DRI, The Voice of the Defense Bar, is hosting a two-day Oil Spill Litigation and Emerging Issues Seminar in August.
It will be held Thursday and Friday, August 12 and 13, at The Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa in Houston.
DRI has invited leading practitioners, industry experts, and governmental authorities to discuss the following topics: crisis management: how to prepare for a congressional hearing, Coast Guard investigation, and EPA debarment; engineering and technical analysis of an oil rig and the coming regulations; state and federal venue implications on AG and governmental actions; strategy from the plaintiff's perspective and business to business litigation; the offshore energy insurance market and what Oil Spill Financial Responsibility (OSFR) is required; what history tells us, and how changes in the law and political landscape since Valdez impact current spills; and internal investigations: company audits, state oil rig inspections and criminal indictments.
Attendees will discuss public relations and crisis management strategies for likely criminal claims and the congressional investigation; take an in-depth look at litigation from the plaintiffs' and defendants' perspectives; and review past litigation and insurance issues that are sure to shape these cases as they progress.
The program begins on Wednesday evening with a social networking reception at 6 p.m. On Thursday, it begins at 8 a.m. and adjourns at 4:30 p.m.In the morning, Richard D. Bertram, Jones Walker Waechter Poitevent Carrére & Denégre LLP, New Orleans, will address Theories of Liability and Damages against Those on the Rig - OPA 90, Trespass and Others. A toxicology speaker has been invited to discuss the human health effects of crude oil, dispersants and other chemicals in the Gulf.
On Thursday afternoon, a panel including Kurt Falk, Swiss Reinsurance Company, Linda D. Kornfeld, Dickstein Shapiro LLP, and James S. Pierce, Jr., Marsh Inc., will explore The Alphabet Soup of Insurance Coverage: OPP, EPP and Excess Coverage.
On Friday, the program begins at 8:00 a.m. Rawle O. King, Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, will discuss Future Insurability: The Offshore Energy Insurance Market, and Trevor E. Phillips, senior director of Alvarez & Marsal in Houston, will discuss the spill's Injury to the Environment, including damages to real and personal property and the loss of subsistence use of natural resources.
A Reporters' Panel that covers the Political Consequences of the Oil Spill on Climate Change and Energy Legislation will include Kristen Hays, Reuters, Houston; Ted S. Oberg, KTRK-TV News in Houston; and other Gulf Coast journalists, who will lead the discussion.Ending the program on Friday is John Hofmeister, founder and CEO of Citizens for Affordable Energy Inc. in Houston presenting a Former Oil Executive Speaks Out on Energy Independence. Mr. Hofmeister, a former president of Shell Oil Company, has authored a new book, Why We Hate the Oil Companies, which denounces the "parochialism" of the industry and the hollow promises of energy independence that politicians make.
The program will adjourn at 1:30 p.m.
For information about available CLE credits and fees, see CLE Events on The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel website at www.metrocorpcounsel.com.
To make a reservation, call (312) 795-1101, email [email protected], or go to www.dri.org.