Events

Babst Calland joins the Energy & Mineral Law Foundation (EMLF) for its 41st Annual Institute & Fall Symposium, October 13,-17 2020.

Don Bluedorn

Attorney Donald Bluedorn will co-present “Ethics: Implicit Bias in the Law Firm Setting.” Implicit Bias refers to when we have attitudes toward people or associate stereotypes without our conscious knowledge based on factors such as race, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, and age. This presentation will address how discrimination is viewed in the model ethical rules, the ABA efforts to emphasize discrimination as professional misconduct, the recent Bostock decision extending employment protections to LGBTQ persons, and answer questions such as  how does implicit/unknown bias affect hiring and other personnel decisions? How do implicit biases become subjective factors that influence objective employee evaluation categories? (e.g. associates may be evaluated based on an objective standard of hours billed, but how do partner biases influence the work they are given and projects they are involved in that then generate these hours?). What are best practices for addressing implicit bias in yourself and in the workplace?

Attorneys Ben Clapp, Julie Domike and Kevin Garber will co-present “Implications of Growing Climate Change Momentum for the Energy Industry.” Increased public concern about addressing climate change has resulted in a building momentum of political and public pressure to transition to a low-carbon economy.  This pressure has spurred novel litigation theories, far-reaching legislative proposals, shareholder activism, corporate climate change policies and other business responses. This program will address:

• Some of the sources of this this pressure – lenders, investors, insurers
• Key U.S. legal decisions and ongoing litigation related to climate change
• Prominent federal and state legislation (including recent developments the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the northeast states),
• How corporations in the energy industry are reacting – corporate sustainability announcements and goals, SEC filings, restructuring and divestitures

Ben Clapp

Julie Domike

Kevin Garber

For more information, click here.