2009 Annual Conference

Daniel Schenck - International Business Machines Corporation
Peter Roossien - Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
Gabe Shawn Varges - Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority
Kevin Doolan - Partner, Eversheds
Alain Comel - CFO International, Cardinal Health
Ian Hudson - President of Dupont EMEA

The economic crisis and subsequent slowdown is having repercussions on companies worldwide. Legal departments have been affected in different ways, depending on their sector, location, size, standing and the expectations of the “C-level”, whose expectations are changing both in reaction to the economic challenge but also to what governments and regulators are asking of them. The latter are also under pressure and are taking unprecedented actions in many areas. With contributions from senior executives as well as lawyers, this session will focus on different experiences and expectations during difficult economic times … and how we should prepare to come through them.

Deborah Rasin  - Samsonite Corporation
Nils Breidenstein – Invensys  Systems, Inc.
Carolyn Herzog  - Symantec Corporation

Value at risk, KPIs, above the line... More than ever, especially during stormy waters, in-house  counsel are challenged with communicating with their business partners, both internally and externally.

Speaking the right language and using good communications skills can help establish you as a trusted partner and give you the opportunity to make an impact on your business colleagues.  Failing to do this can render you all but irrelevant.

How do you ensure that you are not “divided by a common language”? Lawyers are increasingly expected to adjust language when providing advice to internal clients and getting not only their message across but also implementing solutions for the business by using increased competencies of soft skills. Hear from colleagues who have managed to speak and be understood.

Catherine Fox - ACC Europe Past President
Alexander Neumann - Sorin Deutschland GmbH
Günter Untucht - Trend Micro
Jeff Haidet - McKenna Long & Aldridge

In the notoriously difficult area of measuring in-house legal performance, customer satisfaction surveys provide one powerful tool to assess the performance and impact of the in-house legal team.

During troubled times, it is increasingly important for legal departments to be most efficient for the businesses they advise on.  One tool to seek feedback from the internal clients is to listen to them.  Using customers satisfaction surveys legal departments can ensure that they follow a systematic and consistent way of listening and seeking feedback from their internal customers to improve productivity, quality and other important parameters of service.  This session focuses on the important criteria for in-house lawyers: which typical questions to ask the internal partner, how to create such surveys and which issues to keep in mind to ensure high response rates with quality feedback.

Grainne Brankin - Yahoo! Sarl
Ruth Steinholtz - ACC Europe board member

“The most important thing in a crisis is communication.”  The reputation of companies and their management stands and falls with their ability to communicate well during a crisis.  This is as true for the outside public as with the company’s own employees.

Communicating news during a crisis has never been an easy task. External communication is often driven by several parameters outside the influence of a party or by legal requirements, e.g. stock listing rules for those companies who are publicly listed. What role do you as in-house counsel play in preparing and implementing a communication policy during a crisis? This session aims at addressing the issues at stake when lawyers advise on communication issues during crisis whether addressed to external audience such as shareholders or internal departments, functions or all employees.

Discuss with experienced counsel about the dos and don’ts of successful crisis communication.

Ann Rose Stouthuysen - Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Daniel Buehr - Schindler Management LTD
J.B. Simko – Philip Morris International Management S.A.
Jacques-Antoine Robert - Simmons & Simmons

The introduction of collective actions for damages, European class actions and other similar mechanisms present one of the most significant legal threats of our times. In some European countries this type of lawsuit is already a fact, whereas in others it is about to come. For some, the issue at stake is the company’s reputation and, perhaps, its ability to survive in the market.  This session will focus on class and collective actions, with a comparative perspective across Europe. Learn from experienced colleagues how to face the threats of a class action and to construct a robust defense for your company, while contributing to protecting its name and value.

Dr. Annette Schueller - Tetra Laval International S.A.
Caroline Ming - SGS Société Générale de Surveillance
Christoph Ramstein - Partner, Pestalozzi
Eric Biesel - Director, Arbitration and Mediation Department Legal Counsel, LL.M - Geneva Chamber of commerce, industry and services

ADR has gained widespread acceptance among the general public and the legal profession in recent years. The rising popularity of ADR can be explained by the increasing caseload of traditional courts, the costs of traditional litigation, a preference for confidentiality, and the desire of some parties to have greater control over the selection of those who will decide their dispute. But what is the most “appropriate” dispute resolution method for a given case? There is a debate among legal professionals about taking a systems approach to offer different options to companies that are in conflict.This session will focus on the cost/benefit approach of ADR and on lessons learned …

Pierre Bernard - Elia Group
Joren de Wachter - FRS Global
Charles Adams jr. - Hogan & Hartson
Fred Einbinder - Alstom S.A.

Operating efficiently by containing costs is imperative for any company: whether it is protecting IP or credit collection or safeguarding other assets, it is important to understand the best way of bringing or defending a lawsuit in European countries. How can a foreign company protect or enforce its rights in an effective way? Frequent legislative changes, different cultures, emerging economies and sometimes excessive protectionism are all risk factors to consider. Experienced outside counsel may help, but it is mainly for in-house counsel to protect the assets and the value of the company in difficult regions. Dealing with local distributors,  collecting debts and how do deal with applicable law, forum shopping and, more generally, appropriate litigation strategies are among the issues this session will address.

Workshops and Roundtable

Brian Craig - Lockheed Martin Corporation
Michael Nelson - Bank of New York Mellon
Marian Block - Lockheed Martin Corporation
Marco Boschetti - Towers Perrin

Moderator:
Ruth Steinholtz – ACC Europe board member

In-house lawyers should play an important role in crisis management.  Old-style counsel who appear risk averse and take a legalistic approach are frequently overlooked when the team is assembled or are relegated to dealing only with the "legal" issues.

Discover the skills required to be a valuable member of any crisis team.  Learn how to keep your head while those around you are losing theirs.  Can you manage the crises we present to you?  Come and find out.

Moderator:
David Lever & Team - Bi-Jingo!

During these engaging and interactive 60 minutes, attendees will gain a clear understanding of:

• How to get their presentation off to a good start
• How to handle questions
• How to get the best out of their voice
• How to physically engage with their audience

Moderator:
Michael Fadus - Schering-Plough Central East AG

Companies that maintain a constant dialogue with their regulators are better placed than companies who fail to communicate when times get tough.  Come and discuss with experienced counsel on how best to initiate communication with regulators and keep the dialogue going in order to safeguard your company’s interests.

Jim Jackson - Philip Morris International
Terry Miller - London Organising Committee for the 2012 Olympics
Anthony Wales - AOL International

Being proactive can help reduce the impact of potential liability or economic crisis and might stave off drastic consequences for your company. So how can you asses risk and adopt strategies to mitigate against it?  Given the recent experiences with a global recession, the panel will have a number of ideas to share with you.

Iohann Le Frapper - Alcatel Lucent
Dirk Tirez - Belgian Post
Nicole Cambre - Staples P.S.G.E. Bvba
Michael Burd - Partner, Lewis Silkin

In today’s world of cost cutting, downsizing and outsourcing are seen as the new panacea. This raises a number of questions you need to be prepared for when that call comes from your C-level or HR department:

What is the “right size” of your legal department?  Should you really downsize in difficult times or would you rather upsize?  Which functions do you require to control in-house and which can be better done outside?  How do you ensure services are available without fail and at the shortest possible notice?  Come for a discussion of the pros and cons of different structures of in-house legal services.

James Bellerjeau – Mettler-Toledo International, Inc.
Martine Petetin – British American Tobacco Plc
Gian Reto Schulthess – Adecco Management & Consulting S.A.

We all have more tasks on our lists than we can ever reasonably hope to do. How do we choose which to work on? How can you say “no” to less important tasks without disappointing clients? Managing the workload, picking the right things to work on, and avoiding burnout are critical skills to master for a successful in-house career. In this session, experienced counsel will share perspectives and best practices on being effective by achieving work-life balance while still delivering superior value to their companies over the long term. You can have your cake and eat it too!

Karin Schwab – eBay International AG
Ruth Steinholtz - ACC Europe board member
Orijit Das - Genpact
Monica Zocca - VF International

The double strain of more workload and fewer staff is trying for any in-house legal department. For a small law department, it is a constant fire-drill.

Come and discuss with fellow members of small law departments how to cope with the daily struggle to protect your company’s assets with very few staff, how to prioritize your manifold tasks and how best to integrate outside advisors to give the quality legal support that your company requires in difficult legal times.

Pam Huff - Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
Ben Babcock – Morgan Stanley

Your company has complex relationships with a number of global or regional key suppliers or customers.  What do you do when your key customer or supplier is falling insolvent in one or more countries? How do you ensure you protect your assets in the right places and through the right procedures? Find out about the pitfalls of cross-border insolvency proceedings and the latest changes in law and practice.

Eric Voinot - Former GC at GE Healthcare France and with IBM and Schlumberger
Gary Jones - Intel
Dr. Alexander Duisberg - Bird & Bird

Are your organisation's main assets safe? Do you know what assets your organisation has and where they are located?  How about intangible assets and data - are there no leaks in your data protection? This session will focus on strategies that companies have developed for the protection of tangible and intangible assets in these troubled times and analyse the merits of different protection measures.

Johannes Boner – Sappi Fine Paper Europe
Michael Nelson – Bank of New York Mellon

The scenario of a key supplier or customer going under is one of the scarier ones a company can encounter.  In times when banks may disappear from one day to the other taking all your company’s deposits with them and a global recession to boot, managing the risk of counterparties is more important than ever.  The panel will discuss examples of how companies are protecting their assets from the dire consequences of counterparty defaults and how in-house counsel can manage the situation.

Marco Kerschen - Polo Ralph Lauren Europe Sarl
Sally March - Nortel Networks
Paul Rew - Integrity Interactive
Dr Stefan Heissner - Ernst & Young

The compliance function is often in a Catch-22 situation between short term business interests and longer term corporate governance. The situation may be accentuated in difficult economical environment. This session will explore the increasing involvement of in-house counsel in compliance matters, either being responsible for compliance or interacting with compliance officers, dealing with internal pressures and their relevance in tough economic times.

Ulrich Eisenring - Amgen (Europe) GmbH
Patrick Buechi - Mettler Toledo International, Inc.

This session will address the growing interaction between in-house counsel and external auditors. It will outline the expectations from the external auditors, will cover how you can assist your finance team in dealing with  external auditors and will review experiences and observations of your in-house colleagues.

Daniel Buehr – Schindler  Management LTD
Gabriella Porcelli – Philip Morris Italia SRL
Tom McQuail - Partner - Howrey LLP

This session will explore aspects of competition law which must be considered in fast moving market environments or in the case of unforeseen events. It will focus on key issues caused by these developments and how companies can deal with them, including guidance on how to cope with the regulators.

Dr. Annette Schüller, Legal Director, Tetra Laval International (Chair)
Ulrich Eisenring, Senior Counsel, Amgen (Europe) GmbH
Mark Elborne, Vice President & General Counsel Europe, GE
Alexander Neumann, Vice President, Corporate Legal Affairs Cardiopulmonary & Intercontinental Business Unit and ROW Sorin Group Deutschland GmbH
Gabriella Porcelli, Senior Counsel, Philip Morris Italia SRL
Günter Untucht, Director of Legal, EMEA, Trend Micro