Legal Operations Conference Canceled Due to Coronavirus

An annual assembly of law department leaders is the latest even to be canceled due to the spread of the coronavirus.

The Corporate Legal Operations Consortium announced Monday that its CLOC Vegas Institute, a convention set to take place at the Bellagio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas between May 12 and 14, had been canceled.

“While this may not be surprising, we recognize that this will come as an enormous disappointment to our attendees, exhibitors, speakers, and industry professionals who were due to attend the show,” CLOC president Mary O’Carroll said in a statement. ”

O’Carroll added that CLOC is exploring potential alternatives “so that we can provide a productive setting where the legal operations industry can engage with the latest technology, hear from industry thought leaders, and the make the game-changing connections that drive our industry forward.”

Restrictions on public gatherings in the U.S. and elsewhere due to Covid-19 have also led CLOC to revisit plans to bring its various legal operations programs to places like the Asia Pacific region, where CLOC has held events in Sydney each of the past two Septembers.

“Our goal each year is to provide superior value and the best possible experience for exhibitors and attendees,” O’Carroll said. “As this is a highly fluid situation, please understand that we are still working through details on the next steps for registrants and sponsors and will communicate as soon as we can.”

CLOC Expansion

O’Carroll, a director of legal operations at Google LLC, took over leadership of CLOC in January 2019, shortly after the resignation of the organization’s founder, NetApp Inc. senior director of legal operations Constance Bretton, as the group expanded to include law firms.

This past January, CLOC debuted a directory service that charges between $500 and $2,500 for placements. The San Jose, Calif.-based nonprofit, whose most recent federal tax filing reveals it had nearly $2.7 million in total revenue during 2017, said in its announcement earlier this year that the new directory service will “enable users to easily find the right provider for their organization.”

A CLOC spokeswoman told Bloomberg Law that the organization intends to return to Las Vegas next year for its CLOC Institute, which is scheduled for May 18 to 20, although the exact site remains to be determined.

A spokesman for the Association of Corporate Counsel, a professional association of in-house lawyers set to hold its annual meeting in Philadelphia between Oct. 13 and 16, said that the group has yet to make any changes to its plans.

The coronavirus pandemic has left one Big Law partner in critical condition and forced lawyers throughout the U.S. to work from home.