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In this Issue:
Chapter News:
- President's Message
- 2017-2018 Board of Directors
- Now Available! 2018 CLE Pass (see coupon below)
Sponsor Articles:
Update: Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards - a partnership with The Texas Lawbook and the DFW Chapter
Spotlight: The Impact of Membership Growth
Upcoming Events: Mark Your Calendars!
- Last CLE of 2017
- Tuesday, Dec. 5 - Lunch CLE (Chamberlain's Steak House)
- Social events:
- Annual Holiday Party - Dec. 14 at Mudhen Meat & Greens
- 2018 Premier Event Dates
- Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards
January 25 - Bush Institute
- CLO Forum
February 22 - Four Seasons Hotel & Club
- Annual Casino Party
April 21 - TBA
- Annual In-House Symposium
April 27 - Westin Galleria
- Annual Meeting, Ethics CLE & Golf/Spa Event
September 21 - Four Seasons Hotel & Club
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President's Message
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by David Kilpatrick President 2017-2018 |
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Happy Holidays everyone! The end of 2017 is fast approaching, but what a great year it has been for your ACC DFW Chapter. As I welcome you to our 2017 Fall Newsletter (and with Thanksgiving still fresh in our thoughts) I want to express my gratitude for all the support this organization has received throughout the year from our members, sponsors, and my fellow ACC Officers and board members. While we welcome our newest board members
Arash Mostafavipour and David Gonzales, I especially want to thank our Past President Tara Weilbacher and board member Kenny Johnson, who is rolling off the Board this year, for their service. Both Tara and Kenny (who is also a Past President) have been distinguished members of the ACC Board for many years and have selflessly devoted hundreds of hours to ensure that our ACC members are receiving the most out of their membership.
It is an honor and privilege to serve you as President, and I look forward to building upon my predecessors past successes, continuing to nurture the chapter's phenomenal growth, while maintaining the quality programming our members have come to expect. Originally my participation in ACC was intended to be a social outlet but it has morphed into so much more and given me much in return. Relocating to Texas from my native Iowa (Go Hawks!) some 12 years ago to work with a company that derived 80% of its sales from the international markets, I had little interaction or connection to the DFW legal community. While in Iowa, working for the Lonely Repairman, a/k/a the Maytag Corporation, I was afforded the opportunity to attend several National ACC Annual Meetings. Knowing the quality of these events, led me to attending some of the DFW Chapter events as I attempted to connect to our legal community. From there things obviously got out-of-control as I became a board member and officer for the Chapter, and l now find myself trying to figure out how we are going surpass all the wonderful things that have been accomplished the past several years.
Before we get to 2018, let's look back at 2017. I believe this Chapter and your Board delivered tremendous value for that annual ACC membership fee. We are excited that each year this Chapter has continued to grow now currently have over 900 members representing over 400 different companies in the DFW area. Last year we had over 40 different events, and if you had attended all the
CLE's you would have accumulated over 22 hours, a third of which were ethics. At the
CLO Forum, you received CLE credit while learning how to be a better negotiator from a nationally known speaker and some of the areas more prominent GC's. At the
Spring Symposium you could have earned 6 plus hours, with a subject choice between litigation or transactional for each hour, and a nice cocktail reception to end the day. If you attended the DFW
Chapter Annual Meeting, (a/k/a "Golf/Spa") you would have received two hours of ethics and a whole afternoon of fun at the Four Sessions Resort. Don't need CLE, you could have danced and gambled the night away in a formal setting at the
Spring Casino Party, caught the second installment of Guardians of the Galaxy at
Movie Night, attended a
Ranger's game in the shade of Ebbets Suite or bet the race horses at the
Lone Star Park. For our families, we had an afternoon at
CooCoo's and fed the giraffes at the
Dallas Zoo. For your
professional development, you learned about salary negotiation tips and received free headshots, and in the
diversity realm, you received instruction on how respectfully navigate the many different generations (Baby Boomer, GenX, Millennials) in the workplace. And if you were interested in
community service or pro bono, we had you covered there too with multiple events throughout the year including the Veteran's Legal Clinics in both Dallas and Fort Worth as well as providing job workshops to the women at Mosaic Family Services. All in all, it was a busy and productive year, and we aren't done yet. We will close out the year with one more December CLE along with our holiday bash on December 14th.
Looking ahead to 2018, your board is focused on the continued delivery of value focusing on top-tier programming and events, looking for ways to help advance your career and improve your job performance, and providing opportunities to participate in community service or supporting diversity within our profession. To this end, we will be increasing the number of CLE events that we offer. The Board has always focused on quality, but with the increased number of members, we also feel that the quantity of offerings must increase to accommodate the demand. We will explore webcast events and practice group specific programs while we continue to expand our venue locations throughout the metroplex. New programming will include a Women's Leadership Initiative and plans for a Mini-MBA course for the fall. Finally, in October 2018 the National ACC Annual Meeting will be in Austin. If you have never been to an Annual Meeting, I would encourage you to put this on your calendar. Your DFW Chapter, along with all the other Texas Chapters will be helping to sponsor an evening event, and like all things in Texas, it will be big.
I would like to end by encouraging anyone who wants to be a part of the planning process or be involved with one of the many event committees to reach out to me, our Executive Director, Susan Harvey, or any of the other Board members. The same goes for an ideas, comments, or concerns. We appreciate the feedback and will definitely listen to what you have to say.
Once again, thank you for your membership in the ACC DFW and I look forward to seeing all of you in the coming year.
Best Regards
David
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Newly Elected 2017-2018 Board of Directors*
President
David Kilpatrick
EnvironX Solutions
1st Vice President
Scott A. Young
Toyota Motor North America
2nd Vice President
Shanna Whitley
RMG Networks
Secretary
Debera Hepburn
Goldman Sachs & Co.
Treasurer
Derek Lipscombe
Toyota Motor North America
Immediate Past President
Tara Weilbacher
Bank of America
David Gonzales**
Supermercado El Rancho
Peggy Heller
American Heart Association
Lauren Medoff
Advocare International, LP
Arash Mostafavipour**
Xome
Michelle Peak
American Airlines, Inc.
Navin Rao
The Michaels Store, Inc.
Terri Reynolds
Lightstone Group
Rudy Rodriguez
CEC Entertainment, Inc.
Michael Todd
Zoes Kitchen, Inc.
Director Emeritus
Todd Bowers
Lockheed Martin Corporation
Kelly Turner
Goldman Sachs & Co.
*The election was held at the Annual Chapter Meeting, Ethics CLE and Golf/Spa Event on September 22, 2017.
**First year of service
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Introducing the New & Improved Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards
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By Mark Curriden |
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Mark your calendar: Thursday, Jan. 25.
That is the day that the ACC-DFW Chapter and The Texas Lawbook host the Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards at the George W. Bush Institute honoring the great achievements of corporate legal departments in North Texas.
More than 70 different businesses and law firms submitted 95 nominations for the 14 categories. More than half of the submissions came from ACC members.
To say that we are excited about this first year partnership between The Texas Lawbook and the DFW Chapter of ACC would be an understatement. Together, the leadership of the ACC and The Lawbook have made some significant changes that we believe tremendously enhance the annual awards event.
Our goal is to identify and celebrate the great legal work being done by the corporate in-house legal community in Dallas-Fort Worth.
For example:
The date of the Outstanding Corporate Counsel Awards was moved back four months - from October to January - to make the event a truly annual recognition of the tremendous legal accomplishments achieved in 2017.
Two of the categories - M&A Deal of the Year and Business Litigation of the Year - were expanded to recognize the corporate legal departments and the outside counsel involved. Most legal work is a team effort that includes both in-house counsel and the outside lawyers they hire. Our desire is to honor the efforts of both.
The number of judges evaluating the nominations was expanded from three to 20. The goal is to make sure that the judges are not overburdened by having to review and evaluate all 95 submissions. ACC-DFW Chapter President David Kilpatrick, former American Airlines General Counsel (now Pimco board member) Gary Kennedy and I selected the judges, including CEC GC Rudy Rodriguez, PepsiCo Deputy GC Leanne Oliver, NTTA GC Dena Stroh, Masergy Communications GC Jeff Walker, Austin Industries GC Brent Lamb, Dallas Stars GC Alana Newhook, Quest Diagnostics GC Kenny Johnson, Highlander Partners GC Chris McRorie, Haynes and Boone partner Anne Johnson and Newhouse Noblin Co-Founder Kelly Noblin.
Gary, David and I reviewed all the award submissions and then created three-judge panels for each award category. The panels were created based on expertise and screened to eliminate any potential conflicts.
The 14 panels of judges are currently reviewing and evaluating the nominations. The results will be calculated by Dec. 10.
The three finalists in each category will be contacted by The Texas Lawbook, which will publish in January profiles of all the finalists. The Dallas Business Journal also will publish shortened versions of those articles.
The winners will be announced at the annual event on Jan. 25. Everyone will receive a glossy magazine celebrating the finalists and winners following the awards ceremony. The DBJ will publish the winners in its annual Corporate Legal Dept. special edition, which will go to 15,000 readers on Jan. 26.
We also want to thank the amazing sponsors who have stepped forward to help fund this extensive effort. Our deep appreciation goes to:
Greenberg Traurig
Newhouse + Noblin
Akin Gump
Ankura Consulting
Haynes and Boone
Locke Lord
Winston & Strawn
Bailey Brauer
Baker Botts
We invite you to personally contact the sponsors to thank them.
Finally, as the founder of The Texas Lawbook, I want to thank the ACC and its tremendous leaders, including David Kilpatrick, Tara Weilbacher, Kelly Turner and Susan Harvey for giving us this tremendous opportunity to work together.
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Please feel free to reach out to me anytime with story ideas, news tips, success stories or even suggestions on how we can provide you with better service. My email is [email protected] and my cell phone is 214-232-6783.
I look forward to working with you.
Mark
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COMPLIMENTARY
One-Year Subscription to
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The Texas Lawbook continues to offer a special FREE one-year subscription exclusively to our current Dallas-Fort Worth chapter members! Receive Texas news updates, articles and information compliments of the Dallas-Fort Worth chapter and our partnership with The Texas Lawbook.
Note: In the message box, please include ACC-DFW member. Once you sign up for the e-mails, you will be directed to login information to access the full site (complimentary, of course).
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Spotlight: The Impact of Membership Growth - More is Better
For the ACC Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter, more members is definitely a good thing. Thanks to an increase in membership including 58 new members since May, we are able to provide more opportunities for CLE, Networking, Pro Bono and Community Service. Our widening scope of companies and members also attracts more local and national sponsors who want to offer interesting, unique and helpful events to our members.
This growth also means it is time to evaluate CLE topics, venues, locations and programming through a membership survey in January 2018. Thank you in advance for participating in this survey to allow the Board of Directors to make any necessary changes in programming to reflect the needs and interests of the Dallas-Fort Worth In-House Community.
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ACTIVES |
COMPANIES |
EVENTS |
MAY 2014 |
773 |
391 |
30 |
OCTOBER 2017 |
909 |
421 |
40+ |
This brief chart below demonstrates the increase in members, companies and programming in the chapter since 2014.
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2018 CLE PASS
SIGN UP & SAVE 50%
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Purchase the 2018 CLE Pass and enjoy 8 CLE Lunches and 2 Happy Hour/CLE events for only $100.
Click Here for 50% Savings!!
How the pass works...
You will receive a unique discount code that allows you to bypass the event fee when registering for each CLE
included
in this offer*. This pass is non-transferable and only valid for one person per event.
(*Pass does exclude CLO Forum, Symposium and Annual Meeting, Ethics CLE & Golf/Spa events)
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Upcoming Events
For details and registration to all events:
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CLE Luncheon at
Chamberlain's Steak House
Tuesday, December 5
11:30 am - 1:00 pm
U.S. Supreme Court Update:
Ov
e
rview of 2016-2017 Supreme Court Terms
Review of Major Decisions
presentation by Gold Sponsor Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton
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2017 Annual Holiday Party
You and a guest are invited to...
Celebrate the Season
Relax with Colleagues
Enjoy Great Food and Drink
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Thursday, December 14
5:00 pm - 8:00 pm
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at Mudhen Meat and Greens
(in the Dallas Farmer's Market)
Generously sponsored by:
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The recipients of the 2017 Larry Margolies Scholarshp are Byron Bailey (left) of Texas A&M University School of Law and Karen Kharel (middle) of SMU Dedman School of Law. Both award winners were recognized on September 22 during the Golf/Spa reception by Scott A. Young, the Pro Bono Committee Chair.
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Event Highlight:
2017 Larry Margolies Fellowship Program Scholarship Recepients
Like many ACC chapters, giving back is an important aspect of the annual programming. The Larry Margolies Fellowship Program, named after a former board member who was active in Pro Bono efforts, is an integral part of the DFW Chapter's Pro Bono vision to enhance a culture of providing Pro Bono legal help at the student level through summer internships.
Each September, the DFW Chapter recognizes the two scholarship recipients of the Fellowship Program at the evening reception at our Annual Chapter Meeting, Ethics CLE and Golf/Spa event. This year's winners are examples of two students with a passion to care for others. SMU Dedman School of Law student Karen Karel worked with the Human Rights Initiative of North Texas and Texas A&M University School of Law student Byron Bailiey worked with Catholic Charities of Dallas. Both students spoke to the membership and shared the impact of the internship experience.
"Over the summer, I assisted abused and neglected immigrant children who were seeking humanitarian relief because returning to their home country was not an option," explained Karen to over 100 attendees at the recent reception. "Not only did this award help me spend my summer serving young children in need, it also reaffirmed my passion for advocating for immigrants' rights."
Karen added that by providing an avenue for her to spend a summer at the Human Rights Initiative, the ACC positively impacted the lives of many children, a charitable act that will have beneficial effects for many years to come as these children happily pursue great futures.
"Listening to Karen and Byron was honestly quite inspiring," said Pro Bono Committee Chair and 1st Vice President of the DFW Chapter Scott A. Young. "They were both very articulate and passionate about the work they did over the summer. Our membership thoroughly appreciated hearing the personal stories and true desire to help others. It was a great reminder to all of us about the important work we can do through our Pro Bono program."
The longstanding Pro Bono scholarship program works with SMU's Dedman School of Law in Dallas and Texas A&M University's School of Law in Fort Worth to offer this opportunity to students with an early interest in Pro Bono work. Over the last eight years, the DFW chapter has contributed over $50,000 to these schools to support students who provide legal services through local Pro Bono agencies as summer interns. Each Spring, the Chapter's Board selects the scholarship winners by reviewing a resume and essay written by applicants from each school. One important condition of eligibility is that students perform Pro Bono work at approved legal services organizations in the DFW area.
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A Night at the
Dallas Z
oo
sponsored by
The weather was absolutely perfect for the Thompson & Knight and ACC - DFW Family Night at the Dallas Zoo on Saturday, November 11. Families arrived as early as 4:00 p.m. for complimentary general admission to the zoo to allow for plenty of time to visit the exhibits and feed the giraffes before sunset. This private event also included special feedings, an Elephant Keeper chat, small animal interaction in the Wilds of Africa as well as a buffet dinner, face painter and caricature artists at the Base Camp Verandah.
A very special THANK YOU to Thompson & Knight for this amazing and extremely generous event that allowed us to have the whole zoo to ourselves!
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Sponsor Articles:
Thank you to our Sponsors for submitting the following relevant and useful information to the In-House Counsel community.
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How to Properly Budget and Manage Costs in Transactional Matters
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The Transformation of Way Legal Services are Delivered
provided by Counsel On Call
Recently, Bill Henderson of the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University wrote a widely read article about the disruptive and
innovative companies that are transforming the way legal services are delivered. Counsel On Call was a key focus of that cover story in the ABA Journal, and since many of the services described were developed collaboratively with our Dallas team, we thought we would expand on some of what we're seeing in the marketplace today.
First, eDiscovery services continue to evolve. While some corporations still utilize traditional linear review methods, most have at least started to incorporate predictive technologies, or computer-learning platforms that help get to the responsive documents in a case much faster and more accurately. The courts have recognized the benefits of these CAL (computer-assisted learning) or TAR (technology-assisted review) tools, which is always an important step in broader adoption. Corporations that do not utilize CAL/TAR methods are spending more on attorney review and are likely to have gaps in their protocols and processes; for them, there's a real opportunity to improve quality and reduce cost. To that end and in our continued commitment to be on the cutting edge of the profession, Counsel On Call
recently acquired DSi, a company that deploys the latest technologies to efficiently tackle large-data legal matters.
Second, this is not just about eDiscovery. Since we launched our Managed Services Division in 2007, we have seen a meteoric rise in the number of corporations seeking to control costs and improve processes beyond litigation matters. In response, we have taken our expertise in technology deployment and process management to encompass areas including corporate transactions, contracts management and compliance in concert with trained attorneys. These areas are ripe for continued innovation because they typically involve large amounts of data, and require consistent and repeatable processes.
We foresee many corporations continuing to focus on utilizing the right attorneys, processes and technology platforms. We are steadfastly committed to creating simpler solutions for those on that path, and would be glad for an opportunity to show you how you can meet those goals.
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Surviving a Year of Disaster: Four Practical Tips for Pursuing Corporate Insurance Claims
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By Micah Skidmore Partner Haynes and Boone, LLP |
When a history is written of the early twenty-first century, 2017 may well be remembered as the year of the natural disaster. After nearly a decade of relatively mild hurricane activity in the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria brought unprecedented flooding to Houston and devastating winds and rain throughout Florida, Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. At the same time, the southeastern United States has been soaked by torrential rains, wildfires have scorched hundreds of thousands of acres in the Northwest and California. Outside the United States, reports of earthquakes, landslides, flooding and catastrophic storms have poured in from every corner of the globe. These disasters have resulted in hundreds of deaths, billions of dollars in property damage and countless other losses.
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Internal Investigations: Going Outside to Investigate High-Level Misconduct
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By Harry Jones Shareholder Littler Mendelson PC |
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By Charles Guzak Associate Littler Mendelson PC |
What do the Puerto Rico Oversight Board, the University of New Mexico2 and the Rochester (Minnesota) Area Chamber of Commerce have in common?
They've all recently hired outside counsel to conduct internal investigations. Universities, government agencies, and municipalities frequently hire outsiders to investigate high-profile allegations of harassment, discrimination, and other types of "leader misconduct."
Public institutions have obvious reasons to go outside to look into allegations (public information requests, the special nature of public tax funding, newsworthiness). When and why should
companies
hire outside counsel to investigate internal matters?
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