Boston Bound

This July marks the start of a fully reinvented conference that focuses on cyber, management, and professional liability claims issues—something Andrew Fastow, a former Enron executive who served six years in prison after pleading guilty in 2004 to two counts of conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud, knows something about. Fastow will embark on his own reinvention journey when he delivers the opening keynote address on why the difference between right and wrong isn’t always so clear.

To learn more about what is planned for the conference, we sat down with Kathryn Whitlock, partner at Hawkins Parnell & Young LLP, who was one of several CLM members involved in setting the educational program.

Any idea what will be discussed during the keynote?

We understand that Andrew Fastow is speaking, but I’m not privy to his speech. My guess is that we will hear something along the lines of “how good people get in bad situations by making poor choices.” He seems particularly well-suited for a conference concerned with professional liability, since he was an executive who went down in impressive flames.

What trends are reflected in the program? Were there main topics that you wanted to make sure to hit?

We tried to make the program so that there would be at least one presentation that interested all attendees. Whatever your particular area of practice, you’ll find that the conference is structured so that your dance card will be full and you will have interesting material offered at every single session.

Are there any sessions you’re particularly excited about or that have piqued your interest?

You will note a lot of cyber or cyber-related topics. This is an area of growing concern, of course, and it touches insurance and legal professionals in numerous ways. Whether it’s having Alexa at home, auto-population in e-mails, scams, or understanding the right insurance to buy, cyber is a huge topic, and we hope all of the attendees learn something new and interesting about it.

What knowledge do you hope attendees leave with?

I hope the attendees leave feeling like their time and money was well spent. I hope they learn at least one thing that is relevant to their practices and that they can implement to make themselves a better lawyer or insurance professional. I also hope that each attendee leaves after having made at least one new contact—one new friend. In my view, the practice of law is a “practice,” which requires lots of us to do well. The more friends I have out there—sending me e-mails about trends, talking to me about new cases, sharing new opinions—the better off I am.

The Cyber, Management, and Professional Liability Conference takes place July 10-12, 2019, in Boston. For more information, go to www.theclm.org.