YOU ARE INVITED TO ATTEND

VORGATE IMPACT WINTER LEGAL ESG FORUM 2023

DECEMBER 5TH & 6TH 2023

NEW YORK | VIRTUAL

Vorgate Impact’s Winter ESG Forum 2023 marks our inaugural end of year event to for a time of connection and building relationships in a welcoming space to share stories, exchange ideas, and forge long lasting connections. We will bring together legal and operational experts from law firms, in house counsel, and service providers to help accelerate sustainability and ESG integration in the legal industry. This two-day event for ALISS firm members and friends will offer guidance on key trends and developments to accelerate operationalizing ESG and actionable legal insights.

REGISTRATION

Spacing is limited so pease make sure to RSVP if you are attending in person or virtually in the registration. You may register up to three people in your organization. Please email me if you have a larger group that would like to attend in-person or virtually.

ALISS Subscribers may join for free. Code: ALISSMEMBER

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Dec 05, 2023 08:30am ET - Dec 06, 2023 05:30pm ET

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Virtual attendees:

Zoom meeting link will be emailed prior to event date.

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP
101 Park Ave, New York, NY 10178
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AGENDA

Tuesday, December 5th | Operational Insights

8:30AM Breakfast

9:15-10AM | ALISS Assessment Early Insights and 2024 Outlook Presentation

Vorgate's Founder Gayatri Joshi

What have law firms implemented in terms of their sustainability integration? How much have law firms improved? We will share preliminary results from the ALISS sustainability assessment and take a look at what themes will prevail in 2024.

10-11AM | Operationalizing ESG & Integrating into Real Estate Panel

Dentons Chief ESG Officer Aragon St. Charles

Structure Tone's VP of Sustainability Jennifer Taranto

Robert Derector Associates: Energy &Sustainability (RDE), Dir./Founder Jack Jenkins

What exactly does it mean to operationalize ESG today? Where are the biggest opportunities? In this session, we share how law firm Dentons operationalizes ESG and specifically within real estate. We then will take a deeper dive on new innovations and how to embed sustainability within construction and tenant spaces through success stories.

11-12PM | Decarbonization and Green Leases Presentation & Panel

NYSERDA's Mayra Lujan - Energy Efficiency Program Manager, CRE and CSR

NYSERDA's Senior Project Manager Sophie Cardona

Building Energy Exchange's Director of Educational Resources Katie Schwamb

Reducing GHG emissions from buildings must be an integral part of our carbon accounting strategies. How do we work with our landlords and building management? What resources exist to support emissions reduction? In this session, we learn about building decarbonization strategies, how to turn data in to action and green lease programs for your firm to take immediate action.

12-1PM | Lunch/Break

1-2PM | Sustainability/ESG Resourcing Workshop/Roundtable

Vorgate's Founder Gayatri Joshi

In this guided roundtable/workshop, we will discuss how firms have structured ESG within their firms and how they are sourcing for personnel, resources, and budget.

2-3PM | Metrics & Policy Workshop/Roundtable - Aggregating Data

Vorgate's Founder Gayatri Joshi

In this guided roundtable/workshop, we will discuss the challenges that firms have to aggregate data and some best practices.

3-3:30 | Break

3:30-4:30 | Carbon Mitigation Strategies: How to Choose and Avoid Greenwash Presentation and Panel

Nonprofit Climate Vault's CEO Jonathan Cohen

Cleary Gottlieb's Global Director of Strategic Initiatives Bert Van Der Wee

The demand for effective carbon offset strategies has grown exponentially due to the well-intentioned, voluntary commitments of organizations diversified by industry and geography. The major shortcomings of the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), however, have been consistently exposed to negative publicity by The Guardian, Bloomberg, and more this year. Given this gap between quality supply and demand, we will share how regulated Compliance Carbon Markets (CCM) provide a trustworthy and verifiable alternative. Our discussion will include a comparison between the VCM and CCM, complemented by insights from a law firm that has conducted its own in-depth investigation.

4:30-5:30 | Becoming a Rated Company to Rating Your Supply Chain Presentation and Workshop

EcoVadis' ESG Solutions Specialist Smruti Agarwal

In this session, EcoVadis will discuss how to become a rated company (particularly if your client is asking you!). We then will take it full circle to discuss the natural next step to rating your supply chain and next steps.

5:30 | Reception

Wednesday, December 6th

Legal Insights

8:30AM Breakfast

9:15-10AM | Keynote with Partner Carl Valenstein

10-11AM | The Need for Measuring Advised Emissions - Conversation

Oxygen House's General Counsel Matthew Gingell

You have just learned about Scope 1,2, and 3 emissions, but now what are advised emissions? Law firms can work towards net zero operations, but the one measure we do not consider is the emissions that are created from client matter work, such as from project financing or an M&A deal. In this session, we ask Matthew about advised emissions from his whitepaper and about the work of the Chancery Lane Project.

11-12PM | Greenwashing: What is it & What are the Consequences Presentation

Morgan Lewis Partner Carl Valenstein

12-1PM | Lunch/Break

1-2PM | In house Counsel ESG Challenges & Trends Panel

Thomson Reuters' Natalie Runyon

Xerox's Counsel - EHS, Sustainability, ESG, & Corporate Compliance Jonathan Nwagbaraocha

In-house counsel play a pivotal role in guiding their organizations toward sustainable and responsible business practices. In this conversation, we learn how law firms can provide valuable assistance to in-house counsel in navigating the complex ESG landscape and what is top of mind for in house counsel from why ESG matters to antitrust concerns to reporting and disclosures to greenwashing and language precision.

2-3PM | ERISA Plan Practices vis-à-vis ESG Options Fireside Chat

Equitable Advisors' Financial Advisor Perry Goldschein

ERISA plan practices vis-à-vis ESG options in the wake of the DOL’s 2022 rule on the topic and subsequent litigation. Learn about this emerging area from leading experts in the field, and it potential multi-billion impact on ESG challenges and future retirees.

3-3:15 | Break

3:15-4:15pm | Pro Bono Initiatives for your Firm Presentation & Conversation

Equal Justice Works Portfolio Manager Lauren Hartley

Firms are increasingly looking for more opportunities to engage in nature and social positive pro bono projects. Equal Justic Works will discuss their environmental justice program and how your firm can participate,

4:15-5:15pm | Environmental Justiice in the Justice Business

LS4CA's National Director Haley Czarnek

In this session, LSCA National Director Haley Czarnek will present about the need to infuse legal culture with an intersectional environmental justice lens. Haley will discuss projects to describe firms’ impacts both qualitatively through narrative and quantitatively by measuring advised emissions, as well as the need to bring a critical perspective to projects that claim to be sustainable.

5:15 Closing Remarks