More than 2,200 attendees from 35 countries will attend the event to be held on  28-31 October in New Orleans. Corporate counsel from  Halliburton, Home Depot and Best Buy will discuss internal investigations; Wells Fargo, Wal-Mart and Groupon will look at data use and protection whilst CareFirst, BlueCross and BlueShield will focus on healthcare reform in 2015. Attendees can also participate in the first-ever legal “contractathon,” where in-house lawyers will form teams to design hypothetical contract and negotiations processes, led by NIKE, Seyfarth Shaw LLP and Toyota.

Talent is overrated

Geoff Colvin, senior editor at large at FORTUNE and broadcaster on CBS Radio, will deliver the Meeting’s keynote address. Colvin is the author of Talent is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else. In his speech, Colvin will address how in-house counsel can use passion, honesty and learning rather than hours, IQ and “native ability” to overcome the challenges of today’s global economy and ever-rising standards in order to keep themselves and their companies competitive.

'In-house counsel attend the ACC Annual Meeting to understand topics that will affect their companies in the year ahead,' said Veta T. Richardson, ACC president and CEO. 'This year, our members are especially interested in topics that were frequently discussed in the courts and among regulators: attorney-client privilege issues, data security and compliance investigations that affect both the legal department and the board of directors. We expect these topics to stay top of mind with corporate lawyers into 2015.'

Highlights

The ACC Annual Meeting features 110 sessions across 12 “tracks,” educational programs arranged by topic and practice area. Highlights include:

• Attorney-Client Privilege for the Compliance Officer: Who Has It? When Do You Have It? How Do You Keep It?

• Cutting-Edge Issues in Anti-Corruption and Compliance in Latin America

• A Global Perspective on Preventing Employee Data Theft and Trade Secret Misappropriation

• What Makes Smart Lawyers Fail? How to Increase Your Emotional Intelligence — and Your Impact

• Bet the Company Litigation

Kicking off the ACC Annual Meeting is the ACC Leadership Dinner, where ACC will recognise individual, law department and chapter and committee winners for their accomplishments and contributions over the past year. Awards include Excellence in Corporate Practice, Member of the Year, Corporate Diversity, Pro Bono, Chapter of the Year and Committee of the Year. At the meeting, ACC will also announce a new Board of Directors and Board Chair.