Archive for October, 2011
« Older EntriesEAR Boot Camp
October 31st, 2011
in International Trade & Defense |
With the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) imposing administrative monetary penalties reaching $120,000 per violation, and criminal penalties reaching $1,000,000 and 20 years’ imprisonment per violation, now is the time to ensure your export compliance practices adhere strictly to the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). In addition to BIS enforcement, the U.S. Department of Justice is also devoting signifi cant resources to prosecuting companies and individuals for EAR violations.
Coupled with ongoing export control reform initiatives, companies exporting dual-use items must stay up to date on the practical implications of the reform on their compliance status.
Back by popular demand, American Conference Institute’s 2nd National EAR Boot Camp will allow you to hear from Government on export controls compliance expectations, and benchmark your compliance practices with a wide range of industries, including technology, aerospace, software, and oil & gas. At this practical, nuts and bolts course, exporters, carriers, freight forwarders, consignees and all other parties to an export transaction will benefit from practical, in-depth sessions on how to satisfy the gamut of key EAR requirements affecting your supply chain.
The 2012 agenda has been fully updated and will discuss how to overcome your most pressing, daily EAR compliance challenges. Key topics include:
- How proposed export control reforms will affect the classifi cation of your items and technologies, and migration to the CCL
- Deemed export compliance and Form I-129 certification: What is required for screening foreign nationals within foreign anti-discrimination and privacy laws boundaries
- How to prepare and file a CCAT
- End-Use and End-User Controls: How BIS applies its “Know Your Customer” guidance and “Red Flags” indicators
- The nuts and bolts of preparing an EAR license application: Reducing the risk of delays, and preventing license denials and RWA’s
- How BIS selects companies for visits and inquiries, how to prepare and what to expect
- Export Management and Compliance Program (EMCP): Tailoring your compliance program to your corporate structure, size and global operations
- What kinds of EAR violations can trigger BIS enforcement and penalties
- Vetting third parties: Where the exporter’s responsibility for third party compliance begins and ends
- Structuring a cost-efficient internal investigation
- Making sense of complex encryption controls
- Preparing a voluntary disclosure and mitigating penalty risks
Employment Practices Liability Insurance
October 30th, 2011
in Employment & Benefits |
It is more important than ever that claims professionals, underwriters, risk managers, in-house counsel, brokers, and outside counsel thoroughly understand the EPLI market, claims trends, how to minimize exposure to risk, and the most effective ways to reduce the costs of defending against and settling EPL claims. Employment cases are crowding court dockets across the country; discrimination, wage and hour, social media and cyber bullying are just a few of the claims resulting in significant payouts to plaintiffs.
That is why you cannot afford to miss American Conference Institute’s 17th Annual Employment Practices Liability Insurance conference. For the past sixteen years, this conference has been attracting leaders from both the insurance and employment law communities. This year’s program has been revised and updated to account for new developments, strategies and industry trends. Hear cutting edge discussion from our exceptional faculty including: ABA Insurance Services, Alliant Insurance Services, Allied World National Assurance Company, Aon, AXIS, Betterley Risk Consultants, Beazley Group, Chartis, Chubb, CNA U.S. Specialty Lines, Frank Crystal & Company, Freedom Specialty Insurance, The Hartford, Hiscox, The Home Depot, Liberty International Underwriters, Markel, Marsh, Monitor Liability Managers, Munich Reinsurance America, Inc, SH Smith & Company Inc, Starr Indemnity & Liability, Ullico Casualty Company, Wells Fargo Insurance Services, Willis, XL Insurance.
Drug & Medical Device Litigation
October 29th, 2011
in Pharmaceuticals / Biotech / Life Sciences |
Every December for the past 15 years, leading drug and medical device lawyers have gathered in New York to shareoutstanding networking and learning opportunities, and to craft strategies for meeting new litigation challenges. Thisevent is the premier industry showcase for hearing expert insights unavailable in any other forum, and for meeting the people that will shape the response to lawsuits in the year to come. ACI’S DRUG AND MEDICAL DEVICE LITIGATION is the very finest opportunity for lawyers all across the U.S. to meet one another and to benchmark their current products liability defense strategies.
As a special feature, this year’s DRUG AND MEDICAL DEVICE LITIGATION will again include exciting group “meet-ups” that kick off the program with unparalleled networking and learning opportunities. As you meet new colleagues and consider the issues raised in dynamic hypotheticals with the help of in-house counsel facilitators, you will immediately begin to reap the benefitsof this premiere program. In addition, as we focus on complex multidistrict litigation the judicial panel will include six leaders from the federal bench with distinguished records of industry mass torts oversight, and we will hear spotlight remarks from ProfessorFrancis McGovern, the nation’s leading expert on the settlement of mass torts cases. We will also be honored to hear in-house insights from many new speakers with responsibility for managing the litigation dockets for their companies’ business units, includingMalini Moorthy, Assistant General Counsel - Litigation for Pfizerand Adam Deutsch, Vice President and Associate General Counsel, Litigation for Biomet.
NEW THIS YEAR
- Ethics Workshop: Practical and Ethical Tools for Successful Mass Tort Litigation, will provide an opportunity for practitioners to learn insider strategies from seasoned litigators and be ready to take their practice to the next level
- The Business Development Master Class: In-House Perspectives on Selection and Evaluation of Outside Counselwill present a rare and candid view of the inner thought processes of in-house counsel.
This year’s 16th Annual conference, featuring a stellar faculty of industry leaders, will provide you with the information and tools you need to successfully overcome new and changing threats. Our faculty of over 25 in-house counsel from leading pharmaceutical and device companies and renowned litigators will share the methods that have worked for them in recent battles, and provide specifi c advice for both defeating claims and for litigating effi ciently and costeffectively. Particular areas of focus will include:
- Applying new tactics to reject “economic loss” claims
- Devising the most effective strategy for juggling civil litigation and criminal concerns
- Overcoming presumptions against preemption defenses in light of Mensing
- Developing post-recall evidentiary and trial strategies
- Managing MDL coordination challenges and maneuvering for desirable forums and case sequences
- Ensuring that the judge and jury will understand the complex science underlying your case
New York City, with its vibrant cultural resources, has been the home for the DRUG AND MEDICAL DEVICE LITIGATION program since its inception and provides many excellent networking opportunities for the over 500 drug and medical device industry professionals attending the conference.
Litigating Disability Insurance Claims
October 28th, 2011
in Employment & Benefits |
Today’s weakened economy has brought a sharp increase in the filing of disability insurance claims (long term, short term, individual and ERISA). Mental illness claims are the norm and considered routine.
New and exciting case law development have changed the disability litigation landscape. Metlife v. Glenn has changed the way practitioners are evaluating benefit claims. Where little or no discovery was considered the norm years ago, practitioners are now dealing with the change to the scope of discovery. Insurers are often conflicted with their role as a fiduciary and with their interest in driving business in today’s economy. Claimants are often seeking discovery beyond the record including internal policies and communication. Insurers are combating this broad discovery request by requesting the courts grant protective orders on the grounds that the information plaintiffs are seeking are proprietary and confidential. Plaintiff’s attorneys are responding to the opening the Court granted in Metlife and making the important decision of what and how much discovery to request. Often the issue of how to tailor and narrow broad discovery requests becomes the focal point early on in the case.
DCAA Audits
October 27th, 2011
in Employment & Benefits |
“Audits of the cost and performance of government programs are essential for government accountability to the public and transparency about whether the government is getting value for taxpayer dollars” – Government Accountability Office (GAO)
Your Bottom Line is at Stake! With the U.S. Government Revisiting Defense Spending, Is Your Firm Fully Equipped to Manage More Frequent and In-Depth DCAA Audits?
• DCAA continues to return savings to the Government that exceeds the cost of its operations.
• In FY 2010, DCAA audited $34 billion of costs incurred on contracts and reviewed 5,689 forward pricing proposals amounting to $185 billion.
• Approximately $2.9 billion in net savings were reported because of audit findings – the return on taxpayers’ investment was approximately $5.14 for each dollar invested.
As per the Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Estimates – Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA)
As an election year approaches and pressure mounts on the Obama Administration to tighten budgets and eliminate wasteful spending of taxpayer money, DCAA faces increased pressure to reign in Government spending. U.S. Government contractors face the likely prospect of even more DCAA scrutiny.
After the tremendous success of its inaugural conference in the Fall of 2010, this acclaimed American Conference Institute 3rd National Forum on DCAA Audits will once again feature the latest insights into current DCAA audit initiatives and the participation of senior DCMA, DoD IG representatives and inhouse contracting executives, accountants and attorneys. This advanced conference is the go-to, industry event of the year where Directors, Managers, General Counsel, CFO’s and other cost and pricing professionals come to benchmark on how to deal with the audit process.
The updated agenda includes new sessions on the impact of the new DFARS Business System Rule, preventing False Claims referrals by DCAA, when and how to challenge a DCAA audit, and in-depth working groups on cost allowability and allocability under the FAR and CAS, and reducingsubcontracting risks.
You will have an invaluable opportunity to hear from your colleagues, competitors and clients on their best practices for managing specific audits and working with DCAA to ensure compliance and continued growth of your government contracts portfolio. Gain insights from the Office of the Inspector General on how to establish policies for receiving, reporting and investigating contractor disclosures of violations.
Chargebacks & Commercial Rebates
October 26th, 2011
in Financial Services |
Acquire solutions to industry-wide chargeback and rebate challenges
Revenue leakage costs US pharmaceutical companies an estimated $11 billion(over 4% of revenues) annually. Even one misstep in the chargeback and rebate processes can cost everyone involved millions of dollars. Wholesalers, GPOs, manufacturers, and PBMs are all essential players in contracting and rebates. And although their interests vary, they all must work together to ensure that the system works smoothly and conveys volumes of accurate data between parties daily. ACI’s Chargebacks and Commercial Rebatesconference brings together all the key industry stakeholders to develop solutions that can work for every party in the healthcare distribution chain.
Addressing a pressing need, stakeholders at this event will hear invaluable insights on the big problems – validation difficulties, 340B challenges, and class-of-trade guideline inconsistencies – and expert views on existing solutions for them. This unparalleled opportunity will break down barriers that divide wholesalers, GPOs, and manufacturers as well as the divisions separating groups in individual companies, creating a forum for these diverse groups to share ideas on overcoming the problems that plague the industry.
Block revenue leakage and improve your business’s bottom line
Through competent explanation and instruction on how to develop best practices for dealing with 340 identification issues, membership list management, rebates, returns, EDI data, and validation, this conference will help you learn to streamline chargeback and rebate systems to minimize costs and improve your business. ACI’s faculty of experienced industry leaders will detail their real-world experiences and share practical techniques for effective cost containment and efficient management of chargebacks and rebates.
Bad Faith Litigation
October 25th, 2011
in Insurance & Reinsurance |
Bad Faith Litigation returns for its 22nd installment led by a multi-disciplinary, cross-country faculty from both sides of the issue, including seasoned in-house counsel, top law fi rms and renowned jurists.
Bad Faith is continuously an area of the law that generates a significant amount of costly litigation, as the courts continue to hand down crippling verdicts. Now is the time to start preparing how to recognize the signs of a bad faith set-up and properly investigating the claims as they are presented. As the hot bed states spearhead their way toward statutory bad faith laws, litigators must be well equipped in how to defend against, and bring, a bad faith claim.
An annual tradition, American Conference Institute is proud to bring you its22nd National Advanced Forum on Bad Faith Litigation. This conference has been fully revised and updated to account for new developments and designed to bring winning litigation strategies to even the most experienced bad faith litigators. Our expert faculty will provide effective tactics and insights from both the insurers and the policyholders. Featuring:
Insurers In-house roundtable: this specialized in-house panel will focus on 1) best practices in claims investigation and decisions; 2) settling bad faith claims before a suit is filed; 3) special issues in the life, health & disability arena; 4) dealing with your insured and much more
Viewpoints from the Policyholders Bar: with a session focused on the policyholders bar, as well as policyholder counsel point of view mixed into multiple sessions, don’t miss the chance to hear what key actions (or inactions) could lead your client into litigation.
Discussions with distinguished jurists: this session will provide attendees with highly sought after insight on effective theories and evidentiary issues, from those that have presided over bad faith suits.
Narrowly tailored panel sessions: our narrowly tailored, comprehensive panels will shed light on the most effective ways to manage discovery, recognize bad faith set-ups, properly investigate a claim, understand attorney-client privileges and work products protections, and establish successful pre-trial strategies.
This conference will provide you with the most up-to-date information and strategies on how to get the best result for your client. This is the event the industry relies on to get practical strategies for resolving coverage disputes, mitigating risk and gaining the upper hand in bad faith lawsuits.
Trucking Litigation
October 24th, 2011
in Litigation |
The nation’s premier trucking litigation forum devoted entirely to the defense of claims, led by an unparalleled faculty of the most experienced in-house counsel, claims officers, and risk managers, as well as expert outside counsel and renowned federal and state judges.
The issues surrounding trucking litigation have never been as complex as they are now. Not only does litigation affect the drivers and vehicles involved, but plaintiffs’ counsel will often look to parent companies with deep pockets to extend theories of liability. Companies are often starting from a disadvantage as they are forced to battle overwhelming natural sympathy for catastrophically injured (often blameless) plaintiffs. Add to this the multitude of factors involved in determining the proximate causes of an accident, the complex insurance claims that are often intertwined with litigation of a catastrophic accident, and the evolving federal and state regulatory paradigms governing the trucking industry, and it is clear that defense counsel face an uphill battle. With all of these factors putting defense counsel behind the 8-ball from the very start, there has never been a more important time in the industry to convene and exchange valuable insights and strategies with colleagues from around the nation.
Mortgage Fraud
October 23rd, 2011
in Regulatory & Compliance |
Are your fraud prevention policies keeping pace with the market realities? As old fraud schemes resurface and new scams emerge, fraudsters continue to defraud consumers, as well as the banks themselves.
The turmoil created by mortgage fraud has cost the industry nearly billions of dollars in the last decade. Now banks are facing new challenges in light ofU.S. v. Deutsche Bank, increased repurchase requests, and the countless red flags to watch for. Federal and state enforcement agencies are becoming more aggressive in their efforts to mitigate fraud. As new fraud schemes materialize and old scams become more sophisticated, it is crucial that you keep your prevention and detection practices in top shape.
Scammers are still targeting the industry despite more diligent efforts to find and report the fraud. It is time for lenders to proactively assess risk and address the areas of concern. Industry players need to develop more communication in an effort to identify the fraudsters and fraud rings.
Privacy and Security of Consumer and Employee Information
October 22nd, 2011
in Law Firm Management |
In today’s society, sensitive information is collected and stored at staggering rates. Whether when a person swipes their credit card at a local grocer, creates an account on a social networking site, or provides their social security number to a new employer, personal information is constantly changing hands. Unfortunately, it is often the case that much of this information falls into the wrong hands . . .
The privacy and security of consumer and employee information has become a top priority for companies and regulators alike. Financial institutions, insurance companies, retailers, and educational institutions all must be aware of the latest threats to privacy, both internal and external, or become the latest front page data breach horror story.Scrutiny from regulators, including the Federal Trade Commission, and State Attorneys General, among others, has increased dramatically in the last few years with the enactment of strict regulations and stronger enforcement against improper data security and management. Further, we are closer than ever before on federal legislation mandating privacy and data security requirements. In addition, financial reform has already created a new office – the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau – which looks to play a large role in the world of privacy. Meanwhile changes to HIPAA and the HITECH Act have increased its reach, greatly impacting organizations of all types – not just those in the healthcare industry.
Perhaps the most difficult privacy questions have been brought about by new technologies. Innovative marketing and business models are creating privacy concerns unthinkable just a few years ago. Behavioral advertising is changing the way consumer information is used, as companies are privy to information regarding consumer habits, whether a customer likes it or not. Social networking and media sites have further complicated matters, as use by both consumers and employees has reached epic proportions. These social network providers are coming under great scrutiny from regulators questioning the adequacy of privacy policies, location-based monitoring technologies, and data sharing practices. Furthermore, cyber threats continue to grow as cloud computing and mobile workforces have become more and more common.
In our technology-driven world, it is imperative that organizations are prepared to prevent and respond to data security disasters, and protect the privacy of both customers and employees. As the old adage goes, “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, and that holds especially true in the realm of privacy protection.
