MCLE London™ Programme 2011

January 2011 – 19th Annual Mandatory/Minimum Continuing Legal Education Course

• EU COMPETITION LAW UPDATE
  Matt Evans, Solicitor/Of Counsel, Jones Day –  London
  Natasha Hall, Associate, Jones Day – London

• UK BRIBERY ACT 2010 – WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU
  Moderator: George Brown, Member, Reed Smith LLP – London
  Randal Barker, GC & CS, Eurasian Natural Resources Corporation PLC – London
  Hariett Territt, Solicitor/Of Counsel, Jones Day – London
  Ruth Steinholtz, Advisor, Business Ethics and Leadership Development – London

• BUSINESS ETHICS: DO INVESTORS CARE? 
  George S. Dallas, Director, Corporate Governance, F & C Investments – London

• SHAREHOLDER DISPUTES 
  Jeremy Garson, Partner, Herbert Smith LLP – London

• RIGHTS OF THE SUSPECT
  Moderator: Peter Burrell, Partner, Herbert Smith LLP – London
  Tim Otty, Q.C., Blackstone Chambers – London
  Tom Hickman, Blackstone Chambers – London

• CONTRACTS LAW REFRESHER 
  Simon Hart, Member, Reed Smith LLP – London
  Marcus Rutherford, Member, Reed Smith LLP – London
  Elizabeth Robertson, Solicitor/of Counsel, Jones Day – London

• LEGAL WRITING IN THE AGE OF THE SMARTPHONE 
  Steven D. Stark, Author “Writing to Win: The Legal Writer” – Belmont, MA

• BIAS/ PARENTAL RIGHTS AS RELATED TO PRACTISING LAWYERS
  Ditte Grundtvig Larsen, Advokat, Gorrissen Federspiel – Copenhagen, Denmark

• LEGAL ETHICS & PROFESSIONALISM
  Bruce A. Green, Louis Stein Professor, Fordham Law School – New York City
  Richard Diebold Lee, International Consultant – San Francisco

EU COMPETITION LAW UPDATE This session will include a round-up of EU competition and business law issues to watch in 2011, including:

1. Horizontal Cooperation Agreements and the unlawful exchange of information and cartel concerns;
2. Fining policy in EU competition law, including the growing trend of inability to pay arguments;
3. The future of private enforcement of competition laws;
4. State aid and the financial crisis, including a review of exit strategies/the impact of the withdrawal of state aid;
5. The State of Play of the EU Digital Agenda.

UK BRIBERY ACT 2010 – WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU: This panel will discuss the possible impact on business of the Bribery Act 2010 which will come into force in April 2011. Topics covered include: The offence of bribery of foreign public officials; Exercise of prosecutorial discretion in relation to the offence of bribery of a foreign public official given the offence does not require any intention to bribe; Strict liability offence of failure of commercial organisation to prevent bribery; Factors which determine whether a person is or is not associated with a commercial organisation; How a commercial organisation can determine what policies, procedures, monitoring and auditing to put in place in order to have adequate procedures; Can a commercial organisation ever be certain it has adequate procedures in place; How significant does a commercial organisation’s business activities have to be in the UK for the UK authorities to decide they have jurisdiction over the commercial organisation and can a commercial organisation carry on business via a separately incorporated company; Exclusion from public sector contracts; Conviction of which offenses result in exclusion from public sector contracts and, if excluded, for how long; Plea bargains; How will enforcement authorities deal with a commercial organisation that wants to “cut a deal” given the recent decisions of the judiciary.

BUSINESS ETHICS: DO INVESTORS CARE?  The speaker will focus on anticorruption but will also lead a discussion of other relevant social, ethical, environmental and governance issues and more.

SHAREHOLDER DISPUTES  This presentation looks at the options for a shareholder who has complaints about the way a company’s affairs are being conducted, focusing on the UK position but also touching on the international context for such disputes in other common law and European jurisdictions. It will also include a brief look at how shareholder class actions can (or cannot) be brought in the UK and in major European jurisdictions, and how the position differs from the U.S.

RIGHTS OF THE SUSPECT This session will focus on how to deal with the authorities when an individual or corporation is the target of a law enforcement investigation, including: when to self-disclose; when to co-operate and how far to go; legal professional privilege, whether to waive or assert it; and interviews, whether to be silent or answer question, or prepare a statement.

CONTRACTS LAW REFRESHER  Speakers will discuss recent cases concerning damages and, in particular, the Transfield Shipping Inc. v. Mercantor Shipping Inc. case, and will deal with how improbable an event can be yet still be probable enough to pass the test of the balance of probabilities. This session will also include a review of the state of play on misrepresentation and reliance following the BSkyB/EDS and MGB Printing/Kall Kwik decisions.

LEGAL WRITING IN THE AGE OF THE SMARTPHONE  Thanks to computers and smart phones, business and legal writing have changed more rapidly in the last decade than at any time in the last four centuries. This workshop will focus on the ways in which lawyers’ traditional training in writing and communication ill-prepares them for the new age. In an era in which everyone reads less linearly – and with far less intensity and focus – lawyers must learn both new ways of organizing their written pros and editing it. This course will focus on writing more effective emails and memos both within the office and for clients, as well as the ways in which this “new style” will affect litigation writing and even contract writing.

BIAS: PARENTAL RIGHTS AS RELATED TO PRACTICING LAWYERS  The speaker in this one-hour session will provide a general description of the Scandinavian model of legal requirements and market practice concerning absence in connection with pregnancy and childbirth, including rule and market practice regarding salary during the absence and the employer’s right to reimbursement from the applicable maternity scheme and municipalities. The presentation will include a discussion of the impact of this model on retention and promotion in a law firm setting and a comparison with parental rights in the U.S. and other countries.

LEGAL ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM:  In 2009, the American Bar Association (“ABA”) established a “Commission on Ethics 20/20” to review and recommend reform regarding the ABA’s model ethics rules and the U.S. system of law regulation as they relate to advances in technology and global legal practice. Among the subjects now under study are:

1. The regulatory restrictions on the ability of foreign lawyers to serve clients in the U.S. and on the ability of U.S. lawyers to serve clients abroad;
2. Choice of law and conflict of interest rules as they relate to multijurisdictional practice;
3. The international outsourcing of legal work.

This program will explore these and other regulatory and professional problems arising out of global law practice and provide an update on the Commission’s work. This 2-hour interactive program is designed to meet the Ethics and Professionalism requirements of CA, IL, NY, OH and all other U.S. MCLE jurisdictions.