"Law Firms & Independence: What to Do Now"

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

2:00 - 2:45 pm, eastern [archive and transcript to follow]

Law firms—and their compensation committee clients—are scrambling to comply with the new rules regarding independence for consults. This program will explore the questions you should be asking now to help determine what new processes you need to implement to comply. Join these experts:

Brink Dickerson, Partner, Troutman Sanders LLP
Ron Mueller, Partner, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
Randy Wang, Partner, Bryan Cave LLP
Joe Yaffe, Partner, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Among other topics, this program will cover

Identifying the advisors that are subject to the rule
What advisors should be providing to compensation committees
What law firms should do to prepare the material that is provided

Internal surveys and who should be covered
Defining the terms used in the rule
What time period should be covered
Crafting the response so that it does not go further than it needs to

The scope of "policies & procedures" for addressing "conflicts of interest"
- Whether practice will extend beyond simply referring to customary professional ethics requirements
- treatment of compensation and other issues
Documentation & frequency of queries as to business or personal relationships with committee members or executive officers and individual/family stock ownership
- Is yearly enough?
- How specific will those questionnaires be?
- Will going through those procedures be necessary for each lawyer "touching" the matter? Treatment of new associates?
- Treatment of common tasks such as drafting stock plans at the request of management; advising as to the committee charter; drafting CD&A?
Relative roles of management, general counsel & the compensation committee in considering law firm independence
What compensation committees should do when they receive the materials
The requirement is to consider, not conclude
When should they go further

Cost: As 2013 members of CompensationStandards.com are able to attend this critical webcast at no charge, you need to renew or try a no-risk trial now. Otherwise, the webcast cost for non-members is $595. You can renew or sign up for a no-risk trial online - or by fax or mail via this order form. If you need assistance, send us an email at info@CompensationStandards.com - or call us at 925.685.5111.

How to access the webcast program: Visit CompensationStandards.com and click the link on the webcast. You need either Windows Media or Real Media to listen to the webcast.

What you can do if you can't access the live program: If you have a scheduling conflict or have problems accessing webcasts generally (due to firewalls, etc.), an audio archive of the webcast will be posted immediately after the program - and a text transcript of the program will be posted on CompensationStandards.com about a week after the live webcast.