Shannon Couffer, walgreens; e. alan arnold,
delta airlines
Social Scoop
social media
The “Social Media Governance” breakout session at SuperConference offered insight into the
social media policies at three different companies—Go Daddy Operating Co., Delta Air
Lines, Inc. and Walgreen Co.—and provided
general pointers for in-house counsel looking
to craft a policy of their own.
Kimberly Cilke, deputy general counsel of
GoDaddy, said her company’s employees are
tech-savvy and interested in social media, and
the legal department quickly realized that it
needed to take advantage of the new medium.
So it created a dedicated social media team,
each member of which is trained on how to post
on behalf of GoDaddy.
Delta’s approach, according to
Assistant General Counsel E. Alan
Arnold, relies heavily on interacting
with customers. It uses social media to
get real-time feedback from passengers
on many of its flights and engages them
to offer assistance.
Walgreens was stuck in traditional
marketing at first, said Shannon Couffer,
senior litigation and regulatory attorney.
But the company broke out of its box and
managed to launch a successful campaign through Foursquare, which offered
free flu shots in exchange for check-ins
at its stores.
Other advice the experts offered was
to include a general disclaimer in social
media policies that workers’ Section 7
rights are not infringed, and to consider
separate policies for general use and for
employees who are posting on behalf of
the company.
Visit InsideCounsel.com to watch
a video interview with Frank Orzo of
LT Online, who moderated the session,
and has more helpful tips for managing
social media.
—JULIE;BECK
insidecounsel.com
Online Extras
For all of the inside information on
SuperConference that we couldn’t squeeze
into the magazine, head to InsideCounsel.
com/tag/superconference-2012, where
you’ll find:
•;Slideshows;with;photos;from
each day of the conference
•;Detailed;synopses;of;breakout
sessions, with additional quotes
from experts on everything
from e-discovery to arbitration
•;A;video;interview;with;Ron
Schwartz from deloitte
Financial advisory Services,
who gives sound advice on how
to spot and prevent corporate
fraud
•;A;video;interview;with;Frank
orzo of lT online, who offers
pointers for crafting corporate
social media policies
SuperConference attendees learned ways to
spot and discourage corporate bribery and
fraud during the breakout session titled “Top
10 Financial Shenanigans.”
Ron Schwartz, a partner at Deloitte
Financial Advisory Services, moderated the
panel, which featured Dawn Trimmel, internal
audit director at McDonalds Corp., and Kristin
Coleman, vice president, general counsel and
corporate secretary of Brunswick Corp.
The panelists discussed common examples of corruption that companies frequently
face on a global level, as well as ways that in-house counsel and their auditing colleagues
thwart such wrongdoing.
Much of the discussion focused on mis-
appropriation of assets, which is the no. 1
fraud scheme that affects organizations,
with the median loss for each scheme
amounting to $135,000. Panelists empha-
sized that the more detached a company’s
business unit is from the corporate office,
and the more autocratic the leader is that
guides that unit, the more likely it is to be
involved in some type of illegal activity.
Trimmel said training is an effective way
to discourage violations of corporate ethics and compliance policies, particularly in
areas of the world where employee turnover
is high, such as China.
“If the ethics policy isn’t communicated
verbally, it just doesn’t sink in,” she said.
Foiling Fraud coRpoRate cRime
Coleman said that the most effective fraud-reporting tool at Brunswick
is an anonymous hotline that employees can use to report suspicious activity.
Half of all financial fraud allegations the
company receives are substantiated, she
said. Still, “training, policies and controls aren’t enough to damper the urge to
steal,” Coleman said, so lawyers must routinely communicate with their companies’
third-party vendors, assess their business
relationships and pinpoint the risks their
companies face around the world.
Visit InsideCounsel.com to watch an
exclusive video about corporate fraud.
—ASHLEY;POST