Vermont CLE Course Catalog

As digital currencies continue to be part of the business ecosystem, the discussion will focus on what these currencies are, their impact on business as well as on the legal considerations around them.

During this discussion, we will highlight how small legal departments can achieve more with less by utilizing whatever resources are available to them in an attempt to avoid relying heavily on outside counsel. Also, the experts will share their views on what additional resources are available and where to find them so that small legal departments can keep their organizations safe while helping them grow.

As companies recognize the cost of employees’ poor wellbeing, the discussion will look to shine some light on what has been done thus far and what else needs to be done to improve, and where necessary, change the established course on the issue of attorneys wellbeing.

As we are almost a year into the new administration, the panel discussion will highlight the impact of its various initiatives on business has been. Additionally, a portion of the discussion will center on whether or not businesses have seen the anticipated increased regulatory and enforcement activity as well as what they expect to see going forward.

Given that diversity and inclusion is a generational change, and as companies make multi-year commitments, one of the challenges will be sustaining the momentum once the initial euphoria passes. We will take a look at how to ensure that all the efforts made thus far continue and ultimately lead corporations in the direction they will be proud of in the years to come. Additionally, we will examine various states’ initiatives around the diversification of corporate boards.

As consumers and institutional investors pay more and more attention to corporate activities with respect to ESG, the heads of legal departments and their teams are finding that the development of ESG policies and execution of the same is becoming their responsibility. During this discussion, we will focus on recent developments with the ESG as well as what the legal departments need to ultimately propel their organizations forward on this item.

As the pressure to become a more diverse and culturally sensitive work environment grows, businesses are beginning to ask themselves who within their organizations should be responsible for implementing the changes and what changes exactly? Is it expected of corporations to take a stand on various societal issues and should legal departments, as ethical centers in their organizations, be responsible for deciding which issues to focus on and what message to send?

Given the prevalence of data breaches in recent months, it is not too far-fetched to assume that any business is/will be a target. When the breach occurs, we will look at what businesses should do to respond in the most efficient manner possible and mitigate the consequences.

During this session, we will discuss the status of investigations, enforcement, and litigation and whether or not legal departments have been seeing an uptick. Additionally, some of the discussion will focus on permanent changes to the investigations, enforcement, and litigation processes as a result of the pandemic.