(May — 2011)
I admit it: I am a planner. When my staff creates the yearly production schedule for the Docket, it provides a framework for what our weeks will be like for the next 12-18 months. It is crucial that we keep an eye on key dates and deadlines. For example, when we are at ACC’s 2011 Annual Meetingin Denver in late October, we will simultaneously be working on second stage proofs of the December 2011 ACC Docket, while also closing advertising space for that issue as well. This puts extra deadline pressure on the marketing staff to manage the flow of files to the designer while they are busy working at the Annual Meeting.
The production calendar also tells me that when I am on vacation this summer — I will miss the initial editorial review of the November feature articles and the second and third rounds of proofs for the September issue. So, I had better trust that my staff is capable of making the right decisions while I am unavailable. Don’t worry — they are. Some people not in the publishing profession cannot comprehend having a schedule this far in advance. The only other pros I can think of who set concrete deadlines as far in advance as we do is the meeting planning industry.
However, editors have also been known to procrastinate (on occasion). I spent a good part of the day yesterday staring at a blank Word document that said “May Editor in Chief Blog Post” because I did not know at first pass what to write about the May issue. I found several ways to ignore what I should have been doing: checking email, updating my calendar, tweeting, answering LinkedIn requests, checking previous blog posts to see if I could find inspiration, talking to colleagues about other projects that could have waited until later. Deep down, I knew what I was doing. Despite what my calendar indicated as my to do list for the day, I ignored it. Then, at 4:30 am today I found my headline and inspiration and I was able to write the Docket blog post this morning.
Too bad in-house counsel can’t always plan a production schedule when it comes to potential or current litigation. There are too many unknowns, including how long the case would actually take. And, when the case does happen, you definitely cannot procrastinate. Still, ACC can help you create a plan. This is why the May ACC Docket is crucial to your litigation strategy.
This month’s cover story, “Preparing for the Worst: D&O Protection and the Major Corporate Law Suit,” helps you ensure your officers and directors are protected.
The authors of “100 Issues to Clarify with Your M&A Counsel” have provided you with a roadmap to help you and outside counsel navigate successfully.
If you are new to in-house, get a play-by-play strategy in “Litigation 101: What Every New In-house Attorney Needs to Know.”
“Class Action Stats” helps you improve your chances in a class action lawsuit.
Develop corporate-wise ediscovery strategies to cut costs and ensure defensibility with “Can Your Records Management Programs Handle Ediscovery?”
The authors of “Healthy, Wealthy and Wise: A Paradigm Shift Toward Early Data Assessment” offer the types, benefits and strategies of EDA to help you become invaluable at gathering and organizing data, assessing the merits and value of a case, and conducting internal audits and investigations.
ACC can’t create a production calendar or caseload schedule for you, but we can provide resourcesto help you prepare for possible litigation work. And despite our best efforts to procrastinate, planning does make life (and litigation matters) easier.