Washington Compliance Bundle 051322

With the legal challenges seeming to grow by the week, we take a look at what you need to have on your radar; the protections you need in place today; best practices for responding to these employment issues, and what we can learn for future scenarios.

It is inevitable that we must face change at some point. At times, we can predict the changes ahead, but it is not always possible to see what lies just beyond the horizon. Embedding agility and resilience within your legal operations team and wider legal department can be thus crucial to responding to these unforeseen challenges with a well-orchestrated plan. Building strong relationships with external partners, including law firms, ALSPs and LPOs, can be further important to deliver a well-executed plan that effectively navigates unforeseen change on a global scale.

No one could have anticipated that 2020 would be the year that the legal profession went virtual. In 2019, we talked as it this was 10 years away. Today, legal departments, law firms and courts all across the world have embraced and implemented these technologies and new working practices. This transformative shift for the legal profession has brought new opportunities and risks for General Counsel. The imposing risks have been quick to appear, but understanding the opportunities has been much more clouded. In this new digital age, how can you managing a remote workforce, continuing to drive productivity and inclusivity, over these new digital platforms?

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.

Hackers love exploiting weakness. As data breaches increase in frequency and size, corporate legal departments must be armed and ready to proactively tackle these crises and reduce risk and damage to the company.

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.

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.