This session will include a distinguished Legal panel with a diverse background of legal experience that will provide an update on the most pressing legal issues facing testing organizations, followed by a Q&A session. The Legal panel will include three attorneys, each from a different perspective, with extensive experience representing testing organizations and service providers.

In the first 60 minutes of this session, each member of the panel will provide a “legal update” on important legal issues in testing, including; AI Updates, BNSF Biometric ruling, States with data protection acts that go into effect in 2023/2024, ADA accommodations, pitfalls of incorporating AI into a remote proctoring program, content creation, IP rights discuss intellectual property rights, liability protections, and other key legal issues to note in certification organization contracts. In the last 20 minutes, the panel will answer questions from the attendees. If there was ever a question you wanted to ask a lawyer about testing, this is your opportunity!

Presenters

Allison M. Mulford, Esq., MBA, CIPP-E– Mulford & Associates, LLC

Allison M. Mulford, Esq., MBA, CIPP-E is a solo practitioner with the law firm, Mulford & Associates, LLC and primarily practices in privacy, data protection, corporate contracting and other general corporate compliance matters.

Allison brings almost a decade of experience providing legal guidance and support in the assessment industry, and prior to starting her own firm served as Vice President of Legal Affairs to Prometric LLC where she headed up the organization’s global legal department. Her experience includes issues faced by organizations of all types related to regulatory trends in data protection, privacy, and technology including artificial intelligence. She also works with both test sponsors and vendors related to securitization of test content, best practices to mitigate security incidents, and managing and supporting test sponsor and vendor responses to security incidents. She has worked collaboratively with cyber, information security and operations teams to develop audit procedures, conduct investigations, and implement compliance roadmaps. 

Ms. Mulford has been heavily involved with the Association of Test Publishers (ATP) security and privacy initiatives, completing a four-year term on the ATP Security Committee at the end of 2021. She continues to participate on the ATP International Privacy Subcommittee and has authored numerous privacy-related informational guides, white-papers and bulletins in that role. 

Allison will discuss some exciting updates:

• High level issues on AI

• Legal landscape updates of privacy and data protection

• BNSF biometric ruling

• Cleveland State ruling on remote proctoring

• States with data protection acts that go into effect in 2023/2024

Julia Judish – Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Julia Judish is Special Counsel with the Nonprofit Organizations practice of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. She regularly advises certification organizations on legal compliance, credentialing, ethics and disciplinary codes, ADA accessibility, employment issues, and related areas, working with both staff leadership and Boards. She also serves as a legal advisor to the Professional Certification Coalition (PCC), a national coalition of certification organizations and professional societies.

Ms. Judish writes extensively on nonprofit and employment legal issues; she co-authored the Due Process and ADA chapters of the Certification and Accreditation Law Handbook (3rd ed.), and (with her fellow speaker Dawn Murphy) co-authored the Certification Law chapter of the Certification: The ICE Handbook (3rd ed.). She graduated cum laude from Harvard Law School and has received multiple honors for excellence in legal services.

Julia Judish will speak on some of the more knotty issues she encounters in advising certification clients on compliance on the ADA.  

• Best practices for identifying the fine line between mandated accommodations and when accommodations compromise the integrity of the certification credential,  

• When certification organizations can require additional documentation in support of accommodation requests,

• The relevance and limits of prior history of testing accommodations,

• Assessing what “undue burden” means for a certification program, and

• Pitfalls from incorporating AI into remote proctoring.

Dawn Crowell Murphy – Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Dawn Crowell Murphy is Special Counsel with the Nonprofit Organizations practice of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP. With association in-house experience and more than a decade in private practice, Dawn brings a comprehensive perspective to counseling professional societies, trade associations, certification organizations and other nonprofits on a wide variety of legal matters, including governance structuring, policies and procedures, tax-exemption issues, event and vendor agreements, and major transactions such as mergers or joint ventures.

She is also experienced in matters of privacy and intellectual property. Dawn is a co-author of the Certification and Accreditation Law Handbook (3rd ed.) (Standards and Confidentiality/Records chapters) and of Certification: The ICE Handbook (3rd ed.) (Certification Law chapter). She holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia.   

Dawn Murphy will discuss intellectual property rights, liability protections, and other key legal issues to note in certification organization contracts. We’ll look at topics such as:  

• Content creation – What representations are required of those producing exam questions or other materials? When in use of AI permissible for generating content?

• IP Rights – In Consulting and other contracts, who owns the work product, and what rights do other have to use it? How are rights protected?

• Liability – Is risk appropriately shared between the contractual parties? Does each remain liable for what comes under its control or responsibility?

• Confidentiality and data protection – Do those with access to important information commit to keeping it confidential? Do Vendors have sufficient data security and protection measures in place?