Registration

Continental Breakfast

Wednesday Breakfast Sponsor

More Trouble Than They’re Worth?: The (In)Effectiveness of Restrictive Covenants

Are restrictive covenants dead? Should they be? This panel will discuss the FTC’s proposed rule banning non-compete agreements, and the implications of state legislation severely restricting the use of non-compete and other restrictive covenants. Panelists will weigh the arguments for and against various restrictive covenants employers can utilize to combat unfair competition, and review drafting considerations, particularly for remote workers.

Moderator:

• Alyson Palmer, Corporate Counsel, Google

Panelists:

• Janice Sued Agresti, Associate Attorney, Cozen O’Connor
• Lauren Mutti, Senior Vice President, Labor & Employment Counsel, Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits
• Charles H. Wilson, Partner, Jackson Lewis P.C.

Materials:

• More Trouble Than They Are Worth

Speaker bios:

• Bio - Alyson Palmer
• Bio - Janice Sued-Agresti
• Bio - Charles H. Wilson

Session Survey:

• Share your feedback

Morning Break

Traditional Labor Law (Breakout #1)

Whether it is national campaigns to organize workers or the NLRB’s approach to captive audience meetings, the Joy Silk standard, misclassification and gig worker employment status, joint employment or the NLRB’s potential monitoring of your monitoring of employees, traditional labor law is in a state of upheaval. This panel will cover the most noteworthy developments from the last year and will provide information on what may be on the horizon for the rest of 2023.

Moderator:

• Bill Stovall, Director of Labor and Employee Relations, US/Canada Supply Chain, Ingredion Incorporated

Panelists:

• Tiffany S. Fordyce, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig, LLP
• Jason C. Kim, Partner, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LLP
• Tracey R. Wallace, Partner, Jackson Lewis P.C.

Influencing the Labor and Employment Legislative and Regulatory Process Through Advocacy and Litigation (Breakout #2)

Every year new legislation and regulation is passed that can have profound impact on our clients and their industries. As labor and employment lawyers, our unique expertise and perspective enable us to provide invaluable insight and counsel to our clients regarding how proposed legislation/regulation could impact their employees, their workplace, and their business and employment strategies. This panel will offer a view from veterans of the legislative and rulemaking process, and how we, as advocates, can help educate legislators, staff, and lobbyists on behalf of our clients. Topics will include: best practices from insiders; identifying opportunities to raise these issues with clients; strategies for influencing successful outcomes; working with trade associations; and when the best strategy may require litigation on behalf of a client or an industry

Moderator:

• Asad Rizvi, Senior Counsel, Labor & Employment, Panasonic Corporation of North America

Panelists:

• Cristina Angelo, Principal, Ferox Strategies
• Anthony J. Bejarano, Associate General Counsel, Los Angeles Unified School District
• William Ng, Shareholder, Littler Mendelson, P.C.

Lunch/Keynote and Q&A with - Jay Jamrog

Keynote Speaker

Jay Jamrog, Futurist & Co-Founder, i4CP

Jay is a futurist and has devoted the past 25 years to identifying and analyzing the major issues and trends affecting the management of people in organizations. Currently, Jay and the i4cp research team follow demographic, social, economic, technological, political, legal and management trends across 20+ broad human capital topics.

Over the years, he has helped some of the most innovative organizations gain a deeper understanding of the world's changing business environment and has helped them think strategically about today's actions and tomorrow's plans.

Wednesday Lunch Sponsor

Materials:

• Future of work

Post-Lunch Break

In-House Counsel Only Breakout (Breakout #3)

Electronic Evidence Issues In The Modern Era: Laying A Foundation For Trial (Breakout #4)

Whether you are a trial lawyer, aspiring trial lawyer, or have no interest in seeing the inside of a courtroom, capturing electronic data and taking steps to ensure its admissibility is more important now than ever. This unique program will help our members learn practical tips to target, gather, and preserve relevant eDiscovery, including ESI and Social Media, in order to ensure efficient and cost-effective fact-finding. We will also discuss the various litigation challenges facing the defense bar during the discovery and pre-trial stages and how to best position yourself to persuade the court to give you the information you need to develop your themes and support your theories of the case. We will then discuss how presenting evidence to the fact finder has evolved in recent years, admissibility and authentication challenges, and how to best use eDiscovery to tell the most persuasive story at trial.

Panelists:

• Gary Lafayette, Owner, Lafayette & Kumagai LLP
• Marjorie Clara Soto Garcia, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP
• Kimberly J. Duplechain, eDiscovery Counsel and Shareholder, Littler Mendelson P.C.

Afternoon Break

Conversation With The Federal Regulators

This can’t miss feature panel will present to the NELC body the senior leaders of the federal agencies which address the critical issues covered by our work on behalf of employers. During this session we will hear from these leaders insight into the directions their agencies have and will be taking on the issues confronting our clients/institutions. A must attend session presenting a rare opportunity to hear the collective voice of the federal government.

Moderator:

• Darrell Gay, Partner, Labor and Employment Group, ArentFox Schiff LLP

Panelists:

• Jennifer A. Abruzzo, General Counsel, The National Labor Relations Board
• Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Justice
• Seema Nanda, Solicitor of Labor, U.S. Department of Labor
• Diana Sen Northeast Region Director Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP)
• Jocelyn Samuels, Vice-Chair, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Break to Prep for Reception

Reception

Continental Breakfast/Roundtable Discussions

At 8:30 a.m. the roundtable discussions will begin. There will be six small group discussions related to substantive labor & employment issues, as well general topics on best practices. Each discussion will be led by two NELC Rising Stars - an in-house and an outside counsel. Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in three of these small group discussions. This is not only a great way to become better informed about a topic of interest but also it will enable you to engage with several of your fellow NELC members.

Roundtable Topics:

• Investigations In The Evolving Workplace
• Will ChatGPT Make My Job Obsolete?! - The Future of Lawyering In Our New Artificial Intelligence World
• Employee Monitoring & Privacy
• Business Development & Client Communications
• Point/Counterpoint -Benefits of Going Into The Office vs. Why I Do Not Think I Need to Go Into the Office
• Evaluating Your Career

Roundtable Leaders:

• Eniola Akinrinade, Senior Labor & Employment Counsel, Genesys
• Michael Chropowicz, Senior Associate, Michael Best & Friedrich LLP
• Inya Baiye, Vice President & Assistant General Counsel | Human Resources Law, JPMorgan Chase
• Daveante Jones, Associate, Wright Lindsey & Jennings LLP
• Alice Brathwaite, Senior Director, Litigation, Product Risk and IP/Brand Management, Upwork
• Nasim Khansari, Associate, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
• Iman Wells, Counsel, Nukk-Freeman & Cerra, P.C.
• Eric Mackie, Labor & Employment Associate, Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
• Jenna Kim, Assistant General Counsel – Human Resources Law, JPMorgan Chase
• Moses Tincher, Associate, Troutman Pepper
• Delonie Plummer, Assistant General Counsel, New York University

Wage and Hour Hot Topics- Newest Trends & Upcoming Issues

Most employment counselors and litigators need a solid understanding of wage-and-hour regulations. But as employers grow their footprint across the country and employees change their relationship to work, it has become even more important for us to grasp the nuances of the wage-and-hour landscape across America. Whether it is ensuring compliance or defending litigation, our experts’ discussion of trends and upcoming issues will give you the tools needed to steer your clients in the right direction.

Some of the topics we will discuss this year include:

• Pay transparency legislation;
• The Fifth Circuit’s Swales decision and its impact on FLSA certification;
• Notable state-specific changes in the law (e.g. California meal premiums, New York tip credit, etc.);
• Pay equity developments; and
• Update on the DOL’s proposed independent contractor rule.

Moderator:

• Hisham Masri, Employment Counsel, Flowserve Corporation.

Panelists:

• Shareef Farag, Labor & Employment Partner, Baker Hostetler
• Nina Huerta, Partner, Lock Lorde LLP
• Ruthie White, Partner/ Labor & Employment Co-Chair, Spencer Fane LLP

Lunch Feature Panel: Mental Health Awareness And Well-Being For Attorneys

Attorneys are expected to always maintain a steadfast, professional exterior while working in high pressure environments, regardless of what they may be going through personally or mentally. Because of the often unrealistic expectations placed on the legal profession, an attorney, their colleagues, their clients and even their friends and family tend to overlook or ignore the mental health struggles an attorney may be experiencing that the attorney themselves may be going to great lengths to hide from others. As a result, these mental health issues may go unrecognized and untreated. This powerful panel brings this critically important issue to the forefront and includes panelists willing to share their own mental health struggles and what they did, and continue to do to address and overcome them. This panel will be moderated by a clinical psychotherapist, whose practice focuses on attorneys. This panel will also address: (1) the signs of developing or ongoing mental health issues for the attorneys and supervisor to be aware of; (2) the potential personal and professional consequences of ignoring mental health in the legal profession; (3) the benefits of timely addressing mental health issues; and (4) the resources available to attorneys to address their mental health issues.

Moderator:

• Jessie Joachim LPC, LCPC, Senior Counselor, District of Columbia Bar

Panelists:

• Pedro Jaime Torres-Díaz, Partner, Jackson Lewis P.C.
• Michelle Pretlow Thomas, Senior Counsel, Employee Benefits, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan
• Quang Trang, Associate General Counsel-Employment Counsel, Allina Health

Thursday Lunch Sponsor

Post-Lunch Break

You Did What??? Navigating Privilege and Ethics Issues

This lively panel of experts will discuss privilege and ethics issues facing employment lawyers including conflicts of interests, attorney-client privilege fails, and more. Who thought ethics could be so fun?

Panelists:

• Carolina Bravo-Karimi, Office Managing Shareholder, Wilson Turner Kosmo LLP
• Dennis Duffy, Director, Labor & Employment, Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC
• Grissel Seijo, Senior Director, Counsel, Employment Law, Warner Bros. Discovery

Closing Plenary