Timesavers guide to the ARMA and ACC conferences

It's that time of year again: the conference season for corporate secretaries and general counsels is in full swing. This year it seems technology, records and information management are among the key governance issues getting some well-deserved attention.  This is your opportunity to learn more from attending one or two conferences in a year than all the books, law classes and websites you can read in one month.

Mid-month kick-off

The Association of Records Managers and Administrators (ARMA) International, a non-profit professional association, will be holding its 56th Annual Conference & Expo on October 17-19 at the Gaylord National Hotel & Conference Center. The conference will feature more than 80 education programs presented by experts in the legal, IT and information management industries, as well as an Expo Hall boasting more than 200 top-tier exhibitors showcasing the latest offerings from technology to data retention and storage.

Corporate secretaries have an opportunity to gain new insights into the intersection of information governance, new technologies and cutting-edge and real-world solutions to information governance, says Diane Carlisle, deputy executive director of content development at ARMA. The conference track is much more varied and includes additional perspectives on information governance issues such as business continuity and practical methods, among others.

Venue

Located eight miles from Washington, DC, the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center caters to the needs of business executives. The hotel is scenically situated at the National Harbor in Prince Georges County, and offers guests a convenient shuttle service to Washington, DC and Ronald Reagan National Airport. Water taxis to various locations, including Old Town Alexandria, VA, are also available.

Bonus tip: The spa at the convention center offers a choice of 12 treatment rooms and a jacuzzi, all overlooking the Potomac River.

Who's who
While some corporate secretaries and general counsel will be in attendance, the conference is open to record managers, analysts, information technology experts, developers, industry consultants, attorneys, legal assistants and chief information officers. Industries that will be in attendance include financial services, energy, education and government.

Must-attend sessions

What are the regulations governing electronic records? How long do you have to store documents for? What is discoverable in court? These are some of the questions conference organizers say are on your minds this year.

The special interest session, Discovery in a virtual world: a mock meet and confer in Federal Court allows attendees to eavesdrop on the pre-hearing Rule 26(f) Discovery Planning Conference negotiations, and then listen to counsel for both parties and their designated client representatives ask the judge to rule on contentious issues involving the preservation and production of electronically stored corporate information, including cloud-based resources, web pages, social media profiles and tweets.

Self-directed custodial legal holds: rolling the dice addresses the potential risk of relying on custodians to find and turn over all potentially responsive electronically stored information, especially emails. Plus, as information moves to a cloud environment, there is a need to understand where it is going and how to manage it in its new environment. Learn how the emerging technologies and tools allow for information management at Clouded records: storing records in the cloud.

Sticking with new technologies, cyber security is now very much on the government's radar. Learn the risk-management and legal challenges in data privacy and information security at the session Data leaks and spills: information security and privacy. Finally, get to grips with how search technologies work at E-discovery search tools and techniques for RIM professionals. Discover ways to prepare proactively, solve the problems of complex discovery, improve corporate records and information management performance, and reduce litigation expenses.

This exceptional event is a joint effort of ARMA International and International Legal Technology Association, combining the organizations joint expertise in legal technology, information policy and information governance, Carlisle says.
 
On to ACC

If the ARMA conference isn't enough to quench your intellectual curiosity, four days later the Association of Corporate Counsel's (ACC) Annual Meeting 2011 convenes in Denver on October 23-26 at the Colorado Convention Center. Well known for its perfect space and atmosphere as part of the city's downtown scene, the convention center's headquarter hotel for the event is the Hyatt Regency Denver.   

Global appeal

Learn, share, grow is the theme for this year's ACC conference. This is the only place where corporate counsel can earn a year's worth of continuing legal experience/continuing professional development (CLE/CPD) credit in just three days. Take advantage of more than 30 hours of available time for networking, and gather information from the more than 100 law firms and legal service providers that attend. With more than 3,000 participants from all over the world attending the networking events, exhibits and programs, registrants will be surrounded by opportunities to interact with peers and increase their legal knowledge.

Opening remarks

ACC represents corporate secretaries in their role as primary liaisons to the board and has developed programs to better serve them. The meeting begins on Sunday evening with a general networking and welcome reception for attendees. There will be many high-profile speakers and participants among the more than 100 continuing legal educational sessions, including Monday's kick-off, the ACC Chair's Choice.

This program will be streamed live via webcast and will focus on liability for corporate misconduct as part of a top-tier forum on the scrutiny in-house counsel face. The session will be moderated by J Alberto Gonzalez-Pita, executive vice president and general counsel of HCP.  

Tuesday's lunch session will feature a conversation with Allstate's executive vice president and general counsel, Michele Coleman Mayes, who will address the challenges of being a woman and senior executive at a large company. Stories of how other female general counsel at Fortune 500 companies rose to the top will also be shared.

This session, which will also be streamed live via webcast, will be followed by a variety of governance-related programs that offer best practices for communicating changes to corporate stakeholders, the latest whistleblower and retaliation claim trends under Dodd-Frank, Sarbanes-Oxley and other federal and state employment laws.  

Key sessions

After a multiyear deliberation, the SEC issued new proxy access rules governing shareholder participation in the process of board governance. As soon as the rules were announced, litigation ensued in the DC Circuit Court. Depending on the outcome of that litigation, companies will need to develop a streamlined internal process for dealing with dissident board nominees and slates from hostile investors. The session, Proxy access timeline, will provide a step-by-step guide to how to approach that effort.

Trying to manage projects, internal resources, external resources, budgets and deadlines is a daunting task for everyone. When your company relies on you to manage it all under budget, what do you need in your toolbox to ensure success for all stakeholders? The Outside counsel management – project management for in-house counsel workshop's panelists will provide an overview of legal project management techniques, plus tools you can use, war stories and – most importantly – engaging discussion of best practices.