8:00-8:45am Registration and breakfast
8:45-10:00am Plenary
Managing risk and exercising leadership – today’s general counsel
There continues to be much discussion about the role of the general counsel. The role is surely to mastermind the non-financial risk management strategy and, with backing from the board, to implement it by helping the operational functions to adopt legally sound management systems.The members of our panel give their perspectives.
Speakers:
Dick Thurston, Senior Vice President and General Counsel, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company
Tony Wales, Director of Legal Affairs, The British Standards Institution (BSI Group)
Catherine Muldoon, Chief Legal Officer, BDP International
Michael Yap, Chief Legal Officer, International Investments, Prudential Financial
Joesph Armbrust, Senior Counsel, Sidley Austin
10:00-10:15am Coffee
10:15-11:15am Breakouts
Anti-bribery and corruption strategies
Anti-bribery and corruption continues to be one of the top areas of concern for all companies doing business internationally. What are counsel doing to try to bring best practice to their organisations?
Speakers:
Rich Donoghue, Chief Counsel, CA Technologies
Kristin Graham Koehler, Partner, Sidley Austin
Rodrigo Montemayor Villarreal, Regional General Counsel and Government Affairs Director for Latin America, Owens Corning
Gary Giampetruzzi, Assistant General Counsel and Chied of Government Investigations, Pfizer
Finding and managing external counsel internationally
Hear strategies from senior counsel at major corporations as they work to find the right counsel at the right price.
Speakers:
Elizabeth Duffy, Vice President, Acritas US Inc
Andrew Fleming, Senior Partner, Norton Rose Fulbright
Julie Jacobs, Executive Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary, AOL
John Blood, Vice President Legal, Commercial and M&A, Anheuser-Busch InBev
11:15-11:45am Coffee
11:45-1:00pm Plenary
Optimal structures for managing legal and compliance
Following on from the opening plenary looking at risk and the role of the general counsel, this session will examine structures for running legal and compliance at multinationals. Our panellists will share their experiences and how their organisations approach the issue.
Speakers:
Leigh Dance, President, ELD International
Adam Smith, Group General Counsel, DCNS
Michael Hughes, Head of Compliance, Regulatory and Ethics, Accenture
Hussein Akeil, Group Chief Legal Counsel, National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia
Martha Rees, Vice President and Assistant General Counsel, DuPont, USA
1:00-2:00pm Networking lunch (sponsored by Lex Mundi)
2:00-3:30pm Plenary
Investing in new markets – key considerations
The panel of experts representing six major jurisdictions at this town-hall session will provide practical advice on doing business in those jurisdictions.
This session will build a checklist for counsel to consider when making a country entry, while providing specific advice on doing business in Brazil, China and South Africa and on investing in emerging markets via the Netherlands. It will cover issues from diligence and foreign direct investment rules to cash repatriation and exiting if things go wrong. The panel will also answer your questions.
Speakers:
Audrey Chen, Partner, Jun He, Lex Mundi member firm for China
Adriana Daiuto, Partner, Demarest Advogados, Lex Mundi member firm for Brazil
Jonathan Maphosa, Assistant General Counsel, Reserve Bank of South Africa and Corporate Lawyers Association of South Africa Board Member
Peter Rees, Legal Director, Royal Dutch Shell
Helena Sprenger, Partner, Houthoff Buruma, Lex Mundi member firm for The Netherlands
3:30-4.00pm Coffee
4:00-5:00pm Breakouts
D&O insurance in pre-suit investigations
In today’s legal climate, corporate acts are under close scrutiny by the Department of Justice, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the UK Serious Fraud Office and other agencies. Government investigations - actual or threatened - do not necessarily result in litigation, but pre-litigation legal expenses can be substantial. This session will discuss whether and to what extent directors’ and officers’ liability insurance may serve, in the netherworld of pre-suit investigations, to protect the board of directors and the corporation itself.
Speakers:
Edward M Joyce, Partner, Jones Day
Employment
An interactive discussion on the pros and cons of trying to standardise employment contracts and separation agreements internationally, examining issues such as restrictive covenants, confidentiality clauses and acceptance of a code of conduct.
Speakers:
John Sander, Partner, Jackson Lewis
Neil S Rosolinsky, Managing Director and Head of Employment Law and Employee Relations, Americas,The Royal Bank of Scotland
Intellectual property
An opportunity to exchange views with peers on strategies for managing IP rights internationally. What are the latest trends?
Speakers:
Pedro Vale Gonçalves, Director, Legal Affairs, Pfizer
Kevin Kramer, VP and Deputy General Counsel for IP, Yahoo!
M&A
An interactive, in-house counsel-led discussion on managing successful cross-border transactions, from due diligence to cash repatriation.
Speakers:
Anton Steiger, Chief Counsel Corporate and M&A, Siemens
David Wolfson, Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
Mark Mandel, Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy
7:00pm till late - Gala dinner, Cipriani 42nd Street
To view the full 2012 Global Counsel Congress programme click here