In-House Roundtables: How Corporate Counsel are Managing Consumer Finance Claims/Class Actions, Compliance Challenges, and Enforcement Actions, Selecting and Working with Outside Counsel to Enhance the Client-Attorney Relationship, and

January 29, 2015 8:05am

Panel 1 | 8:05 – 9:15

Scott Murphy
Senior Counsel Consumer Lending and Corporate Regulatory Division
Wells Fargo & Co. Law Department

Robert Hardman
VP & Assistant General Counsel
JP Morgan Chase & Co.

Lisa Kolman Fleischer
General Counsel
Sallie Mae Bank

Rachel Mulchaey
Director and Counsel, Law Department
Comenity LLC, an Alliance Data Company

Thomas D. Graber
Vice President, Deputy General Counsel & Chief Litigation Counsel
CoreLogic

Bryan Wasmer Dempsey Esq, LEED AP
Vice President and Corporate Counsel
Bayview Loan Servicing, LLC

Panel 1 Moderator:

Michael D. Ferachi
Member
McGlinchey Stafford PLLC

Panel 2 | 9:15 – 10:25

Kevin S. Willen
Senior Vice President, Managing Director, Regulatory Services DC & Irvine
U.S. Bank

Bernadette Miragliotta
Senior Litigation Counsel, General Counsel’s Office
American Express

Brian Blake
Senior Counsel
MERSCORP Holdings, Inc.

Deborah G. Solmor
Vice President & Deputy General Counsel, Litigation
Career Education Corporation

Joseph T. Green
General Counsel
TCF Financial Corporation

John G. Short
EVP, Chief Compliance Officer & Governmental Affairs
Fortegra Financial Corporation

Panel 2 Moderator:

Robert T. Mowrey
Partner
Locke Lord LLP

  • Assessing the chief concerns of corporate counsel
  • Considerations when selecting outside counsel: Insights on banks’ selection process for the panel of defense counsel
  • Perspectives on the trend of pairing down the number of law firms with which a company engages
  • How in-house counsel are working to enhance their relationships with outside counsel
  • In-house counsel expectations of outside counsel
  • Advising outside counsel on how to better support in-house counsel
  • Top 5 issues that in-house counsel wants their outside counsel to be thinking about
  • How are their corporate law departments organized and what issues are unique to their companies?: How these unique issues affect the litigation that they face and their case management strategies
  • In-house and outside counsel perspectives on best practices after receiving a letter threatening litigation: Minimizing the costs and managing the logistics of document retention in this situation; How long potentially relevant documentation should be held on to; What do other corporate and outside counsel suggest/do in these situations?
  • Strategies corporate counsel use to manage litigation
  • How does managing and defending a large-scale case or class action differ from managing and defending a smaller case?
  • Lessons learned from past litigation: Minimizing your exposure to future litigation and better managing future litigation
  • Escalated complaints: Managing escalated complaints so as to avoid litigation
  • How financial institutions are adapting to new and emerging regulations and case law: What changes have been implemented and with what success?
  • What does corporate counsel find to be the most challenging aspects of revamping compliance procedures and policies in the wake of Dodd-Frank?
  • Managing and responding to government enforcement actions, investigations, and demands: What have corporate counsel experienced so far?; Lessons learned, pitfalls to avoid, and best practices going forward
  • Top 5 concerns of in-house counsel now and in the near-term
  • Management of third-party relationships and vendor oversight: Impact of the CFPB
  • Assessing creative and effective ways for corporate counsel to manage the fees defense counsel charge for class action work
  • The rise of the alternative fee arrangement: is it succeeding or fizzling out?
  • Corporate counsel insights into innovative billing arrangements that law firms have implemented: Successes and failures of such arrangements
  • How corporate counsel are responding to internal budgetary pressures
  • How capital requirements have impacted legal budgets
  • Internal and external cost-cutting: What has worked and what has not
  • In-house staffing solutions for stretched legal departments