Monica P. Schroeck, Counsel in the firm’s Environmental Department, will be a panelist for the live webinar “How to Help Business Clients Navigate the Evolving and Uncertain World of Identifying, Quantifying and Mitigating Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) Risks.” The program will be presented as a live webinar by the New Jersey Institute for Continuing Legal Education on Thursday, March 23, 2023, from 9:00am – 12:00pm as part of NJICLE's new Business Law Essentials Series.
Now more than ever, businesses are facing mounting ESG expectations. Attention to climate change, food and water scarcity and human rights from an extensive range of stakeholders, including investors, is becoming increasingly widespread, even for small businesses.
It is critical to understand how ESG issues affect legal and business strategies and performance. This program will provide a review of best practices for recognizing and managing ESG risk and for ensuring compliance with unclear and shifting legal obligations in this developing practice area. The program agenda is as follows:
- What is ESG? The Legal and Business Framework
- Examining key elements, market expectations and evolving ESG criteria
- Understanding the current landscape: government initiatives, developments and policies impacting ESG
- Competently Advising Boards on Oversight of ESG Risks
- Embedding an ESG framework in corporate decision-making processes
- Creating and implementing the right structures and strategies
- Strategies for evaluating financial impacts related to ESG and climate risk
- Knowing the legal issues associated with oversight and investor and stakeholder engagement
- Complying with Current and Changing Disclosure Requirements
- Managing and disclosing ESG criteria: best practices and strategies
- Recognizing how to draft disclosures without attracting liability
- Crafting meaningful disclosures and why this is critical
- Finding a balance between the fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value while achieving ESG compliance: lessons from BlackRock
- Quantifying and Managing Litigation Risk Related to ESG
- Identifying available strategies to mitigate or adapt to ESG risk
- Assessing risk management tools that are responsive to ESG related risks
- Reducing liability exposures in transactions, investments and projects
Ms. Schroeck concentrates her practice in environmental law, advising both public and private entities on issues associated with real estate and corporate transactions and in environmental litigation. She has extensive experience encompassing a broad range of environmental and land use issues, including those associated with site remediation, environmental due diligence, solid waste disposal, clean air and water regulations, insurance coverage, and environmental health and safety (EHS) compliance.
Additional program details and registration on the NJICLE website.