Speaker: Ronald E. Mallen, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Bankruptcy trustees are bringing many of the financially significant lawsuits against major law firms.. This panel of experienced trial lawyers will examine the recent decisions and tell what you need to know to litigate these claims. The developing issue of who has standing to sue and for what remedies will be discussed,. Many recent decisions concern whether the trustee can pursue legal theories of deepening insolvency, as well as aiding and abetting a fiduciary breach. Litigation considerations involve whose interests the trustee can represent, the right to a jury trial, the attorney-client privilege and defenses, such as in pari delicto defense and the Wagoner doctrine.

Panel Moderator: John W. Sheller, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Charles A. Gilman, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: John K. Villa, Member, Williams & Connolly LLP

This panel of trial lawyers will examine the significant new case law of the past year, including decisions debating when federal courts have subject matter jurisdiction irrespective of diversity. The panel will provide an update on , the use of lawyer-defendant “admissions” and how ethics rules can be used in actions against lawyers. A potentially significant decision that Federal Rule 408 bars admissibility of settlement evidence for measure of damages, even if invoked for the benefit of a settling party, will also be analyzed. l While discussing all of these decisions and their implications in context of relevant legal issues and tactical concerns, the panel will provide practical guidance for the litigator.

Panel Moderator: James I. Sullivan, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: David J. Beck, Partner, Beck, Redden & Secrest LLP

Speaker: Nancy Jane Marshall, Esq., Partner, Deutsch Kerrigan & Stiles LLP

Experienced trial lawyers and expert witnesses will examine the recent case law and trends, and provide insight into the use and selection of expert witnesses. The panel will opine about whether expert witnesses can and/or should be used for summary judgment, and on the type of issues that demand expert testimony and which testimony the court is likely to preclude. They will tell how the testimony should be structured to avoid legal conclusions and net opinions, and when an expert can testify to issues of law. Finally, they will share their recipes for selecting the right expert.

Panel Moderator: Frances M. O’Meara, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Robert C. Baker, Member, Baker Kenner & Nahra

Speaker: W. William Hodes, Esq., The William Hodes P.C.

Prior knowledge issues dominated the preceding year’s professional liability coverage decisions. Consistent with prior cases, some of the decisions used an objective standard, finding that the insured's knowledge of his own wrongful conduct precluded coverage. Other decisions, which concerned insureds that settled claims with their former clients and did not report these until those settlements collapsed, came to opposite conclusions as to coverage. The panel will discuss these recent cases, which also show that courts are still using a subjective standard based on the particular wording of application questions. Additionally, the difference between a claim and a potential claim remains unsettled. The panel will also discuss how the courts ruled on the obligations of a carrier to inform its insured when their right to hire independent counsel arises, and what happens when a negligence claim is intertwined with a non-covered claim involving misappropriation of client's funds.

Panel Moderator: David Grossbaum, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Robert Irish, Senior Claims Attorney, Monitor Liability Managers, Inc.

Speaker: Jeffrey Goode Esq., Vice President Claims, XL Select Professional

Claimants continue to pursue remedies against attorneys under a variety of consumer protection statutes because of provisions for multiplied damages, penalties or an entitlement to attorneys’ fees. In the past year, there have been important decisions under Pennsylvania's Consumer Protection Act, Florida's Driver's Privacy Protection Act and the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. The panel will review these decisions as well as the significant legal developments under the Federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, including whether the statute's bona fide error defense applies to "mistakes of law" committed by attorneys. Finally, the panel will talk about the trends under these and other statutory causes of action.

Panel Moderator: David Schultz, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Barbara A. Sinsley, Partner, Barron, Newburger, Sinsley & Wier

Speaker: Mark E. Ellis, Managing Partner, Ellis, Coleman, Poirier, Lavoie & Steinheimer, LLP

Many legal malpractice policies provide for a defense for disciplinary matters and, frequently, legal malpractice claims are accompanied by disciplinary complaints that may be made for tactical purposes. This panel examines that interface as well as trends in disciplinary law. They will discuss what happens when a lawyer’s personal fitness is the focus in a disciplinary case, and why some disciplinary prosecutors and courts are looking to use privilege, estoppel or other exclusionary doctrines to prevent lawyers from articulating a defense to charges of unethical conduct. The panel will explore the often-conflicting trends and developments in this area and evaluate the risk of a lawyer being prevented from defending himself or herself against charges of misconduct.

Panel Moderator: Rick Supple, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: James J. Grogan Deputy Administrator and Chief Counsel, Illinois Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission

Speaker: Ellen A. Pansky, Member, Pansky & Markle

Members of the audience have an opportunity to engage in a “Q&A” dialogue with the panelists as they attempt to answer questions concerning legal malpractice or risk management. Take your best shot on your complex issues – everything is fair game.

Panel Moderator: Peter R. Jarvis, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Litigators and risk management lawyers examine the very recent and unsettled case law that confronts patent lawyers and their insurers. A state-federal battle line has been drawn on whether patent law issues in legal malpractice cases can be litigated in state courts. The often highly speculative nature of damages has been examined by several courts with highly divergent conclusions. This experienced panel of legal malpractice litigators will examine these and other developing issues.

Panel Moderator: Thomas P. McGarry, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: John J. Steele, Special Counsel & District of Ethics & Conflicts, Fish & Richardson P.C.

Speaker: Pamela A. Bresnahan, Partner, Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

This panel will review the present state of the LPL insurance marketplace, 2008 overall results, and how current economic conditions will impact the availability and cost of LPL insurance. Many are saying that the market is softening. Is it and in what respects? The panelists will also discuss hard-to-place coverage areas, such as intellectual property, including how these "hot to handle" law firms manage their exposure, and the options available to them in the traditional and nontraditional marketplace.

Panel Moderator: Victoria L. Orze, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Kristine Plickys, Assistant Vice President & Actuary, Chubb Group of Insurance Companies

Speaker: Janet M. Henderson, North American Professional Liability Underwriter, Brit Syndicates Limited

Speaker: Kim Pihlstrom, Senior Vice President and Product Manager, Lawyers’ Professional Liability, OneBeacon Professional Partners

Law firms, when defendants, must be alert to opportunities to reduce or even eliminate damage exposure. Reducing such exposure also requires an awareness of the techniques, and timely corrective or mitigating action. Relying on an unmotivated or unsophisticated legal malpractice claimant to take such action is an uncertain proposition, at best. This panel will discuss alternatives to passive file management by exploring various active measures that may be taken to reduce loss, such as self-help, intervention and take-over.

Panel Moderator: Tom Browne, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Joseph W. E. Schmitt, Esq., Managing Director, Bond & Financial Products Claims, Travelers

Speaker: Martin S. Checov, Esq., Partner and General Counsel, O'Melveny & Myers LLP

Mr. Johnson will explore and explain why the current law firm billing and profitability model doesn't work for firms and clients. His research underlies the new initiative by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC).

Speaker: John H. Johnson, IV, Vice President, National Economic Research Associates, Inc.

In response to suggestions by our attendees, this year we present a forum for law firm general counsel and risk management lawyers to explore topics of interest specific to their role and responsibilities. Issues covered by this panel of general counsel will be derived from topics and questions submitted in advance by conference attendees and advisors. Attendees of this session will also be encouraged to introduce additional topics for general discussion.

Panel Moderator: Edward J. Zulkey, General Counsel, Baker & McKenzie

Speaker: Kevin S. Rosen, Partner, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP

Speaker: Hope A. Comisky, Partner and Professional Responsibility Counsel, Pepper Hamilton LLP

Did you ever wonder "how did this case get into that lawyer's hands?" This panel comprised of plaintiff-side legal malpractice lawyers will explore the selection criteria and potential "red flags" that plaintiffs' lawyers may consider when taking a case. They will discuss issues and concepts such as "splitting the seams", covered versus uncovered claims, concomitant disciplinary proceedings, impact of potential breach of fiduciary duties, size and certainty of damages, consumer protection, collectability, lack of insurance, defendant's reputation, necessary experts, prior counsel, as well the potential fee and costs arrangements. This panel is sure tol provide a provocative interactive forum.

Panel Moderator: David P. Hartnett, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Elliot R. Schiff, Partner, Schiff, Gorman & Krkljes

Speaker: Robert B. Gould, Partner, The Law Offices of Robert B. Gould

The Internet allows lawyers and firms to send marketing messages to potential clients around the world. But such outreach creates potential problems as lawyers broaden their reach and strengthen their message to try to gain and retain clients. In this session, panelists will examine what lawyers are doing on the Internet, and how such activities create problems, including risking client confidences, impacting standards of care, creating potential liability that can be litigated in distant jurisdiction, and providing evidence against firms at trial.

Panel Moderator: Michael P. Downey, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Lucian T. Pera, Partner, Adams and Reese LLP

Speaker: Micah Buchdahl, President, HTMLawyers, Inc.

Sometimes, it seems that the numbers of lawyers changing firms on any one day exceeds the number of arrivals and departures at any airport. Every firm on the arriving or departing end of this process needs to strike a delicate balance between the rights and expectations of clients on the one hand, and the rights and ethical duties of individual lawyers and firms on the other. This panel will speak from experience about the available options and the consequences for those concerned.

Panel Moderator: Peter Jarvis, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: James M. Bergin, Partner, Morrison & Foerster LLP

Speaker: Ronald C. Minkoff, Esq., Partner, Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz PC

Speaker: Kelly Firment, Senior Associate General Counsel, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Momentous changes are on the horizon that may forever alter the way professional services are delivered. With a focus on legal services, this panel will look at three potentially paradigmatic changes: MJP - the continuing movement toward a licensure structure for lawyers that permits law practice across state lines; the implications of the Legal Services Act 2007 for American law firms if U.S. licensure rules do not change: and, the new client driven movement toward alternative billing structures – whether and why the breeze of the past may become a hurricane, and what will be left of the traditional law firm model if it does. The panel will invite extensive audience involvement in the discussion.

Panel Moderator: Anthony Davis, Partner, Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP

Speaker: Kirk A. Swanson, Managing Editor, The Bureau of National Affairs