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New Jersey Intellectual Property Law Association (NJIPLA)
11.30 AM – 12:00 PM Registration
12:00 PM – 12.45 PM Lunch
12.45 PM – 1.45 PM Candor, Disclosure & OEDWilliam Covey, Deputy General Counsel for Enrollment and Discipline
1.45 PM – 2.45 PM Cases in Negotiation EthicsCases and Ethical Rules Relating To:
2:45 PM – 3:00 PM Refreshment Break
3:00 PM – 4:00 PM Conflicts of Interest in Patent Litigation, Opinion Practice, and ProsecutionProfessor David Hricik, Professor of Law, Mercer Law School
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM Contracting Away Legal Ethics: The Battle between Law Firm Engagement Letters and Outside Counsel Guidelines – What’s Left of the Rules of Professional Conduct?
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, it was generally believed (and maybe it was true?) that lawyers had complete control over the terms of the relationships with their clients. But in today's world - at least where corporate clients are concerned - that belief is utterly belied by the reality that corporate clients and not lawyers define and control every aspect of the attorney-client relationship. And it's not just about fee and billing arrangements - how the client is defined (corporate families), what constitutes a "conflict" (and when - if ever - they will be waived), demands for indemnification, "most favored nation" clauses, choice of ethics rules, selection and oversight of vendors and outsource service providers, are just some of the areas that clients seek to dictate the terms of the relationship to their outside counsel. This presentation will address the ways in which these and other outside counsel guidelines present both ethical dilemmas and other risks to law firms and their clients – and what (if anything) law firms can – and in some instances, should – and what both law firms and their clients should do to make the terms of their relationships operate on a more fair and-even handed basis, and for their mutual benefit.
Anthony Davis, Hinshaw Culbertson