Welcome back to Inside Track!

The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium announced this week the launch of a directory to help legal operations professionals connect with industry services and technology providers.

"There are so many outstanding services and solutions being launched every day that it's difficult to stay on top of the new players. We hope that the new Legal Ops Directory will help to simplify the search," Mary O'Carroll, CLOC president and director of legal operations at Google, said in a press release.

All providers can register to have their products and services on the directory. CLOC notes it won't be endorsing any providers and that providers are not vetted. Each listing is only reviewed to ensure a product or service is appropriate for the directory.

"The directory is intended to be a tool to help legal operations professionals find and connect with relevant providers," the announcement says.

Right now, those who use the directory are not able to leave reviews on the products and services they use. A CLOC spokesperson said in an email that reviews are being considered for the next phase of the directory.

Do you plan on using CLOC's legal operations directory? Let me know by emailing me at [email protected].

What's Happening

 

 

The Ethics Takeaways From MLB Scandal

Major League Baseball commissioner, Robert Manfred, released a nine-page statement on how the Houston Astros' players stole pitching signs from opposing teams in 2017 and 2018. Michael Peregrine, a corporate governance expert, told corporate counsel the commissioner's actions are largely about corporate ethics and accountability.

"Baseball is a game, but it's also a big business with rules and regulations just like any other industry," Peregrine, a partner in the Chicago office of McDermott Will & Emery, told corporate counsel.

Manfred fined the Astros $5 million, which is the highest fine allowed in baseball, and suspended Jeff Luhnow, the Astros' general manager, who was later fired by the team.

David Marroso, a sports and entertainment litigation partner at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, said most teams have employee contracts with a clause that refers to the "integrity of the game" or a morals clause.

These clauses, he explained, "give organizations wide latitude to fire somebody for cause and not have to pay the remainder of their contract. You want to protect your organization by including standard clauses in your employment agreements."

 

Another Way to Report Employee Misconduct

Tricia Fratto is the general counsel and co-founder of legal tech company Ethics Suite. Ethics Suite is an employee misconduct reporting platform that provides an anonymous hotline channel between employers and workers. She spoke to Corporate Counsel on her company and employee whistleblowing.

► How Her Platform Works. Employees go onto the online platform, which is co-branded with the client, and they report anonymously. "We don't log IP addresses or anything. If someone wants to identify themselves, they have that option. They can upload any supporting documents. Each reporting employee gets a PIN number. The PIN number lets the company chat with and ask questions of the reporting employee without revealing who it is."

► Trends in Whistleblowing. Fratto said she believes that employment groups will become more active and hopes employers are putting whistleblower programs in place proactively. "Right now we see a lot of 'I'm in litigation or I'm in the news media, and I know I need it.' Maybe they can be more proactive before a situation spirals into something embarrassing or more costly."

► Anonymous Reporting. Fratto said companies are beginning to fear anonymous reporting because they get worried about frivolous reporting they cannot follow up on. "There is new data showing that the substantiation rate for anonymous complaints is exactly the same as when someone identifies oneself. That's important for people to know."

What I've Been Reading

The general counsel to the Manatee County School District has been placed on paid administrative leave while under investigation for possible misconduct. ABC

Jason Alexander, the chief legal officer of Starseed Holdings Inc., said when the company was acquired by WeedMD all social media posts had to be carefully scrutinized because the company went from a private company to a publicly-traded one in Canada. Canadian Lawyer Magazine

The person who has the final word on whether a tweet is blocked is Twitter Inc.'s chief legal officer Vijaya Gadde, not CEO Jack Dorsey. Bloomberg

Don't Miss

Monday, Jan. 27, 2020 to Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020 – American Conference Institute will be hosting a two-day forum on False Claims and Qui Tam Enforcement at the Park Lane Hotel in New York. Speakers will include Savaria B. Harris, senior counsel at Johnson & Johnson; Patrick McCarthy, managing general counsel at Fluor Government Group; and Maryana Zubok, senior corporate counsel at Pfizer Inc.

Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 to Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020 – Law.com will be hosting the annual Legal Week conference at the New York Hilton Midtown. The featured keynote speakers this year include former deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein and Bettina Warburg, co-founder and managing partner of Warburg Serres Investments.

Thursday, March 5 – Corporate Counsel Business Journal will be hosting a Legal Operations Executive Forum at the Tarrytown House Estate in Tarrytown, New York. Speakers will include Andrea Colby, former IP counsel at Johnson & Johnson; Darren Guy, AIG global head of legal operations; and Brian Liss, senior vice president and deputy general counsel at Leidos.

On The Move

 

 

✦ Alphabet ✦ David Drummond will be leaving his role as the chief legal officer of Google's parent company at the end of the month. His exit comes amid allegations of sexual misconduct while serving as general counsel at Google.

✦ Subway ✦ Ilene Kobert has been made the top lawyer at the struggling sandwich restaurant chain. Kobert previously served as a shareholder at Greenberg Traurig.

✦ Jack in the Box ✦ Sarah Super, the company's general counsel, is now also the chief risk officer. She was named general counsel in November.