Presentations
Managing the Risk of Lateral Partner Hiring
More than ever, law firms are relying on lateral recruiting as a primary strategy for increasing revenue. Unfortunately, many lateral hires fail to meet expectations. Studies show that up to 38% of lateral hires leave within five years, and more than 40% are “unsuccessful.” In a competitive and crowded market, how can it be determined whether a lateral candidate’s promised book of business is truly portable? What can be done to ensure a lateral partner hire is accurately representing his or her client relationships, and what the likelihood is that the business will follow? This session will examine the risks facing law firms in relation to their lateral hiring practices. It will also provide tested solutions to help firms increase the likelihood of success when hiring laterally. 
Moderator: Wayne Egan, Managing Partner, WeirFoulds LLP (Ontario, Canada)
Presenters: Karoline Jackson, General Counsel, Barnes & Thornburg LLP (Indiana)
Michael Ellenhorn, Co-Founder & General Counsel, Decipher
Managing the Risk of Lateral Partner Hiring

The State of the Legal Market: Views from the Corner Office
One of the more pervasive assumptions about the legal market in recent years has been that firms like those of which SCG Legal is composed cannot compete with larger firms for client business. However, last year demonstrated that firms like ours can find growth and that client-driven factors, such as keeping expenses low, fees competitive and staffing levels in check, can benefit SCG Legal firms to an even greater degree in the future. In this session, law firm leaders from across the network will describe the strategies they’ve deployed to achieve market-leading growth and what they’re doing now to make sure their firms’ financial prospects remain strong.
Moderator: Lisa Borsook, Executive Partner, WeirFoulds LLP (Ontario, Canada)
Presenters: Justin Ripman, Senior Partner, Mills & Reeve LLP (England)
Guillermo de la Rosa Stolk, Managing Partner, Torres Plaz & Araujo (Venezuela)
Erica Tarpey, Managing Director, Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe PC (Colorado)

The #MeToo Movement & the Law
The last several years have exposed the ubiquity of sexual harassment and violence in virtually every type of workplace, leading to a larger public discussion about workplace harassment and discrimination and broader questions of gender and racial equity. This session will examine legal strategies to address discrimination and harassment, including in the legal industry. It will also provide an overview of measures that have been taken by the broader business community to address issues of harassment, gender and racial equity. 
Moderator: Kelley Duke, Director, Ireland Stapleton Pryor & Pascoe PC (Colorado), SCG Legal Secretary
Presenters: Lisa Cleary, Managing Partner, Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP (New York City)
Felicity Fowler, Partner, McGinnis Lochridge LLP (Texas) 
James Mintz, Founder & CEO, Mintz Group (New York City)
Anti-Sexual Harassment Requirements in the Post #MeToo Workplace
Arbitration Back on the Table: NY State Ban on Compelled Arbitration of Sexual Harassment Claims Rolled Back
Investigations of Sexual Harassment Arise
It’s the Law: New York State Expands Workplace Protections Against Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Discrimination
Sexual Misconduct: Lesson Learned from Investigations in the Workplace
The #MeToo Movement Marches On
Time’s Up: New York Legislature Passes Sweeping Reform to Increase Workplace Protections Against Sexual Harassment and Other Forms of Discrimination

Understanding Smart Contracts & How They Work
Smart contracts, powered by blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, are gaining traction in mature industries. DLT systems are being piloted or used in live applications in financial services, capital markets, payment settlements, and a range of other industry sectors. This suite of technologies has been touted as an alternative to existing legal systems, the savior of privacy, the death knell for the legal profession, and everything in between. Or is this just a hammer looking for a nail? This session will examine what “smart contracts” are, whether they are enforceable, regulatory treatment of the technology, and how smart contracts fit into the matrix of legal relationships within blockchain and distributed ledger technology ecosystems.
Moderator: Paul Plunkett, Shareholder, Larkin Hoffman Daly & Lindgren Ltd. (Minnesota)
Presenters: Duane Pozza, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP (District of Columbia)
Richard Stobbe, Lawyer, Trademark Agent & Certified Licensing Professional, Field Law LLP (Alberta, Canada)
Understanding Smart Contracts and How They Work

Recruiting, Retaining & Motivating Attorneys: What Works, What Doesn’t & Why
As the number of law firm dissolutions and partnership defections continue to rise, questions occur about whether firms are recruiting the right kind of lawyers the right way, providing the right combination of incentives to maintain their loyalty and applying the right kind of compensation models to reward them. This session will focus on 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 arrangements, and implementing and managing alternative attorney classifications and compensation systems.
Moderator: Celeste Bruce, Partner, Rifkin Weiner Livingston LLC (Maryland)
Presenters: Norman Snyder, Managing Partner & Chair, Taylor McCaffrey LLP (Manitoba, Canada)
Charles Vernon, Managing Partner, Vernon | David (Romania)
Sherilyn Burnett Young, Founder & Shareholder, Rath Young & Pignatelli PC (New Hampshire)
Business Plan Form
Summary Review Form
Reference Questions
Annual Review Process Summary Memo

Trade Policy & U.S. National Security in the Trump Era
Almost no country in the world has as strong an influence on the multilateral trading system as the United States. But with the withdrawal of the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the renegotiation of the trade agreements with Mexico and Canada and South Korea, the blocking of the appointment of the members of the appellate body of the World Trade Organization, the tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as the escalating tariff spiral between the United States and China and the laser-sharp focus on national security, the Trump administration has clearly broken with the traditional liberal policies of its predecessors. This session will examine the potential effects on the global economy of the administration’s imposition of tariffs and retaliatory tariffs, as well as the toll its trade policy behavior is taking on the reputation of the United States as a reliable trading partner. In addition, the presenters will cover the expanded jurisdiction and reach of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States and the surge of national security legislative activity that will increase the cost of many U.S. inbound investments.
Moderator: Thomas Bähler, Partner, Kellerhals Carrard (Switzerland)
Presenters: Timothy Brightbill, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP (District of Columbia)
Richard Sofield, Partner, Wiley Rein LLP (District of Columbia)
Important Changes to the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States and US Export Controls
Trade Policy & U.S. National Security in the Trump Era

What’s Weighing Most on the Minds of Today’s In-house Counsel?
The scope of every in-house counsel’s responsibilities is expanding exponentially, encompassing everything from globalization to data privacy and cybersecurity to the proliferation of regulations across agencies and jurisdictions around the globe. This session will feature a discussion among several leading in-house attorneys about the surge in the number of issues with which they have to deal – and what law firms can do to help their in-house clients keep up.
Moderator: Thad Morgan, Partner, Fraser Trebilcock Davis & Dunlap PC (Michigan), SCG Legal Vice Chairman
Presenters: John Albright, Chief Legal Officer & Corporate Secretary, HUB International Limited (Chicago, Illinois)
James Banks, Jr., General Counsel, Society for Human Resource Management (Alexandria, Virginia)
Regina Hopper, Senior Vice President of Global Public Policy, Gridsmart Technologies (Washington, DC)

A Forty-Five Year Watergate Retrospective
This year marks the 45^th anniversary of Richard Nixon’s resignation from the presidency of the United States, which ultimately led to the ensuing debate over the proper role of the American presidency and highlighted the necessity of the rule of law in controlling that most individual of government branches – the executive. Modern history’s two most highly regarded investigative journalists will share the benefit of their firsthand experiences covering Watergate for The Washington Post and their current views regarding the separation of powers, executive privilege, impeachment and the impact of press scrutiny on today’s presidency.
Presenters: Carl Bernstein, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist, Author, & Political Analyst, CNN
Bob Woodward, Pulitzer Prize Winning Journalist, Author & Associate Editor, The Washington Post