Compliance, boardroom, deals, employment and AICumplimiento, consejo, deals, laboral y AI
A hotline report alleges that the CFO approved fake invoices. Who should run the investigation?
Independence follows seniority of the person implicated; when senior management is involved, the board's committee owns the inquiry.La independencia depende del nivel de la persona implicada; cuando la alta dirección está involucrada, el comité del consejo es dueño de la investigación.
Class 5; hotline triage lab
Which fact most strengthens a company's position with prosecutors evaluating its compliance program after a violation?
Prosecutors ask whether the program is well designed, applied in good faith and works in practice.Los fiscales preguntan si el programa está bien diseñado, se aplica de buena fe y funciona en la práctica.
DOJ Evaluation of Corporate Compliance Programs; U.S.S.G. § 8B2.1
The general counsel presents a $40 million litigation settlement recommendation to the board. The best format is:
BLUF for the board: the ask, the risk, the recommendation; the minutes then show an informed decision.BLUF para el consejo: la petición, el riesgo, la recomendación; las actas muestran después una decisión informada.
Class 6; board presentation simulations
During diligence, the buyer's team finds that the target's largest customer contract terminates automatically on a change of control. This is:
The quarterback's job is to surface the findings that change the deal, not to summarize the data room.El trabajo del quarterback es sacar a la luz los hallazgos que cambian el deal, no resumir el data room.
Class 7; due diligence war room
The vendor's draft MSA caps its liability at one month of fees and excludes all consequential damages, including for data breaches. The playbook position is a twelve-month cap with a breach carve-out. What do you send back?
Negotiate from the playbook: preferred position, carve-outs, cover note; escalate only if the vendor refuses the fallback.Negocia desde el playbook: posición preferida, excepciones, nota de portada; escala solo si el proveedor rechaza la alternativa.
Class 8; MSA playbook exercise
A manager wants to fire an at-will employee for poor performance the week after she requested medical leave. The termination checklist says:
At-will answers whether you may; the checklist answers whether a jury will believe the reason.At-will responde si puedes; la checklist responde si un jurado creerá la razón.
Class 9; termination checklist lab
A junior lawyer uses a generative AI tool to draft a brief and files it without checking the citations; two cases do not exist. Under ABA Opinion 512 and Texas Opinion 705, the lawyer:
Verify every citation; the error is the lawyer's. The policy drafted in class 10 should say so in one sentence.Verifica cada cita; el error es del abogado. La política redactada en la clase 10 debe decirlo en una oración.
ABA Formal Op. 512; Tex. Ethics Op. 705
The CEO mentions to a hedge fund manager at a dinner that the quarter will miss guidance. Under Regulation FD the company must:
Regulation FD: intentional selective disclosure must be made public simultaneously; unintentional, promptly. Inside counsel polices executives' conversations.Regulación FD: la revelación selectiva intencional debe hacerse pública al mismo tiempo; la no intencional, con prontitud. El abogado interno vigila las conversaciones de los ejecutivos.
17 C.F.R. § 243.100
Under a plan adopted in good faith without material nonpublic information, an insider's prearranged trades carry an affirmative defense to charges.
Cooling-off periods and disclosure rules were tightened in 2022.Los periodos de espera y las reglas de revelación se endurecieron en 2022.
List the elements an AI use policy for a legal department should contain, in one paragraph.
AnswerRespuesta: Approved tools by tier and data type; a prohibition on entering privileged, personal, trade-secret or material nonpublic information into tools not approved for it; mandatory human review and verification of outputs, especially citations; informed client consent where required; disclosure where a court, client or assignment requires it; vendor terms on training, retention and access; supervision of staff and tools; no billing for time saved; an owner, training, an incident path and periodic review; and a one-sentence statement of the Heppner rule that a public AI chat is a third party.
- approved tools and data tiers
- prohibited inputs
- verification of outputs
- consent and disclosure
- vendor terms
- supervision and fees
- governance: owner, training, incidents, review
- Heppner rule