2011 ANNUAL MEETING

Thursday, October 13 to Saturday, October 15, 2011
Park Hyatt, Washington, DC

Registration:  $1,075
First-time Attendee Registration:  $550
(available for members who have never attended an SCG meeting)

Internet and Branding:  Protecting Your Trademarks and Managing Your Client’s Brand Presence Online
This session will feature a discussion of Google’s AdWords program and issues related to trademark and copyright infringement of brand names including discussion of current efforts against the use of online tools to market counterfeit products.
Presiding: Cheryl Burtzel, McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore (Texas)
Presenters: Adam Barea, Google Senior Litigation Counsel
John Myers, Taylor McCaffrey (Manitoba)
Walter Scheuerl, Graf von Westphalen (Germany)
Internet and Branding:  Protecting Your Trademarks and Managing Your Client’s Brand Presence Online

The Future of the Legal Profession
This session will examine the extraordinary pressures under which the legal profession is operating today, including rapid technological change, increased competition, rising client demands, and a still-recovering economy, and the impact these developments are having on all firms, regardless of size or location.
Moderator: Bill Moreau, Barnes & Thornburg (Indiana)
Presenters: Gary Munneke, Pace University Law School
Stephen Younger, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler (New York, NY)

Issues and Developments in Drug Approval, Marketing and Liability
This session will highlight current issues and the latest developments in Latin America, North America and the European Union affecting the regulation of pharmaceuticals, including clinical trials and the drug approval process, intellectual property law protection of pharmaceutical research, and off-label promotion, kickbacks, and illegal marketing practices. 
Presiding: Penny Hobbs, McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore (Texas)
Moderator: Bill Stilling, Parsons Behle & Latimer (Utah)
Presenters: Ralph Breitfeller, Kegler, Brown, Hill & Ritter (Ohio)
Patrick Duxbury, Wragge & Co (London, England)
Jose Alberto Campos Vargas, Sanchez DeVanny (Mexico)
Susan Winckler, Food and Drug Law Institute
Overview of Drug Regulation in Europe

Alternatives to Formal Bankruptcy (Insolvency) Proceedings
Practitioners from across the globe will discuss strategies for handling debt and alternatives to formal bankruptcy proceedings for corporate clients.  Topics will include sales of notes, loan workouts and forbearances, assignments for the benefit of creditors, receiverships and foreclosures, asset sales, workouts with creditors, and dissolution.  Differences among state court, U.S. and international bankruptcy court practices will also be highlighted.
Moderator: Jeffrey Cooper, Carella, Byrne, Cecchi, Olstein, Brody & Agnello (New Jersey)
Presenters: William Ballmann, Cobbetts (Manchester, England)
Deirdre Brown, McGinnis, Lochridge & Kilgore (Texas)
Kim Tyson, Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe (Colorado)
Florian Wolff, Graf von Westphalen (Germany)
Alternatives to Formal Insolvency in England & Wales
Exploring Non-Bankruptcy Alternatives
Alternatives to Bankruptcy
Alternatives to Formal Insolvency Bankruptcy Proceedings in Germany

State of Patent Law in the U.S. and Europe
This session will explore the likely impacts of the long-awaited America Invents Act, signed into law on September 16, 2011.  Will the Act drive U.S. and international economic recovery?  What will patent law reform mean for U.S. Patent and Trademark Office policies and our clients?  The governmental affairs director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and leading industry insiders will share their first impressions.
Moderator: Bennett Berson, Quarles & Brady (Wisconsin)
Alasdair Poore, Mills & Reeve (Cambridge, England)
Albert Tramposch, USPTO 
Roy Zwahlen, Biotechnology Industry Organization
AIA Table

Sustainable Investing and Lending in the 21st Century
Sustainable investing factors environmental sustainability, social responsibility and corporate governance into investment analysis, stock selection and active ownership practices, in the belief that these elements can improve long-term risk management.  This session will explore this approach and highlight how the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation finances private sector investment in emerging markets and provides climate, carbon and concessional finance for such projects.
Moderator: John Lain, McGuireWoods (Virginia)
Presenter: Kruskaia Sierra-Escalante  

Big Money and Big Risk:  Building and Operating Power Plants in 2011
The electric power industry faces a list of staggering and often conflicting objectives – capital, regulatory and environmental – as it seeks to build for America’s needs in the 21st century.  Industry experts examine the challenges ahead and highlight some of the solutions being proffered.
Moderator: Richard Lehfeldt, Dickstein Shapiro (Washington, DC)
Presenters: Richard Glick, Iberdrola Renewables
Debra Raggio, GenOn 
Judah Rose, ICF 

Recruiting, Retaining and Motivating Attorneys:  What Works, What Doesn’t, and Why
Member firm attorneys from across the globe will share their perspectives and offer practical insights regarding some of the most challenging issues facing law firm management today, including criteria for promoting associates to partner, managing associate expectations regarding partnership, structuring flexible work arrangement, and implementing and managing alternative attorney classifications and compensation systems.
Moderator: K.C. Groves, Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe (Colorado)
Presenters: Peter Coyle, Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren (Minnesota)
Mark Dunphy, Hall & Wilcox (Melbourne, Australia)
Benchmarks Criteria Extending Offer to Purchase Shares

Outlook for State-level Policy Initiatives
This session will focus on issues expected to loom large in state capitals next year, with special attention given to initiatives being advanced by state chief legal officers.
Moderator: Divonne Smoyer, Dickstein Shapiro (Washington, DC)
Presenters: Antigone Davis, Maryland Attorney General Senior Advisor
Keith Krom, AT&T Services 
James McPherson, National Association of Attorneys General 
Omar Vargas, PepsiCo