The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and supply chain issues have caused several major event organizers to cancel or postpone concerts, sporting events, and awards shows, among many other large-scale events. For example, this week, Elton John postponed tour concerts after testing positive for Covid-19; last week, Adele put on hold her much-anticipated Las Vegas residency over “delivery delays” and Covid-19 diagnoses among her team; last month, the NHL, NBA, and the NFL rescheduled major games, with the NHL citing concerns about “the fluid nature of federal travel restrictions,” and the NFL citing “medical advice” after “seeing a new, highly transmissible form of the virus;” and the Grammys postponed its January 31 awards show in Los Angeles—to now take place on April 3 in Las Vegas. The cancellations and postponements of these types of events often have major financial effects on its organizers and producers. Given the risk of substantial losses following the cancellation of big-ticket events, businesses should be aware that they can tap into event cancellation insurance to mitigate and protect against these risks.

“Specialty” Event Cancellation Coverage

Contrary to general liability insurance coverage—which protects against third-party bodily injury or property damage claims—event cancellation insurance is an elective, specialty-type insurance coverage designed to protect a policyholder’s loss of revenue and expenses following the cancellation, postponement, curtailment, relocation, or abandonment of an event for reasons outside the policyholder’s control.

As a threshold matter, for there to be coverage under an event cancellation policy, there must first be a triggering cause covered under the policy. Some event cancellation policies are written as “all cause”/“all-risk” policies. These policies provide coverage for any cause that is not specifically excluded by the policy. Other event cancellation policies, however, provide more limited coverage and are written to insure event cancellations or postponements following a narrow set of causes, which are typically listed within the policy.

Potential Coverage Issues

Although event cancellation policies typically provide broad coverage, businesses must be wary of certain obstacles insurers may raise in trying to avoid paying claims. Insurers might seek to disclaim or limit coverage for various purported reasons, including alleged non-disclosure at the policy-application stage, failure to satisfy certain conditions after the loss, application of policy exclusions, timely notice, and questions about whether an event was cancelled for a covered cause of loss. By way of example, insurance companies have denied coverage for event cancellations during the Covid-19 pandemic arguing, in part, that the “proximate cause” of the policyholder’s loss was the Covid-19 pandemic (a “communicable disease” excluded by the policies) and not the government orders prohibiting large gatherings (a covered cause of loss under the policies).

Steps to Secure Coverage

If an event is cancelled or postponed that might be covered by event cancellation coverage, policyholders must know that they might have a claim for coverage to protect against the resultant losses and extra costs. To secure coverage, policyholders are well-advised to:

1. review the event cancellation policy at issue for potential coverages (as well as all other insurance policies that might provide coverage);
2. provide immediate notice of the potential event cancellation claim to all applicable insurers; and
3. keep detailed, up-to-date accounting records of all losses and costs at issue, including lost revenue and profits, as well as extra expenses.

The post From Adele to the NFL, Large-Scale Event Disruptions Show the Need for Policyholders to Have a Strategy to Recover in the Event of a Loss appeared first on The National Law Forum.

Click here to register.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “2017 Act”), which was enacted on December 22, 2017, included significant changes to the federal transfer tax regime and related income tax provisions.  More recently, the financial and societal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 continues to reverberate and create uncertainty in the future.

This program will review the transfer tax and related income tax developments with the 2017 Act as a starting point, and will discuss how such developments impact estate, trust and income tax planning, and the administration of decedents’ estates.  Moreover, the program will review other recent developments regarding estate, trust and transfer tax and income tax planning.  Further, the COVID-19 crisis and the related estate, trust and income tax legislation and rulings promulgated in response to such crisis will be discussed.

What You Will Learn

• Advising clients in a time of unprecedented uncertainty
• An update on recent developments in all areas of estate, trust and transfer tax planning including legislation and rulings issued as a result of the COVID-19 crisis
• A review of the interaction between the federal transfer tax regime and state transfer tax regimes
• A review of the transfer tax and related income tax provisions of the 2017 Act
• Income tax planning for estates and trusts
• Administering estates and trusts during and after the COVID-19 pandemic
• A review of the SECURE Act of 2019
• A review of international estate planning and tax changes
• FATCA and its progeny
• A discussion of trust planning and divorce
• Ethical considerations for attorneys
• Elder law and special needs planning considerations
• A review of tax issues for art collectors
• An update on charitable donation planning
• A review of electronic Wills and modern-day estate planning
• Asset protection planning in a pandemic world

…and much more!

Special Features

• Full hour of ethics credit

Who Should Attend

Attorneys and other professionals advising on estate planning and/or transfer tax planning, including accountants, financial planners and anyone else whose practice requires a solid understanding of estate planning.

Program Level: Overview

Prerequisites: Attendees should have a basic understanding of trusts and estates terminology and a foundational background in tax

Intended Audience: Attorneys, accountants, financial planners, and other professionals who specialize in estate planning, life insurance products and/or transfer tax planning

Advanced Preparation: None

See other upcoming events from PLI here.

The post Register for the 51st Annual PLI Estate Planning Institute appeared first on The National Law Forum.

In a typical year, March flowers hint at wedding showers soon to be celebrated.  But 2020 is not a typical year.  As travel and crowd size restrictions continue to tighten, the wedding industry—which relies on large gatherings of people, many of whom travel for the occasion—has been and will continue to be significantly impacted.  And wedded bliss is big business; as reported by NPR, “Americans spent $54 billion on more than 2 million weddings” in 2019.

As my colleagues have noted, insurance may be an invaluable resource to businesses impacted by the coronavirus and related restrictions.  How does this apply to the wedding industry, including venues, event planners, photographers, videographers, caterers, musicians, florists, and potentially airlines, hotels, and online travel vendors?

For all such businesses, vendors’ own losses (also known as “first-party claims”) may be covered by the following types of insurance:

• Property Insurance, which can apply when a property cannot be used for its intended purpose, even absent structural damage or destruction. Thus, for example, the contamination of a wedding venue, rehearsal dinner site, church, photography studio, or other location due to the presence of coronavirus may be covered.
• Business Interruption Insurance, which is designed to reimburse policyholders for profits lost due to a covered risk. Such insurance may apply both for amounts lost while a company is out of operation and while the company has resumed operation and is working back up to full capacity.
• Contingent Business Interruption Insurance, which covers loss sustained by one company as a result of impacts on a third party, such as a supplier. For example, loss may be sustained by a domestic wedding vendor because a dress ordered from China will be delivered late due to restrictions in place there.  And given how many vendors can work together on a single wedding, this coverage type could conceivably apply to more than one loss in connection with a single event.
• Business Income Insurance, which may apply to loss of income that results from governmental orders that limit the business’s ability to operate. Although such coverage often is time-limited, how those limits apply will—as always—be subject to specific policy language and facts.
• Event Cancellation Insurance, which generally applies when loss results from a cause “beyond the insured’s control.” Although this coverage typically is discussed in the context of concerts and the like, if contained in vendors’ policies, it could apply to wedding-related losses as well.

Regardless of the insurance type, vendors would be wise to keep records of how virus-related restrictions impact their business.  Those facts will be key to any claim.

Vendors also may seek coverage for claims filed against them if, for example, they provided services for a wedding that occurred before restrictions were put in place and attendees were exposed to the virus.  Such third-party claims potentially could be covered by General Liability Insurance, Workers’ Compensation Insurance, and Employers’ Liability Insurance.

When submitting a claim for first- or third-party losses, policyholders should expect insurers to reserve rights or deny claims based on limitations in the policies that may, on their face, appear to apply.  However, policyholders should never accept at face value an insurer’s reservation or denial.  For one thing, limitations on coverage are construed narrowly, and whether they apply depends on specific policy language and facts.  For another, if reasonable people could read a coverage limitation differently, the policy is ambiguous, and will be construed in favor of coverage.

Finally, regardless of the type of insurance, a key factor for the wedding industry will be mitigation, or minimizing loss.  Common law and many insurance policies require policyholders to try to minimize the negative impact of an event on their business.  For wedding vendors, this might mean accommodating couples by postponing services.  That, in turn, means that vendors ultimately will receive payment, but only after a gap in income.  In an industry that tends to be locally based and relies on word of mouth, this approach is a smart business practice.  And, in some instances, insurers may reimburse policyholders for both the amount they spend to minimize loss (e.g., costs associated with finding a new date and dealing with associated logistics), any income they lose during the “gap” period that they are unable to defer, and the opportunity costs resulting from weddings being rescheduled when others might otherwise have taken place.  In short, working with your clients to save their big day might be the right choice in more ways than one.

The post Social Distancing During Wedding Season: Mitigating Loss and Securing Insurance Coverage appeared first on The National Law Forum.

Given the current circumstances associated with the coronavirus (COVID-19), a law firm has three choices when it comes to executing on their 2020 event calendar: cancel, postpone, or just change the format. My vote would be for you to change the format wherever you can to stay top of mind and relevant to your client base and referral sources while still practicing a responsible form of “social distancing.”

In-person business development and communication through event marketing involves creating an experience that attendees look forward to, get value from, and associate with your brand. Through hosting various types of business development activities, you can set your law firm up as a networking hub for diverse practices, become a thought leader in your legal niche, and establish a history of credentialing activities that will keep you top-of-mind in your legal community. Virtual events for law firms can, and will, do the same.

It is known that law firm marketing has evolved rapidly in the last decade. In a recent study, 67% of legal marketing professionals and 45% of attorneys listed firm-hosted events as one of the most effective ways to get new clients.  Even with all of the new marketing strategies and techniques, face-to-face connection remains one of the most effective ways to network and gain new clients. In the time of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that is requiring all industries, even the legal industry, to take a second look at how they will continue to operate effectively under quarantine conditions, law firms need to be flexible in how they market. Event marketing can still take place in the spring and summer of 2020, it will just look a little different than originally anticipated. Excluding large luncheons, parties, and galas, for the most part, technology can allow a law firm to move forward with most of their planned events.

Virtual Business Development Events for Law Firms

Every type of business development event attracts different stakeholders, networking opportunities, and ways to strengthen your law firm’s market dominance. Some types of business development activities for law firms that can be transformed into virtual events include the following:

• Seminars. Conferences that provide training or updates on legal changes in your area of practice. Many seminars and conferences have scheduled downtime and social time, allowing attendees to network and nurture connections that may lead to future referrals. This networking aspect of a seminar can be done in a virtual manner through private chat rooms or even through a special area of your website that allows for “booths” to be created for information sharing.
• Legal CLE events. Continuing legal education is an essential part of attorney growth, and since continuing legal education is required for lawyers in most parts of the United States, these events offer clear value to attendees. Speakers at continuing legal education events also have the opportunity to demonstrate their expertise, strengthen their image as an authority in their field, and connect with others in relevant areas of practice. CLEs have been webcasted and recorded for years and the coronavirus outbreak really should have no effect on your law firm’s CLEs schedule. All that is necessary to proceed is to tell your audience it will be a webcasted program rather than a live program, hire a professional videographer, and then add then video and handouts to your website.
• General education events. These events strengthen a firm’s credibility within the community and demonstrate the firm’s expertise to its target client base. For example, an immigration attorney could host an online Q&A seminar through their Facebook page on recent changes to immigration laws and invite affected community members to attend through that medium. An estate planning attorney may host an informal brown bag luncheon that is webcasted on long-term care options to caretakers of aging family members.
• Brown bag lunch and learns. Lunch and learn events take advantage of the fact that many attorneys have extremely busy schedules. These events last between 30 and 60 minutes and take place over the lunch hour, letting attorneys fit education or networking into their busy day. Brown bag lunches can also take place in a virtual environment. Attorneys can provide a memorable brown bag experience online through the sharing of relevant documents beforehand that they will go over and using screensharing to direct attention of attendees. Law firms will want to make sure that they pay special attention to small things such as consistency in their lawyer screen names and the background portrayed in their videoconference (i.e. what is behind you or what is around you that the other participants will see and does this portray your law firm in the best way possible).
• Panels. Panel discussions let attendees learn from multiple experts simultaneously. Question-and-answer sessions provide additional value, allowing attendees to get answers to specific, relevant questions. Panels are easy to convert to a digital format. Be sure to have your moderator use the first name of the person that they are addressing when a question is asked as the conversation has to be directed a bit differently than it would in person when you can connect with body language and eye contact. Also, the audience should know beforehand how their questions can be posed and if they are required to have their computer on mute to control outside noise.
• Collaborations. Collaborating with businesses relevant to your area of practice expands attorneys’ opportunities for networking. For example, an estate planning law firm may collaborate with a senior activity center to help attendees better understand the needs of aging clients, or an intellectual property law firm may run a seminar with a venture capital firm. These types of collaborations can be moved into a digital format by prerecording them for the audience. The business can easily gather questions that come up from attendees and send them to the attorney or law firm afterward so individual phone calls can be made to the guests as follow-up.

Rather than seeing the need to change the format of their existing events to be virtual as a problem, marketing savvy law firms are seeing this as an opportunity. They are utilizing their existing commitments to being modern law practices with functional, time saving technology to continue to connect with their audience. They are using videoconferencing, webcasting, and video recording to continue to host relevant programming for their community. The real challenge in pivoting an event marketing strategy to be entirely digital for the next 3-6 months will be working with the right type of marketing and videography professionals to engage the audience and drive attendance.

Preparation and Follow-Up

Event success, even for virtual events, is more than just choosing the event for your audience. It is critical to have a clear strategy about how to prepare for your event, execute a successful activity, and follow-up to ensure that it is doing the business development work you expect it to.

Know what success looks like. Prior to the event, you should know which benchmarks you want to reach and have ways to measure those. For example, you may want to hit a certain number of attendees, have representatives from a set number of firms, or yield a specific number of networking connections.

Promote your event strategically. Look into different ways to promote an event including traditional invitations through mail or email, social media, and broadcast or print advertising. Be sure to create a custom hashtag to encourage social media engagement before, during, and after the event.

Expect the unexpected. From technology glitches to presenter snafus, being underprepared can end up turning your potential networking opportunity into a PR nightmare. Make sure to give yourself time to work out all the kinks well in advance of your event date and hire a professional to guide you through the process.

Strategize follow-up activities. Following up with attendees after an event provides valuable information on how successful the event was and whether or not it is worth repeating. Some firms use automated email sequences to gauge the results of an event. Reviewing social media engagement, lead generation, attendance numbers, and other metrics provides valuable insight into the success of the event.

Conclusion

Event marketing in 2020 will need to look a little different for law firms but it still remains an effective tool for fostering professional networking and client connections. With the wide range of events to choose from and also the technology available to today’s law firms, there are many options to help firms continue with their previously planned activity calendar. In addition, when law firms are strategic about how they structure, prepare for, and follow up from their virtual business development event, it can be an incredibly powerful form of marketing that is inexpensive, engaging, and memorable.

The post Coronavirus and Law Firm Event Marketing: Cancelled, Postponed or Just Different? appeared first on The National Law Forum.

1. Who Should Attend – General Counsel and Other Senior Legal Executives from Top Companies Attend SuperConference:Meet with Decision Makers: You’ll meet face-to-face with senior-level in-house counsel
2. Networking Opportunities: SuperConference offers several networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception, refreshment breaks, and a networking lunch.
3. Gain Industry Knowledge: You will hear the latest issues facing the industry today with your complimentary full-conference passes.

• Chief Legal Officers
• General Counsel
• Corporate Counsel
• Associate General Counsel
• CEOs
• Senior Counsel
• Corporate Compliance Officers

The 12th Annual IC SuperConference will be held at the NEW Radisson Blu Chicago.
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N. Columbus Drive

Chicago, IL 60601

Don’t forget – The early discount deadline using the NLR discount code is February 24th!

The post Inside Counsel presents the 12th Annual Super Conference in Chicago appeared first on The National Law Forum.

1. Who Should Attend – General Counsel and Other Senior Legal Executives from Top Companies Attend SuperConference:Meet with Decision Makers: You’ll meet face-to-face with senior-level in-house counsel
2. Networking Opportunities: SuperConference offers several networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception, refreshment breaks, and a networking lunch.
3. Gain Industry Knowledge: You will hear the latest issues facing the industry today with your complimentary full-conference passes.

• Chief Legal Officers
• General Counsel
• Corporate Counsel
• Associate General Counsel
• CEOs
• Senior Counsel
• Corporate Compliance Officers

The 12th Annual IC SuperConference will be held at the NEW Radisson Blu Chicago.
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N. Columbus Drive

Chicago, IL 60601

Don’t forget – The early discount deadline using the NLR discount code is February 24th!

The post Inside Counsel presents the 12th Annual Super Conference in Chicago appeared first on The National Law Forum.

Reasons why you should Attend This Year’s Event:

1. Who Should Attend – General Counsel and Other Senior Legal Executives from Top Companies Attend SuperConference:Meet with Decision Makers: You’ll meet face-to-face with senior-level in-house counsel
2. Networking Opportunities: SuperConference offers several networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception, refreshment breaks, and a networking lunch.
3. Gain Industry Knowledge: You will hear the latest issues facing the industry today with your complimentary full-conference passes.

• Chief Legal Officers
• General Counsel
• Corporate Counsel
• Associate General Counsel
• CEOs
• Senior Counsel
• Corporate Compliance Officers

The 12th Annual IC SuperConference will be held at the NEW Radisson Blu Chicago.
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N. Columbus Drive

Chicago, IL 60601

Don’t forget – The early discount deadline using the NLR discount code is February 24th!

The post Inside Counsel presents the 12th Annual Super Conference in Chicago appeared first on The National Law Forum.

Reasons why you should Attend This Year’s Event:

1. Who Should Attend – General Counsel and Other Senior Legal Executives from Top Companies Attend SuperConference:Meet with Decision Makers: You’ll meet face-to-face with senior-level in-house counsel
2. Networking Opportunities: SuperConference offers several networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception, refreshment breaks, and a networking lunch.
3. Gain Industry Knowledge: You will hear the latest issues facing the industry today with your complimentary full-conference passes.

• Chief Legal Officers
• General Counsel
• Corporate Counsel
• Associate General Counsel
• CEOs
• Senior Counsel
• Corporate Compliance Officers

The 12th Annual IC SuperConference will be held at the NEW Radisson Blu Chicago.
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N. Columbus Drive

Chicago, IL 60601

Don’t forget – The early discount deadline using the NLR discount code is February 24th!

The post Inside Counsel presents the 12th Annual Super Conference in Chicago appeared first on The National Law Forum.

Reasons why you should Attend This Year’s Event:

1. 
   Who Should Attend – General Counsel and Other Senior Legal Executives from Top Companies Attend SuperConference:Meet with Decision Makers: You’ll meet face-to-face with senior-level in-house counsel
2. Networking Opportunities: SuperConference offers several networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception, refreshment breaks, and a networking lunch.
3. Gain Industry Knowledge: You will hear the latest issues facing the industry today with your complimentary full-conference passes.

• Chief Legal Officers
• General Counsel
• Corporate Counsel
• Associate General Counsel
• CEOs
• Senior Counsel
• Corporate Compliance Officers

The 12th Annual IC SuperConference will be held at the NEW Radisson Blu Chicago.
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N. Columbus Drive

Chicago, IL 60601

Don’t forget – The early discount deadline using the NLR discount code is February 24th!

The post Inside Counsel presents the 12th Annual Super Conference in Chicago appeared first on The National Law Forum.

Reasons why you should Attend This Year’s Event:

1. 
   Who Should Attend – General Counsel and Other Senior Legal Executives from Top Companies Attend SuperConference:Meet with Decision Makers: You’ll meet face-to-face with senior-level in-house counsel
2. Networking Opportunities: SuperConference offers several networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception, refreshment breaks, and a networking lunch.
3. Gain Industry Knowledge: You will hear the latest issues facing the industry today with your complimentary full-conference passes.

• Chief Legal Officers
• General Counsel
• Corporate Counsel
• Associate General Counsel
• CEOs
• Senior Counsel
• Corporate Compliance Officers

The 12th Annual IC SuperConference will be held at the NEW Radisson Blu Chicago.
Radisson Blu Aqua Hotel

221 N. Columbus Drive

Chicago, IL 60601

Don’t forget – The early discount deadline using the NLR discount code is February 24th!

The post Inside Counsel presents the 12th Annual Super Conference in Chicago appeared first on The National Law Forum.