Fri -- 9:00a
Lonnie
Williams

Snell & Wilmer
Phoenix, AZ
Bio Firm

"Never Leave Your Wingman"
HOT DEVELOPMENTS ON THE EMPLOYMENT LAW FRONT

Employers face tough issues managing their workforce and avoiding the cost and expense of lawsuits. Trends and recent changes in the law that employers should consider when making tough employment-related decisions.

Liability doesn't have to be a sure thing and damages can be defended, even in mass tort cases, but you have to know how, when and why. The same old same old won't do it anymore. You need to be creative, insightful, and economical, making the best use of the constrained discovery and limiting motions you have to work with, and shaping the case with juror challenges, issue selection and compelling trial strategies.

Managing post-divestiture litigation involving long-gone business units or newly-acquired operating assets with antecedent exposures poses special problems (such as no one remaining with any knowledge, unlocatable documents, lost insurance information, disaffected former employees, and more).  Every company has them -- those operations that were cast off, sold because they were no longer part of the “core” business, etc., or new subs with their own sets of problems.  Every company has discontinued operations that continue to generate losses, consume insurance coverages and executive resources.  Effective preventative steps to take all along the path to limit that exposure and really shed the claims when you shed the businesses or assets, and practice pointers for dealing with new problems when they arise.

Public nuisance is an age-old doctrine conceived to close houses of ill repute and to stop pollution from leaking onto neighboring property. Not anymore. Public nuisance has become the primary weapon utilized by plaintiffs in the tobacco, gun and lead paint cases and its uses are just being discovered. We will examine this new mega-weapon and see how to contain it.

Four Concurrent Break-out Sessions

Fri
1:30p - 5:00p

Fri -- 7:00p
Busses board from 6:45p to 7:15p

Flight Line Tour and Dinner
at Miramar Marine Air Station

An evening to be remembered forever.  Upon arrival at Miramar Marine Air Station, home of the Navy's famous "Top Gun" fighter pilot school, we will be wisked to a hangar for close-up and personal inspections of the U.S.M.C.'s latest jet fighter aircraft, guided by on-duty Marine Corps pilots in flight suits ready to be in the air on a moment's notice. 

This is an active U.S.M.C. air base and
suitable security measures will be observed.

Following the Flight Line Tour, we will be treated to dinner at the Officer's Club (where the movie Top Gun's "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" scene was filmed).


(photos from our Top Gun Flight Line Tour in 2001)
 

Fri -- 10:30p

Terrorism legislation is one response but until new bills become law, lawyers are making due with the law we have -- and that's bringing increased attention to everything from insurance coverage and contract issues to litigation strategy.  Similar and virtually contemporaneous terrorist incidents could constitute a single or multiple occurrences and the difference can mean coverage or no coverage, the application of an SIR or deductible or not.  Insureds, as well as primary and excess insurers, are focused on the developing law in that area.  Whether the war risk exclusion in general liability policies applies to domestic terrorism events as well as the effectiveness of general force majeure provisions are of vital importance to in-house and trial counsel.

Managing systemic litigation in multiple forums, against multiple adversaries, with multiple attorneys has many inherent difficulties and huge costs. Ensuring accuracy,  consistency and completeness in the dissemination of relevant information from your line-of-business people to the far reaches of your legal team, and back again,  is acutely important as the plaintiffs’ bar continues to organize itself to exploit deviations in your act. Increasingly, cyberspace offers cost-effective ways to meet those essential challenges. Here are some of the best practices for lawyers to harness the power of this potent technology. Good-bye fax machine, hello Extranet.

Sat -- 11:10a
Howard
Murphy

Deutsch, Kerrigan
& Stiles
New Orleans, LA
Bio Firm

"I'll I.D. 'em.  You hook 'em."
MANAGING MARKETING MANIACS
The Impact of Marketing Materials on Litigation Strategies

Effective preventative measures to avoid having to eat your “words”. The best litigation strategies can fall flat in the face of your client’s own puffing and boosting in advertisements and promotional literature. Balancing effective merchandising practices with litigation realities. Protecting against public promises that cannot be sold in a courtroom. Ten practice pointers for in-house counsel.

Our Famous BBQ Dinner

Enjoy our Closing Evening's BBQ Feast by the pool, and dance the night away to the oldies and beach rock n' roll sounds of the Surf Kings.
 

SUNDAY, APRIL 27, 2003