With more and more plaintiffs’ counsel employing a reptile approach to litigation, companies must be prepared to respond with appropriate defense strategies. The first line of defense is preparing company witnesses to properly address reptile questions at depositions. Mr. Stoia will discuss how to prepare company witnesses to handle such tactics, and how appropriately responding to such questions during corporate representative depositions helps to lay the foundation to rebut the Reptile approach at trial.

The cross examination of an expert witness can be for some both intimidating and a daunting task. Poorly prepared attorneys will feel like they have entered into another world they know nothing about. Imagine being asked to teach a jazz improvisation class and you have never taken a basic music class. . . but sit back, relax and relate.

Given the proliferation of litigation involving opioids, opioid cases have become the “new tobacco” of mass tort litigation. Trial lawyer Jessie Zeigler will address how plaintiffs are framing these cases and provide insights into how claims against manufacturers of all types of products, well beyond pharmaceuticals, are being pursued, and how product manufacturers can prepare against a litigation wave like this in the future.

A panel of esteemed judges will lay to rest your questions about what really works and what does not go over as well in the courtroom. We will discuss their pet peeves, best practices, current trends, and how trial practices and judges’ preferences may vary across the country.

With Discussion By:
Hon. Bernice Donald – US Court of Appeals (Sixth Circuit)
Hon. Sharon Blackburn – US District Court (Alabama)
Hon. Rodney Gilstrap – US District Court (Texas)
Hon. Tom Marten – US District Court (Kansas)
Hon. Robert Schroeder – US District Court (Texas)
Hon. David Schultz – US District Court (Minneapolis)

Deposition testimony can make or break a case. Lawyers therefore take great effort to prepare their key witnesses, often employing the old “two hours of prep time for every one hour of deposition” rule. How-to-testify videos and articles exist to give the witness more to worry about before you even meet. Many trial consultants have even developed a menu of witness preparation services. But what is the right balance, and is over-preparing just as dangerous as under-preparing?

As sexual misconduct continues to dominate the news, lawmakers across the country are proposing legislation that significantly impact how employers respond to claims of harassment in the workplace. Legislative responses to #MeToo impact everything from confidentiality to arbitration agreements. Philadelphia labor and employment attorney John Romeo will highlight the latest legislative activity emerging from the #MeToo movement and discuss strategies for employers following complaints of harassment.

TRACK A: Gimme Shelter – For My Intellectual Property
Moderator: Roger McCleary — Parson McEntire McCleary (Houston, TX)

Room: Pillar Point

Oh, a storm is threat’ning, your intellectual property today. If you don’t give it shelter, its gonna fade away. How to get what you need for protecting your company’s valuable intellectual property rights in the office and in the courtroom.

TRACK B: Every Step You Make: Effective Internal Investigations – Avoiding Pitfalls of the Unwary
Moderator: Bill Codinha — Nixon Peabody (Boston, MA)

Room: Miramar I

In this era of the Whistleblower, corporate internal investigations have become all too common. They also often straddle between criminal, regulatory and civil proceedings. Doing them properly is essential to help avoid significant financial and reputational exposure. This panel will discuss effective strategies for conducting these processes.

TRACK C: Come On, Come On, Listen to the Moneytalk: Making the Most of Your Outside Legal Spend Through Effective Legal Project Management
Moderator: Tony Rospert — Thompson Hine (Cleveland, OH)

Room: Miramar II

In-house counsel are seeking new ways to manage expenses, improve predictability of cost, improve litigation outcomes and improve the perceived value of the legal department. Legal Project Management (LPM) offers an innovative approach to meet these objectives. In this session, we will focus on project management objectives, an overview of the LPM process, and discuss the six key components of LPM to cost effectively and efficiently handle litigation matters.

TRACK D: Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing: Crisis Management and Providing the Support Your Client Needs
Moderator: Cheryl Bush — Bush Seyferth & Paige (Troy, MI)

Room: Miramar III

In-house experts will discuss how to manage product recalls, regulatory investigations, and class action lawsuits, and how to minimize their effects on clients. The panel will provide advice to external legal advisors on effectively supporting their in-house clients in a crisis management situation.

As the world rapidly changes due to advancements in information technology, access to information, and societal demands, the legal industry must resist the temptation to conduct business as usual. Recognition and utilization of these changes and advancements provide significant opportunity to provide better and more efficient service. Terry will discuss the impending and long-term changes to the legal industry as well as avenues to use these changes to your advantage.

I’m caught in a trap and I can’t walk out… Here we go again, asking where I’ve been… Although recent jurisdictional decisions have been generally favorable for defendants, the practical effects of Daimler and other jurisdictional rulings are complicating multi-party litigation across the country. Trial attorney Mary Clift Abdalla will discuss key issues to consider when plaintiffs file and refile cases in multiple jurisdictions, including jurisdictional discovery issues, defense of cross-claims, apportionment of shares, and the potential recovery of costs for the initial case defense.

Most trial preparation presentations focus on outside counsel’s point of view. This panel of experienced in-house attorneys will share their perspective and experience laying the groundwork for trial success BEFORE the work of trial preparation begins: identifying and educating the right company witnesses (and eliminating the wrong ones), tracking down elusive, exculpatory evidence often hiding in electronic data, and translating and packaging what actually happens inside the business into admissible, presentable evidence.

How in-house and outside counsel can effectively partner to drive efficiencies and cost savings, as well as coordinate better strategies and outcomes. Hear from trial lawyer Keiko Sugisaka on ways to develop mutually beneficial long-term relationships covering various types of cases.

People used to communicate by letter. Discovery was difficult then (we hear). Then people communicated by e-mail and discovery became vastly more complex. But just when the legal world began to wrap its head around how to dig for smoking guns within a few gigabytes of data sent through Microsoft Exchange, the iPhone came along and changed the playing field. Now, new modes of communication literally pop up every day and traditional discovery mechanisms have been slow to catch up. Trial attorney Josh Lanning will discuss trials and tribulations of trying to get the “good stuff” – and trying to protect it – in world where new communications applications appear almost every day.