On October 27, Tucker Ellis hosted the in-person segment of its 13th annual In-House Counsel Summit Series. In-house counsel gathered at the firm’s Cleveland office for a full day of networking and continuing legal education presentations. The program featured eight interesting and educational sessions, which covered the following topics:

1. Professional Conduct/Wellness: It’s a Jungle Out There. Laura Hong and Sandy Wunderlich focused on strategies for making real change in attendees’ lives and at their companies. They discussed wellness for lawyers, the effects of burnout, how widespread the problem is in the legal field, its possible root causes, and lawyers’ ethical obligation to address it.
2. Bracing for Impact: Nuclear Verdict Trends and Defense Strategies for High-Exposure Cases. Nuclear verdicts are reshaping the litigation landscape. Joe Manno and Cliff Mendelsohn examined the forces behind the surge in nuclear verdicts across the country. They offered practical strategies for defense counsel and in-house legal teams to identify, manage, and mitigate the risk of outsized jury awards. Drawing on current trends and real-world experience, they gave actionable guidance for managing high-exposure personal injury cases from early evaluation through trial. The session also encouraged dialogue between outside counsel and in-house practitioners who face these challenges together.
3. SCOTUS for In-House Counsel: What Changed, What Matters, What’s Next. Presenters Elisa Arko, Chad Eggspuehler, Jeff Sindelar, and Ethan Weber, with moderator Mike Ruttinger, led a practical conversation about the Supreme Court’s latest term. They focused on decisions affecting regulatory authority, litigation strategy, federal preemption, arbitration, and other issues with direct implications for in-house counsel and their businesses.
4. Deal Breakers: Employment Due Diligence Lessons That All Companies Should Know. Employment law issues can materially affect the value, structure, and success of corporate transactions, yet they are often overlooked until the middle of the deal process. Tom Peppard and Christine Snyder highlighted common employment-related red flags that surface during due diligence. These included wage and hour compliance, misclassification risks, employment agreements, restrictive covenants, immigration, paid leave, and the protection of intellectual property.
5. Catalyzing Cleveland: The Next Chapter of the Downtown Waterfront. Cleveland has been trying to transform its downtown lakefront for nearly a century and is now moving toward that goal. Tom Ostrowski moderated a lunch conversation with Scott Skinner of the North Coast Waterfront Development Corporation. The corporation is leading efforts to plan, finance, and build a downtown lakefront that drives economic impact and increases public access to the waterfront. Skinner described what has been done to make sure this lakefront plan is the last one, and what people can expect to see in the next few years.
6. Navigating the Purchase Price Adjustment Process to Protect Deal Value. Chris Hewitt and Jayne Juvan were joined by Charles Blank of Lincoln International. The panel covered the basics of net working capital and the purchase price adjustment process. Drawing on lessons from disputes, they showed how ambiguity in the purchase agreement can lead to problems. They also reviewed net working capital risks, common issues, and drafting strategies to avoid them.
7. Conflicts of Interest and Other Ethics Issues: Pop Quiz. Tod Northman and Ben Sassé worked through a series of ethical problems using factual scenarios. Topics included acting as lawyer for the deal, artificial intelligence dilemmas, informed consent, limited scope representation and clients with adverse interests, engagement letters, what happens when a lawyer fires a client, and changing roles.

The series will continue on Tuesday, November 10, with a virtual General Counsel Panel: Hot Topics and Best Practices.