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| 2009 Conference Schedule |
| 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. |
Welcome Reception
The
Westin Chicago River North, Ember
Grille
Sponsored by Liberty International Underwriters
|
| 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. |
Registration and Continental Breakfast
Sponsored by InOutsource, Inc.
|
| 9:00 – 9:20 a.m. |
The Year in Review – Introduction
Conference Chairman: Ronald E. Mallen
|
| 9:20 – 10:20 a.m. |
Guess Where You Are Being Sued – Bankruptcy Court
Bankruptcy trustees are bringing many financially
significant lawsuits against major law firms. This
panel of experienced trial lawyers will examine the
recent decisions and discuss 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
Speaker: Charles A. Gilman
Speaker: John K. Villa
|
| 10:20 – 11:15 a.m. |
What You Need to Know About Developments in Litigating Legal Malpractice Claims
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
Speaker: David J. Beck
Speaker: Nancy Jane Marshall
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| 11:15 – 11:30 a.m. |
Break
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| 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
Beyond the Basics – Selecting and Using Expert Witnesses
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, 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 insights for selecting the right expert.
Panel Moderator: Frances M. O’Meara
Speaker: Robert C. Baker
Speaker: W. William Hodes
|
| 12:30 – 1:45 p.m. |
Conference Lunch
Sponsored by Integration Appliance, Inc. |
| 1:45 – 2:45 p.m. |
Insurance Law – Prior Knowledge and Additional Negligence Claims
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
Speaker: Jeffrey Goode
Speaker: Robert Irish
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| 2:45 – 3:45 p.m. |
Statutory Causes of Action – Consumer Protection Statutes
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
Speaker: Mark E. Ellis
Speaker: Barbara A. Sinsley
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| 3:45 – 4:00 p.m. |
Break
|
| 4:00 – 4:45 p.m. |
Can I Say What Really Happened?
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.
The panelists 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: J. Richard Supple, Jr.
Speaker: James J. Grogan
Speaker: Ellen A. Pansky
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| 4:45 – 5:30 p.m. |
Stump the Panel
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
|
| 6:30 p.m. |
Conference Dinner
Sponsored by Chubb
|
| 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. |
Continental Breakfast
Sponsored by Elite, a Thomson Reuters business
|
| 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. |
In the Spotlight – The Exposure of Patent Lawyers
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
Speaker: Pamela A. Bresnahan
Speaker: John J. Steele
|
| 10:00 – 10:15 a.m. |
Break
|
| 10:15 – 11:30 a.m. |
The Insurance Marketplace
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 respect? 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
Speaker: Janet M. Henderson
Speaker: Kim Pihlstrom
|
| 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. |
How to Mitigate Your Damage Exposure as a Defendant
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: Thomas L. Browne
Speaker: Martin S. Checov
Speaker: Joseph W. E. Schmitt
|
| 12:30 – 1:45 p.m. |
Keynote Luncheon – The Debate Over the Billable Hour: A Rigorous Look at Competing Law Firm Profitability Models
Lunch Sponsored
by Lockton
John H. Johnson, IV, Vice President of National Economic Research Associates, Inc. will discuss the continuing debate over the legal profession's billable hour. He will explore and examine why the law firm billing and profitability model doesn't work for firms and clients in today's marketplace. His research underlies the new initiative by the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC).
Speaker: John H. Johnson, IV
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| 1:45 – 3:15 p.m. |
The General Counsel Forum
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
Speaker: Hope A. Comisky
Speaker: Kevin S. Rosen
|
| 3:15 – 3:30 p.m. |
Break
|
| 3:30 – 4:30 p.m. |
Plaintiff’s Perspective – Red Flags and Selection Criteria
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
Speaker: Robert B. Gould
Speaker: Elliot R. Schiff
|
| 8:00 – 9:00 a.m. |
Continental Breakfast
Sponsored by Legalbill
|
| 9:00 – 10:00 a.m. |
Risk Management and Electronic Advertising – Websites and E-mail
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
Speaker: Micah Buchdahl
Speaker: Lucian T. Pera
|
| 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. |
Going, Going, Gone: Lawyers Who Leave and the Firms Left Behind
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
Speaker: James M. Bergin
Speaker: Kelly Firment
Speaker: Ronald C. Minkoff
|
| 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. |
On the Horizon – MJP, The Regulation of Legal Services,
and the Movement Toward Alternative Billing
Momentous changes are on the horizon that may alter
forever the way in which professional services generally,
and legal services in particular, are delivered.
This panel will look at three of these potentially
paradigmatic changes: (1) the continuing movement
toward, the need for, and the implications of a
licensure structure for lawyers that permits law
practice across state lines (MJP); (2) the implications
of the Legal Services Act 2007 for American law firms
- and how the American legal profession might establish
a national regulatory structure in order to remain
globally competitive; and (3) the new, client driven
movement toward alternative billing structures:
whether (and why) the breeze of the past may be about
to become a hurricane, and what will be left of the
traditional law firm model if it does. After introducing
these topics, the panel will invite extensive audience
involvement in the discussion.
Panel Moderator: Anthony Davis
Speaker: Gillian Hadfield
Speaker: Michael Roster
Speaker: Kirk A. Swanson
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APRL
BNA
CHUBB
Elite
Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP
IntApp
InOutsource
Lawyers for the Profession ®
Legalbill
Liberty International Underwriters
Lockton
Paragon
West
Westin Chicago River North Hotel
320 North Dearborn
Chicago, Illinois
1-800-Westin-1 or 312-744-1900
1.0 Days of Legal Malpractice
0.5 Day of Crossover Topics
1.0 Days of Risk Management
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