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In the past few months, we have witnessed a sharp rise in litigation cases. Law firms are inundated with new cases and juggling these over a virtual platform for the first time. General Counsel and their litigation teams are also increasingly feeling the burden of these cases and must work closer than ever before with their law firms and partners to produce a successful outcome.

The pandemic has forced companies to deal with an abundance of contractual challenges across the supply chain and with vendors. With the challenges not likely to disappear for 2020, how can General Counsel successfully navigate these novel contractual issues from force majeure, public disclosure to global supply chain disruption. Collaboration with external advisors and partners will be key to securing successful outcomes, yet for many General Counsel reservations still stand with security fears ranking top of the list.

In today's world of social media, bad PR travels fast. To combat these situations, the best offense is often good defense. Legal teams, marketing and PR teams and firms must work in tandem to swiftly handle negative attacks against them. Industry leaders know that this requires a well-reasoned crisis management plan, and one that involves multiple key teams to be effective.

With corporate governance coming under the microscope, in house teams need to ensure they have a handle on their responsibilities to their company and as a leader in the organization. There is a balance between providing advice and mitigating risk. In addition, General Counsel in today's environment must deal with increasing scrutiny from not only the board, but also the media and government.

Privacy has remained top of the agenda for 2020 from the escalating concerns surrounding the sudden shift to remote and digital working; the impending CCPA enforcement date; to the increasing rise of data breaches and cyber-attacks. It is easy to understand why these developments raise further ethical questions, concerns and unease among legal departments. Legal departments must ensure the correct infrastructure is in place to tackle these challenges or face the huge risks associated with any one of these concerns.

With M&A on the rise and cross-industry M&A becoming ever more common, nearly every legal department will be affected by it at some point. Identifying the intricacies of these situations is only the start. It is important to understand the precise impact these will have on the process and the risk they may pose later down the line.

Your clients' contract may be affected by COVID-19 and force majeure. Navigate the legal and business issues with Corporate Counsel Editor-in-Chief Heather Nevitt and International lawyer Lisa Richman in a discussion about the practical implications of force majeure in making business decisions state-by-state and across the globe.

Students and young lawyers often use an "ad hoc" approach treating "every problem as a different problem." Since I have needed to teach students who have never done transactional law how to begin working on complex projects very quickly, I have tried to create a teachable, universal approach to beginning transactional assignments. This approach I will teach holds true whether the solution requires a client call, an internal/external memo, drafting a contract, or prosecuting intellectual property (copyright, trademark, or patent registrations).

This program is for 0-3 year attorneys who have never experienced transactional law (and maybe even never worked in a law office) to rethink the "litigation-first" perspective that gets ingrained during law school. For a large number of law students interested in working with business transactions, as in-house counsel, in IP prosecution, licensing, etc., we want to provide guidance for what you should be thinking about on your first day of an internship, your first day at a job, or your first day running your own firm. These are tips to distinguish yourself on your first day even if you don't have any direct transactional experience.