The temperature of political discourse is hot and at risk of boiling over in the coming months. Senior corporate communications and agency leaders face the unenviable challenge of ensuring conversations on internal and external platforms are managed in ways that balance reputational risk and free speech.
Jessica Golden Cortes and Michael Lasky, partners at one of the country’s leading communications-focused law firms Davis+Gilbert, will discuss best practices and provide critical context for decision making around the implementation of policies related to political discussion in the workplace, on social media, and company-owned platforms.
Join us for a dynamic roundtable as Cortes and Lasky explore the legal, communication, and reputational challenges surrounding political discourse in the physical and virtual workplace. Engage with industry leaders, ask key questions, and share your valuable perspectives in what promises to be an engaging and insightful discussion
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About Our Davis + Gilbert Hosts
Michael C. Lasky
Partner and Co-Chair
Davis+Gilbert
With deep industry knowledge and a clear understanding of his clients’ objectives, Michael helps them grow their businesses, optimize their profitability and achieve their next-stage goals. For decades, Michael has been the legal advisor to several leading industry organizations, including The PR Council. Always taking a proactive approach to devise client solutions, Michael crafts strong and effective employment contracts and shareholder and incentive arrangements. He is also an authority on legal and risk management best practices and issues that arise when talent moves between competitive organizations.
As a former federal law clerk in New York and experienced trial attorney, Michael possesses uncommon insights when it comes to assessing risks in and out of the courtroom. He knows what arguments work and how best to marshal evidence to advocate each client’s position both zealously and credibly. Michael also knows when to go to court and when to negotiate an effective business solution.
He has successfully tried and resolved cases and arbitrations involving corporate transactions, shareholder disputes, breach of post-employment restrictive covenants, contentious employment and executive compensation claims, and other business contract and commercial matters. Often disputes have turned on his strategic pre-litigation analysis, successfully proving of the parties’ intent and creative use of legal precedent. Capitalizing on his courtroom experience with how judges evaluate evidence and risk, Michael has also mediated more than 100 cases in the federal court in New York as a court-appointed pro bono mediator.
Michael is also a co-author of "Employment Restrictive Covenants and Other Post- Employment Restrictions” in the highly acclaimed treatise, Commercial Litigation in New York Courts.
Jessica Golden Cortez
Partner
Davis+Gilbert
Jessica is well known for her ability to analyze issues from a legal, practical and business perspective and for devising creative, cost-effective solutions to workplace issues. Business managers and human resources professionals rely on her for guidance on day-to-day issues such as hiring, terminations, reductions in workforce, restrictive covenants, wage and hour issues, federal and state family and medical leave laws, and a host of other employment-related matters. She drafts customized employment policies and handbooks, and structures and enforces employment and separation agreements.
Clients from across the nation call on Jessica to conduct employment trainings on respect in the workplace, diversity, equity and inclusion, eliminating unconscious bias, manager best practices, and many other topics. When issues arise, Jessica manages internal investigations of employee complaints, represents her clients in hearings before administrative agencies, and asserts and defends their interests in federal and state courts, and in mediation and arbitration proceedings. Jessica has prevailed in wide-ranging employment cases including race, sex, age, disability, failure to hire, and other discrimination cases, and breach of contract disputes.
Recognizing that avoiding problems in the first instance is the best strategy, Jessica crafts client-specific workplace policies and procedures, and works proactively with clients to help them foster a work environment where employees thrive, workplace conflicts are addressed constructively, and the risk of employee claims is minimized.