Carol Baldwin-Moody of Wilmington Trust describes the challenges that are present in her line of work as senior vice president and chief risk officer. There is a strong legal backing to every major issue in today’s society. Baldwin-Moody has come across several scenarios that aren’t covered by the dated constitutional law in effect today. In past years, a risk officer was thought to be a management concept that would be useful, but not worth the investment. Lately, a risk officer career has become an indispensible resource in the corporate world.
The law plays an important role in every aspect of our lives. Even something that seems simple, like the ability to send a text message and donate money to a charitable organization, requires contract law to come into play. If a career as a compliance officer is of interest to you, an online legal studies degree from Kaplan University could be the first step in working toward that goal.* A legal studies degree allows students the unique opportunity to grow into a field that is constantly changing and evolving.
*Kaplan University's programs are designed to prepare graduates to pursue employment in their field of study, or in related fields. However, the University does not guarantee that graduates will be placed in any particular job, eligible for job advancement opportunities, or employed at all. Additional training or certification may be required.
“Social media, the first amendment, privacy; the law is so far behind in that trend. Blogs and all of that, that is a constant challenge for me today because everybody wants to talk the way they want to talk and in my job, I’m required to actually surveil peoples’ e-mails; I’m required by law. I look for certain words; well, that was ok when people used words. Now when they use ‘r u,’ I can’t surveil that. The privacy issue with kids and MySpace, that whole area of law, think about it; constitutional law was what we learned. There’s nothing in constitutional law that we learned 30 years ago, so if you’re into that, there’s going to be a lot of time. We need that because it’s evolutionary.
Globalization—if you think about what happened in the financial markets, the meltdown, it’s because there’s so much connection and therefore there are a lot of things going on in that arena where every country’s financial rules, they’re looking at them and comparing them. That’s another area- comparative law. Comparative law when it comes to the environment and financial services; those are two big things.
Health—the whole health debate; you may be thinking just about the politics but there’s a lot of law behind that. HIPA, all those rights, and think about the things they’re talking about from a political perspective—there’s a lot of law behind that.
Those are just three areas that are not only specific in terms of thinking outside of the box, but they actually go back to a lot of the fundamentals that are part of the law. Those are just three; that social media one, I don’t even want to tackle that one; I’m assigning that to my kids. Just think about it—it’s out there before anything has been screened. You think about the things that go on—it’s called the social media. There used to be the 6 o’clock news; there’s the 24 hour news, there’s the instant news now.
I think some of it’s great, I think some of the positive things about the technology, I just learned this, the fact that you could text five digits on your phone and the money was in Haiti instantly. But, a lot of people don’t realize how much legal work was behind the contractual agreement between the phone companies. There was a lot of legal work that was done in order for that to happen but yet young people, my daughter was one of them, it’s like, ‘ok mom,’ and then I start thinking; well I know what really happened. They had to get into a contract about that, but those are the kinds of things that at the end you see the result is phenomenal. Think about that 20 years ago—could not have happened.”
Twelve percent of executives interviewed for the Robert Half Professional Employment Report say they are planning to hire professional-level staff in the fourth quarter of 2011, while 5 percent foresee making cutbacks. The resulting net 7 percent increase in hiring activity is up four points from the third-quarter forecast. The portion (82 percent) of hiring executives saying they anticipate no change in staff levels is down from 90 percent three months ago.
Meanwhile, 59 percent of executives interviewed for the report said it is challenging to find skilled professionals today, up 17 points from the third quarter.
Fourth-quarter hiring projections were higher than the third-quarter forecast in nearly all professional segments.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/roberthalf/50680/
As the economy regains momentum, it’s not a return to business as usual in the legal field. A just-released industry report from Robert Half Legal outlines how strategies developed during the downturn are now guiding the business and customer relationship management models for law firms and corporate legal departments.
The report, Best Practices for a New Era in the Legal Profession, is part of Robert Half Legal’s eleventh annual Future Law Office project, which also includes video interviews with leaders in the legal field, and is available at www.futurelawoffice.com.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/roberthalf/50677/
The results of The State of Compliance: 2011, an inaugural study conducted by PwC US and Compliance Week, will be released today at the Compliance Week 2011 6th Annual Conference for corporate financial, legal, risk, audit and compliance officers in Washington, D.C. The report – the first of its kind – identifies a wide range of compliance issues confronting organizations today and will stay current as new companies participate, accurately reflecting the changing compliance landscape.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/pwc/45949/
A small town lawyer is forced to fight a giant pharmaceutical company and the FDA to try to save his daughter’s life in Thompson’s edgy legal thriller. When his lawsuit uncovers fraud and corruption, he is confronted with an enemy who will resort to bribery, kidnapping and murder to win. Learn about the book and this author, www.larrydthompson.com Mystery Thriller
As people look to the coming year with hopes of continued economic recovery and increased job creation, new research may hold clues as to what the most promising positions will be in 2011. According to the Salary Guides just released from Robert Half, 11 roles representing several fields — including accounting and finance, technology, creative, legal and administrative services — show increases in starting salaries and growing demand among employers.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/roberthalf/46918/
The EU Regulation on Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) places new legal obligations on chemical companies operating in the EU market. By 1 December 2010, they are required to classify and label their hazardous substances according to the CLP rules.
Industry has to notify the classification and labelling of substances placed on the market to a central database, called the Classification & Labelling Inventory. The database is established and maintained by ECHA. The first deadline for notification is 3 January 2011. Key information from this Classification and Labelling Inventory will also be made publicly available on ECHA’s website. Confidential business information will not be disclosed to the public.
To view Multimedia News Release, go to http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/prne/echa/44215/
Freddy Builder kills Mindi Quintana; he writes the book about their relationship everybody wants; a lying rewrite of their lives. A new celebrity killer arises, a jailhouse literary sensation. Freddy’s lawyer plays his role as advocate; but finds a way to deliver true justice. For a killer with a book. Learn more about this author here: http://tinyurl.com/y65etlj Learn more about this book here: http://tinyurl.com/yy9u7ql Suspense, Crime
The law is constantly developing and Westlaw HK continuously evolves to meet the needs of Hong Kong’s legal profession. This video highlights Westlaw HK’s authoritative content and leading edge functionality that legal professionals in Hong Kong are choosing to use, helping them to achieve better results faster. http://blog.westlaw.com.hk
