American Conference Institute's Conference on: Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law

“I Wish Someone Had Told Me”:Advice from Life Sciences General Counsel on Embracing Influence and Power and Running a Successful Legal Department

Back for a third year by popular demand, this event highlight sets the tone for success for the entire event. Don’t miss this opportunity to network with and learn from an unparalleled panel of General Counsel driving change and delivering results in the life sciences world who will provide mentoring and guidance for women at all stages in their career on advancing within the ranks of the life sciences world. The esteemed panelists will share their road to the GC office, advice for shattering the glass ceiling, skills necessary to thrive at the executive level, what they look for in relationships with outside counsel and with their legal teams, and balancing management of a successful department with a robust and full personal life.

Pre-Conference Workshop Sponsored by:

(1:30 – 4:30 pm – Registration begins at 1:00 pm)

Workshop Adjourns to Pre-Registration and Welcoming Reception Hosted by:

Open to all attendees, this reception officially kicks off the 2016 Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law Conference. Reconnect with your industry colleagues, build your network of contacts, and maximize time by registering early.

Registration and Networking Breakfast Hosted by:

ACI’s Opening Remarks and Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law Empowerment Awards Presentation

Co-Chairs’ Introductory Remarks and Welcoming Exercise: Becoming Powerful Champions and Supporters of Other Women in the Life Sciences Legal Community

In this icebreaking session, attendees will break into small groups at their tables as our conference co-chairs take you through an exercise in effectively introducing a peer and highlighting her achievements, talents, and abilities to other peers, employers, and clients. Attendees will have an opportunity to get to know their seatmates by interviewing each other and then showing the rest of the table what a great asset their partner is to the community.

Peer-to-Peer Mingling Break

Tales from the Top on Effective Leadership: Concrete Tips for Influencing and Motivating Others in the Life Sciences Legal Space

• Attracting, supporting, and retaining female talent on your team
• Identifying and motivating highperforming employees who have the potential and the desire to advance into leadership roles in the future
• Creating a pipeline of rising star women coming up through the ranks and preparing them to take on increasingly important roles within the company
• Bridging generational differences and effectively communicating and mentoring: from “Baby Boomers” to “Millennials”
• Exploring some of the challenges faced by women seeking leadership roles at life sciences companies and the law firms representing them
• Is this still a “boy’s club” and if so, how do you deal with it?
• Showing resiliency and overcoming setbacks
• Developing and maintaining key relationships throughout your organization and externally: on the C-suite and Board level and with government authorities and regulators
• Establishing yourself as a thought-leader and becoming the go-to expert or trusted advisor
• Gaining the confidence of upper management by showing your knowledge and your leadership presence

Substantive Updates Part One: What Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law Must Know About Products Liability, Mass Torts, and “Bet-the-Company” Litigation

To truly be industry leaders, women need to stay on the competitive edge by having the big picture view of the most cutting-edge legal challenges in the fast-moving life sciences space. In this substantive session and the ones that follow, leading attorneys and government representatives will give you a rundown on the most pressing developments affecting the future of life sciences companies.

• Updates on key mass torts, bellwethers, MDLs, and state-coordinated proceedings from around the country
• Tales from the trenches of products liability litigation: what are the new theories of liability plaintiffs’ attorneys are using against pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers?
• Recent developments to watch including discovery torts and document preservation after Federal Rule changes and billion dollar Actos litigation; generic and medical device preemption; third party funding
• What’s next for products liability: 3D printing, biosimilars, personalized medicine and more

Networking Luncheon Led by Advisory Board Members and In-House Counsel Hosted by:

Build your network and tap into the knowledge base in the room as you learn informally about the challenges facing your peers throughout different practice areas within the life sciences community. All attendees will be seated at random tables during lunch to maximize the opportunity to forge new connections.

Substantive Updates Part Two: What Women Leaders in Life Sciences Law Must Know About Crucial Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement Strategies

• Overview and updates on key life sciences cases pending before the Supreme Court and Federal Circuit
• Anticipating how the pending implementation of the Defense of Trade Secrets Act will affect life sciences patent strategies
• Exploring the uncertainty in the new patent landscape for biopharma and medical device companies: concerns over what is patentable after Myriad and Sequenom; patent portfolios hanging in the balance post-Gilead; and quasilitigation at the USPTO
• Understanding antitrust implications for settlements post-Actavis
• Preparing for the challenges as biosimilars, 3D printing, and personalized medicine become realities

Peer-to-Peer Mingling Break

Missed Opportunities at Life Sciences Companies and Law Firms: Recognizing Implicit and Affinity Biases and Implementing Sustainable Diversity Practices to Move Forward

• Acknowledging seemingly commonplace or unconsciously biased attitudes, even amongst women, which may be more damaging than overt acts of discrimination to careers and the bottom lines of businesses
• Confronting our own potential biases in addition to facing down the biases of others’
• Intersectionality: Acknowledging and respecting diversity of all kinds in the life sciences community including gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality, familial status, and age
• Taking a hard look at the data of representation of women throughout the law
• Interpreting the statistics on gender and pay gap
• Where are the red flags and where are we improving?
• Exploring why law firms seemingly struggle more than corporate and government entities in obtaining, supporting, maintaining, and promoting women in the upper management/hierarchy
• Designing and carrying out policies to ensure that traditionally underrepresented groups have a voice in the community and a path to success at life sciences companies and the law firms representing them
• Discussing which diversity initiatives currently in place are working and which aren’t
• Going beyond a stated commitment to diversity to action in inclusive leadership: plans and action items to maintain an inclusive community

Substantive Updates Part Three: Preparing for Increased Criminal and Civil Enforcement Against Life Sciences Companies – Off-Label, Individual Liability, and More

• Recognizing the behaviors that may raise a red flag for government enforcers and trigger an enforcement action
• Updates on the off-label promotion landscape post-Amarin and other First Amendment cases
• Overview of the year’s top cases and CIAs in the life sciences realm
• Analyzing the steady trend of staggering penalties and fines for life sciences manufacturers in these cases
• Addressing the increased threat of individual liability for officers and directors after the Yates Memo
• Practical considerations for in-house and law firm counsel when faced with an enforcement action

The Five Year Plan for Continual Progress: Taking the Next Step in One’s Career and Getting and Keeping a Seat at the Table

• Identifying your most high-priority career goals and plans for growth and making strategic and calculated risks on the path to where you want to be
• Internal promotions
• Board and C-Suite positions
• In-house v. law firm v. government
• Determining what experience you might lack and making a plan for how to get it
• Soliciting honest feedback on your strengths and weaknesses as a leader
• Stepping outside your comfort zone and pushing your boundaries to best enhance your skill set
• Developing and sustaining sponsorship and mentor and mentee relationships with male and female advocates and supporters
• Factoring external commitments and responsibilities into your decision on where you want to be

Day One Adjourns to Cocktail Party Hosted by:

Meet the Mentors Breakfast

Co-Chairs’ Opening Remarks and Recap of Day One

Small Group Breakouts and Interactive Town Hall: Identifying Tactical Next Steps in the Quest for Professional and Personal Development

Let your voice be heard in this unique open floor session, designed to give all attendees an opportunity to add to the discourse. Our session moderators will choose topics from the discussions on the first day for the groups to discuss amongst themselves and to identify challenges, opportunities, and action points to implement after the event. Each small group will choose a representative to report their takeaways to the group as a whole.

Substantive Updates Part Four: Key Regulatory and Pricing Developments Affecting How Life Sciences Companies Bring Products to Market

• Understanding what the new patient-centric drug and device development process means to manufacturers
• The year of diversity in clinical trials: updates on key initiatives to ensure the women, racial and ethnic minorities, and the elderly are not underrepresented in trials
• Delving into recent changes to key approval pathways: biosimilars, drug-device combination products, 3D products and more
• Building a strategy for pricing and reimbursement of products in light of recent controversies including Turing and Valeant

Peer-to-Peer Mingling Break

Women Leaders in Government Round Table: Power, Progress, and Gender Politics in the Public Sector

Do not miss this unique opportunity to gain insights from some of the most influential women leaders in government as they discuss their top priorities vis-à-vis the highly regulated and heavily enforced life sciences industry for 2016. Moreover, learn about their career paths and road to government leadership.

Conference Adjourns to Networking Lunch for Workshop Attendees Only

Building Executive Presence for Women Leaders: Concrete Professional Development Plans to Take Your Communications, Negotiation, and Management Skills to the Next Level

Tailored towards attorneys who are already excellent communicators and led by multiple executive and communications coaches, this sessions will give attendees greater poise, confidence, charisma, and the ability to connect with and influence both senior leadership and direct reports. Topics to be discussed include:

Communication techniques

• Building your brand: identifying and communicating your core narratives to memorably share your strengths, passions, values, and goals
• Lessons from the TED stage: using the art of storytelling to make the content of what you are saying unforgettable and intriguing
• Re-appropriating personality traits revered in male attorneys which might be perceived negatively in their female counterparts

Negotiations

• Positioning the message and asking the right questions to get to “yes” when advocating for your company and your self
• Learning how to make the ask and learning how to accept “no” if that’s the answer

Management Skills

• Delivering feedback and coaching your team constructively and positively
• Managing difficult people and difficult communications situations
• Concrete tips for earning authoritative respect amongst your peers and direct reports, increasing your visibility within your organization, and making sure your contributions and achievements are known

​(1:30 – 4:30 pm)