting it to the cochairs. Timing of the proposal often dictates venue. Annual national events require programs to be proposed at least 10 months ahead of time. For instance, February’s Corporate Counsel CLE deadline was last April; the deadline for April’s Section Annual Conference was last June. Regional programs have more flexibility and usually have a four-month lead time requirement. Online and webinar programs are based on the Section’s calendar and usually require a three to four month lead time.

Applications are specific to the venue. Nevertheless, all proposals must have a title, description, speaker names, and commitment to providing written material. The committee and the ABA are committed to diversity—as to both ethnicity and viewpoints. You should be mindful of the importance of a balanced presentation that covers all points of view associated with an issue. For instance, for a recent program on insurance coverage, we had speakers from the perspectives of the insurer and insured. Speaker diversity is not negotiable; generally, speakers from the same firm would not be approved. Regional programs also require a budget, approved sponsorship, and marketing plans.

Throughout the review and approval process, proposals are often redesigned, combined, and repackaged for other venues. Often, similar programs are proposed by several groups. It is the committee’s responsibility to consider the proposals in the context of the bigger picture. We will try to keep the proposer involved, but we cannot guarantee the same level of responsibility.

Before a program and any speaker is approved, no commitments can be made. Review and approval by committee leadership occurs first. The Section then undergoes a review and approval process. Only when both the committee and the Section approve the program can steps be taken to invite the speakers, develop the written material, and plan the event.

It always starts with an idea. What ideas do you have? Let us know.

Message from the Chairs

Welcome to the Committee on Corporate Counsel’s webpage. Our committee is made up of both in-house and outside counsel, and our focus is on the unique needs of these lawyers who represent corporations. The committee’s mission is to keep our members abreast of the changes in law and regulations and trends that affect our in-house clients, to provide a forum where in-house and outside lawyers can have an open dialogue that results in best practices for litigation management, and to lead the profession in finding solutions to various professional issues. The committee has been active for almost 30 years and is unique in that it provides a forum where these issues and potential solutions can be discussed candidly among in-house and outside counsel.

To that end, the committee puts on an annual CLE seminar in February where we present two very exciting programs: the General Counsel Forum and the Litigation Roundtable. At the General Counsel Forum, general counsel share issues and concerns, explore innovative methods for controlling costs and risks, and discuss what they expect (but sometimes do not get) from their outside lawyers. The Litigation Roundtable provides an opportunity for in-house and outside lawyers to interact and brainstorm about best practices and how they can best work together. These two programs are just a part of the Corporate Counsel CLE Seminar, which also includes our annual Pro Bono Award, in which we recognize a corporate legal department that has done great work in the pro bono arena. Materials from the 2011 seminar have been posted under the Program & Materials section of this website. Our 2012 seminar is planned for February 16–19, at the Park Hyatt Aviara, so mark your calendar now! As more information becomes available about the 2012 seminar, we’ll post in on this website.

Members can also become active in our committee by participating in one of our subcommittees and the many projects we have in the works. One of the easiest and most fulfilling ways to get started is to submit content for our newsletter or website. We also have subcommittees in the following areas: ADR/Settlement, Billing and Budgeting, Complex Toxic Torts, Corporate Governance, Insurance Coverage, Intellectual Property, Labor and Employment, Legal Ethics, Litigation Management, Litigation Technology, Pro Bono, and Special Programming. If you are interested in joining any of our subcommittees or submitting program proposals, newsletter articles, or website content, or if you have ideas on ways we can meet your needs, please contact any of the committee cochairs.

We look forward to meeting you, hearing from you, and actively addressing your professional needs and the needs of your in-house clients.

—Cathleen M. Devlin, Rich Horwitz, and Countess Price
Committee on Corporate Counsel cochairs