Effective Management of Legal Risk

Date	4-5 Nov 2010
Venue	Charing Cross Hotel · Please contact us for help with booking accommodation
Price	EUR 1399.00 / GBP 1099.00 (+VAT @ 17.50)% Members of our Training Partnership scheme pay EUR 699.00 / GBP 549.00 (+VAT @ 17.50%)
Get	Course Brochure [278kb]
Book	Book now online or learn about other ways of booking

Course overview

Legal risk has played a key role in many of the high profile corporate crisis and failures of the last decade. When a business has a legal department there is a trend for business people to abdicate, and the in-house lawyer, to confiscate the management of legal risk. Poor management of legal risk can seriously damage the prosperity and growth of a business by an accumulation of ineptitude or the drama of a showstopper.

In today’s tough economic conditions in-house legal departments are under pressure:

• To reduce or freeze headcount in line with cost reduction programmes
• To reduce legal spend or keep it under even tighter control
• To be more attentive to the risks of business failure and unreliable commitments

Therefore effective management of legal risk is high on all agendas.

When managing legal risk the key questions are:

• What are they?
• How are they identified?
• How are they controlled?
• How do I increase awareness?

Physical risks are more easily identified, quantified and controlled by all areas of the business however legal risks present a different challenge. This practical and interactive two-day programme will ensure you understand where your organisation is exposed and how you can successfully protect against risk.

UNIQUE FEATURE – LEGAL RISK AWARENESS WORKSHOP

A key feature of this seminar is the practical workshop session which is designed to explore more effective ways in which legal awareness can be raised and legal risk better managed by distilling principles and running workshops

By the end of this programme you will be able to protect your organisation against unnecessary risk by promoting:

• A comprehensive understanding of the legal implications of your actions
• A legal team that is involved at the right time and in the right areas
• An effective compliance system to ensure control and avert disaster

Who should attend?

• In house lawyers
• Legal affairs directors and managers
• Senior corporate counsel and advisers
• Business and commercial executives who need a greater understanding of legal risk

Programme - Day 1

DAY ONE – 7 JUNE 2010

Welcome and introduction

• Striking examples of legal risk
• Lessons for us all

The top ten areas of legal risk in today’s business environment

• Customer failure
• Supplier failure
• Product/service failure
• Personal data abuse or loss
• Employment (discrimination) claim
• Health and safety investigation
• Competition investigation
• Infringement of intellectual property rights
• Environment pollution incident
• Impact of new regulation

The full picture of regulatory compliance

• The responsibility of business people
• The role of a dedicated compliance function
• The role of the legal department in compliance
• What are others doing? Benchmarking

Putting in place an effective competition compliance programme

• Management buy-in
• Key elements
• Vulnerable individuals
• Roll out
• Follow-up

What does ‘legal risk’ mean to business people and to lawyers?

• Identifying the priority areas of legal risk
• Establishing processes for regulatory compliance
• Establishing processes for relationship management with contracting parties and third parties

Carrying out a legal review

• Rationale and benefits
• Options and resources
• Process
• Overcoming obstacles

Influencing management attitudes to legal risk

• Business culture
• Alignment
• Cultural and behavioural tensions

Positioning recommendations on legal risk to commercial decision makers

• Rationale for better legal awareness on the part of business people
• Increasing commercial awareness on the part of lawyers
• Comfort and discomfort zones

Overcoming the barriers on both sides to raising legal awareness

• Need to do not nice to do for all concerned
• Highlighting the benefits and positive results for the business
• Developing capabilities

Close of day one

Programme - Day 2

DAY TWO – 8 June 2010

Putting business development on a sound footing

• What can the lawyers contribute?
• What do business people need to consider?

Working together when business preservation is under threat

• Recognising the threat and implications
• Responding to contain/defuse and not polarize

Assessing the likely outcomes of disputes

• Trends in dispute resolution
• Forum and jurisdiction issues
• Funding litigation costs
• Signs of the times

Managing legal costs as part of managing legal risks

• Scoping options
• Billing options
• Triangular visibility and communication

Practical workshop session: Raising awareness of legal risk

Group exercises(selected by participants) to explore effective ways in which legal awareness can be raised and legal risk better managed by distilling principles and running workshops, in relation to:

• Winning new customers
• Procuring a vital IT product or service
• Being competitive, not anti-competitive

The aims of the workshops are:

• To make sure that you are equipped to provide preliminary advice
• To help you avoid the pitfalls
• To give you some helpful models for internal communication
• To give you the confidence to play a pivotal role in this sort of situation

Feedback from practical exercises

Wrap up and review of other available material

Close of seminar

The expert faculty

Programme Leaders

MARK PREBBLE during his 21 years as an employed in-house lawyer, worked for ICI and The BOC Group plc in the UK and Biogen and SGS in Switzerland. He held the positions of General Counsel at SGS and Group Legal Adviser at The BOC Group plc. Since 1998 when he established Lawyers in Business, Mark has worked with in-house legal departments, providing coaching and support for in-house lawyers, wherever located, on management issues, legal department performance and projects involving raising legal awareness. He also undertakes project management work for businesses, which have no legal department and interim management of legal departments. He has written Managing In-House Legal Services published by Thorogood Publishing and Right in It – where in-house lawyers should be.

RICHARD NORMAN is an international business lawyer, Richard has worked in Europe, Asia and America for four multinational companies. Most recently he held the position of Vice President, Legal and Corporate Affairs for Dell Inc. from 1993 to 2006 where he built up and managed the 40-strong European legal team from inception as well as establishing the Asia Pacific Legal Department. He was a key member of Dell’s European Management Team and played a significant role in the multi-billion dollar growth of the EMEA business. He was a member of General Counsel’s executive staff and also managed Government Relations issues in individual countries and with the EU in Brussels. Richard joined Dell from Tektronix, Inc. where he was European Legal Counsel based in Switzerland. Previously he worked for Hoover Plc and Grand Metropolitan Plc in London. He is a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales, with both Masters and Bachelor of Law degrees from University College, London.

Guest speakers

EMMA WILSON is an outsourced in-house counsel providing legal support to various organisations. She spent time in private practice at Allen & Overy but chose to move in house, attracted by the more commercially focused approach to practising law in that environment. She has held senior roles in Hasbro Europe, Peregrine Systems and PA Consulting Group.

DAVID LOWE is a partner based in the London office of Wragge & Co. He focuses on structuring, reviewing, drafting and negotiating a wide variety of commercial and outsourcing contracts. These range from substantial and complex contracts such as those found in outsourcing and joint ventures to more routine trading contracts. David’s commercial acumen has been reinforced by secondments to British Airways and PA Consulting. His experience highlights include advising the GLA on the Host City Contract with the IOC for the London Olympics 2012; assisting the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders with the long term outsourcing agreement for the Motor Show, moving the show from Birmingham to London; and advising BP on the agreement with Moto Service Stations to supply over 30 service stations with fuel.

Past delegates’ comments

Some of the comments received by participants on this course:

“Entire course was very informative”

Pallavi Pathak, Geometric Ltd

“Perfectly organised;thank you to Falconbury, facilitators in particular”

Tatyana Glazunova, Deloitte & Touche CIS

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Client portfolio

Our client portfolio for this course includes the following companies:

AEGON Nederland NV	Geometric Ltd	Palfinger AG
Alliance Medical Ltd	Global Blue Holdings AB	Porsche Bank Romania SA
British Library	Guardian Holdings Ltd	Rockwool International AS
Ceska sporitelna, as	Haldor Topsoe AS	Single Buoy Moorings INC
Cyprus Telecommunications Authority CYTA	ING Real Estate Investment Management Holding BV	Stonebridge International Insurance Ltd
Deloitte & Touche CIS	Klaveness Corporate Services AS	The Egyptian American Bank
EFG Eurobank Ergasias SA	MBC Group	YARA INTERNATIONAL ASA
EISAI Europe Ltd	Mellon International SA
Friends Provident International Ltd	PGGM NV

Do you have a team of contract, procurement or project managers who are facing unique challenges in managing your organisations contracts?

Challenges translate to risk and in today’s environment of bespoke and standard contracts these risks can be mitigated with an understanding of the practical legal implications of a contract which can benefit both the Client and Supplier. Falconbury deliver business and contract law programmes In-House for a number of organisations in the UK and Europe. By focusing on Your Contracts terms and conditions we can tailor the course to your needs.

For more information call Caroline Glen on +44 (0)20 7729 6677 or visit our contact page and we will get back to you immediately.

Continuing professional development

Solicitors Regulation Authority

This course is accredited for 12.00 CPD hours (CPD reference CSC/FALI).

General Council of the Bar

This course is accredited for 11.50 CPD hours.